Shell and BP are preparing to bask in the benefit of the recent oil price surge with big profit jumps helping to draw a line under years of ferocious cost cutting.
On Tuesday Shell is expected to unveil profit of just above $3bn after a loss of $460m in the same quarter last year, using the oil industry’s standard ‘current cost of supplies’ measure.
Meanwhile BP investors are poised for profits of $1.26bn in Thursday’s results, using the major’s equivalent measure, after reporting $532m in the first quarter of last year.read more
The largest vessel on the planet has successfully carried out the world’s biggest lift at sea, plucking a 24,000-tonne oil rig platform from the North Sea.
The mammoth engineering task was carried out as part of the first phase of decommissioning one of the most important oilfields in the region.
Engineers took hours to position the specially-built £2.4bn Pioneering Spirit into place around the Brent Delta platform.
But it took just seconds for the powerful hydraulic system to lift the topside off its supporting legs, setting a world record in the process.read more
Apr 30th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Upasana Khatri: 22nd February 2017
When Esther Kiobel—who believes Shell collaborated with Nigerian authorities to commit gross human rights abuses, including the murder of her husband—could not find justice by suing Shell in U.S courts, she decided to sue the Dutch oil giant in the Netherlands. In support of the Dutch action, EarthRights International (ERI) helped Ms. Kiobel and her Dutch lawyers file an application under the Foreign Legal Assistance (FLA) Statute to gain access to important evidence originally gathered during the U.S. litigation. In December, a U.S. federal court granted Ms. Kiobel’s petition, allowing her access to documents housed in Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, the law firm that defended Shell in the U.S.read more
Apr 27th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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by Tony Tamuno
26 April 2017, 12:08 BST
Nigeria detained a vessel with crew members from countries including Pakistan, Indonesia and Ukraine for alleged theft of crude from a facility owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the navy said.
The tanker, MT TECNE, was apprehended before dawn on April 25 while loading crude from the Afremo platform operated by Shell’s Nigerian unit, Ibrahim Dewu, a navy spokesman, said Wednesday by phone from the southern city of Warri. “They had siphoned about 2,000 metric tons of crude oil from the loading jacket before their arrest,” he said.read more
The New York City Bar Association has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in backing law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore in its appeal of an order to turn over documents belonging to client Royal Dutch Shell plc in a possible overseas lawsuit accusing the oil giant of facilitating human rights violations.
The New York City Bar Association filed an amicus brief in support of Cravath on Tuesday in the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to reverse a ruling that the law firm produce Shell documents to Esther Kiobel, a Nigerian woman seeking to sue Shell in the Netherlands after she was previously blocked from doing so in the U.S.read more
Royal Dutch Shell and Oman Oil Company Exploration & Production (OOCEP) have signed a Heads of Agreement for cooperation in resource exploration in an oil and gas block in Oman, the Omani company said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Under the cooperation agreement, Shell Exploration and OOCEP will carry out an initial aerial study, before deciding whether to launch more activities in Block 42, Times of Oman reports.
The block spans on an area of 25,600 square kilometers (9,884 square miles) and could have oil and gas reserves in several geological plays. Block 42 mostly consists of the northeast coastal range of the Omani mountains and the basin immediately to their south. The presence of hydrocarbons has already been proven by exploration wells, which report hydrocarbon shows in several reservoir intervals, OOCEP says.read more
Steve Phimister, who also oversaw the £3billion sale of assets to Chrysaor earlier this year, takes up the position as he enters his new role as vice president of Shell’s UK & Ireland upstream business unit.
Phimister will be taking the place of his Shell upstream predecessor Paul Goodfellow on Oil & Gas UK’s board of directors with immediate effect.
“The Maximising Economic Recovery Strategy and the steps we have taken as an industry to improve efficiency are bearing fruit
“I look forward to shaping the next steps with industry partners as we seek to become a globally competitive basin.”read more
Apr 26th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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by Rakteem Katakey: 26 April 2017, 00:01 BST
Big Oil’s struggle against crude’s collapse is starting to ease, giving some companies enough cash to pay shareholders without piling on more debt.
The world’s five biggest non-state oil producers, known as the supermajors, probably increased cash from operations by a combined 67 percent last quarter from a year earlier, according to HSBC Bank Plc analysts Gordon Gray and Kim Fustier. That may allow some to cover dividends and capital spending without borrowing for the first time since 2012, they said.read more
Apr 25th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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by Mark Chediak: 25 April 2017, 05:01 BST
A group of companies and non-profit agencies that includes energy giants Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BHP Billiton said global greenhouse gas emissions could be cut in half by 2040 without impeding economic development, in part by converting grids to use mostly renewable power.
