Shell first quarter 2022 update note

April 07, 2022 02:00 ET | Source: Shell plc

The following is an update to the first quarter 2022 outlook. Impacts presented may vary from the actual results and are subject to finalisation of the first quarter 2022 results, published on May 5, 2022. Unless otherwise indicated, all outlook statements exclude identified items.

The prevailing volatility in commodity prices has led to larger ranges in the financial guidance for the quarter. Adjusted Earnings and Adjusted EBITDA updates are provided at a segment level while the CFFO update is provided at a Shell Group level. read more

Global&Mail

Shell eyes major expansion of B.C. natural gas project

Brent Jang: 6 April 2022

Shell PLC SHEL-N is studying the feasibility of a major expansion for the LNG Canada joint venture in British Columbia, citing a surge in global demand for liquefied natural gas and the need for reliable new supplies.

Europe has been scrambling to reduce its dependence on natural gas from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine nearly six weeks ago, and countries in Asia want cleaner alternatives to coal. read more

REUTERS

Japan’s Mitsubishi partners with Shell Canada in clean energy push

September 8, 20219:04 PM BST

Sept 8 (Reuters) – Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) and Shell Canada (RDSa.L) have signed a memorandum of understanding to produce low-carbon hydrogen to support Japan’s push for clean energy, the companies announced on Wednesday.

Mitsubishi plans to build and start up the low-carbon hydrogen facility near Shell’s Scotford, Alberta, facility toward the latter half of this decade, the companies said in a statement. read more

Shell Canada employing ‘agile teams’ to power energy transition and reduce emissions

CALGARY — The president and country head for Shell Canada says its transition into a provider of cleaner energy is being driven by a network of “agile teams” of employees who are examining between 30 and 40 project ideas at a time.

Michael Crothers says the teams formed from employees brought in from various parts of the company are looking at proposals that include the use of hydrogen, biofuels, and wind and solar energy to help the company reduce its environmental impact. read more

Canada’s Crescent Point to buy Shell’s Kaybob assets for C$900 mln

By Reuters Staff: FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Shell LNG Canada’s coronavirus restart plan approved

Fri, February 12, 2021, 1:40 PM·

Feb 12 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s LNG Canada export project in British Columbia has won approval from health officials for construction to ramp back up with improved coronavirus protection measures.

Work at the site was curtailed last month by an order from the Provincial Health Officer which applied to five major industrial projects in British Columbia, including LNG Canada.

“Our approved restart and measured workforce increase at the project site will continue over the coming months,” LNG Canada and JGC I Fluor, the engineering joint venture building the project, said in a statement on Thursday. read more

Rating agency S&P warns 13 oil and gas companies they risk downgrades as renewables pick up steam

Ben Butler: Wed 27 Jan 2021

Rating agency S&P has warned 13 oil and gas companies, including the some of the world’s biggest, that it may downgrade them within weeks because of increasing competition from renewable energy. On notice of a possible downgrade are Australia’s Woodside Petroleum as well as multinationals Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Imperial Oil, Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Energy North America, Canadian Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips and French group Total. read more

Shell’s departure was by mutual consent, and the project would continue “according to its existing development plan”, the three parties behind the project said. Immingham could begin supplying its first aviation fuel from non-recyclable household waste within five years.

But Shell’s decision to exit the UK’s burgeoning green fuels industry is likely to compound scepticism over Johnson’s promise that Britain would be in the “vanguard of green innovation” by pioneering zero-emission transatlantic flight. read more

SHELL INVESTS IN QUEBEC’S FIRST WASTE TO LOW-CARBON FUELS PLANT

Jan. 05, 2021

Shell Canada Limited, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”), today announced the signing of commercial agreements to invest in Varennes Carbon Recycling, the first waste to low-carbon fuels plant in Québec, Canada.

Calgary, AB – Shell will have a 40% interest in the plant using technology developed by Enerkem, a leading Canadian clean tech company. Enerkem announced the project in December 2020, subject to finalization of commercial agreements. read more

New York Becomes The First State To Divest From Oil And Gas

09/12/2020 13:10 GMT | Updated 09/12/2020 14:54 GMT

The Empire State’s pension fund is the largest to dump fossil fuel investments ― ever, in the entire world.

New York state announced plans on Wednesday to eject oil and gas stocks from its $226 billion financial portfolio, becoming the first U.S. state and the biggest pension fund anywhere to divest from fossil fuels.

