Posts from ‘October, 2017’

By Owen Akenzua: 31 Oct 2017

Asaba — Oil spill victims under the aegis of Oil Spill Victims Vanguard (OSPIVV) have initiated a lawsuit in the United Kingdom against Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), a subsidiary of the Royal-Dutch Shell Plc., over alleged $3, 600,191, 206 compensation to 168,000 persons and 350 communities affected by the December 20, 2011 spill from its Bonga Oil Field in Delta State.

The group’s Executive Director, Harrison Jalla in a statement, said the move was to ensure accelerated hearing and justice. read more

The world’s biggest new gas giant has been hiding in plain sight.

Despite some of the world’s largest reserves of natural gas, PetroChina Co. is still predominantly viewed through the lens of crude oil. That’s overdue a change.

Oil production in the nine months through September fell 5.2 percent while natural gas climbed 4.5 percent, the Beijing-based company said Monday. Based on those numbers, third-quarter oil production of 224.3 million barrels represented less than 60 percent of the total when set against natural gas output of about 152.1 million barrels of oil equivalent. read more

Stop crude focus on oil profits

The Guardian: Article by Sean Farrell: Sunday 29 October 2017

At the start of last year, Britain’s big oil companies, Shell and BP, appeared to be in crisis. A slump in the price of Brent crude – from more than $110 a barrel in 2014 to less than $30 in January 2016 – sent profits tumbling and appeared to threaten dividends. After painful cost cuts and a partial recovery in the oil price to near $60, the pressure has eased and both are expected to report solid first-half results this week.

BP goes first, on Tuesday, with Shell, the stronger of the two, on Thursday. The commotion over the oil slump diverted some attention from their commitments to low-carbon energy. To much fanfare, both companies’ boards supported resolutions at their 2015 annual meetings that required clearer reporting of emissions, business risks and efforts to develop green energy sources. read more

OCTOBER 27, 2017

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell RDSA.L and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) won blocks in Brazil’s coveted pre-salt oil region in an auction on Friday.

Shell was part of consortia that won two of the four blocks on offer in the first part of an eight block auction. 

Exxon, in a consortium with Norway’s Statoil (STL.OL) and Portugal’s Petrogal, a unit of Galp Energia (GALP.LS), won another. There were no bids for the fourth block. 

Another four blocks will be auctioned later on Friday. The eight blocks on offer contain a total of more than 12 billion barrels of estimated oil reserves. read more

World’s biggest Western energy companies are on track to post highest annual profits since oil market crashed three years ago

Updated Oct. 27, 2017 10:33 a.m. ET

Big oil is back in the black.

The world’s biggest Western energy companies are on track to post the highest annual profits since the oil market crashed three years ago and forced them to restructure for a prolonged era of low prices. FULL ARTICLE

A shareholder campaign group has said pension funds who have invested in BP and Shell are exposed due to the oil majors’ inaction on the low-carbon transition.

Written by David McPhee – 27/10/2017 12:46 pm

In its latest report, ShareAction, a non-profit organisation, said the companies’ business models look increasingly vulnerable to the threats posed by low-cost renewables and climate change policy.

The group said the oil majors had done little to mitigate these threats and lamented their lack of investment in low-carbon (BP, 1.3% of capital expenditure to Shell’s 3% of annual capex).

ShareAction said investors should “escalate” engagement with senior management, pressing them to set out their positions on climate legislation and their plans for “reducing total lifecycle emissions”. read more

* Africa gas market tiny but growing fast

* Electricity generation is main growth driver 

* Unified pricing system tough in undeveloped markets

“It would be extremely difficult to find a unified pricing system in Africa at the source. If one day Africa is well-connected with pipelines and many different sources, then maybe an index,” said Mounir Bouaziz, Royal Dutch Shell’s vice president for new business development.

By Wendell Roelf and Ed Stoddard

CAPE TOWN, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Africa should develop a gas pricing index based on the cost of electricity set midway between existing global benchmarks to ensure fairer pricing in new export projects on the continent, two African ministers said.

The idea is being floated when the world’s poorest continent, where 600 million people are without electricity, is turning to liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a cheaper way to power up amid plentiful global supply. read more

OCTOBER 27, 2017

LONDON (Reuters) – A $1 billion fund created by top energy companies to curb climate change will back technologies being developed by U.S. cement maker Solidia Technologies and engine maker Achates Power, it said on Friday.

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) was set up last year and includes Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell.