The declining costs of wind, solar and batteries will make it possible within 15 years to build power networks that get as much as 90 percent of their power from renewable sources while providing electricity at a cost that’s competitive with fossil-fuels, according to a report released Tuesday by the Energy Transitions Commission, a group of energy companies, investors and non-profit organizations including the Rocky Mountain Institute.read more
Apr 24th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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April 24, 2017, 11:49:10 AM EDT By MT Newswires
American depository shares of Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) were up nearly 2% Monday after the oil major said it and four European energy firms signed financing agreements for Gazprom’s proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Shell said each of the five energy companies has committed to provide financing and guarantees for up to 10% of the total cost of the Nord Stream 2 project, which is currently estimated at EUR9.5 billion ($10.3 billion).read more
Implementing a subsea fibre optic link to underpin automation and remote monitoring aboard Shell Australia’s forthcoming Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) platform means it will only need to fly people out to the plant “by exception”.
The Prelude project is being closely watched by the LNG sector as a potential model for future gas extraction from increasingly remote offshore fields.
Prelude’s operations will be monitored remotely from Shell Australia’s collaborative work environment (CWE) in Perth, which acts as the company’s main operations centre.read more
Apr 21st, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Shell Oil Co, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, on Thursday reaffirmed the target date to split up the Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] refining joint venture with co-owner Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] would be May 1.
Shell and Saudi Aramco in March 2016 announced the plan to divide up the nearly 20-year-old venture, which runs three refineries and other assets. The date of the split has been pushed back twice since the announcement.
As part of the deal, Saudi Aramco will make a $2.2 billion balancing payment to Shell. Of that total, Aramco will only have to pay about $700 million in cash to Shell, with the remainder satisfied by Aramco assuming most of Shell’s half of the $3.2 billion debt held by Motiva.read more
WASHINGTON — Shell Oil Co. and Dow Chemical hid a cancer-causing chemical in two commonly-used pesticides that contaminated the drinking water of millions of people in the state of California, according to lawsuits detailed in a report from the Environmental Working Group earlier this month.
TCP, a poisonous insecticide gas, was used for decades in the pesticide Telone, made by Dow, and D-D, made by Shell.
Shell stopped using D-D in 1984, while Dow ceased usage of Telone during the late 1990s. But “garbage” chemical TCP was found in tap water supplies of about four million people in 13 states between 2013 to 2015, according to the nonprofit group.read more
Apr 20th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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BY HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA (HEDA RESOURCE CENTRE) APR 20, 2017
The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), a Nigerian non-governmental organization, has petitioned Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, urging him to request that Nigeria be included in the Milan Court’s prosecution of Shell and Eni with respect to the scandalous Malabu deal.
In a petition addressed to Mr. Osinbajo, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Asset Recovery Committee, HEDA advised the federal government to request that the Italian court judge should recognize Nigeria as a civil party to the Malabu criminal proceeding in order to request adequate compensation for the damages received by the corrupt scheme.read more
Apr 20th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Court orders Shell-Exxon criminal probe over Dutch gas quakes
By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM, April 20 (Reuters) – A Dutch court ordered prosecutors to open an investigation on Thursday into whether a Shell-Exxon joint venture bears any criminal responsibility for earthquakes triggered by production at the country’s largest gas field.
No physical injuries have been caused by numerous small quakes, which have damaged thousands of buildings and structures across the north-eastern province of Groningen, and prosecutors had previously declined to act, arguing it was a civil matter.read more
Court proceedings are due to begin in Italy today to determine whether oil giant Shell will face trial on corruption charges over the purchase of one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocks.
Italian prosecutors claim Shell and Italian oil major Eni concluded a deal for the rights to exploit the Nigerian deepwater oil block OPL 245 with knowledge that the money would fall into the hands of a convicted money-launderer and be turned into political kickbacks.read more
Apr 20th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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20 April 2017
Shell and Eni are waiting to learn whether a judge will accept a request from a Milan prosecutor for the two companies and individuals — including Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of the Italian energy group — to face trial for alleged corruption.
Shell acknowledged for the first time last week that it knew Malabu would be compensated for relinquishing its claim on OPL 245. Anti-corruption campaigners see Shell’s admission as a smoking gun, and have seized on the leaked emails sent between senior company employees between 2008 and 2010 as evidence of bribery. read more
Apr 19th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell PLC inaugurated on Tuesday a treatment plant for shale oil and gas in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale play, one of the world’s largest.