By 2025, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which disburses some $1 billion in benefits to retirees each year, will sell off its “riskiest” oil and gas stocks, following a review. The state aims to completely eliminate carbon polluters from its portfolio by 2040. read more

Shell Canada gives customers option to offset their carbon emissions for two cents per litre

Shell takes Sarnia Manufacturing Centre off the market

By Melanie Irwin October 15, 2020 1:44pm

Shell Canada is no longer actively pursuing the sale of its Sarnia Manufacturing Centre.

Media Relations Manager Tara Lemay made the announcement in a news release Thursday.

“We have decided to stop actively marketing the Sarnia Manufacturing Centre and its associated infrastructure which includes the refinery, chemicals plant, Sarnia and Hamilton Distribution terminals and Shell’s 45 per cent interest in Sun-Canadian Pipeline” said Lemay. “Shell will continue to operate these assets while maintaining our marketing presence in Ontario and continuing to honour branded supply and wholesale agreements.” read more

LNG Canada construction delay creates cost uncertainty, clouds world supply

Corey Paul: 2 Oct, 2020

Two years after a Royal Dutch Shell PLC-led consortium gave the commercial go-ahead for the massive LNG Canada export terminal in British Columbia — dubbed the single largest private sector investment in Canadian history — construction delays have clouded the LNG supply picture and raised the prospect of cost overruns.

The project was likely about four months behind schedule in February because of factors that included delays in engineering and making equipment for the terminal off-site, according to analysts at the investment research firm Webber Research & Advisory. Now the project is probably around six months behind, which is enough to suggest the potential for significant cost overruns and pressure on a planned expansion, the firm said. read more

Possible chemical spill in Talfourd Creek

By Kirk Dickinson July 14, 2020 9:10pm

Shell Canada is reporting a possible chemical spill at its facility in Corunna.

A CVECO Code 10 was issued by Shell at around 9 p.m. following the spill of an unknown product into Talfourd Creek.

Due to the creek’s connection to the St. Clair River, there is a potential that the chemical could reach the main waterway, Shell said.

BlackburnNews.com will provide more information as it becomes available.

SOURCE read more

Shell, Pieridae to try again after Alberta regulator blocks license transfers

Alberta Energy Regulator blocks sale of Shell assets over clean-up concerns

By Elizabeth May | Opinion | May 12th 2020

It has been an interesting week. On the morning of May 6, I held a press conference in West Block before the weekly in-person session of Parliament opened. I spoke about how virtual Parliament is working, and Green recommendations to make it work better.

When we got to questions, the first one was CBC’s Julie Van Dusen. She asked about a possible bailout to Big Oil. And I explained that the evidence was coming in thick and fast that oil’s day was done. And she zeroed in on: “Are you saying oil is dead?” read more

By Nick Cunningham – May 04, 2020, 5:00 PM CDT

Exxon posted its first quarterly loss in more than 30 years. But even as debt mounts and questions arise about peak oil demand, the oil supermajor nevertheless vowed to protect its dividend while also aiming to grow indefinitely into the future. Exxon lost $610 million in the first quarter, down from a profit of $2.4 billion a year earlier. Worse, the period only included a few weeks of oil prices at catastrophically low levels. As a result, the second quarter is bound to lead dramatically worse numbers. read more

Canada’s C$40 billion ($30 billion) inaugural natural gas export project on the west coast has remained on schedule despite the global Covid-19 outbreak, project managers said in an update.

The executives overseeing the Royal Dutch Shell plc-led LNG Canada project said the British Columbia (BC) construction labor force of more than 2,000 had so far remained sealed against the pandemic. Crews of 1,200 building the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal’s supply pipeline, Coastal GasLink (CGL), had also to date evaded the pandemic. read more

Hopes that Canada could turn into a gas export powerhouse seem to be waning fast.

The current climate for energy investments in the country and the global market for liquefied natural gas are a far cry from October 2018, when a Royal Dutch Shell Plc-led group announced plans to build a massive LNG terminal on British Columbia’s coast and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed the project as “a vote of confidence” in Canada.

The latest sign of disenchantment came this week as a C$9 billion ($6.7 billion) LNG project in Quebec lost a large potential investor, which the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. identified as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. That follows announcements last year that Chevron Corp. is planning to sell its 50% stake in an LNG project in British Columbia, and its partner in the venture is seeking to trim its stake as well. read more

by Allister Thomas: 04/03/2020, 6:00 am

Bringing about the energy transition needs to make “economic sense” and be socially and environmentally sustainable, according to Shell’s chief technology officer.

