Rania El Gamal: APRIL 30, 2018

DUBAI (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is fully committed to its gas joint venture in Iraq, after the energy major exited its oil assets in the OPEC country, and plans to boost its gas output there to 1.4 billion cubic feet (bcf) a day by 2020, a senior executive said.

Iraq’s gas development plans have long focused on Basra Gas Co (BGC), a $17 billion, 25-year project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell 44 percent and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) 5 percent.

The project was designed to aggregate gas from fields in the south including West Qurna 1, operated by Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N); Zubair, operated by Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI); and Rumaila, developed by BP (BP.L). read more

Tristan R. Brown: April 30, 2018

Summary

• Royal Dutch Shell’s latest Energy Transition Report contains a demand outlook for oil and gas that is quite conservative compared to its industry peers.
• The company’s demand outlook is higher than what will likely be possible if the Paris Climate Agreement’s emissions targets are to be achieved, however.
• Almost 90% of respondents in a recent survey of major asset managers believe that climate risks will have a “significant” impact on oil and gas company valuations in the near-term.

The release of two separate reports in as many weeks on how integrated oil and gas producers will manage an anticipated transition toward low-carbon energy is likely to leave investors in Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A)(RDS.B) with some questions. The company released its new Energy Transition Report earlier this month, and the final product presents its strategy for maintaining its operations even as the world’s major economies (with the exception of the U.S.) work to meet their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets under the Paris Climate Agreement. The report’s relatively phlegmatic conclusion stands in stark contrast to the results of an annual survey by the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association that identified strong concern from asset managers on the same count. read more

Workers at a project in Malaysia. Shell has operations in more than 70 countries: FLICKR

Emily Gosden: April 2018

Royal Dutch Shell reported its best quarterly profits in five years but disappointed investors yesterday by generating less cash than expected and failing to start promised share buybacks.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant said that resurgent oil and gas prices helped deliver a 69 per cent surge in profits to $5.7 billion in the first quarter — the highest since the first quarter of 2013.

Underlying profits of $5.3 billion were fractionally ahead of market forecasts but cashflow was below expectations and Shell’s shares fell 0.73 per cent. read more

Jesse Snyder: April 27, 2018 2:19 PM EDT

The consortium behind LNG Canada named the prime contractors for its $40-billion export project on Friday, taking the development forward amid concerns that steep import tariffs on some steel components could still make the project untenable.

In a decision the consortium called a “significant milestone,” LNG Canada said U.S.-based Fluor Corp. and Japan’s JGC Corp. would lead the $14-billion construction contract for the liquefied natural gas project in Kitimat on the B.C. West Coast. Construction of the facility would employ thousands of workers and take roughly five years to complete. read more

26 April 2018

ROYAL Dutch Shell finance chief Jessica Uhl has hailed a big increase in profitability in the North Sea and underlined the oil and gas giant’s commitment to the area.

As Shell posted a 42% increase in first quarter profits to $5.3bn (£3.8bn) from $3.8bn, helped by the rise in oil and gas prices, Ms Uhl indicated the North Sea has played a big part in the growth story.

“We’re seeing a really fantastic performance from our assets in the North Sea,” she told reporters. read more

By Kevin Keane: BBC Scotland’s environment correspondent: 26 April 2018

The Health and Safety Executive has written to all oil and gas operators expressing concern about the number of gas releases in the industry.

The regulator said some had come “perilously close to disaster” and that more needed to be done to tackle them.

The HSE said a “lack of leadership” was often to blame for leaks, and called for firms to review their processes.

Operators have until July to respond with a summary of their planned improvements.

The HSE has written to operators ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. The platform exploded in July 1988, leaving 167 men dead. read more

Reuters Staff: APRIL 26, 2018 / 4:02 PM

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday it would write down its reserves in the Groningen gas field, one of Europe’s largest, following the Dutch government’s decision to phase out production by 2030.

The Anglo-Dutch company holds a 50 percent stake in the field, which has seen production reduced in recent years following a series of damaging earthquakes. 