The plant, announced in 2014, has a capacity to process up to 10,000 barrels per day from the Sierras Blancas, Cruz de Lorena and Coiron Amargo Sur Oeste blocks operated by Shell, the company said in a statement.
“(The plant) receives output from the wells of these blocks, processing the oil and gas to leave it ready for commercialization,” the statement said.read more
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Shell had failed to put appropriate controls in place to protect workers from dangerous gases in one of the platform’s legs.
HSE said the company had identified the risks of exposure to hydrogen sulphide and hydrocarbon gas while accessing the column C1 leg.
But Shell did not adequately describe how control measures would be “organised, controlled, monitored or reviewed”, according to HSE.
The prohibition notice was served early in February.read more
Apr 19th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Apr. 19, 2017 12:42 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Australia’s government may support construction of a 1K-mile gas pipeline likely to cost more than A$5B (US$3.8B), WSJ reports, amid growing concern about shortages of liquefied natural gas and blackouts on the country’s populous eastern seaboard.
Two senior ministers expressed support for a transcontinental pipeline as Prime Minister Turnbull met with major LNG exporters including Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Santos (OTCPK:STOSF) to discuss ways of getting more LNG into the domestic energy market.read more
Apr 19th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Tanzania’s government has prepared a draft agreement with international oil companies willing to take part in a $30-billion LNG export project, and has sent the draft for ministerial review, local media reported on Wednesday, citing a senior official at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals.
State-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) is partnering with ExxonMobil, Statoil, Ophir, and Shell in developing an LNG project that would allow the country to export gas from its offshore resources.read more
Apr 19th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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“Etete can smell the money. If, at 70 years old, he does turn his nose up at 1.2 billion he is completely certifiable.”
That’s a quote from a confidential email which is embarrassing the oil giant Shell. For years, Shell had strenuously denied that it knew anything about the involvement of convicted money launderer and former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete in its purchase of the rights to one of Nigeria’s biggest oil fields.
But last week, the British environmentalist and anti-corruption organization, Global Witness, published confidential emails written by a Shell employee. This correspondence, which went right to the top of the Shell management hierarchy, proves that there was a direct link to the convicted Nigerian. After publication, Shell then decided that further clarification of its correspondence was needed. One had to negotiate with Etete “whether one wanted to or not,” it said.read more
Apr 19th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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19 April 2017
In a note to clients, the US bank cut its stance on BP to ‘neutral’ and chopped its rating for Shell to ‘sell’ after scrutinising recent annual reports
Oil majors BP PLC (LON:BP.) and Royal Dutch ShellPLC (LON:RDSB) both fell back this morning under pressure from comment by Citigroup, which downgraded its ratings for both.
In a note to clients, the US bank cut its stance on BP to ‘neutral’ and chopped its rating for Shell to ‘sell’ after scrutinising recent annual reports.read more
Apr 18th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Apr. 18, 2017 12:56 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
The Netherlands will cut production of its Groningen gas field by 10% beginning in October to limit the risk of earthquakes, the country’s economy minister says.
Production would be reduced to 21.6B cm/year from 24B cm/year as a first step, according to the minister; output has been cut several times from 53.9B cm in 2013 as criticism mounted the Dutch government had failed to adequately assess the risk from earthquakes caused by production at Europe’s biggest field.
Groningen is operated by a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM).read more
President Trump could deal the landmark Paris climate agreement a massive blow this week.
The U.S. president is huddling with advisers on Tuesday to explore whether he should yank America from the international accord aimed at slowing global warming.
But some powerful forces — with real skin in the game — are urging Trump not to abandon the 2015 Paris deal brokered among more than 175 nations.
Surprisingly, it’s the big oil companies who are vocally supporting the climate agreement, joining others in the administration that include Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.read more
Apr 17th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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by Jennifer A Dlouhy 17 April 2017, 19:30 BST
As President Donald Trump contemplates whether to make good on his campaign promise to yank the United States out of the Paris climate accord, an unlikely lobbying force is hoping to talk him out of it: oil and coal producers.
A pro-Paris bloc within the administration has recruited energy companies to lend their support ahead of a high-level White House meeting Tuesday to discuss the global pact to curtail greenhouse-gas emissions, according to two people familiar with the effort who asked not to be identified.read more
Apr 16th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Apr. 13, 2017 8:25 AM ET| By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it has urged the Dutch government to come up with bolder offshore wind targets and quadruple the goal for installed capacity to 20 GW by 2030.