Solidia Technologies will receive funding for making cement with carbon dioxide instead of water, potentially lowering emissions by 70 percent and water use by 80 percent, the OGCI said. read more

“Both are attractive. Both have real potential,” said Wael Sawan, Shell’s executive vice president for deepwater. “We have as a company, I think as an industry, scarce capital resources to be able to make the investments that the particular projects in deep water require.”

OCTOBER 27, 2017

After two waves of resource nationalism that left few openings in Latin America for energy giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) and Total (TOTF.PA), the tables are turning.

Governments throughout the continent are enacting reforms and changing contract terms to lure oil firms that have slashed spending as they adapt to lower crude prices. Global policy changes to address climate change have given an added sense of urgency to governments in the region and worldwide that are sitting on oil and gas reserves. They want to pump it before it becomes less valuable. read more

BRASILIA, Oct 26 (Reuters) – A federal judge in the Brazilian state of Amazonas issued an injunction on Thursday ordering the suspension of the billion-dollar auctions of pre-salt oil and gas rights scheduled for Friday.

The injunction was sought by the leftist Workers Party and could easily be overturned if appealed, as is often the case in Brazil.

Major oil firms are vying for the blocks in Brazil’s offshore pre-salt area, where billions of barrels of oil are trapped under a layer of salt. read more

Neither company sets targets to reduce emissions and BP’s total investment in renewable and clean technologies has actually shrunk since 2005, the report said Getty Images

Companies are trying to ‘have their oil and eat it’ by committing to 2°C in public while planning for much higher temerpature rises, says shareholder campaign group, ShareAction

• Ben Chapman
• @b_c_chapman
• Friday 27 October 2017

Oil giants Shell and BP are planning for global temperatures to rise as much as 5°C by the middle of the century. The level is more than double the upper limit committed to by most countries in the world under the Paris Climate Agreement, which both companies publicly support.

The discrepancy demonstrates that the companies are keeping shareholders in the dark about the risks posed to their businesses by climate change, according to two new reports published by investment campaign group Share Action. Many climate scientists say that a temperature rise of 5°C would be catastrophic for the planet. read more

Written by Reporter – 27/10/2017

The deadline is closing in for applications to Shell’s Springboard competition for innovative low-carbon UK businesses.

Entrants will be competing for a green cash pot containing £350,000, with the national winner to receive £150,000.

A further five regional winners will each get £40,000 of no-strings attached funding.

They will also be given access to academics and investors whose advice can help grow their enterprises.

The cut-off date for applications falls on November 6.

Former winners include Edinburgh-based tidal energy technology developer Nova Innovation. read more

Zhang Xinsheng, executive chairman of Shell Companies in China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Editor’s Note:

The Communist Party of China has just concluded its 19th National Congress in Beijing. In the runup to the meeting, China Daily asked business leaders from major multinational companies for their views on economic developments here and the country’s global leadership role.

China Daily: 27 October 2017

Zhang Xinsheng is executive chairman of Shell Companies in China, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the global energy group.

How can China achieve stable and sustainable economic growth? read more

Published October 26, 2017 Features Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA RDSB) reported emissions from its Deer Park, Texas, refinery and chemical facility following a leak of benzene.

In a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Shell said the emissions event happened Wednesday over a four-hour period. The cause, it said, was rooted in an Oct. 10 incident in which “a flange leak occurred at the Phenol 2 unit.”

The refinery said the flange leak is ongoing, and the material released is benzene, which is a component of crude oil that has carcinogenic properties. read more

By Sarah Kent Published October 26, 2017: Dow Jones Newswires

The world’s biggest oil companies have a suddenly popular measure for success: breaking even.

Once obscure and little noted, the break-even number has become an obsession for investors in oil giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp., BP PLC and Chevron Corp. as crude prices stay mired between $50 and $60 a barrel. At its simplest, the metric represents the oil price that a company needs to generate enough cash so it can cover its capital spending and dividend payouts. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 25/10/2017 

Shell is targeting first gas from the field, which lies 136miles east of Aberdeen, in the second quarter of 2020.

The company intends to develop the gas and gas condensate field via a tie-back to the Shearwater platform 20 miles away.

The submission of the plans comes about two months after Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said the company was committed to the North Sea, despite agreeing to sell a package of assets in the basin to Chrysaor earlier this year. read more

Oil giants focus excessively on fossil fuel production, a green advocacy group concluded, and urged investors to demand clear plans for controlling climate change.