Shell said it expects to write off an estimated 0.5 to 0.65 billion barrels of oil equivalent in 2018. read more

By Janene Pieters on April 26, 2018 – 12:20

In its bookkeeping, Shell is reducing the value of its interest in NAM to zero in response to the Dutch government deciding to completely stop gas extraction in Groningen in the coming years, RTL Nieuws reports.

Dutch petroleum company NAM is responsible for gas extraction in Groningen. NAM is owned half by Shell and half by ExxonMobil. Depreciating its shares in NAM is costing Shell 244 million dollars, according to RTL.  

The Dutch government concluded that safety in Groningen can only be guaranteed if the cause of the gas extraction earthquakes in the province is completely removed. The government therefore plans to reduce gas extraction in the province to 12 billion cubic meters by 2022 at the latest. From October 2022 gas extraction will be reduced to 7.5 billion cubic meters “and possibly considerably less”. And after that it will gradually be reduced to zero. read more

Thursday 26 April 2018

Shell has written off its entire $244m investment in gas production company NAM in a move seen as a further attempt to distance itself from the troubled company.

NAM is a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil and faces huge damages claims because of the earthquakes in Groningen province which have been caused by the extraction of natural gas.

The one-off charge was booked in first-quarter earnings published on Thursday, according to the Financieele Dagblad. read more

Ron Bousso

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported a 42 percent rise in profits in the first quarter of 2018, the highest in over three years, boosted by higher oil prices and beating analysts’ expectations.

Net income attributable to shareholders in the quarter, based on a current cost of supplies (CCS) and excluding identified items, rose to $5.322 billion from a year ago, compared with a company-provided analysts’ consensus of $5.277 billion.

A year ago, net income was $3.754 billion. read more

Shell said that it was selling its downstream business in ­Argentina, which includes 645 petrol stationsMARCOS BRINDICCI/REUTERS

Emily Gosden: April 25. 2018

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to offload its refining and marketing business in Argentina to its Brazilian joint venture for $950 million.

In the latest stage of a $30 billion divestment programme, the Anglo-Dutch energy group said that it was selling its downstream business in Argentina, which includes a refinery in Buenos Aires, 645 petrol stations and operations selling liquefied petroleum gas, marine and aviation fuels. read more

Shell rendering of its Vito deep-water development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Vito will feature a new, simplified host design and associated infrastructure.

HOUSTON, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, today announces the final investment decision for Vito, a deep-water development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with a forward-looking, break-even price estimated to be less than $35 per barrel. This decision sets in motion the construction and fabrication of a new, simplified host design and subsea infrastructure. read more

The Dutch supermajor is selling off everything from its retail stations to a refinery in Argentina, but won’t give up its stake on the Vaca Muerta shale.

By Daniel J. Graeber: April 24, 2018

April 24 (UPI) — The Vaca Muerta shale formation in Argentina has substantial growth potential remaining, Shell said Tuesday after it unloaded its downstream business.

For close to $1 billion in cash, Royal Dutch Shell said it was selling off everything from its retail service stations to its refinery in Buenos Aires to Raízen, the third largest energy company in Brazil. After the close, Shell will still have a footprint in the downstream, or refinery side, of the energy sector in Argentina. read more

Reuters Staff: APRIL 24, 2018

April 24 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC:

* SHELL – SHELL TO SELL ITS DOWNSTREAM BUSINESS IN ARGENTINA TO RAÍZEN

* SHELL – SALE INCLUDES BUENOS AIRES REFINERY, AROUND 645 RETAIL STATIONS, LPG, MARINE FUELS, AVIATION FUELS, BITUMEN, CHEMICALS AND LUBRICANTS BUSINESSES

* SHELL – SALE DOES NOT INCLUDE SHELL’S UPSTREAM INTERESTS IN THE VACA MUERTA SHALE FORMATION

* SHELL SAYS “SEES SUBSTANTIAL LONG-TERM GROWTH POTENTIAL IN ARGENTINA’S SHALE RESOURCES” Source text (go.shell.com/2qUesxW) Further company coverage: read more

Henning Gloystein: APRIL 24, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Shell and Inpex are on the final stretch of a years-long race to export gas from offshore northern Australia, where both have spent billions of dollars building the world’s biggest maritime vessels to grab a slice of Asia’s booming LNG market.

