Royal Dutch Shell opts to sit on the sidelines while BP shovels money into opposing Initiative 1631.

By Hal Bernton: Seattle Times staff reporter: September 30, 2018 

In speeches, reports and online posts, BP and Royal Dutch Shell leaders proclaim support for government rules that put a price on greenhouse-gas pollution resulting from the combustion of oil, natural gas and coal.

But as Washington voters head toward a November vote on an initiative to impose a carbon fee on fossil fuels, the two oil giants have gone their separate ways.

Shell, which operates the state’s second largest refinery, in Anacortes, has opted to sit on the sidelines of what has emerged as one of the most expensive initiative battles in Washington history. If approved, Initiative 1631 could serve as a model for other states. read more

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”), and its bid consortium member Chevron Brasil Óleo & Gás Ltda (“Chevron”), today won a 35-year production sharing contract for the Saturno pre-salt block located off the coast of Brazilin the Santos Basin. Shell will pay its share of the total signing bonus for the block, equating to approximately USD $390 million [R$ 1,562 billion]. read more

Italian prosecutors allege that a year after its agreement with the U.S., Shell and Eni SpA, its partner in Nigeria, paid more than $1 billion to win offshore licenses, which mostly went to bribes.

As the company moves away from oil, it can’t shake its years operating in the pollution- and graft-ridden nation.

A leaking, out-of-service Shell oil well head catches fire in Nigeria in 2006. PHOTOGRAPHER: ED KASHI/VII

By Kelly Gilblom

Perched in a helicopter sweeping over the mangrove forests of the Niger Delta, a photographer named Casey is looking for trouble. And she finds it, down among a cluster of tree trunks stained with crude. A faint disturbance in a jungle clearing turns out to be a group of men pawing at a pipeline, a tiny slice of a 1,200-mile web that feeds Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s bustling export hub on Bonny Island. Some of the men flee as the chopper closes in, but most redouble their efforts as Casey aims her camera. “I’ve seen things get better,” she said before takeoff. “Then they go back to getting worse.” read more

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 / 7:54 PM /

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Thursday it looks forward to handling industry negotiations on a national contract covering 30,000 U.S. refinery and chemical plant workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW).

The talks begin formally in January and Shell, which has represented its peers since 1997, is lead negotiator on behalf of companies including BP, Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and others.

The refining industry this year has enjoyed strong profits, near-full utilization rates and record product exports. In the June quarter, the margin on turning crude to gasoline, diesel and other products was the highest since 2015. read more

By Jasmine Wang , Stephen Stapczynski , and Aibing Guo: 28 September 2018, 10:23 BST: Updated on 28 Sep 2018, 11:34 BST

• PetroChina, Kogas approve investment in gas export venture
• All partners expected to take final investment decision soon

Two of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Asian partners in a liquefied natural gas venture in western Canada approved their share of the investment, pushing the multibillion-dollar development one step closer to a final approval.

The board of PetroChina Co., the nation’s largest oil and gas company, approved its $3.46 billion share of the LNG Canada project, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange Friday. Korea Gas Corp. made a similar announcement in Seoul about its stake. read more

By Michelle Froese | September 25, 2018

Brazos Wind Ventures, LLC, a subsidiary of Shell Wind Energy (Shell), has signed an operations and maintenance contract with E.ON Energy Services LLC (EES) for its site near Fluvanna, Texas. E.ON will perform scheduled maintenance services on the 160-MW site.

Shell owns and operates the Brazos Wind Farm, which uses Mitsubishi 1000A turbines. E.ON will perform scheduled maintenance and troubleshooting for the site in daily coordination with Brazos. read more

By Natalie Obiko Pearson , Michael Bellusci , and Kevin Orland
26 September 2018, 15:31 BST

• Shell, partners said to plan announcement in early October
• Project group plans event involving fireworks in Kitimat

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its partners are set to announce a decision on their C$40 billion ($31 billion) liquefied natural gas terminal in western Canada as early as next week, amid signs the companies are poised to approve it, according to people familiar with the plans.

Preparations for an Oct. 5 announcement followed by an LNG Canada event and fireworks at the local golf club the next day are underway in Kitimat, British Columbia, the site of the proposed project, said people with direct knowledge of the activities, who asked not to be identified. The situation is fluid and timing could change, the people said. read more

By Tsvetana Paraskova – Sep 26, 2018, 9:00 AM CDT

Brent Crude at $80 a barrel is not an “unreasonable” price of oil, and it will support investment in oil and gas infrastructure after the downturn, Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday.