Yuri Sebregts, the top scientist for the energy giant, said long-term solutions need to be “investible” and the move to a lower-carbon energy system “cannot happen based entirely on goodwill-funded developments”.

The Shell boss, speaking to EV at the Baker Hughes conference in Florence last month, said Shell’s near-term goals are to invest $2-3 billion annually on development of low-carbon technologies which could make an 8-12% return on investment and later be scaled up. read more

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday called for a peaceful solution to end rail blockades by indigenous rights groups protesting the construction of a natural gas pipeline.

Indigenous communities across Canada have blocked key rail lines for nearly two weeks to oppose construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia, which has forced Canada’s biggest railroad, Canadian National Railway Co, to shut operations in eastern Canada.

Trudeau, who called off a planned Barbados trip to resolve the escalating pipeline protests, told his top cabinet ministers that this “urgent situation needs to be approached in a way that builds trust and respect toward an immediate resolution with all parties.” read more

FEBRUARY 12, 2020

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Protests broke out in many parts of Canada over the past week, triggered by arrests of dozens of protesters on traditional indigenous land along a route for TC Energy Corp’s (TRP.TO) planned Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The demonstrations have disrupted freight and passenger rail and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday urged protesters to find a quick solution.

WHAT ARE THE PROTESTS ABOUT?

The flashpoint was police arrests that started last week in northern British Columbia of protesters who oppose the pipeline’s construction on traditional land of the Wet’suwet’en indigenous people. read more

Rod Nickel: JAN 7, 2020

Jan 7 (Reuters) – Construction of the C$6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline in western Canada resumed on Tuesday, after an indigenous group that opposes the project had ordered its workers off their territory.

Coastal GasLink, to be operated by TC Energy Corp, will move gas from northeast British Columbia to the Pacific Coast, where the Royal Dutch Shell-led LNG Canada export facility is under construction.

While less contentious than oil pipelines, Coastal GasLink faces opposition from some leaders of the Wet’suwet’en people, who say the project interferes with their hunting and trapping rights. read more

Shell is pushing forward a long-delayed liquefied natural gas export project in British Columbia, making it the first Canadian LNG terminal to get the financial green light.

Shell‘s decision on Tuesday to move forward the $14 billion LNG Canada project — the largest of its kind in years — signals confidence that global demand will rise quickly enough to sop up growing supplies of LNG. It also opens a new competitive front for the U.S. terminal developers lining up to take advantage of booming demand for natural gas super-chilled to liquid form, particularly in Asia. read more

By Kevin Orland: 14 November 2019, 12:00 GMT Updated on 14 November 2019, 16:38 GMT

*Shell Canada head Crothers points to LNG project, gas stations

*Company has no plans to divest remaining oil-sands stake

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is reassuring investors, workers, and anyone else who will listen that it’s the international oil major that’s staying in Canada as others pull up stakes.

Shell’s future in the country is largely as a natural gas producer and exporter focused on the $30 billion LNG Canada project, though the company is also committed to its local chemicals and retail businesses, Shell Canada head Michael Crothers said in an interview. read more

October 18, 2019

Greenlots, a subsidiary of Shell New Energies, has announced its participation in the development of the world’s largest electric vehicle charging network.

Greenlots EV chargers will be installed in Ford’s FordPass Charging network.

The Charging Network will be launched in 2020 and will allow Ford EV drivers to charge seamlessly across all the major charging networks in the US and select regions in Canada.

The network is the first of its kind rollout in the EV market and is to accelerate the adoption of electrified transportation across North America. read more

OCTOBER 4, 2019

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has promoted its current Australia chief, Zoe Yujnovich, to the role of executive vice president for conventional oil and gas from Jan. 1, based in the group’s headquarters in The Hague, Shell Australia said on Friday.

In her new role, Yujnovich will report to Shell’s upstream director and be responsible for delivering growth across 18 countries, including Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Oman, the UK and Iraq.

Yujnovich, an Australian, joined Shell in Canada in 2014 from the mining industry and since February 2017 has run its Australian business, which accounts for about a quarter of the group’s invested capital. read more

NEW YORK — A 40 billion Canadian dollar ($30 billion) project in British Columbia led by Royal Dutch Shell is on track to start exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia as early as 2024, having received a significant financial boost from Canada’s federal government.