Anglo-Dutch energy major Royal Dutch Shell and Inpex, Japan’s biggest oil and gas producer, are vying for first gas from two overlapping fields after delays and cost overruns that have plagued both projects. 

The pair have spent billions on offshore facilities, including Shell’s 490 meter (1,600 ft) long Prelude floating liquefied natural gas unit and Inpex’s Ichthys Explorer semi-submersible platform, both the world’s largest of their class. read more

Shell reported underlying profits of $16 billion last yearDANIEL KALISZ/GETTY IMAGES

Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: April 23 2018

Royal Dutch Shell is expected to report its strongest quarterly results since 2014 this week.

Boosted by the rebound in oil prices, the Anglo-Dutch energy company is expected to announce underlying profits of $5.3 billion for the three months up to March, compared with $3.8 billion in the same period last year.

Such a result would be the first time that profits have topped $5 billion since the third quarter of 2014, when crude prices were just beginning to fall below $100 a barrel. read more

An atmosphere of unrest is looming over Ogoni land, following the renewal request by Shell Petroleum Development Company for Oil Mining Leases (OML11).

Already, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and Ken Saro-Wiwa Associates (KSWA) have intensified mobilisation of the people for a possible showdown with authorities over the development, coming when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report for the cleanup of Ogoni is yet to be implemented.

Shell has consistently maintained it is not interested in returning to Ogoni. The Guardian, however, discovered it wrote a letter dated October 16, 2017 to the Minister of State for Petroleum, seeking the renewal of its lease, due to expire June 2019.  read more

Big Oil is under pressure to clean up its act CREDIT: MARY ALTAFFER/AP

Jillian Ambrose, energy editor

Europe’s largest oil super-major is not really an oil company, according to the boss of Royal Dutch Shell.

This is just as well for the energy giant, which plans to halve its carbon emissions within the coming decades as it bids to bring its offering in line with the global war on climate change.

“If anything we are more a gas and oil company, and on top of it, of course, we are a much broader energy company, as well,” Ben van Beurden insists. read more

Nikkei staff writers: April 21, 2018 05:23 JST

TOKYO — An international consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell and includes China National Petroleum Corp., Korea Gas and Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp. is moving ahead on a long-stalled liquefied natural gas plant in Canada, as environmental concerns drive Asia toward cleaner energy sources.

Japanese plant engineering company JGC and American counterpart Fluor jointly won orders to design and build the project in the British Columbia community of Kitimat on Canada’s Pacific coast for an estimated $14 billion. read more

By Tsvetana Paraskova – Apr 20, 2018, 10:00 PM CDT

Oil major Shell has snapped up over 8 million barrels of June-loading crude oil grades from the Middle East and Russia and has resold some of the cargoes in Asia, taking advantage of the strong Asian demand, Reuters reported on Friday, citing five trading sources.

Wider Brent premium over the Middle Eastern benchmark Dubai this month has made Atlantic crude oil supplies more expensive than the Middle Eastern and Russian supplies, which are priced off the Dubai benchmark. read more

• Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari met with Shell on Wednesday as part of talks that could lead to a $15 billion investment in his country.
• Oil accounts for approximately 35 percent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product, according to OPEC.

Justina Crabtree | @jlacrabtree: 19 April 2018

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with Shell on Wednesday as part of talks he said were to secure $15 billion of investment in his country.

“I saw Shell Group, they came here, they saw me, they are preparing to invest $15 billion in Nigeria… so really, we are not doing too badly,” Buhari said to applause at the Commonwealth Business Forum in London on Wednesday. He was speaking as part of a panel on the ease of doing business between Commonwealth countries. read more

Martin Sorrell’s departure as chief executive officer of WPP Plc comes at a sensitive time for the world’s largest advertising company as it faces an intense period of fighting to keep major clients.