“We should be able to balance the market at that sort of oil price level, but of course bringing on new production is not a short-term event,” van Beurden said, noting that it takes years for the industry to bring new production online. read more

Olesya Astakhova

MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.AS) is in talks to buy a stake in an oil and gas project from Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM), three sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters, a rare foray into Russia’s energy sector by a Western oil major since sanctions were imposed.

The sources said Shell is negotiating with state-controlled Gazprom Neft, Russia’s third-largest oil producer, about acquiring a stake in the onshore Tazovskiy project in the country’s northern Yamal region. read more

Harder: 26 Sept 2018

Royal Dutch Shell is sitting out a multi-million dollar fight over a carbon fee proposal in Washington state even as nearly all other oil companies with operations there rally to oppose it.

Why it matters: It’s a sign of the oil industry’s uneven, years-long evolution toward supporting policies that put a price on carbon emissions. And whether Washington State voters support the initiative, which is on the state-wide ballot this Election Day, will be a bellwether for other attempts at big climate policy. read more

25 Sept 2018

• Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden says $80 oil is not “unreasonable” and will help fuel spending on oil and gas infrastructure after a period of underinvestment.
• The Trump administration’s steel quotas are beginning to impede some of Shell’s construction projects in the United States, van Beurden said.
• Shell has not yet canceled any construction due to the trade barriers, and it is driving down the cost of its offshore projects.

Tom DiChristopher | @tdichristopher

The Trump administration’s steel quotas present a challenge to building new oil and gas infrastructure in the United States, but rising crude prices help fuel investment, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden tells CNBC.

International benchmark Brent crude hit a nearly four-year high above $81 a barrel on Monday as the market braces for U.S. sanctions on Iran that threaten to wipe about 1 million barrels a day off the market. Brent’s multiyear high came after OPEC, Russia and other oil producers declined to boost output to tackle rising prices. read more

In Nigeria, Shell finds there’s no easy way out

25 Sept 2018

Royal Dutch Shell wants to shift its operations in Nigeria to focus on oil and gas fields far offshore, away from the theft, spills, corruption and unrest that have plagued the West African country’s onshore industry for decades.

SOURCE

Shortly after Ben van Beurden took over as chief executive of Royal Dutch ShellPLC, he bet the company on natural gas, with a roughly $50 billion takeover of a rival focused on shipping the fuel around the globe. Now he is preparing to double down.

Mr. van Beurden said Tuesday that a consortium led by the Anglo-Dutch energy giant will decide before year-end whether to move forward with a $30 billion, liquefied-natural-gas export terminal in western Canada.

“We postponed the decision previously when the project wasn’t ready in terms of economic fortunes,” he told The Wall Street Journal… read more

Sep. 24, 2018 6:06 PM ET| By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

By Lauren Berg

Law360 (September 24, 2018, 5:05 PM EDT) — The Golden State Water Co. has accused the Dow Chemical Co., Shell Oil Co. and others of product liability violations for contaminating drinking water with unsafe amounts of TCP, a toxic chemical…

SOURCE

An overview of the Niger delta where signs of oil spills can be seen in the water in Port Harcourt, Nigeria August 1, 2018. Picture taken August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Ron Bousso

Ron Bousso

BODO, Nigeria (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell wants to reweight its footprint in Nigeria to focus on oil and gas fields far offshore, away from the theft, spills, corruption and unrest that have plagued the West African country’s onshore industry for decades.

But for the company that pioneered Nigeria’s oil industry in the 1950s, the Niger Delta remains as important — and problematic — as ever.

While Shell has cut onshore oil production and sold some onshore assets, it continues to invest in others. In fact, onshore production has risen in recent years as a share of Shell’s output in Nigeria, an analysis of company data over the past decade shows. read more

Olesya Astakhova

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Production of oil and natural gas at the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin is expected to decline next year, the local government said in an emailed response to a Reuters query.

Sakhalin, which is also famous for producing seafood, derives most of its oil and natural gas from two offshore projects – Sakhalin-1, led by ExxonMobil, and Sakhalin-2, led by Russia’s Gazprom.

Sakhalin-1 shareholders also include Russia’s Rosneft, Japan’s Sodeco and India’s ONGC. Apart from Gazprom, Sakhalin-2 shareholders include Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi. read more

By Kiel Porter and Kelly Gilblom: 20 September 2018, 21:38 BST

• Oil major seeks to sell its Caesar Tonga stake to Focus Oil
• Shell is nearing end of $30 billion divestment program

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, shedding assets to pay for its takeover of BG Group Plc, is in talks to sell its interest in a Gulf of Mexico oilfield to Focus Oil, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal could value Shell’s stake in the Caesar Tonga field at about $1.3 billion, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. A deal hasn’t been completed and negotiations could still fall apart, they said. read more

The $900 million (679.79 million pounds) power project, being built by Sinolam LNG affiliate Sinolam Smarter Energy LNG Power Co, expects to begin taking deliveries of the super-cooled natural gas in 2020, the advisors told Reuters late Wednesday.

