Shell’s long term vision of oil prices is rather negative, leading to moves to cut reliance on high-cost projects.
Natural gas on the other hand is seen as a growth industry for the longer term, which is why it invests in upstream, as well as downstream & LNG.
While I think Shell’s views on oil prices going forward is overly negative, I do think that prices will be volatile, so it is the right strategy.
Perhaps nothing highlights Shell’s (RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) current leadership mindset more than its decision to sell its oil sands interests for net $7.25 billion last year. It is a mindset borne out of the belief at the top of this company’s leadership structure that there is a strong probability that oil prices will stay weak for perhaps decades to come, as demand destruction due to environmental concerns, as well as technological change will perhaps cause a peak in demand as soon as a decade from now. I personally do not share this view, yet as an investor in this company I am glad that it is making some of the structural changes that Shell is currently undertaking, because I do believe that it will transform it into one of the better energy companies out there. It will not only thrive during the good times, but it will also prove to be resilient during the bad.read more
LONDON (Reuters) – More than $200 billion of investment in liquefied natural gas is needed to meet a boom in demand by 2030, Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s top LNG trader, said on Monday.
The LNG market is set to continue its rapid expansion into 2020 as facilities approved for construction in the first half of the decade come on line, in a development expected easily to meet sharp growth in consumption of the super-chilled fuel.
But a decline in spending in the sector since 2014 as a result of weaker energy prices will create a supply gap from the mid-2020s unless new investments emerge, Shell said in its 2018 LNG Outlook.read more
Feb 26th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell reports that the market in liquefied natural gas, or LNG, reached 293 million tons in 2017, 30 percent higher than expected.
Despite the growth, Shell warns that the market could face a shortage of LNG by the mid-2020s due to underinvestment in new projects.
The root of the problem is a mismatch between the types of contracts buyers and sellers prefer, which may delay investments in new LNG capacity, Shell says.
Royal Dutch Shell says the world could be grappling with a shortage of liquefied natural gas within a decade due to underinvestment in new projects.
The Anglo-Dutch energy giant issued the warning in its second annual LNG outlook, which reports on developments in the booming market for natural gas cooled to liquid form for export. Shell says the market for LNG grew by 29 million tons last year, 30 percent more than previously expected.
Trading in LNG reached 293 million tons in 2017, up from just 100 million tons at the turn of the century. At nearly 300 million tons, suppliers shipped enough LNG last year to power about 575 million homes, by Shell’s count.read more
Feb 26th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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A consortium — including oil producers BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil ASA — has been developing a blockchain-based platform for physical oil trades.
Every day, dozens of oil tankers — some as long as five football fields — set sail for ports around the world carrying millions of barrels of crude and a piece of paper that generations of sea captains have held as dear as their cargo.
The bill of lading is the document that verifies ownership of a commodity that can be worth more than $122 million per ship. Without it, buyers and sellers who trade $2.7 billion of crude daily are unable to do business in an ocean-going tanker market that supplies almost half of the oil consumed globally.read more
Feb 24th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Local Input~ Aerial View of the Bear Head LNG Project Site, Nova Scotia, Canada. Photo: Courtesy of Liquefied Natural Gas Limited. 0211 biz gmo bearhead
Lost in the hyper-focus on British Columbia and its persistent obstruction of energy infrastructure development is the East Coast, where two liquefied natural gas projects are quietly moving forward in Nova Scotia.
Both Bear Head LNG to be located on the north bank of the Strait of Canso and Pieridae Energy in Goldboro are at different phases of their progress, but unlike what’s going on in B.C. there is a marked absence of opposition.read more
Royal Dutch Shell plans to shut for a planned overhaul the 92,000-bpd gasoline producing unit at its refinery at Convent, Louisiana, for some six weeks starting in June, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting sources familiar with the refinery’s plans.
The gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at the 227,586-bpd Convent refinery, as well as the alkylation unit with 16,500 bpd capacity, are planned to be shut for an overhaul this summer, after Shell scrapped plans in November last year to permanently close the gasoline-producing unit at Convent.read more
Feb 24th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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London (Platts)–23 Feb 2018 510 am EST/1010 GMT
Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan oil field is achieving new production highs every month and has done better than 300,000 b/d, but development beyond the current phase is likely to be about “discretionary step-ups” rather than giant steps, Shell country chair and vice president Olivier Lazare said Thursday.
Speaking at the IP Week conference in London, Lazare declined to specify the current production level, saying there were still reliability issues with the first phase, which started producing in 2016 after more than $50 billion of investment and multiple delays, and has a target of 370,000 b/d.read more
The technology, which creates secure ledgers for digital transactions and rapidly accelerates the pace at which transactions can be made, has the potential to disrupt every major industry: real estate, shipping, banking and healthcare.read more
Feb 22nd, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Reuters Staff: 19 FEB 2018
AMSTERDAM, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Dutch gas company NAM on Monday said it sees no need for further measures at the Groningen field after a recent series of relatively small earthquakes in the region.
The Dutch gas sector regulator last week ordered a new review of production at the field in the north of the Netherlands, after three tremors with magnitudes of 1.7 to 2.2 between Feb. 8 and Feb. 11.
After a 3.4 earthquake in January the Dutch government already said it would cut Groningen production by 44 percent as quickly as possible, while ordering the immediate shutdown of five production points in the earthquake-prone field.read more
The group is hardly the first to consider simplification. Royal Dutch Shell moved its HQ to The Hague in 2005, keeping its primary listing in Britain. Royal Dutch Shell kept its incorporation and main listing in the UK, reflecting the sense that it wanted to seize opportunities to issue equity and grow in a globalised market.
Feb 22nd, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell is said to be looking to buy a ‘significant stake’ in Fourth Partner Energy, a rooftop solar power firm, and may even acquire it
Thu, Feb 22 2018. 05 00 AM IST
New Delhi: Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s second-biggest publicly traded oil company, plans to acquire a majority stake in Hyderabad-based rooftop solar firm Fourth Partner Energy, two people aware of the development said.
Shell is looking to buy a “significant stake” in Fourth Partner Energy, said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity. The second person said Shell is looking to acquire a majority in the firm.
Shell’s interest in Fourth Partner Energy comes amid the central government’s ambitious plans to set up 175 gigawatt (GW) of clean energy capacity by 2022. Of this, 40GW is to come from rooftop solar projects.read more
Feb 21st, 2018
by John Donovan.
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by Greenpeace International: 21 February 2018Batangas, Philippines, 21 February 2018 – Activists from Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Philippines unfurled a banner reading “PEOPLE AND PLANET, NOT PROFIT” from Shell’s Batangas oil refinery today, sending a sharp reminder to Shell to attend upcoming hearings into the responsibility of big fossil fuel companies for climate-related human rights harms.
The activists also delivered a letter to Shell demanding they own up to their responsibility for contributions to the climate crisis, and show up at the first hearing taking place in March. The hearings are part of a world-first investigation led by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines into how climate-related human rights harms are fuelled by their business of extracting and marketing fossil fuels.
“Shell and other big fossil fuel companies continue to line their own pockets at the expense of people and the environment! People are suffering as a result – from more destructive typhoons, less fish due to warming oceans, and declining food production due to drought or heavier rainfall,” said Desiree Llanos Dee, Climate Justice Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Philippines.
“We have been trying to engage the big polluters to participate in the investigation and explain how they will change their business operations that continue to fuel climate change. But they continue to ignore the plight of people and their families, choosing profit over people and the planet, which is why activists from Greenpeace Philippines climbed the jetty at Shell’s Batangas refinery, to amplify the people’s call.”read more
Feb 21st, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell’s Norco Refinery
By Della Hasselle The Advocate (Baton Rouge): Posted Feb 20, 2018 at 12:10 PM Updated Feb 20, 2018 at 12:17 PM
When Iris Carter heard that the Shell Chemical plant near her childhood home in Norco had been ordered to spend $10 million on pollution control equipment to resolve decades of allegations that the plant was violating the federal Clean Air Act, she felt a variety of emotions.