Here are some key accounts that WPP will want to defend from rivals such as Publicis Groupe SA and Omnicom Group Inc. after his departure:

4. Shell

Europe’s largest energy company Royal Dutch Shell Plc is reviewing its global creative and media account, held by WPP’s J. Walter Thompson and MediaCom for decades, according to The Drum. The account is worth more than $200 million, according to AdAge. read more

The world’s biggest oil companies, for long typecast as villains of climate change, are seeking to reinvent themselves as environmental pioneers.

“We’re not going to be sitting back and say let’s see what society does and we’ll follow that,” said Ben van Beurden, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. “We’re more than prepared to be assertive and lean forward and say: ‘This is what it takes.”’

Irked by a shareholder resolution that would force Europe’s largest oil company to create specific emissions targets, the CEO took the unusual step of engaging with five reporters on Monday about Shell’s vision for a decarbonized world. Not only is Shell implementing its own, much stronger, measures to manage the energy transition, according to Van Beurden, but it can also drag the rest of the world along with it. read more

Reuters Staff: APRIL 17, 2018

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said it will resume deep-water exploration for oil and gas off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, Executive Vice President Sami Iskander told a news conference on Tuesday.

Egypt is looking to production from recently discovered fields to halt energy imports by 2019.

A petroleum ministry official said last month that new production at Shell’s West Nile Delta field 9B is expected to reach 350-400 million cubic feet per day by 2019. read more

Tristan R. Brown: Apr. 16, 2018 12:44 PM ET

Summary

• A Netherlands environmental NGO has threatened to bring yet another climate change lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell if it does not fundamentally change its business operations.
• While multinational corporations are constantly being threatened with legal action, this specific one is unique.
• It has the hallmarks of recent climate lawsuits against Shell in the U.S., but would be based in a court system that has mandated stricter climate policy before.

Can non-shareholder private entities force oil and gas companies to accept lower returns on capital? Investors in Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B) will receive an answer to this question if an environmental NGO moves forward with a threatened lawsuit in the Netherlands that would require the company to do exactly that.

Notably, Shell recently committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% through 2050 via billions of dollars of investments in renewable energy capacity. The NGO in question, Friends of the Earth Netherlands (aka Milieudefensie), deems this effort insufficient and insists that the company must abandon its oil and gas reserves and be “net zero” (i.e., no net emissions of greenhouse gases) by that date instead. While Shell’s investors largely shrugged off the threat (see figure), if they even noticed it at all, the development represents the opening of a new front in the lawsuits being waged by U.S. municipalities against the company and its Big Oil competitors. read more

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) urges shareholders to oppose a resolutionfrom activist investors that would hold the company to firm targets for cutting carbon emissions, even as it reiterates its commitment to fighting climate change.

Climate activist Follow This is offering a resolution for Shell’s May 22 annual general meeting urging the company to set more aggressive targets aligned with the Paris climate deal goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.

“We will not be tied to an approach that potentially moves too quickly or too slowly to this transition,” says CEO Ben van Beurden. “If society finds a way to go faster, we will go faster… but we cannot do it single-handedly.” read more

Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden has the same message for activists seeking to bind Royal Dutch Shell Plc to deep emissions cuts, and investors concerned about the merits of shifting away from oil and gas: Trust me.

He advised shareholders on Monday to reject a resolution from climate group Follow This that would set clear targets for the company’s greenhouse-gas emissions, more specific than its current broad “ambition.” He also reiterated his intention for Shell to make most of its money from clean energy in 20 years, such as renewables, hydrogen or carbon capture in 20 years.  read more

Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell defended its ambition to cut carbon emissions on Monday, urging investors to oppose a shareholder resolution arguing that the oil and gas giant is not doing enough to meet international targets to tackle climate change.

The Anglo-Dutch company, like many of its peers, has faced growing investor pressure to address the need to reduce fossil fuel burning, forcing it to seek a delicate balance with a need to secure growing returns from its traditional business. read more

By Janene Pieters on Monday April 16, 2018

Shell “should have been more assertive” in its warnings about climate change, Ben van Beurden, CEO of the Dutch oil and gas giant said in a podcast by Studio Energie. Environmental group Milieudefensie recently filed a lawsuit against Shell for the role it played in the climate problems the world currently faces. 