Joe McGrath: October 25, 2017

Performance targets of energy companies Royal Dutch Shell and BP remain too heavily biased towards hydrocarbon production, a report has warned.

ShareAction — a U.K. charity that promotes environment, social, and governance-oriented investing — looked at BP and Shell’s greenhouse emissions management policies, asset portfolio resilience, corporate key performance indicators, executive incentive structures, and influences on public policy. The group concluded that the oil giants prioritize the production of fossil fuels, which could incentivize management behavior “misaligned” with shareholder interest, as defined by ShareAction. read more

Wael Sawan, Executive Vice President for Shell’s deepwater division, poses for a picture before an interview for Reuters during an oil conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 24, 2017. Picture take October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell will participate in Brazil’s deepwater oilfield auction on Friday and is confident it can pump oil from the fields on offer for less than $40 a barrel, a top Shell executive said.

Brazil will hold its first auction in four years for its pre-salt oilfields on Friday. The eight deepwater blocks on offer hold billions of barrels in reserves, and for the first time, Brazil will allow foreign oil firms to operate the fields in the region. read more

The world’s biggest oil companies are closing more clean energy deals as pressure to diversify their businesses mounts and growth accelerates among green technologies.

Oil majors more than doubled the number of acquisitions, project investments and venture capital stakes, to 44 in 2016 from 21 the year before, according to research published Tuesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In the last 15 years, they’ve completed 428 transactions and spent $6.2 billion building stakes in clean energy companies. read more

October 23, 2017: Agency Report

A Federal High Court in Lagos was on Monday forced to adjourn continuation of hearing until November 15 in a suit filed by the federal government against Shell Western Supply and Trading Ltd over alleged crude oil shipment worth $406.8 million.

The suit, filed by the federal government’s counsel, Fabian Ajogwu, has Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd and its subsidiary — Shell Western Supply & Trading Ltd as defendants.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that continuation of trial was stalled on Monday following the absence of the judge, Mojisola Olatoregun, who was said to be attending a conference in Abuja. read more

OCTOBER 21, 2017

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq may offer Chevron (CVX.N) and Total (TOTF.PA) terms to develop the Majnoon oilfield different from those it had given to Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Saturday.

Iraq will develop the Majnoon oil field in southern Iraqi by its own means until it can find a foreign partner, Luaibi told reporters, adding that no company has been selected yet.

Luaibi said on Oct. 9 that Chevron and Total are among the companies that have expressed interest in developing Majnoon that Shell has said it wants to leave because of unfavourable changes to fiscal terms. read more

The oil major has entered into an agreement to sell its 9% share of the Polarled gas pipeline which connects Statoil’s Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian North Sea with the Nyhamna gas processing plant.

Shell plans to sell the stake to CapeOmega AS, which is owned by European acquisition fund HitecVision.

The deal also includes £% of the 15.03% stake in the Nyhamna gas plant, one of the largest of its kind on the Norwegian continental shelf.

The transaction is expected to be completed by 2017, subject to approval by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the Ministry of Finance. read more

Simon Utebor, Yenagoa

Shell Petroleum Development Company has said that its economic contribution to the Nigerian government in four years is $29bn.

The company’s General Manager, External Relations, Mr. Igo Weli, made this known in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, during the 2017 Swamp West Hub Integrated Stakeholders Engagement Forum for Tarakiri/Egbema/Oporoma Community Leadership.

Weli , represented by the Assets Manager, Swamp West Hub, SPDC, Mr. Mesh Maithibi, also said the company contributed $1.8bn to the Niger Delta Development Company’s funds within the period for the development of communities in the region. read more

By Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa: 21 Oct 2017

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) says the degradation of the environment in the Niger is mainly due to spillages from the activities of crude oil thieves, sabotage of facilities, illegal refining and other third party interferences, rather than negligence by the company.  

Representatives of the oil multinational firm who spoke in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, during the 2017 West Hub Integrated Stakeholders Engagement Forum for Tarakiri/Egbemo/Oporomor communities, urged all stakeholders to rethink the destruction being done to the environment with a view to effecting the needed change.    read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc opened its first rapid charging point for electric cars at gasoline stations in the U.K., the latest sign that oil majors are waking up to the disruption plug-in vehicles could have on their industry.

The new Shell Recharge service is available at three sites in London, Surrey and Derby. It will expand to seven other locations in London and Reading by the end of the year, according to an emailed statement.