She was frustrated, she said, and angry. But she wasn’t surprised. As Carter sees it, this should have happened more than 20 years ago, when she and her family first helped start a campaign to abandon an area she said had become too polluted to live in.read more
The EU Commission said in a statement: “The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of Impello Limited by the Shell Petroleum Company, both of the UK. Impello is an independent energy supplier to household customers in the UK and Germany, active under the brand First Utility.”read more
Feb 20th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it’s potentially interested in BHP Billiton Ltd.’s oil assets on sale in the Permian basin in the U.S. as it seeks to boost its role in shale.
The Anglo-Dutch company entered the prolific oil region in 2012 and plans to expand its position and generate positive cash flow next year, Andy Brown, Shell’s upstream director, said in an interview on Tuesday. The Permian offers production costs as low as $15 a barrel and is the driving force behind the current surge in U.S. output.read more
Feb 20th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell gives $1 million to CCBC for process technology program
By Paul J. Gough – Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times
Shell will give $1 million to the Community College of Beaver County to fortify CCBC’s process-technology program ahead of Shell’s ethane cracker being built a few miles away from campus. “Our partnership with the college has been developed and strengthened over the past several years and epitomizes the type of collaborative educational partnerships we strive to build in our communities,” said Shell Chemicals VP Hilary Mercer.
Feb 20th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Ron Bousso, Dmitry Zhdannikov: FEBRUARY 20,2018
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will expand deepwater output and turn a profit from its shale production in coming years as both together will help the oil major cope with a world of low crude prices, the head of its oil and gas production said on Tuesday.
Shell’s deepwater production in Brazil, Nigeria, the Gulf of Mexico is much bigger and more profitable, but the firm sees the nimble, fast-returns U.S. onshore shale as an engine for growth.
“We can see strong (shale) production growth, strong cash surpluses that gives us a balance in our portfolio where you can ramp investment up and down, you can moderate that, very unlike deepwater which is quite chunky,” Andy Brown told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IP Week conference.read more
Feb 19th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Reuters Staff: FEBRUARY 19, 2018
* Royal Dutch Shell has appointed Jacek Dziembaj as head of oil products trading and supply, according to an internal announcement seen by Reuters.
* Dziembaj will be based in London and assume his new role from April 9.
* Dziembaj’s appointment follows the naming in December of Mark Quartermain as head of crude oil trading at the Anglo-Dutch company.
* Dziembaj has 26 years of experience in Shell, including working in the retail and lubricants businesses and most recently as vice president retail Europe/South Africa.read more
MILAN (Reuters) – Global dividends rose 7.7 percent to an all-time high of $1.25 trillion (1 trillion euros) last year boosted by a buoyant world economy and rising corporate confidence, Janus Henderson (JHG.N) said on Monday, predicting another record year ahead.
The surge – the strongest since 2014 – was driven by increases in every region and almost every industry with record showings in 11 countries including the United States, Japan, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Netherlands, the investment manager added.read more
Maarten Wetselaar, head of Shell’s “new energy” strategy, predicts the proportion of worldwide energy consumption met by electricity would increase from less than 20 per cent today to about half in coming decades. Mr Wetselaar declines to comment on speculation that Shell’s next target could be the Dutch utility Eneco. But he says: “If we’re going to build a power business that is meaningful to Shell — a real fourth pillar alongside oil, gas and chemicals — we will need to do more of these deals.”read more
A little more than a month after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City will take the fossil fuel industry to court, Paris says it is following suit.