Shell, which has traditionally invested little in green energy sources, is ramping up renewable energy investments to $1B/year by the end of the decade after pressure from shareholders.
Some of the company’s recent activities in renewable energy include winning a contract leading a consortium to build a wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands and bidding for an offshore wind license in the U.S.read more
Apr 13th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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13 APRIL 2017
Oil company Shell has admitted for the first time that it negotiated with a money-launderer for access to an oil field in 2011. Shell and Italy’s Eni paid $1.3bn to Nigeria for access to the field. But investigators claim $1.1bn was passed to a firm controlled by Dan Etete, a man who was convicted of money laundering in a separate case.
Documents filed by Italian prosecutors claim $466m of that was laundered and passed on to then president Goodluck Jonathan.
Courts in Nigeria and Italy are investigating the purchase of the offshore block which was initially awarded in 1998 to Malabu Oil and Gas, in a disputed deal, before Royal Dutch Shell and Eni were awarded the rights in 2011.
Shell and Eni paid $1.3 billion for the rights to the block, which industry estimates say could hold more than 9 billion barrels of oil.
The House of Representatives mandated the committee to “conduct a thorough examination of the process and circumstances surrounding OPL 245 and identify culpability of any persons, groups or organisations,” committee chairman Razak Atunwa said in an emailed statement.read more
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell said its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) and Joint Venture (JV) partners, paid $29 billion to the Federal Government over the last five years.
This is contained in the oil majors 2016 Sustainability Report released yesterday. The report said the $29 billion was the economic contribution from SPDC JV partners to the government from 2012–2016.
It stated that $1.4 billion was Shell’s share of royalties and corporate taxes paid to the government last year, adding that SPDC’s share was $1billion, while Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) contributed $0.4 billion.read more
Apr 13th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo:
Nigeria will start paying back a $5.1 billion debt owed to international oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, with a first installment this month in accordance with an agreement reached last year.
“The initial payments would be made by the end of April 2017,” Emmanuel Kachikwu, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said in an emailed statement Wednesday. The energy companies are expected to reciprocate “by ensuring that they ramp up investments in the country’s oil and gas sector,” he said.read more
Apr 13th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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On Monday, reports surfaced that some of Shell’s money circulating in Nigeria was used for payoffs.
April 12 (UPI) — One of the largest oil companies in the world, Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday it was focused on a low-carbon strategy that was geared toward long-term growth.
Shell highlighted its movement through a changing energy landscape in a sustainability report on activities last year. Chief Executive Officer Ben van Buerden said in the report that lower crude oil prices and a global community coordinated around the U.N.-backed Paris climate agreement meant changes were necessary for the oil and gas business.read more
Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd. has asked an Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to stop the sale of a $13. 5 billion deep water project located in the controversial oil block, OPL 245.
The OPL 245, regarded as one of Africa’s richest oil blocks with an estimated over 9 billion barrels of crude, was controversially awarded to Malabu in 1998 by the then petroleum minister, Dan Etete who partly owned the company through a fictional character, Kwekwu Amafegha.
The block was controversially sold to oil giants, Shell and ENI, in 2011 with a large chunk of the $1.1 billion paid ending up in private pockets including those of Mr. Etete.read more
Apr 12th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Reuters | Apr 12, 2017, 04.10 PM IST
April 12 (Reuters) – ** Shell said the volume of oil stolen from its joint-venture operations in Nigeria fell to 5,600 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2016, the company said in its annual sustainability report
** This represents a 77.6-percent fall from 25,000 bpd in oil thefts in 2015 partly due to better air and ground surveillance and anti-theft mechanisms installed on equipment
The hailed the progress made in recent years, such as the Paris Agreement, as marking a worldwide change in attitude in moving towards a low carbon economy.
In the opening remarks of the supermajor’s sustainability report for 2016, he describes how Shell is working to help meet the world’s growing demand for more and cleaner energy.
In his introduction, van Beurden said: “In 2016, the world took significant steps towards building a low-carbon energy future. The United Nations (UN) Paris Agreement and the UN’s sustainable development goals came into force, setting new targets for tackling climate change, promoting sustainable economic growth and providing access to modern energy.read more
Apr 12th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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by Rigzone Staff | Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Royal Dutch Shell employed an average of 92,000 workers in more than 70 countries during 2016, the company revealed in its 2016 sustainability report released Wednesday.
The company also stated that it recruited “around 800 graduates, 800 experienced professionals and 2,800 people” in its Shell Business Operations last year.
