Here (Sweetman v Shell), the Supreme Court held that Part 2 of the Environmental (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 (Costs of Certain Proceedings to be Borne by Each Party in Certain Circumstances) (link) does not act retrospectively. Charleton J stated: This is because the award of costs is not essentially procedural. An expectation as to the recovery of costs affects both the decision to commence a case and the necessary and legitimate prediction that it would be funded if successfully prosecuted or successfully defended by the party required to answer a legal action. Laffoy J and Dunne J concurred.
October 21st, 2016:
Irish Supreme Court orders that Peter Sweetman must pay Shell’s costs in challenge to Corrib planning
Royal Dutch Shell – Additional Divestments In Order To Sustain The Dividend
Oct. 21, 2016 10:17 AM ET
Summary
- Shell is announcing further divestments, this time selling part of its shale operations in Canada.
- These moves do little to address the giant debt load, although they allow for cash flow neutrality this year.
- Asset sales, resulting in smaller operations, combined with shareholder dilution hurt the long term potential as management stubbornly tries to preserve the dividend.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) announced another round of divestments in order to keep leverage under control, even as oil prices have rebounded a bit in recent times. These modest divestments are countercyclical and hurt production quite a bit in relation to the proceeds. At best cash outflows come to a standstill this year following these moves, although they result in a smaller business going forward, while investors see dilution of the shareholder base in order to sustain the unsustainable dividend.
Survival in the harsh conditions of the oil downturn
By Ed Crooks: October 21, 2016
The mood at the Oil and Money conference in London, the big energy event of the week, was a case of mixed emotions: cheer over signs of a near-term pick-up in the market, and concern over longer-term threats to demand.
The headlines were made on Wednesday by a clash between two of the biggest names in energy: Khalid al-Falih, energy minister of Saudi Arabia, and Rex Tillerson, chief executive of ExxonMobil. In his keynote speech, Mr al-Falih warned of the risk of “a shortage of supply” in future years because of plunging investment in oil production. Speaking minutes later, Mr Tillerson suggested he did not expect a collapse in supplies, because US shale provided “enormous spare capacity” to meet rising demand.