In 1991 Shell released a film that outlined a disturbing picture of the problems climate change will cause in the future. “Perhaps we should have talked louder, maybe we should have made a bigger problem out if it? To be honest, I think, if we look back on that, we could and should have been more assertive”, Van Beurden said in the podcast, according to NOS. “Because now the problem is put on us, while ultimately it is of course a much broader social problem.”  read more

April 13, 2018

Economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes is embroiled in a dispute with Shell and ExxonMobil about the bill for closing the gas taps in Groningen, broadcaster NOS said on Friday.

The dispute revolves around a potential billion euro claim facing the Dutch state from the oil giants, NOS says. It bases its claim on documents obtained using freedom of information legislation.

If the plans goes ahead to close off the Groningen fields by 2030, some €50bn to €125bn worth of gas will remain underground. And documents from 2016 show the oil companies will make a claim against the Dutch state for lost income, the broadcaster said. read more

Milieudefensie and Groningen residents dump fracking earthquake rubble in front of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague, 26 Oct 2017. Photo: @milieudefensie / Twitter

Shell and Exxon wants the government to pay them billions of euros in compensation for the gas that will not be extracted from Groningen now that the government is gradually reducing gas production in the province to zero, NOS reports.

With the government’s plans to stop gas extraction in Groningen, between 50 and 120 billion euros of gas will remain un-mined, according to documents NOS got by appealing to the freedom of information act. The oil companies want compensation for that. Previously Minister Erik Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate said that the government “does not want a claim for damage over the gas remaining in the ground”, according to the broadcaster.  read more

Photo: Michael Macor, Staff / The Chronicle

By Jordan Blum: April 13, 2018 Updated: April 13, 2018 8:19am

What did you know and when did you know it? Those are the questions increasingly directed at Big Oil as concerns about global warming, rising sea levels and climate change grow.

For a few years now, Exxon Mobil has faced a bombardment of allegations — which the Texas oil company denies — that it knew about climate change related to fossil fuels in the 1970s and buried the evidence. State investigations in New York and Massachusetts continue to focus on whether Exxon Mobil misled the public and the company’s investors. read more

Current oil reserves are only part of the equation for assessing future risks.

The 92220 Evening Star was the last steam locomotive built by British Rail, back in 1960. It was retired only five years later, as diesel and electrification consigned the age of steam to history.

Building an engine and using it for only five years is a great way to waste investment. Which is why there’s a raging debate today about stranded assets in the fossil-fuels business. Given the planet’s diminishing capacity to absorb greenhouse gases without potentially catastrophic environmental effects, there is an implied cap on how much more oil, gas and coal can be used (absent some major breakthrough in carbon-capture technology). And, as happened with the Evening Star, rival ways to power transportation threaten to overturn the internal combustion engine’s dominance. So producers increasingly face questions about whether some of their oil and gas reserves will ever actually be produced — with obvious implications for their stocks. read more

FILE PHOTO: Electric car chargers are seen at the Holloway Road Shell station where Shell is launching its first fast electric vehicle charging station in London, Britain October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Mary Turner/File Photo

Shell has one of the lowest reserves life ratio among its peers and last year it saw reserves plunging to new lows after divesting a large number of assets.

The major now sits on 12.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, down from 13.2 billion at the end of 2016, and enough to sustain the current annual production of 1.383 billion barrels for less than nine years. read more

Oil giant Shell said today that it will continue to “sell the oil and gas that society needs” but is also positioning itself to transition further into low-carbon energy when it “makes commercial sense”.

Shell’s Energy Transition Report outlines the firm’s continued commitment to oil exploration while setting out its strategy for the future changes in the energy sector.

The oil company said that it estimates that 80% of its current proven oil reserves “will be produced” by 2030, and only expects to see 20% production after that time.