In early January, de Blasio announced that the city filed a lawsuit against five of the United States’ biggest oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell—on the grounds that they have contributed to global warming. The city will also divest from fossil fuel companies over a five-year period.
On Feb. 6, 350.org—which has been working on a divestment campaign for the last four years—announced that Paris was looking into the possibility of suing the fossil fuel industry as well.
The City Council passed a motion to study the possibility of taking legal action against oil companies to cover expenses associated with protecting Paris from the impacts of climate change.
The Council plans to lobby other major cities like London to ban fossil fuels from their investments through the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, whose president is Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.read more
Eni’s strong performance has been clouded by allegations of bribery related to a $1.3bn deal in 2011 to acquire one of Nigeria’s largest untapped oilfields. Mr Descalzi and several other current and former executives are due to stand trial for alleged corruption in Milan in March. Mr Descalzi has denied wrongdoing and Eni’s board has maintained its “full confidence” in him. read more
The end of the Peronist hold on Argentine politics and rise of pro-business president Mauricio Macri has heralded in a new age for what was long regarded as one of the most economically unstable nations in Latin America.
The former Buenos Aires mayor and businessman won the presidency in 2015, ousting his mercurial populist Peronist predecessor Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Since coming to power, Macri has worked to restructure a shattered economy ruined by decades of market warping tariffs and subsidies, protectionism, heavy handed regulation, rampant inflation and unsustainable fiscal policies.read more
Feb 16th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Norbert Barthle (Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport), Thomas Bystry (Project Manager Shell), Michael Reinhardt (Project Manager Air Liquide) and Sybille Riepe (H2 Mobility) at the opening in Wendlingen
H2 Mobility Deutschland, Shell and Air Liquide today jointly opened the first hydrogen (H2) station in the district of Esslingen – the twelfth in Baden-Württemberg, taking another step towards a nationwide H2 supply network in Germany.read more
Feb 16th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Saetre, Pouyanne & van Beurden in Oslo, Feb. 15 2018.: Photographer: Kyrre Lien/Bloomberg
Three of the world’s biggest oil companies called on Norway to help maintain funding for carbon capture and storage technology that is stagnating amid concerns about whether it can ever be cost-effective.
The chief executive officers of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and Norway’s state-controlled Statoil ASA gathered on the sidelines of an energy conference in Oslo to make the case for a flagship Norwegian project, in which the companies plan to store CO2 emissions under the North Sea after they’ve been shipped and piped from onshore industrial plants.read more
For nearly 40 years, a 350-foot-tall metal frame in the Gulf of Mexico supported a platform that pumped oil and gas from the seafloor. The 3,000-tonstructure was recently converted into an artificial reef off the coast of Louisiana, where it will serve as habitat for fish and other marine life.
Shell’s Cougar platform was installed in 1981 and produced about 31 million barrels of oil and gas over its lifetime, said Shell external relations advisor, Theodore Rolfvondenbaumen. The platform was recently decommissioned and the deck and topside were brought back to shore. The metal frame of the structure was donated to Louisiana’s Artificial Reef Program.read more
Feb 15th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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ABUJA, Feb 15 (Reuters) – A Nigerian court has set a hearing over a disputed 2011 oilfield deal for June 18, the country’s financial crimes watchdog said on Thursday, part of a string of international corruption probes into the purchase.
The case relates to a purchase of the offshore OPL 245 oilfield in Nigeria by oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and Eni in 2011.
At the core of the case is a $1.3 billion payment from Shell and Eni to secure the block from Malabu Oil and Gas, allegedly controlled by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete.read more
As the British-Dutch oil company pushes to return to the Ogoniland region, civil society actors warn about the risk for human rights that its presence would pose. Since the beginning of Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta in 1957, the company has been responsible for the ruthless exploitation of natural resources in the area, severely degrading the living conditions of the population. Should it succeed in its intention to regain the activity in the region, the respect for the rights of the Ogoni would once again be placed at risk.read more
Feb 15th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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by Bloomberg: Brian Eckhouse & Kelly Gilblom
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s second-biggest oil company, is expanding its bet on renewable energy.