The deal with a Shell trading unit comes as a trade dispute between the United States and China has put global LNG exports in the spotlight. This week, China imposed tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods, including a 10 percent tax on LNG imports effective Monday, in response to the U.S. slapping tariffs on some $200 billion of Chinese goods. read more

By Kevin Orland: 19 September 2018, 11:00 BST

Canadian industry hit hardest by downturn in energy prices

Shell-led group due to decide on $30 billion project this year

After years of suffering through plunging energy prices and declining spending by oil-sands behemoths, Canada’s oilfield-service industry is finally seeing a light on the horizon.

Companies that do everything from drilling wells to building work camps are pinning their hopes on a potential C$40 billion ($30 billion) liquefied natural gas facility on British Columbia’s Pacific Coast. LNG Canada, the Royal Dutch Shell Plc-led group behind the plant, may decide whether to build the project in the coming weeks.

The export complex would be a boon for an industry that was hit hardest by the 2014-2016 downturn in oil and gas prices, and one that still hasn’t recovered. The project would need new pipelines built and fresh gas wells drilled, bringing scores of workers and tons of equipment off the sidelines.

“To see some sort of major infrastructure investment go forward would be pretty positive, both from an investment and an economics and an employment perspective,” said Scott Matson, chief financial officer of Horizon North Logistics Inc. read more

Newly found documents from the 1980s show that fossil fuel companies privately predicted the global damage that would be caused by their products.

The documents make for frightening reading. And the effect is all the more chilling in view of the oil giants’ refusal to warn the public about the damage that their own researchers predicted. Shell’s report, marked “confidential,” was first disclosed by a Dutch news organization earlier this year. Exxon’s study was not intended for external distribution, either; it was leaked in 2015.

Nor did the companies ever take responsibility for their products. In Shell’s study, the firm argued that the “main burden” of addressing climate change rests not with the energy industry, but with governments and consumers. That argument might have made sense if oil executives, including those from Exxon and Shell, had not later lied about climate change and actively prevented governments from enacting clean-energy policies. read more

At approximately 5 a.m. on September 10, during heavy rains brought on by Tropical Storm Gordon, a methane gas pipeline run by Energy Transfer Partners in Beaver County was hit by a landslide and exploded. No lives were lost, but a home was destroyed, dozens were evacuated and several farm animals were killed in the blast.

The pipeline had been operating for one week.

Environmental groups in the Pittsburgh region say the incident raises significant questions about the long-term safety of pipelines and natural gas infrastructure all over Western Pennsylvania. read more

Shell changes offshore rotas in UK North Sea after strikes at Total

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil giant Shell (RDSa.L) will switch to a less tiring rota system for its offshore workers in the British North Sea, it said on Tuesday, as rival Total (TOTF.PA) has faced strike action over plans to have workers spend more days offshore.

Workers at three of Total’s offshore platforms in the British North Sea have staged strikes over the group’s plans to introduce a rota that would require them to stay offshore for three weeks and onshore for three weeks.

Fewer staff changeovers can increase efficiency and save transport costs. read more

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 / 11:39 PM

HOUSTON (Reuters) – LyondellBasell Industries 263,776 barrel per day (bpd) Houston refinery was flaring on Monday afternoon due to a malfunction at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s nearby Deer Park, Texas chemical plant, according to Gulf Coast market sources.

The Shell chemical plant takes fuel gas supplied by pipeline from the Lyondell refinery, the sources said. Compressors that transport the fuel gas from the pipeline into the chemical plant were said to be malfunctioning on Monday afternoon. read more

Shell targets lower methane emissions from oil and gas operations

Methane is released into the atmosphere mostly from the burning of excess gas, known as flaring, as well as through leaks in gas infrastructure such as wells, pumps and pipelines.

The gas has a bigger greenhouse impact than carbon dioxide, even though the oil and gas industry produces less methane and the gas also has a shorter lifetime.

The methane target will be measured against a baseline leak rate, which is currently estimated at range from 0.01 percent to 0.8 percent across the company’s oil and gas assets, it said. read more

Sep. 17, 2018 3:45 PM ET| By Carl Surran, SA News Editor

By JOANNE HART, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 22:01, 15 September 2018 | UPDATED: 13:44, 16 September 2018

Research for The Mail on Sunday shows that even though many firms are struggling to generate extra profits, they are rewarding investors with a payouts bonanza.