Ottawa will provide C$275 million in subsidies to help finance the LNG Canada export project, whose partners include Malaysian state-owned oil company Petronas, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and two other Asian energy companies. read more

By Nia Williams: JUNE 26, 2019 / 10:37 PM

CALGARY, Alberta, June 26 (Reuters) – Canada’s Pieridae Energy will buy gas assets in Alberta from Royal Dutch Shell for C$190 million ($144.77 million), Pieridae said on Wednesday, securing supply for its planned liquefied natural gas plant in eastern Canada.

The deal will consist of all of Shell’s midstream and upstream assets in the southern Alberta Foothills area, which produce 29,000 barrels of natural gas, natural gas liquids and condensate. Pieridae is also buying three sour gas plants. read more

By Kevin Orland: 23 May 2019, 12:00 BST

*Canadian project has seen better-than-expected reliability

*Adviser sees more activity in carbon-utilization projects

A Royal Dutch Shell Plc-operated carbon capture and storage project in Canada has hit a milestone of sequestering 4 million tons of carbon dioxide about six months ahead of schedule and at a lower cost than estimated, helped by better-than-expected reliability.

The Quest facility, which sequesters emissions from the Scotford Upgrader near Edmonton, Alberta, started up in November 2015 and has since run ahead of its target of capturing 1 million tons of carbon a year, said Anne Halladay, a geophysicist who has been an adviser on the project since it was in construction in 2014. That performance has been driven by less unplanned maintenance than projected and more efficient performance, including less chemical usage, she said. read more

Explosion at Shell’s Scotford refinery

April 15, 201911:49 AM Reuters

Emergency crews responded to an explosion and fire at Shell’s Scotford refinery in Alberta on Monday, a company spokeswoman said. There were no reported injuries.

The Scotford facility houses a 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery and a 255,000 bpd oil sands upgrader.

Local media reported flames and a large plume of black smoke coming from the refinery.

Shell spokeswoman Tara Lemay said the fire broke out around 8:45 a.m. local time and employees were being moved away from the incident as a safety precaution. Roadblocks have been set up at the entrances to the Scotford site and on roads nearby. read more

Japan’s JERA says it signed an agreement with a Mitsubishi unit to buy as much as 1.2M mt/year of liquefied natural gas from the Royal Dutch Shell-led (RDS.A -0.6%) LNG Canada project.

The heads of agreement is for ~15 years starting from April 2024, says JERA, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power (OTCPK:TKECF) and Chubu Electric Power (OTC:CHUEF) and the world’s top buyer of liquefied natural gas.

Buyers from the project so far include trading house Vitol as well as Asian utilities such as Tokyo Gas, Toho Gas and Korea Gas. read more

March 18, 2019, 10:36:00 AM EDT By Zacks Equity Research, Zacks.com

Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A and its partners in the major LNG Canada project intend to decide within 2025 whether to boost its capacity via doubling it, per Reuters. Shell is building the LNG export terminal on the west coast of the country. The facility is located in Kitimat, British Columbia.

The Canadian energy sector, which used to be a booming market, has not witnessed any major milestones over the past few years. Industry downturn, coupled with infrastructure deficiencies and U.S. shale revolution had hit the country hard. With the cancellation of major projects like Northern Gateway, Pacific NorthWest and Energy East, along with uncertainties associated with the existing ones, things had been quite dispiriting for investors in the Canadian oil energy space. The $31-billion LNG Canada project, thus, brought a ray of hope to the country’s energy industry’s plight. read more

LNG Canada expansion to be decided by 2025: CEO

Ron Bousso: MARCH 14, 2019

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell and its partners building a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Western Canada will decide by 2025 whether to double its capacity, the head of the project said.

The $31 billion LNG Canada project last October became the first major project in five years to be approved, with first exports of the super-chilled fuel planned for 2025.

The second phase of the project will include two new processing lines known as trains that will double the plant’s capacity to 28 million tonnes of LNG per year. read more

By Kevin Crowley: 11 March 2019, 16:16 GMT: Updated on 11 March 2019, 22:56 GMT

European major ‘actively looking’ for targets, Sawan says

Upstream director-in-waiting declines to comment on Endeavor

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is on the hunt for deals to bulk up its position in the Permian Basin, where it lags rivals Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp.

“We are definitely actively looking at opportunities,” Wael Sawan, Shell’s deepwater boss, said in an interview on the sidelines of IHS Markit’s CERAWeek conference on Monday. “If none ever come up then that’s a disappointing outcome.” Sawan is set to lead the European supermajor’s entire upstream division in July. read more

By Marissa Luck, Staff Writer Feb. 1, 2019

Shell has named Gretchen Watkins as the new president of its North American operations in Houston. Watkins is the former CEO of Maersk Oil. Friday, Jan. 4, 2019, in Houston. Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Gretchen Watkins’ family was living an idyllic life in Copenhagen, where bicycles outnumber cars on many the city’s roadways. The oil industry veteran said it was the norm for her kids to take public transportation to commute.

