Posts on ‘September 8th, 2016’

UTILITIES | Thu Sep 8, 2016 10:15am EDT

Royal Dutch Shell, which lost a bid to build a Dutch North Sea wind park in July, is interested in entering a second tender process opening next week, an official said on Thursday.

Marjan van Loon, Shell’s top executive in the Netherlands, told parliament on Thursday “the potential for wind energy in the Netherlands is really very attractive.”

A Shell spokesman could not confirm that Shell would bid on the 680 megawatt (MW) Borssele III and IV wind farms, but said it was studying the option. read more

Officials made the comments during a parliamentary hearing with Shell and ExxonMobil executives after being challenged by GroenLinks MP Liesbeth van Tongeren, broadcaster NOS reported.

‘We acknowledge that the people of Groningen are dealing with most of the problems caused by gas extraction, which we in the Netherlands can thank for our prosperity,’ Shell Nederland president Marjan van Loon said.

‘That is why the people of Groningen deserve our support. The NAM has expressed its regrets and I can fully support that. So I can say too, “I’m sorry, sorry”.’ read more

Sep 8 2016, 08:38 ET | By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) is considering selling ~600 gas stations in Argentina as part of a strategic review of its downstream assets in the country, Business Times reports.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said at a conference in New York yesterday that the company is in the middle of a strategic review of its downstream assets in Argentina as part of a $30B divestment program.

Shell has market share of 19% in Argentina for gas stations, making it the second biggest seller after state-owned YPF. read more

By Charles Kennedy – Sep 07, 2016, 11:20 AM CDT

At least one source of Nigerian oil exports is set to come back online after Royal Dutch Shell lifted its force majeure on Bonny Light crude exports.

The Nembe Creek Trunk Line was repaired and reopened, allowing Shell to resume exports of its oil, nearly a month after declaring force majeure. Nembe Creek is one of a handful of key pipelines that helps Nigeria brings its oil to the coast for export. The cause of the August outage was not reported on – the pipeline’s operator, Aiteo, said it was from a leak but did not disclose the cause. read more

After all, keeping temperatures from rising to catastrophic levels will require the world to wean itself off fossil fuels and turn to cleaner forms of energy, hardly an appealing proposition to the financial wellbeing of oil producers.

But now the leader of one of the world’s biggest oil companies is telling his peers to accept the role unapologetically.

“When it comes to some of the beliefs about the challenge of the energy transition, which may be founded on less than solid fact, our industry should not shy away from being the contrarian in the room,” Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, told an oil conference in Norway recently. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 08/09/2016 7:00 am

The thought of just two people operating one of the world’s largest gas fields might perplex some, but that’s just what’s happening in the Netherlands.

NAM, a joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil, has been producing gas from the Groningen field since the early 1960s.

In the mid-1990s, NAM needed to replace older equipment and put in compressor modules to maintain pressure in the field.

The restoration programme led to a 50% reduction in headcount on the field as NAM brought in greater automation, according to Carl Schmitz, Shell’s current operations manager for Groningen. read more

Written by Rita Brown – 08/09/2016 9:08 am

Noble Upstream has snapped-up one of Shell’s legacy North Sea assets.

The firm acquired a 7.59% non-operated interest in the Maclure oil and gas field from the oil giant.

Jeremy Huck, chief executive of Nobel Upstream, said: “We are very pleased that this important transaction in the North Sea has closed. Strong operational and economic performance this year has demonstrated that well-targeted investments in mature basins like the North Sea can deliver superior returns. read more

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell is evaluating whether to sell part of its assets in Argentina, the company said yesterday.

According to Executive President Ben van Beurden, refineries, transporting and distribution assets in the country could be put up for sale as part of a massive global disvestment programme worth an estimate US$30 billion. The move amounts to a massive revision of the firm’s “downstream” services, van Beurden said during a conference in New York. read more

By Staff Writer on Sep 7, 2016 at 3:19 pm EST

In the past few years, the global energy market has undergone major changes. The usage of traditional energy resources has dropped significantly, while demand for cleaner, environmental-friendly energy sources has escalated. People are now increasingly becoming aware of the effects of greenhouse gases emissions from conventional energy sources, crude oil, and coal on our natural environment and most importantly, the ozone layer.

Last year, the Paris Agreement (COP21) was a major breakthrough for the renewable industry, as leaders from around 195 countries agreed to curb their carbon emissions. The energy producers aim to maintain the rise in global temperature to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels in the coming few years. The agreement has provided a positive momentum to the green-tech resources as a number of international energy companies have now started to increase their exposure in the segment. read more

By Staff Writer on Sep 7, 2016 at 11:30 am EST

The oil majors continue to overlook the low crude environment, which is expected to persist for longer, so much so that they have resorted to increasing their production at record-breaking highs. According to estimates by analysts, overall output from the seven largest energy giants globally is set to surge 9% between 2015 and 2018.

Energy giants are grappling with deteriorating balance sheet positions, even as prices continue to hover near $50 per barrel, dropping from $115 per barrel in June 2014. However, they continue to pump crude from plants sanctioned earlier. read more