Royal Dutch Shell tops the generosity league. It is set to pay dividends of more than £11 billion this year, followed by HSBC, £7.6 billion, and BP, £6 billion, in third place.

The research is likely to cause controversy, coming just days after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, criticised businesses for focusing on short-term profits and called for a wealth tax to create a fairer society and higher wages for working people. read more

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.37% PLC said it will announce plans to lay out targets to manage its emissions of the greenhouse gas methane Monday, joining a handful of major oil companies that have made similar pledges this year.

Shell has been outspoken about the value of natural gas as a “bridging” fuel—a cleaner-burning fossil fuel that can help bolster renewables like solar and wind energy when, for instance, the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

The company’s long-term strategy is wedded to gas. In 2016, it spent roughly $50 billion to buy smaller rival BG Group, an acquisition that cemented Shell’s position as one of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas players. read more

CAIRO, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Egypt has signed a deep-water oil and gas exploration deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas worth around $1 billion for 8 wells in the country’s West Nile Delta, the petroleum ministry said on Saturday.

The country also signed a second $10 million deal with Rockhopper, Kuwait Energy (IPO-KEC.L) and Canada’s Dover Corporation for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said.

Egypt aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a string of major discoveries in recent years including Zohr, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. read more

The Canadian Press:

VANCOUVER — Shell Canada Ltd. has given up its offshore exploration rights, clearing the way for the creation of Canada’s first protected marine area under the Canada Wildlife Act.

The company voluntarily released permits for about 50,000 square kilometres in an area off British Columbia’s coast to allow for the creation of the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area.

The company’s rights cover an area more than one-and-a-half times the size of Vancouver Island, which is hard to value, said Shell Canada president Michael Crothers, at a news conference on Thursday. read more

By Michael Ruffolo in News | September 13th 2018

The Canadian affiliate of one of the world’s largest oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell, is releasing 50,000 square kilometres of offshore exploration permits off the coast of British Columbia and promoting conservation.

Shell Canada president Michael Crothers made the announcement in Vancouver on Thursday alongside Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who said the area would become part of the new Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area. read more

• Author: Nick Coleman
• Editor: Jonathan Fox
• Topic: Oil and Gas 2018 Outlook: EMEA
• 11 Sep 2018 | 11:49 UTC: London

• Added Brexit costs “completely” wrong direction
• Uncertainty puts industry at risk: OGUK
• Shell UK head hails “revitalized” strategy

London — Shell on Tuesday joined calls by the oil and natural gas industry for the UK to avoid a “no-deal” Brexit, with Shell country head Sinead Lynch warning that added costs in the form of barriers to trade and movement of talent would be “completely the wrong direction” to go in.

Industry group Oil & Gas UK warned Tuesday that uncertainty surrounding UK withdrawal from the EU, due on March 29, 2019, risked damaging confidence and impeding the industry’s recovery. read more

Royal Dutch Shell should apologise for antisemitic conduct and Nazi support

By John Donovan

I strongly believe that Royal Dutch Shell should be held accountable for its outrageous antisemitic actions against its own employees, which cost some of them their lives. The same applies to Shell’s huge financial support for Nazi Germany that contributed to the deaths of some 50 million victims in WW2 including those poor souls who perished in the Holocaust. Shell’s leader, Sir Henri Deterding, was an ardent Nazi feted by Adolf Hitler. Shell has never apologised or expressed any remorse.  read more

• Author: Jim Magill
• Editor: Pankti Mehta
• Commodity: Petrochemicals
• 10 Sep 2018 | 17:35 UTC

Houston — Shell’s plans to build a world-class ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania took a step forward Friday with the approval by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of rate structures for the company’s proposed Falcon Ethane Pipeline system.

The approval allows Shell to move forward in its plans to build the 97-mile pipeline designed to carry ethane extracted from Marcellus and Utica gas produced in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

The Falcon Pipeline, with a proposed capacity of about 107,000 b/d, will originate at two ethane supply points in Ohio and one ethane supply point in Pennsylvania and will transport the ethane to delivery points in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including the 86,000 b/d ethane cracker that Shell proposes to build near Monaca, Pennsylvania. read more

Royal Dutch Shell: A bold bet to remain the world’s second-largest gas producer

Royal Dutch Shell became the world’s second-largest gas producer in 2016 after spending $70 billion to buy BG Group, which boosted Shell’s natural gas production rate by 25% while also adding a large-scale LNG business and vast gas reserves. Shell produces natural gas from several countries, with its largest supplies coming from Norway, Malaysia, Australia, the U.S., and Canada. Australia is its biggest source of gas at more than 600 BCF in 2017, which is more than double the output of its other top regions. read more

Ben Marlow, executive business editor: 9 SEPTEMBER 2018 • 8:39PM

Like a pair of mysterious soothsayers, Maarten Wetselaar and John Abbott are peering into the future. The world they see is almost unrecognisable from the one we inhabit today, and yet it is only just around the corner.