That was less than a year ago. Now her family has moved from one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world to a city dominated by highways and traffic congestion. Watkins, 50, went from living in a country whose leaders are debating ambitious new climate laws to a city whose fate is tied to the proliferation of fossil fuels.

It’s been almost a year since Watkins relocated her family to Houston so she could prepare to take over in one of Shell Oil Co.’s most iconic positions: She officially started as Shell’s president of U.S. operations in January, the first female in a position typically filled internally by longtime male employees. read more

Shell sticking with spending discipline as 2018 profits soar

Ron Bousso: January 31, 2019

The Anglo-Dutch oil company also reported a sharp rise in cash generation, in a further sign that cost savings since the 2014 oil market downturn are filtering into its operations.

Its shares were up by more than 4 percent at 1120 GMT.

A strong performance in the fourth quarter was driven by higher oil and gas prices, year-on-year, as well as a stronger contribution from crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading. read more

NEWS PROVIDED BY LNG Canada

Jan 21, 2019, 17:35 ET

VANCOUVER, Jan. 21, 2019 /CNW/ – Today, LNG Canada announces the value of contracts and subcontracts approved as of December 2018, following the first three months of the construction phase of the large-scale LNG export project near Kitimat, British Columbia.

LNG Canada has thus far approved over $937 million (CAD) in contracts and subcontracts with First Nations enterprises and other businesses across Canada. This includes $175 million (CAD) to local First Nations businesses and, with the addition of contracts awarded to local Kitimat area businesses, including First Nations businesses, that total increases to $330 million (CAD) and $530 million (CAD) with the addition of BC businesses outside the local area. read more

A truce was reached in a dispute over a natural gas pipeline in western Canada, easing tensions for now as government leaders remain wary of intervening on the side of either the company or indigenous protesters.

Hereditary leaders of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in British Columbia reached a tentative deal with police late Wednesday to effectively allow work to resume on part of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s $31 billion gas export project.

Coastal GasLink workers will be able to access a bridge that had been barricaded, so long as a nearby protest camp isn’t dismantled, the Canadian Press reported, citing comments from one of the chiefs. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said Wednesday there had been a resolution. “This is how this is supposed to work,” he told a town hall event in the Pacific coast province. read more

Shell Canada has announced it’s testing the waters to sell its refinery and chemical facilities in Corunna.

Shell’s plant in Corunna is for sale, the company announced Wednesday. (Handout)

Shell Canada is testing the waters to sell its Sarnia-Lambton refinery.

The fossil fuel giant that’s operated since 1963 at the 77,000 barrel-per-day Sarnia Manufacturing Centre in Corunna announced Wednesday it’s been looking to find a buyer for the refinery, chemical plant, and Sarnia distribution terminal – as well as another distribution terminal in Hamilton and Shell’s 45 per cent stake in the Sun Canadian Pipeline – for about a year, said spokesperson Olwen Gover. read more

Fluidsdoc: Jan. 7, 2019 4:31 AM ET

Summary

• Shell has taken a positive FID on a massive 14 mpta LNG project in Western Canada.
• Several companies have abandoned this effort due to opposition and low gas prices.
• We review the scenario ahead of Shell going forward.

Introduction

Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has the strongest position in LNG of any Super Major oil company. On the whole, we think this is a perfect direction in which to take a legacy oil company like Shell. The energy mix that runs the world is changing, and strong companies must adapt to stay strong. We’ve have written about this in a number of articles. These are set to free status so you can go into more depth on Shell. For the most part, we think Shell is doing that. read more

BY DAVE DENTINGERNOVEMBER 29, 2018 12:41PM@BlackburnSarnia

An alert was issued by Shell Canada about an upset at its Corunna plant Thursday morning.

The Aamjiwnaang Notification System says a cat cracker unit trip is causing high flaring and noise.

A Chemical Valley Emergency Coordinating Organization notice was issued.

Imperial says elevated flaring and noise is expected to continue for several more days at the Sarnia refinery while equipment repairs are made.