In today’s report, Shell said outlined that it will look to invest up to £3.5billion in conventional oil and gas and the same amount again in oil products, while also investing up to £1.4billion in new renewable energies. read more

By Daniel J. Graeber  |  April 12, 2018

April 12 (UPI) — A transition to a cleaner economy is underway as evidenced by a rate of decline in global oil demand, but it’s a long journey, Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday.

The Dutch supermajor has committed to reducing its carbon footprint in half by 2050 and said it would invest about $2 billion per year on alternative energy solutions until the end of the decade. CEO Ben van Beurden said that Shell would play its part in meeting global energy demand with cleaner options. read more

Indigenous energy firm, Neconde, has sued International Oil Company (IOC), Royal Dutch Shell in London, for allegedly refusing to make remittances to it after it had bought a stake in controversial oil block Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42. In late March, Shell had instituted a criminal procedure against Peter Robinson, a former employee, in the Netherlands, in relation to the sale of the aforementioned block.

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK APR 10, 2018

Indigenous energy firm, Neconde, has sued International Oil Company (IOC), Royal Dutch Shell in London, for allegedly refusing to make remittances to it after it had bought a stake in controversial oil block Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42. read more

Multinational oil company, Royal Dutch Shell says it lost 9,000 barrels of crude oil to theft from the pipeline network of its Nigerian operation per day in the 2017 fiscal year. Shell made this known in its ‘Report on Payments to Governments for the Year 2017’ released on Monday, April 9.

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK APR 10, 2018

Multinational oil company, Royal Dutch Shell says it lost 9,000 barrels of crude oil to theft from the pipeline network of its Nigerian operation per day in the 2017 fiscal year. read more

Payments made by Royal Dutch Shell, the major international oil company operating in Nigeria to the federal government increased from $3,638,241,040 in 2016 to $4,322,742,582 in 2017. The rise in payment was as a result of a 10 % growth in production, the oil company said in its 2017 sustainability report published on Monday.

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK APR 10, 2018

Payments made by Royal Dutch Shell, the major international oil company operating in Nigeria to the federal government increased from $3,638,241,040 in 2016 to $4,322,742,582 in 2017.

The rise in payment was as a result of a 10 % growth in production, the oil company said in its 2017 sustainability report published on Monday.

The company said in the report that output from its operated fields averaged 464,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) while production from offshore and deep-water fields managed by its local subsidiary, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), averaged 167,000 boe/d. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is demonstrating how tough it is for a massive, 100-year-old oil company to become a friend to the climate.

Shell’s greenhouse-gas emissions rose last year to the highest since 2014, it said Monday. The increase shows the challenge facing Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden as his company grows to meet burgeoning energy demand while investors demand a clear path toward a low-carbon future. 

“As living standards rise, energy demand could double over the course of the century,” Van Beurden said in Shell’s sustainability report. “The world is going to have to make meeting this demand part of the approach to cutting emissions.”  read more

Reuters Staff: APRIL 9, 2018 / 1:41 PM

LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) –

* Shell’s payments to the Nigerian government grew to $4.32 billion in 2017, up nearly 19 percent from $3.64 billion in 2016, according to its annual sustainability report released on Monday

* The bulk of the payments, $3.197 billion, went to state oil company NNPC for production entitlement 

* Crude oil theft from pipelines of Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary SPDC increased by some 50 percent, rising to roughly 9,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2017 from 6,000 bpd in 2016, the report said. read more

The firm also drew attention to a number of safety incidents in 2017 which it is working to address and provide support to victims for, including oil spills and theft in Nigeria, earthquakes in Groningen and a road tanker disaster in Pakistan.

Written by Allister Thomas – 09/04/2018 1:12 pm

The company has published the findings in a report to accommodate UK regulations requiring transparency on government payments.

It includes payments in 29 countries where Shell operates and does not include details related to refining, natural gas liquefaction, or gas-to-liquids activities which are not in the scope of UK regulations.

Shell made the largest contribution to Nigeria, paying over £3billion last year, while the smallest sum went to Bulgaria at £109million.

