by Angela Macdonald-Smith: Nov 12 2015

In a country touting itself as “open for business”, the national competition regulator looms as a major hurdle in what could be the world’s biggest energy merger this decade, Royal Dutch Shell’s $US70 billion ($99 billion) swallowing of BG Group.

Despite Shell’s global chief Ben van Beurden claiming “massive support” from federal and state politicians for the merger, Australian competition tsar Rod Sims will first have a say, with the twice-deferred ruling from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission due on November 19. read more

by Veselin Valchev: Thursday, 12 Nov 2015

Andrew Smith, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (LON:RDSA) Australian unit said he sees no local competition issues with the oil major’s bid to acquire fellow British energy giant BG Group, in contrast with reservations expressed by the Aussie competition regulator last month.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced last month that it is delaying its decision on whether to approve the tie-up by a further week to November 19. The regulator’s ruling was originally scheduled for September 12, but in September the commission postponed its decision by two months on competition concerns. read more

Shell has asked regulators for permission to work with Gazprom Neft on a joint venture, Khanty-Mansi Oil and Gas Union, despite the continuing EU and United States sanctions against Russia.

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Adam Vaughan: Thursday 12 November 2015

Critics have previously attacked the choice of a fossil fuel company as a funder for the museum’s Atmosphere gallery on climate science and said emails show Shell sought to influence the programme. However, current and former directors of the museum have rejected the charges, saying no curatorial changes had been made on Shell’s behalf.

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Flaring at Shell Moerdijk could be seen from 40 km away after a small fire on Nov 11th, 2015 (Photo: Twitter/@anjaboogaard)

Nov 12, 2015 by Janene Pieters

A small fire at Shell Moerdijk caused a red glow in the air that concerned local residents on Wednesday night. According to the fire department, the red glow was caused by flaring, which they used to get the small fire quickly under control.

The fire broke out in a compressor room around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday. It took firefighters about an hour to get the fire under control, though the flaring continued for most of the night.

The red glow caused by the flaring could be seen from 40 kilometers away, according to the fire department. read more

By Energy Reporter: Angela Macdonald-Smith: 12 Nov 2015

Shell Australia chairman Andrew Smith has insisted there are no issues of competition raised in eastern Australia with the oil giant’s planned $US70 billion ($98 billion) takeover of BG Group and that letting the deal proceed is the best way of ensuring the company’s undeveloped gas resources in Queensland reach buyers.

“What this market needs is more gas to be developed into the market,” Mr Smith said.

“By approving the combination that will allow for the earliest introduction of Arrow’s resource base into the east coast market,” he said, without pre-empting the November 19 decision due on the deal from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which voiced reservations about it in September. read more

By Reuters | 12 Nov, 2015

TOKYO: Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co agreed on Wednesday to take over smaller refiner Showa Shell Sekiyu in a deal worth about $4 billion that will create Japan’s second-biggest refiner by capacity.

The refiners are finalising the terms of the deal and expect the combined company to start operating between October next year and April 2017, they said in a statement.

A person familiar with the deal said Idemitsu would buy shares in Showa Shell in a tender offer that could be worth as much as 500 billion yen ($4.1 billion). read more

Posted on November 11, 2015 | By Joshua Cain

A pipeline subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has sold a crude terminal in Illinois and a pipeline system in the Gulf of Mexico for $390 million to a master limited partnership affiliated with Shell.

Shell Midstream Partners, the Houston-based MLP that Shell formed in 2014, said on Wednesday that it will buy Pecten Midstream from another Shell subsidiary, Shell Pipeline Co.

Pecten Midstream operates the Lockport Crude Terminal about 50 miles from Chicago and the Auger Pipeline System, which transports crude oil from parts of the Garden Banks and Keathley Canyon offshore blocks in the Gulf. read more

by Veselin Valchev: Wednesday, 11 Nov 2015

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LON:RDSA) boss Ben van Beurden said last week that the withdrawal from the Carmon Creek thermal oil sands project in Alberta, Canada, does not mean that the Anglo-Dutch oil major has given up on oil sands in general.

Shell’s chief executive noted that the company rates investment opportunities on a project-by-project basis. In contrast to Carmon Creek needing oil prices at about $70 per barrel to break even, van Beurden remarked that Shell’s Fort McMurray oil sands project has operational costs of only $25 per barrel. read more