Shell’s North American unit agreed to provide a credit line for trading and a revolving loan facility to Inspire Energy Holdings LLC, according to a statement Wednesday. The Santa Monica, California-based clean-power, smart-home and energy-management company will use the funds to expand its reach. Terms weren’t disclosed.
While Shell and its major rivals still have the bulk of their investments in oil and natural gas, they are taking steps to diversify. Shell agreed in January to buy a 44 percent stake in Nashville-based Silicon Ranch Corp., which owns and operates about 100 U.S. solar plants. A month earlier, the Anglo-Dutch company bought First Utility Ltd., the U.K.’s seventh-largest power provider. And that followed deals last year for electric-car charging networks in Europe.read more
Feb 15th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Anjli Raval, Oil & Gas Correspondent
This corner of the Netherlands has for decades been blighted by earthquakes triggered by extraction from the Groningen gasfield, discovered in 1959 and the largest in Europe. But their frequency and magnitude have been increasing, damaging houses and infrastructure and agitating communities who blame the government and two of the world’s biggest energy companies for billions of euros in damage.
Law360 (February 14, 2018, 6:12 PM EST) — The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday, saying it had concerns about the potential impact of Shell’s proposed hydro-battery project on cultural resources and the environment.
LONDON (Reuters) – Penguins, Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) latest oil and gas development in a remote corner of the British North Sea, epitomizes the new doctrine for deepwater projects — keep it cheap and simple.
Shunned during the oil price crash of 2014-2016, deepwater projects are being embraced again, a challenge to the surge in onshore U.S. shale output.
Penguins, the first new major deepwater project this year, will rejuvenate the 44-year-old field by drilling 8 new wells 165 meters (541 feet) underwater and connecting them to a new production vessel.read more
Feb 14th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Libby George, Tife Owolabi: 14 FEB 2018
LONDON/YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) – The Court of Appeal in London ruled on Wednesday that two Nigerian communities cannot pursue Royal Dutch Shell in English courts over oil spills in Nigeria’s Delta region.
The split decision upheld a High Court ruling last year that was a setback to attempts to hold British multinationals liable at home for their subsidiaries’ actions abroad.
The court rejected the appeal from law firm Leigh Day on behalf of Nigeria’s Bille and Ogale communities, and upheld a ruling that English courts do not have jurisdiction over claims against Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
SPDC is jointly operated with the Nigerian government.read more
Feb 14th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Responding to a Court of Appeals judgement that two Niger Delta communities cannot have their case against oil giant Shell heard in the UK because the parent company cannot be held liable for the actions of its Nigerian subsidiary, Joe Westby, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on Business and Human Rights, said:
“With this ruling the court has struck a blow not only to the Ogale and Bille communities, who live everyday with the devastating consequences of Shell oil spills, but with victims of corporate human rights abuses all over the world. This ruling sets a dangerous precedent and will make it more difficult to hold UK companies to account.read more
Oil giant Shell has defeated the latest legal bid by thousands of Nigerians to have their damages claims over pollution dealt with by the English courts.
Last year, a judge in London made a ruling which meant that any compensation actions by two Nigerian communities affected by oil spills would have to be heard in Nigeria.
The communities later went to the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision of Mr Justice Fraser.