Company spokesperson Kristina Zimmer said Wednesday afternoon that construction of scaffolding was complete, and a repair plan had been finalized that includes replacement of a line. read more

November 04, 2018, 07:19:00 AM EDT By Tyler Crowe, Motley Fool

This past quarter,  Royal Dutch Shell ‘s (NYSE: RDS-A) (NYSE: RDS-B) results showed the company can fund just about anything it wants right now. A large capital expenditure program? Yup. Pay down some debt? Sure! Fund its dividend? Of course! How about a $2 billion share repurchase program on top of all of that? Why not! The reason it is able to do this is that the company is generating an almost unfathomable amount of cash right now. Shell’s management said this was the most cash it has pulled in since the second quarter of 2008 when oil prices were in the $110-to-$120-per-barrel range. read more

Julie Gordon, Rod Nickel: NOVEMBER 1, 2018

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – An expansion of LNG Canada has a cost advantage over its rivals in the race to build more liquefied natural gas export capacity, but a go-ahead decision on phase two is likely still a few years away, Shell Canada’s president said on Thursday.

The first phase of the C$41 billion ($31.3 billion) Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.AS)-led project was given the go-ahead last month, firing up a race among companies eager to be the next to tap into booming Asian demand for the gas that is supercooled into liquid form for export by tanker. read more

A billion-euro acquisition deal struck last year by a giant Canadian pension fund for Shell’s holds in the Corrib gas field still has not been fully completed. (stock picture)

Fearghal O’Connor: October 28 2018 4:00 PM

Pre-tax losses at Shell’s Corrib gas field operation fell substantially last year, from €187m to €89m, according to newly-filed financial results.

A massive billion-euro acquisition deal struck last year by a giant Canadian pension fund for Shell’s 45pc holding in the controversial gas field off the Mayo coast still has not been fully completed. read more

Head of US business says oil and gas output will act as ‘balance’ for deepwater projects

Anjli Raval in New Orleans

Growing oil and gas production from shale fields will act as a “balance” for deepwater projects, the new head of Royal Dutch Shell’s US business said, as the energy major strives for flexibility in the transition to cleaner fuels. Gretchen Watkins said drilling far beneath oceans in the US Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Nigeria secured revenues for the longer-term, but tapping shale reserves in the US, Canada and Argentina enabled nimble decision-making. FULL FT ARTICLE read more

Callum Turcan: October 17, 2018

Summary

• Going over Royal Dutch Shell’s LNG Canada endeavor.
• The pros and the cons.
• Why this is ultimately a good idea.

Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is making another big bet on liquefied natural gas, this time in Canada. On October 1, 2018, Royal Dutch Shell plc and its partners announced a positive investment decision on the ~US$31 billion (~40 billion Canadian dollars) Canada LNG venture. The goal is to bring an LNG export facility online in Kitimat, British Columbia, to take advantage of both its existing infrastructure (deep-water ports, roads, electricity grids) and its easy access to Asian markets. While I am a shareholder of Royal Dutch Shell, that doesn’t mean I want to be a cheerleader for every decision the company makes. Here is what I view as a very reasonable assessment of LNG Canada, highlighting both the pros and cons of this endeavor. Let’s dig in. read more

Wouter de Klein, Manager of Groundbirch Operations, gives a safety briefing at Shell Canada’s Saturn gas plant at the Groundbirch project in Groundbirch, British Columbia, Canada, October 11, 2018. REUTERS/Julie Gordon

GROUNDBIRCH, British Columbia (Reuters) – At a massive natural gas field in northern British Columbia, Royal Dutch Shell Plc is using new technologies and processes to cut emissions to address public and environmental group concerns that Canada’s nascent liquefied natural gas export industry could be a climate time bomb.

The Groundbirch project, perched above Canada’s richest shale gas deposit some 1,110 kilometers (684 miles) northeast of Vancouver, includes four gas plants and 500 wells dotted over an area the size of New York City. read more

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant may “turbo-charge” its drive into renewable power and electric vehicles within five years

Jillian Ambrose, energy editor: 13 OCTOBER 2018 • 5:30PM

‘We’re not an oil company,” says Ben van Beurden from across the table. It is an affable, but pointed intervention typical of the man leading the FTSE 100’s highest-valued business.

“I don’t want to be facetious or pedantic,” he continues good-naturedly. “But we are a much broader and more sophisticated company than one that produces oil. We produce much more gas than we do oil, for a start.”

For the boss of Royal Dutch Shell, the distinction is one that rings at the heart of a personal mission to transform a company which for over a hundred years has fuelled the development of the modern world. read more