Britain has more than 8,000 retail stations, and those are closing at a rate of about 100 per year and and may number 6,000 by 2035 as electric cars spread, according to analysis by the oil-industry researcher Wood Mackenzie. In a race to lead the world in battery powered cars, the U.K. has also said it may require motorway service areas and large gasoline stations to install electric vehicle recharging points. It’s also said it will ban the sale of new vehicles that take diesel fuel by 2040. read more

Written by Alan Shields – 18/10/2017 6:00 am

Shell has announced the opening of Shell Recharge – the new on-forecourt Electric Vehicle (EV) rapid charging service.

Shell Recharge is now available at Shell Holloway (London), Shell Whyteleafe (Surrey) and Shell Derby, and will be launched at a further seven locations within Greater London and Reading by the end of the year.

Jane Lindsay-Green, Shell UK Future Fuels Manager, said: “Shell Recharge provides Electric Vehicle drivers with a convenient way to charge their cars on-the-go. read more

• Hannah Boland
• Jon Yeomans

18 OCTOBER 2017 • 8:32AM

A director of Shell has resigned after being charged with fraud in relation to his former job at global miner Rio Tinto.

Guy Elliott said he would step down from his non-executive director role at Shell with immediate effect after US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission charged him in relation to a botched coal deal while he was chief financial officer at Rio.

Mr Elliott has been charged with fraud alongside Rio Tinto and its former chief executive Tom Albanese over allegations they hid the true value of coal assets in Mozambique following a disastrous acquisition.

Rio took a $3bn (£2.28bn) writedown on Riversdale Mining in 2013. It bought the coal project in the southern African country for $3.7bn in 2011 but sold it for just $50m three years later, after realising it would be unable to ship coal downriver to port. read more

By Jared Stonesifer: Oct 17, 2017 

Royal Dutch Shell is pursuing a massive shift in its business model by focusing heavily on the petrochemical business, something that has its roots right here in Beaver County.

Shell, the multi-national oil and gas giant that is one of the largest companies in the world, will have three new petrochemical projects come online early next decade. In addition to the local cracker project, Shell is making other chemical-sector investments in Louisiana and another in China. read more

Jillian Ambrose: 17 OCTOBER 2017 • 11:24AM

Royal Dutch Shell will begin construction of a new $10bn petrochemicals site in the gas-rich Marcellus shale basin in the US within the next ten weeks as part of a radical growth plan for its petrochemicals business.

The oil major told investors that global demand for petrochemicals – which are used to manufacture the raw materials used to make plastics, paints and textiles – is set to grow by around 50pc by the end of the decade, making it a key area for the company’s growth. read more

• SARAH MCFARLANE
• The Wall Street Journal
• 12:00AM October 17, 2017

After spending hundreds of billions of dollars to transform themselves into global natural gas giants, some of the world’s biggest energy companies face a new challenge: generating more demand as supplies threaten to balloon and prices languish.

Companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Cheniere Energy are trying to establish new markets for liquefied natural gas, a super-chilled version of the fuel that can be shipped around the world. Producers are promoting the use of LNG for industrial trucking and shipping. Companies also say they are considering building the power plants and infrastructure necessary to provide gas and electricity in developing markets such as South Africa and Vietnam. read more

Global oil demand growth will slow to a crawl and gasoline use will peak within the next decade, prompting the world’s biggest energy companies to accelerate the shift to natural gas and chemicals, according to consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd.

Major crude producers will have to adapt to significant changes in the coming years, but their businesses can grow. Oil consumption will keep expanding until at least 2035 as the petrochemical industry, which provides the building blocks to manufacture everything from plastics to pesticides, makes up for the contraction in some transport fuels, Wood Mackenzie said in a report on Monday. read more

By Ben Marlow: 16 October 2017 – 12:04pm

If there is one subject that divides energy producers it’s the question of when oil demand will peak.

Indeed, it is such a controversial topic that some senior figures like Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih, prefer not to discuss it at all.

He claims talk of peak demand is dangerous. It threatens to reduce vital investment, “compromising” energy security, al-Falih said earlier this year.

John Watson, boss of American oil giant Chevron, recently dismissed the idea of peak demand as “wishful thinking”. read more

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK OCT 15, 2017

The Malabu oil scandal, which began in 1998 under the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha, had the quartet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau a former National Security Adviser; Mr. Dan Etete, former Petroleum Resources Minister; Russian President Putin and House of Representatives member, Umar Bature as lead actors at various stages.