In the west, the petrol car has become obsolete. Lorries are powered by liquid natural gas. Freight liners criss-cross the oceans fuelled by hydrogen. Solar and wind provide the energy to our homes.

And the petrol station has been reimagined as an unlikely retail hotspot where people routinely gather to do their food shopping, pick up parcels, and sip artisan coffee. A convoy of vehicles are being rebooted at one of many charging points on the forecourt. read more

Sep. 6, 2018 1:30 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

By Paul Burkhardt: 5 September 2018, 00:01 BST: Updated on 5 September 2018, 14:31 BST

• Rigs drilling in Africa’s waters have hit a two-year high

• Companies including Exxon, Shell, BP have accumulated acreages

Africa is entering the oil-hunt spotlight as drillers, flush with cash after crude’s recovery, are turning their attention back to the continent’s potentially vast resources.

The world’s biggest companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are setting up camp across Africa. Armed with stronger balance sheets and higher crude prices the industry is on track to double drilling in African waters this year. Rising natural gas demand is adding to the attraction. read more

By Vanand Meliksetian – Sep 04, 2018, 3:00 PM CDT

Since the early days of the oil and gas industry, a group of Western companies has dominated the industry. These companies have been named ‘Big Oil’ due to the size of their global footprint. Despite their technological superiority and significant access to capital, these organizations are now facing difficulties in maintaining market share and profitability. Changing requirements concerning fuel types as well as an increasing focus on environmental impacts have transformed the global energy market. Inevitably, these companies have been forced to change their strategy to remain relevant to customers. read more

Gaurav Sharma: Contributor

For ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) shareholders much of the current trading has felt decidedly lackluster. Upon the conclusion of the recent earnings season, most commentators agreed that neither it nor its Anglo-Dutch rival Shell (LON:RDSA) managed to captivate the market’s imagination.

Instead, that accolade went to BP (LON:BP) with its quadrupling of quarterly profits and a $10.5 billion signature acquisition of U.S. shale assets. Furthermore, an examination of annualized financials suggests Shell’s revenue, at $305.2 billion in 2017, capped that of ExxonMobil at $237.1 billion by some distance, even though the latter’s profits and market capitalization exceed that of its rival. read more

‘A museum dedicated to science education should not be helping promote any company that is actively exacerbating this planetary emergency until they show a serious proactive drive to switch to renewables’

• Josh Gabbatiss Science Correspondent
• @josh_gabbatiss

Tens of thousands of people have urged the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry to drop Shell as a sponsor from an upcoming event.

The announcement that the museum’s new exhibition, “Electricity: the spark of life”, would be supported by the oil giant sparked controversy among local groups.

Specifically, they have highlighted the role that fossil fuels play in driving global climate change and the role that oil companies have played in the phenomenon.

A petition with over 57,000 signatures has been handed to the museum as the Manchester Science Festival, which includes the new exhibition. read more

Shell plans opening 1,200 retail stations in India in 10 years

Terming it as one of the “most largest expansions” ever planned by Shell, he said “each one of those stations can easily accommodate about 100 workers. Simply put, one lakh jobs will get created…”

These retail stations, in turn, will trigger several other jobs in terms of infrastructureNSE -2.22 % building to supply those stations with fuel and retail products, he said.

“The infrastructure creation for supplying fuels and lubricant products to these retail stations could easily generate thousands of jobs,” Prasad told here at an event organised by the company here. read more

Science and industry museum accused of hypocrisy for taking money from oil company read more

Along with Royal Dutch Shell, Total was among the first energy companies to halt crude oil purchases from the Islamic Republic, fearing repercussions if they failed to do so.

By Scott Belinksi – Sep 01, 2018, 10:00 AM CDT

As Iran is turning to the UN’s International Court of Justice to have the US-imposed sanctions against its oil suspended, the EU is preparing for the hit its economies will have to absorb once the full weight of Washington’s punitive measures comes into effect in the fourth quarter of this year. With these latest moves, American intentions are clear: cut off Iranian oil from the market entirely and reduce Tehran’s financial power. As oil prices rise, however, the White House’s policy looks set to hurt more countries than just Iran. Will Europe’s economies take the hit – or will they fight back? read more