Close to 40 percent of graduate recruits came from universities outside of Europe and the Americas and around 40 percent of the firm’s total workforce is located in countries outside of Europe and North America, Shell highlighted in its latest report.read more
Apr 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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For decades, Shell and Dow hid a highly potent cancer-causing chemical in two widely used pesticides, contaminating drinking water for millions of people in California and beyond, according to lawsuits detailed in a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The chemical 1,2,3-trichloropropane or TCP, was formerly an unwanted and ineffective byproduct in Dow’s Telone and Shell’s D-D pesticides. Internal documents uncovered in lawsuits filed by communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley show that the companies saved millions of dollars a year by not properly disposing of TCP, a chemical a Dow scientist once called “garbage,” as hazardous waste.read more
After battling for nearly a decade and a half to develop Ireland’s Corrib gas field, Shell may be about to offload its stake in the project just over a year after announcing first gas.
Although Shell has refused to confirm that it is looking to sell, The Sunday Times reported in December that Australian investment bank Macquarie had approached the Anglo-Dutch major about a potential deal.
Ireland’s Business Post followed up the story in early March, stating that “up to three” potential buyers were considering making unsolicited bids for Shell’s 45% stake in the Corrib project, which the two newspapers valued at more than £1 billion ($1.24 billion).read more
Apr 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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“This is a huge U-turn that reveals Shell’s duplicity,”
By Idris Akinbajo and Samuel Ogundipe: 10 April 2017
After repeated denials in various countries, Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, on Monday finally admitted it had foreknowledge that the $1.3 billion itself and ENI paid to Nigerian government for the OPL 245 oil block licence would ultimately be used to settle convicted former Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete.
“Over time, it became clear to us that Etete was involved in Malabu and that the only way to resolve the impasse through a negotiated settlement was to engage with Etete and Malabu, whether we liked it or not,” The New York Times quoted Andy Norman, a spokesperson for Shell, as saying in an email Monday.read more
Apr 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Only 24 hours after claiming it had no knowledge of “improper payments” to a convicted money-launderer over a $1.3 billion (£1.1 billion) oil field acquisition in Nigeria, Shell has admitted it had known it was dealing with the controversial figure but doing so was “the only way to resolve [an] impasse”.
The oil scandal involves former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete, whose company Malabu bought the nine-billion-barrel OPL 245 field off the coast of Nigeria for just $2 million while he was in his government post.
Shell and its Italian partner ENI then bought the field from the Nigerian government in 2011 for $1.3 billion, with more than $1 billion being passed onto a company controlled by Etete, according to Italian prosecutors.
Etete — who was convicted of money-laundering in an unrelated case — denies wrongdoing.read more
Apr 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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By Libby George| LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has said it knew that some of the payments it made to Nigeria for the rights to an oilfield would go to Malabu Oil and Gas, a company associated with a former Nigerian oil minister and convicted money launderer.
Shell spokesman Andy Norman said the group had known the Nigerian government “would compensate Malabu to settle its claim on the block”. Shell previously had said only that its payments from the 2011 deal went to the Nigerian government.
In an email to Reuters, Norman said that while Shell knew that former oil minister Dan Etete was “involved” with Malabu, it had not confirmed that he controlled the company.
Etete was convicted of money laundering in a separate case in France in 2007.read more
In a huge u-turn, the company has now admitted it knew Mr Etete was involved.
Top executives at Shell knew that money they paid as part of a $1.3bn deal for a huge Nigerian oil field would end up in the hands of a convicted money launderer who awarded the asset to his own company when he was oil minister of the country.
Emails seen by The Independent and reported by anti-corruption campaign groups Global Witness and Finance Uncovered, show senior bosses at the UK’s biggest company had been informed that hundreds of millions of dollars could flow through former oil minister Dan Etete to be paid in bribes to former President Goodluck Jonathan and other political figures.read more
Apr 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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11 April 2017
Shell has admitted for the first time it dealt with a convicted money-launderer when negotiating access to a vast oil field in Nigeria. It comes after emails were published showing Shell negotiated with Dan Etete, who was later convicted of money laundering in a separate case. Shell and an Italian oil company paid $1.3bn (£1bn) to the Nigerian government for access to the field. Investigators claim $1.1bn was passed to a firm controlled by Mr Etete.