The funds for Nigeria include the government’s production entitlement, covering more than £2.1billion. read more

The oilfield in question, Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42, is also at the center of corruption allegations. Shell filed a criminal complaint against a former employee in late March over suspected bribes in the $390 million sale of the field.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian energy company Neconde has launched an arbitration case against Royal Dutch Shell, the West African firm’s chief executive said, alleging the oil major continued to lift crude and failed to remit funds after a lease had been sold.

The oilfield in question, Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42, is also at the center of corruption allegations. Shell filed a criminal complaint against a former employee in late March over suspected bribes in the $390 million sale of the field. read more

The transactions were made by the U.S. bank when Royal Dutch Shell and Eni bought offshore oilfield OPL 245 from Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011. The $1.3 billion deal has spawned legal cases spanning several countries and involving Nigerian government officials and senior ENI and Shell executives, a number of whom would be facing trial in Italy on corruption charges next month.

Ejiofor Alike with agency reports

A Liberal Democrat and former British Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has called on the UK Home Office and National Crime Agency to explain themselves over the revelation that the country’s anti-money laundering agency allowed JP Morgan to transfer $875 million to a former Nigerian oil minister, Mr. Dan Etete. The transfers were made in relation to the Malabu oil deal, involving the controversial Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 245.

JP Morgan’s London branch had claimed it repeatedly sought consent from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) to pay the fund into accounts linked to Etete. The bank said instead of being told to block the transfers, it was authorised by Soca to make the payment. read more

Shell said in April last year that it “always knew” the Nigerian government would compensate Malabu and that Etete was involved. It had previously told Reuters only that payments went to the Nigerian government.

LONDON (Reuters) – JP Morgan Chase has acknowledged it knew a former Nigerian oil minister convicted of money laundering would benefit when it transferred over $800 million of government funds to a company he controlled, according to a court document seen by Reuters.

JP Morgan made the acknowledgement in its legal response to a lawsuit filed by Nigeria over transactions made by the U.S. bank when Royal Dutch Shell and Eni bought offshore oilfield OPL 245 from Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011. read more

By Janet Guyon: 7 April 201

Two decades ago, like Facebook now, Shell found itself in an existential crisis, on the defense against environmentalists and political activists. Run by Dutch and British men, Shell was then the world’s most profitable company, and also viewed itself as the most responsible of the big oil firms; it was particularly concerned about how its global operations affected the world. As part of an effort to fix Shell’s culture and readjust its vision, the entire management team took the Myers-Briggs test. read more

By Steven Mufson and Chris Mooney April 5 at 4:28 PM

A Dutch journalist has uncovered Royal Dutch Shell documents as old as 1988 that showed the oil company understood the gravity of climate change, the company’s large contribution to it and how hard it would be to stop it.

The 1988 report titled “The Greenhouse Effect” calculated that the Shell group alone was contributing 4 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions through its oil, natural gas and coal products. “By the time global warming becomes detectable it could be too late to take effective countermeasures to reduce the effects or even to stabilize the situation,” the report warned. read more

By Irina Slav – Apr 05, 2018, 9:15 AM CDT

An internal Shell report from 1988 has revealed the supermajor was aware of the effect of its business on climate. The report, uncovered by Dutch journalist Jelmer Mommers from the De Correspondent news platform, has been published in the Climate Files and might just make life that much more difficult for the Anglo-Dutch company.

The document is an in-depth study of what was at the time called global warming with references to an earlier study and suggestions that the company was interested in researching climate change at least since 1981. read more

Documents obtained by De Correspondent show that Shell Oil Co. studied climate change in the 1980s. De Correspondent

Two decades ago, a group of researchers envisioned a violent storm ripping through the East Coast with such force that it would transform young people into climate activists, spark lawsuits and cause government leaders to turn on fossil fuel companies. They were only off by two years. They also worked for Shell Oil Co. In 1998, Shell researchers wrote an internal memo about future scenarios that could harm their business. They determined that “only a crisis can lead to a large-scale change in this world,” according to the memo, recently uncovered by De Correspondent with a trove of company documents. read more

Shell Oman has opened the first solar-powered service station in the Sultanate of Oman in Mukhaizna, Al Wusta Governorate.

FULL ARTICLE