The transaction, which birthed the scandal, began when the Abacha regime decided to encourage indigenous participation in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. The regime allocated oil blocks to Nigerian companies at a reduced cost of $20 million per block. read more

Separately, Leigh Day is representing residents from the Niger Delta in a case against Royal Dutch Shell and has appealed against a High Court ruling earlier this year that the company could not be sued in London over oil spills in Nigeria. That case will be next heard in November.

Barbara Lewis: OCTOBER 13, 2017 / 2:33 PM

London’s Court of Appeal on Friday threw out miner Vedanta’s attempt to block the Zambians’ legal action over alleged pollution of their villages.

Vedanta said in a statement it would seek the right to appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest in the English legal system, adding the decision was on jurisdiction only and “was not a ruling or a determination on the merits of the claims”.

Three senior High Court judges dismissed an appeal by Vedanta and its Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM)against a ruling in May last year when a High Court judge decided the claim could proceed in the English courts on behalf of 1,826 Zambian villagers. read more

The field was discovered in 1996, but objections and protests by locals who feared the development’s impact on the environment delayed its development.

Barry O’Halloran: 14 Oct 2017

The Corrib natural gas field off the west coast lost €140 million last year, according to accounts filed by its operator, Shell E&P Ireland.

Global oil and gas giant, Royal Dutch Shell, is selling its 45 per cent stake in the Corrib operator to a Canadian pension fund for up to €1.08 billion.

Accounts for Shell E&P Ireland show that it lost €140 million in 2016 as the cost of running Corrib exceeded the revenues that it earned.

The figures show that the company’s sales were €182.2 million, but costs of €359.4 million and a near €10 million interest bill left it with losses of €187 million. A tax credit of €47 million reduced this to €140 million. read more

October 12, 2017

Shell is closing its global headquarters for technology and research in Rijswijk and moving some 2,000 workers to Shell operations in The Hague and Amsterdam, broadcaster NOS said on Thursday.

The company, which said earlier this year that hundreds of jobs will go in Rijswijk and Amsterdam, claimed the move will not cost any more jobs and is unconnected to those previously-announced, NOS said.

‘We have looked at our locations in the Randstad area and decided to reduce them from four to three,’ a spokesman told the broadcaster. ‘Our headquarters are being renovated and our location in Amsterdam expanded so we will have more room there. That will be more efficient.’ read more

Karolin Schaps: OCTOBER 12, 2017 / 1:23 PM

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has agreed to buy Dutch-based NewMotion, the owner of one of Europe’s largest electric vehicle charging networks, marking the company’s first deal in electric mobility as demand for cleaner vehicles is expected to soar.

Shell said NewMotion, which manages over 30,000 charging points for electric vehicles in Western Europe and offers access to thousands more, will operate in parallel to Shell’s program of rolling out fast charging points at its forecourts. read more

October 11, 2017: Cletus Ukpong

A Non-Governmental Organisation has filed a suit in a London court against Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company, SNEPCO, over a 2011 oil spill in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.

The NGO, the Oil Spills Victims Vanguard, filed the case on September 21 at the TTC High Court of Justice, London, on behalf of the victims of the Bonga oil spill.

The spill, said to have been caused by an operational error on the part of SNEPCO, had about 40,000 barrels of crude oil discharged into the Atlantic Ocean, and affected at least 350 communities in Delta and Bayelsa states. read more

Offshore workers were exposed to the risk of fire and explosion after blunder led to a gas leak on a southern North Sea installation.

Written by Alan Shields – 11/10/2017 12:27 pm

The uncontrolled release took place on the Barque PB, a normally unmanned platform, on July 19.

Around 138kg of flammable hydrocarbon gas was released from pipework connected to the vessel V2000, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

A subsequent probe found that flammable gas had been used to leak test the pipework instead of inert nitrogen gas – which was available.

Failings were found in the arrangements for the effective planning, organising and control for the reinstatement of the pipework. read more

HOUSTON, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Gas BV, Shell Brazil Holding BV and Integral Investments BV (“Shell”) today announce they have signed an agreement with Cosan Ltd. to execute an existing Put Option Agreement, which allows Shell to sell all of its 16.8% interest in Companhia de Gas de São Paulo (“Comgás”) to Cosan Ltd. Under the agreement, Shell will exchange its ~21.8 million common shares in Comgás for Cosan S.A. Indústria e Comércio (“Cosan SA”) shares plus cash. read more

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is seeking to sell its 17 percent stake in the Mukhaizna oil field in Oman, which could fetch up to $200 million, banking sources said. 