Shell and the Italian firm ENI agreed a deal with the Nigerian government for the rights to exploit OPL 245, a prime oil block off the coast of the Niger Delta.read more
Apr 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK APR 10, 2017
Global oil giant, Shell, has been forced to admit that it knew it was paying bribes to Nigerian government officials during the transaction for OPL 245. Shell, which had consistently denied wrongdoing, on Monday, admitted that the transaction lacked fidelity.
On Sunday, Global Witness and Finance Uncovered exposed freshly leaked emails showing that Shell knowingly participated in a massive bribery scheme for one of Africa’s most valuable oil blocks, which robbed Nigerians of $1.1billion.read more
Apr 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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April 10 (UPI) — Royal Dutch Shell hasn’t provided enough information on plans to take down key North Sea infrastructure to address our concerns, environmental groups said.
Shell started a 60-day consultation period for its plans to decommission three of its Brent production platforms in the North Sea in early February. That consultation period concludes at the end of the business day Monday.
In preparation, a consortium of environmental groups said they opposed the decommissioning plans as submitted because of the lack of information. Lang Banks, the Scottish director of environmental group WWF, said that, by his read, the outline from Shell lacks “qualitative judgments and opinions” from experts, including some of the engineers at the Dutch supermajor.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Current chief executive Ben Van Beurden has also been caught up in the investigation. He was not in position when the deal was complete, but after Shell’s Hague offices were raided in February last year, Dutch authorities wire-tapped a call between Van Beurden and then chief financial officer Simon Henry in which Van Beurden allegedly urged Henry not to disclose the raid to shareholders.
Wiretap: After Shell’s headquarters in the Hague were raided in February last year, ceo Ben Van Beurden urged chief financial officer Simon Henry not to disclose the raid to shareholders
Shell was last night accused of taking part in ‘one of the worst corruption scandals the industry has ever seen’ after buying an oil field in Nigeria.
The Anglo-Dutch giant joined forces with Italian rival Eni to acquire the site off the coast of the West African country for £1billion – giving it access to 9bn barrels of oil, worth nearly half a trillion dollars at today’s prices. But leaked documents suggest it knew much of this cash would fall into the hands of a convicted money launderer and be used to bribe government officials.read more
Corruption watchdogs alleged Monday that Shell executives knew that money earmarked for a controversial oil deal was being used to bribe senior Nigerian officials, a claim rebuffed by the petroleum giant.
The allegations by Global Witness and Finance Uncovered refer to the 2011 purchase by oil giants Shell and Eni of OPL245, an offshore oil block estimated to hold 9 billion barrels of crude, for $1.3 billion.
The deal saw the Nigerian government act as an intermediary between the oil majors and Malabu Oil and Gas, a Nigerian company allegedly controlled by former petroleum minister Dan Etete.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Published: Monday, 10 April 2017 18:54
When Shell was buying the OPL 245 oil field in Nigeria for US$1.3 billion, its executives knew that 1.1 billion will land in the pocket of former petroleum minister and convicted money launderer, Dan Etete, media reported Monday.
The BBC claims to have seen emails obtained by anti-corruption charities, Global Witness and Finance Uncovered, which say that Shell representatives were negotiating with Etete for a year before the deal was finalized.read more
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
JOHN DONOVAN, THE OWNER OF THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER SHELL FOCUSSED WEBSITES
SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.websitepublishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
Shell Breaking News
Shell Renewables Head to Leave Amid Fossil Fuel ShiftJune 30, 2023 14:49Financial PostBreadcrumb Trail Links PMN Business Shell Plc’s European renewable power boss Thomas Brostrom has decided to leave the company as the oil supermajor revises its strategy to focus more investment into fossil fuels. Author of the article: Bloomberg News …
Shell and BP take a beating as bank woes hit crude pricesMarch 15, 2023 17:36Proactive InvestorsBP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) shares have taken a hit, dropping over 8%, due to a sell-off in the banking sector.
The natural resources market has been volatile, with Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate falling by 4- …
Shell CEO Pay Up 50%March 9, 2023 21:23Manufacturing Business TechnologyCEO of Royal Dutch Shell Ben van Beurden speaks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Shell paid outgoing Chief Executive Ben van Beurden a total of 9.7 million pounds ($11.5 million) in 2022 as the …
Former Shell CEO's pay jumped 53% to $11.5m in 2022March 9, 2023 11:17Gulf NewsBen van Beurden, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell, speaks during the 26th World Gas Conference in Paris, France, June 2, 2015
Image Credit: Reuters
London: Shell's former chief executive, Ben van Beurden, received a pay package of 9.7 …
SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders. (JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?