On Wednesday, judges in London dismissed their appeal by a majority of two to one.read more
Feb 14th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell Energy will partner with Inspire to accelerate consumer adoption of clean energy, with plans to grow to over one million Inspire members
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Inspire, a consumer technology company focused on enabling everyone to have a smart home powered by clean energy, announced today that it has entered into a multi-year strategic relationship with Shell Energy North America. Under the arrangement, Shell will provide Inspire with a broad range of services to support the company’s aggressive expansion plans over the next several years, including a credit line for trading and a revolving credit facility. Shell’s support will facilitate Inspire’s purchase of clean energy products and accelerate membership growth, with capacity for over one million members. The new arrangement comes on the heels of Shell’s recent commitment to increase its development of new energies, spending up to $2 billion a year until 2020.read more
Feb 14th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell and Eni paid $1.3 billion for oil rights in Nigeria. Whether the money was mostly a bribe is at the heart of one of the industry’s most dramatic criminal cases
EXTRACTS
By Sarah Kent in Abuja, Nigeria, and Eric Sylvers in Milan: Feb. 13, 2018 12:40 p.m. ET
A top oil executive walked into the marble lobby of an exclusive Milan hotel on a chilly winter night. His dinner date was a former Nigerian oil minister offering to sell one of Africa’s biggest untapped oil discoveries.
Eight years later, the question of whether the $1.3 billion paid for the license to that prized oil field was mostly a bribe is at the heart of one of the biggest bribery scandals the oil industry has ever seen.
Shell executives, including Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s global exploration and production chief at the time of the deal, will also be tried on those charges, as well as both companies. Eni and Shell both deny wrongdoing, saying they simply paid the government and didn’t know the money would be used for …read more
Feb 12th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Reuters Staff: 12 FEB 2018
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Shell Chemical LP will install a $10 million pollution monitoring and control system at its Norco, Louisiana, chemical plant as part of a settlement over allegations it violated the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday.
In a statement, the department said Shell Chemical would also pay $350,000 in civil penalties as part of the consent decree.
Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoeread more
Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) Shell Chemical LP will install and operate a $10M pollution monitoring and control system at its Norco, La., chemical plant as part of a settlement over allegations it violated the Clean Air Act, the Department of Justice says.
The pollution controls are estimated to reduce air emissions of volatile organic compounds by ~159 tons/year and cut other harmful air pollutants, including benzene, by 18 tons/year.
Shell Chemical also will pay $350K in civil penalties as part of the consent decree.read more
LONDON (Reuters) – With years of austerity in their rear-view mirrors, the world’s biggest oil companies are locked in a beauty contest to lure investors with promises of growth and greater rewards.
Royal Dutch Shell and Total are emerging as frontrunners after a three-year slump thanks to strong growth projections but Exxon Mobil, the biggest publicly traded oil company, has largely disappointed with a weaker outlook.
Major oil companies slashed spending and cut costs after oil prices collapsed in 2014 and can now generate as much cash with crude at $50-$55 a barrel as they did when the price was around $100 earlier in the decade.read more
Feb 12th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 12 February 2018 – Today, Oath announces a global deal with Mediacom and Shell to take the energy brand’s “Make the Future” campaign into its next phase. The new phase brings the content of its “On Top of the World” music video to life through a crafted WebGL “Globe” activation, created by Oath’s RYOT Studio global solutions team in collaboration with UNIT9: allowing people to explore the five cleaner energy projects featured within the music video through its interactive design. The music video itself features five global artists and celebrates five cleaner energy solutions supported by Shell across four continents that are helping provide access to cleaner energy and support local communities. This content will reach Oath’s millennial and mobile audiences across five markets (US, UK, Brazil, Singapore, and India) using Tumblr and its Yahoo Gemini and BrightRoll premium video distribution and syndication channels, driving audiences to the interactive “Globe” to explore the content.read more
De Blasio announced last month that the city had filed a lawsuit against BP, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, claiming their fossil fuels produce 11 percent of the Earth’s global-warming gases.
The suit “seeks to shift the costs of protecting the city from climate-change impacts back onto the companies that have done nearly all they could to create this existential threat.”
City Hall spokesman Eric Phillips slammed the new campaign.read more
(Bloomberg) — While many oil producers are stepping back from their retail operations, Royal Dutch Shell Plc is doubling down.