The sale process is led by investment bank Rothschild, the sources said.

Shell and Rothschild did not respond to requests for comment. 

The Mukhaizna heavy oil field, operated by Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N), reached an average oil production rate of 127,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2016, according to Occidental’s annual report. read more

STEPHEN BARTHOLOMEUSZ: Business columnist, Melbourne: 10 Oct 2017

Shell Australia’s new chair, Zoe Yujnovich, has injected what for some will be an uncomfortable dose of reality into what has been a generally misleading debate about the role that the three big Queensland export LNG plants have played in the east coast energy crisis.

In an address to the national energy summit yesterday, Ms Yujnovich took issue with the widely accepted narrative that exports from the three plants off Gladstone have created a shortage of gas on the east coast and driven a spectacular surge in gas prices for households and manufacturers. read more

Shell Pipeline Co. LP continues to secure easements for the two-leg Falcon Ethane pipeline that would extend into West Virginia and Ohio. The company will need various federal, state and local approvals for the pipeline.

The Pennsylvania DEP is working to determine if the application is complete before it moves ahead with the actual review. Construction of the pipeline, which would have a capacity of more than 100,000 b/d, is expected to begin between 2018 and 2019. Shell is constructing the cracker in western Pennsylvania’s Beaver County and plans to start operations in the early 2020s. FULL ARTICLE read more

OCTOBER 9, 2017

* Wheatstone had been due to start shipping in mid-2017

* First cargo expected in “coming weeks”

* Wheatstone LNG will produce 8.9 million tpy at full capacity (Adds trader, Woodside comments, chart, factbox in related content section)

By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Chevron Corp said on Monday it has started producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Wheatstone project in Australia, slightly later than expected, and plans to ship its first cargo soon. read more

Oct 7, 2017: One of Amazon’s considerations in choosing a location for its second headquarters is quality of life. If Amazon gets wind of what emissions will spew forth from the Shell cracker plant under construction in Beaver County — and surely it knows — it doesn’t bode well. For any of us.

We, Amazon or otherwise, are all downwind of the pollutants yet to come, with intimidating names like VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and NOs (nitrogen oxides), which combine to make ozone, which makes it hard to breathe. The projected amount is three times that emitted at our Clairton Coke Works. The projected emission of CO2, carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is over 2 million tons annually. read more

October 06, 2017, 04:44:00 PM EDT By Zacks Equity Research

Two major Californian cities – San Francisco and Oakland – have filed lawsuits against five oil and energy super majors in late September. The cities have taken legal action against Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell plc, ExxonMobil Corp. and BP p.l.c.

The companies have been accused of causing an adverse impact on the climate, resulting in global warming. The plaintiffs hold these fossil fuel companies accountable for rising sea levels, changing landscapes, higher global temperatures and increased risk of storms and droughts. read more

Operating in the wholesale electricity market since 2014, Shell Energy A.Ş. is poised to begin retail electricity trade in Turkey, particularly in the industrial sector, a report by the Dünya daily has claimed.

The global energy giant has operated in Turkey since the foundation of the Republic in 1923. Now, it is planning to expand its operations in natural gas, electricity and non-carbon energy. For electricity generation, the company is looking to benefit from renewable energy sources. read more

2017 October 5 15:37

Gazprom and Shell have confirmed their interest in implementation of the Baltic LNG project, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Aleksandr Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Board, Gazprom, and Maarten Wetselaar, Integrated Gas and New Energies Director, Shell, as saying at the 7th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum (SPIGF-2017).

“Baltic LNG project will develop and we are participating in it financially”, said Maarten Wetselaar.

According to Shell, global LNG demand is 265 mln t per year and its growth prospects are good, particularly due to the markets of China, India and other Asian countries. read more

* Australia LNG exports tipped to rise to 74 mt in 2018-19

* Australia’s share of Japan, Korea LNG imports seen growing

* Iron ore price forecast raised to $64 for 2017

SYDNEY, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Australia expects to increase exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 16 percent from mid-2018 as $180 billion in new projects hit their stride, nearly catching up with Qatar, the world’s top supplier.

Rising LNG exports coupled with higher prices for steel-making commodities and thermal coal should see Australia’s overall resource and energy export earnings increase 2 percent in the year to end-June 2018, to a record A$211 billion ($165 billion), the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science said on Friday. read more