Shell, which has about 44,000 filling stations around the world, opened its first one in Mexico last year, the start of $1 billion in investments over the next decade. Shell also is ramping up spending in China, India, Indonesia and Russia, Istvan Kapitany, head of Shell’s global retail business, said in an interview in Calgary.read more
Feb 10th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell said its UK energy would be “significantly organised around solar and wind”CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: February 10 2018, 12:01am,
Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to take on the Big Six energy suppliers include buying gas-fired power plants and building wind and solar farms in Britain.
The Anglo-Dutch oil company will use its network of 1,000 petrol stations to market the venture and sign up household and business energy customers, Maarten Wetselaar, an executive director of Shell, said. It aims eventually to offer related services, such as electric car charging in homes.read more
Feb 10th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Law360 (February 9, 2018, 8:37 PM EST) — Shell Oil Co. lost a bid at getting more than $300 million in oil waste cleanup costs reimbursed by a Dole real estate subsidiary when a California court ruled Thursday the regional water board’s order listing the developer as a contributor to the pollution has not…
Feb 9th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Communities like Fox Creek, Alberta, are feeling the economic benefits of the shale boom, along with fracking-linked earthquakes.
Drilling has been so intense near Fox Creek, Alberta that it’s been linked to a series of earthquakes.Brennan Linsley/AP Photo
Bloomberg News: Robert Tuttle: February 9, 2018: 12:59 PM EST
In the Western Alberta town of Fox Creek, roughnecks shuffle through hotel lobbies, freight trucks choke slushy streets and, every once in a while, tremors shake the earth.
Welcome to Canada’s biggest shale boom. Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Encana Corp., Murphy Oil Corp. and XTO Energy Inc. are among those flocking to Fox Creek to stake their claim in the oil-rich Duvernay shale formation.
Here, the prize is condensate, an ultra-light oil that’s perfect for diluting the heavy tar-sands crude for which Alberta is known. More locally produced diluent would be a plus for Canadian companies that now depend on the U.S. — and for communities like Fox Creek that are feeling the economic benefits along with fracking-linked earthquakes. More of both may be in the offing as drillers flock in Chevron’s wake into the Duvernay region.read more
Feb 9th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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FILE PHOTO: Filled oil drums are seen at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s lubricants blending plant in the town of Torzhok, north-west of Tver, November 7, 2014. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo
Ayenat MersieEjigu: 8 FEB 2018
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices fell to their lowest in seven weeks on Thursday amid fears of rising global supplies after Iran announced plans to increase production and U.S. crude output hit record highs.
Brent futures LCOc1 fell 70 cents, or 1.1 percent, to settle at $64.81 a barrel, their lowest close since Dec. 20.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1, meanwhile, was down 64 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at $61.15, its lowest close since Jan. 2.
Both benchmarks fell for the fifth straight day, the longest losing streak for Brent since November 2017 and for WTI since April 2017.
Brent futures have lost as much as 15 percent since hitting a four-year high above $71 in late January.read more
“The LNG glut — conspicuously absent isn’t it?” Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben Van Beurden said last week, in a rare display of public self-satisfaction from a modern energy major head. He had good reason to allow himself a moment’s celebration. Shell’s decision to buy BG Group in 2015 was, at least in part, a major bet on the future of LNG. It looks now like it should pay out far sooner than many in the industry anticipated.
The leaders of the world’s largest and most powerful energy companies are talking about the fight to mitigate human-caused climate change.
Some are even putting their money where their mouths are.
While some conservative political leaders still deny that the Earth is heating up due to humans burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases, the people who produce those fuels and chemicals have recognized the imperative to limit global warming to a rise of 2 degrees Celsius.read more
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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 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 …
Big Oil Goes Green: Shell Acquires VoltaFebruary 9, 2023 06:03Law Street MediaIn Big Oil’s latest foray into green energy, Shell has announced its acquisition of Volta, Inc. for $169 million.
Expected to close during the first half of 2023, the all-cash deal “builds on the momentum in electric mobility by combining one of the …
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?