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Oil firms face further cuts as low prices linger

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Oil firms face further cuts as low prices linger

Commodities | Fri Apr 24, 2015 12:23pm BST

* Big oil using spending cuts to increase efficiency

* Q1 earnings set to drop by more than 50 pct, tracking oil price

* Strong refining margins set to continue

By Ron Bousso

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Oil majors may need deeper cuts to oil and gas exploration and production spending as they grapple with an extended period of low crude prices.

The industry is expected to reveal another set of grim earnings for the first quarter when benchmark Brent prices averaged $55 a barrel, almost half the level of a year ago. read more

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How The Majors Are Playing The Oil Price Slump

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Screen Shot 2015-02-01 at 14.48.37Article by Nick Cunningham published 22 April 2015 by OilPrice.com

How The Majors Are Playing The Oil Price Slump

The largest oil and gas companies are employing different strategies to weather the downturn and plan for the future. Each strategy has its risks, and not all may work out. Which companies will emerge stronger after an oil price rebound and which will fall further behind because of bad decisions?

There are different ways to play a down cycle. With oil prices half of what they were in 2014, revenues are significantly lower for everyone across the board. As a result, the oil industry has collectively implemented an estimated $114 billion in spending cuts. But oil executives are also trying to figure out how to grow over the next five or ten years. read more

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‘Big Oil’ poring over troubled waters

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‘Big Oil’ poring over troubled waters

Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 09.23.28By Mark Robinson, 17 April 2015

The severity of crude oil’s collapse meant that its effects were always likely to be felt far beyond petrol station forecourts. Reduced assumptions on future pricing convinced oil and gas majors, already given over to renewed capital discipline, to also accelerate the reduction in exploration and appraisal commitments.

The effect on valuations for oil companies and their ancillary industries has been well documented by the Investors Chronicle, but the trouble doesn’t end there. The fall-away in valuations across the wider industry has also made tertiary finance more difficult to attain for mid-tier and smaller oil companies. It also means that secondary capital issues are more expensive to complete – even for oil companies with existing production. The end result is that there are a lot of distressed energy assets up for grabs at knockdown prices. read more

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Oil price down, coffers full: now Big Petroleum is in the mood for mergers

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The energy sector looks set for a round of mergers and acquisitions. Illustration: David Simonds for the Observer

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The world of Big Oil looks set for another round of mega-mergers and acquisitions after Shell set the ball rolling this week with its $70bn agreement to take over BG.

FULL ARTICLE

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Iran riches coveted by big oil after decades of conflict

Extracts from a Bloomberg article published 31 March 2015

Iran riches coveted by big oil after decades of conflict

Now, as Iran and the US enter 11th hour negotiations to reach a nuclear deal and ease sanctions, the West Asian country is emerging again as a potential prize for western oil companies such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA and Total SA.

The restoration of Western oil investment appears to be a priority for Iran in its nuclear talks with the U.S., U.K, France, Germany, Russia and China. A year ago, the new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani used a speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos to court the European oil majors. read more

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Why Stocks Of Chevron Corporation, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, And ConocoPhillips Should Be Avoided

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Why Stocks Of Chevron Corporation, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, And ConocoPhillips Should Be Avoided

Bidness Etc looks at why Barron’s Asia advises new investors against buying stocks of the four Big Oil companies, namely, Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and ConocoPhillips

By: MICHEAL KAUFMAN

Published: Feb 18, 2015 at 6:36 am EST

Extracts

Crude oil price have dramatically decreased more than 50% since June 2014. Amid the low-price scenario, Barron’s Asia believes that new investors should avoid placing their bets on the four Big Oil companies, comprising, Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP).

Barrion’s Asia terms these stocks as the most defensive energy stocks mainly due to minor changes in the value of these stocks since mid-October. The West Texas Intermediate has fallen more than 35% over the same period. read more

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Big Oil Unable To Increase Reserves To Counter Declining Production

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Bidness Etc discusses why major oil firms have been unable to replace their new reserves, despite crude production level falling since last year amid tumbling crude price

By: MICHEAL KAUFMANPublished: Feb 8, 2015 at 8:40 am EST

According to the quarterly results announced during the past few weeks, major oil companies have reported a mediocre performance for last year, as far as exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas reserves is concerned. At the same time, companies have also reduced their capital spending budgets for this year, which might exacerbate their lower production problem.

Over the last decade, some of the biggest oil companies have seen their production drop and their growth of reserves stutter, even though oil price was going up for the most part. Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) are five of the biggest global oil and gas companies, which saw their production drop 3.25% year-over-year (YoY) on average last year, while failing to replace the crude oil and natural gas – they extracted last year – with new reserves. read more

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BIG OIL: Who will blink first to set the M&A scramble in motion

Screen Shot 2015-01-31 at 08.53.48With more than $110 billion of oil and gas assets on the block as companies big and small count the cost of the collapse in oil prices, it is now a question of who will blink first to set the M&A scramble in motion.

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Article published by Reuters 30 Jan 2015 under the headline:

Buyers bide their time in $110 bln oil asset sell-off

* Half of the assets on sale are in North America

* North Sea could prove a hard sell

* Potential buyers holding out for further price falls

* Wave of deals expected within three to six months

By Ron Bousso

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – With more than $110 billion of oil and gas assets on the block as companies big and small count the cost of the collapse in oil prices, it is now a question of who will blink first to set the M&A scramble in motion.

Energy groups with spare cash, venture capital funds and multinational and state oil companies are eyeing assets with valuations that have largely tracked the halving of the oil price to less than $50 a barrel since last June. read more

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Oil rout gives Exxon and Shell reason to buy rival ‘sisters’

Screen Shot 2015-01-31 at 08.53.48…a major deal over the next year that will bring together two of the super majors, or see one of their smaller rivals swallowed up, is highly likely – and almost a certainty if historical precedent is anything to go by. Certainly, if the oil rout of the late 90s is anything to go by, a major deal among the industries big “sisters” is just around the corner.

Article By Andrew Critchlow, Commodities editor, The Telegraph, published 30 Jan 2015 under the headline:

Oil rout gives Exxon and Shell reason to buy rival ‘sisters’

First there were the “Seven Sisters”, a term coined in the 1950s to describe a cabal of the world’s biggest international oil companies (IOCs), which at that time controlled the supply of fossil fuels with a vice-like grip.

Then came the Yom Kippur war of 1973 and the subsequent Middle East oil crisis, which would gradually see their power over more than three-quarters of the world’s crude wrestled back by newly independent states in the Persian Gulf.

By the late 1990s – with oil prices at around $20 (£13.20) per barrel – the original seven had grown much bigger and been morphed into new giants, which consumed their smaller rivals in a race to acquire what little of the world’s oil and gas reserves still remained open to them. read more

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U.S. Seen Limiting Oil Drilling in Arctic, May Open Atlantic

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26 JAN 2015

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Interior Department will lay a framework as soon as Tuesday for oil exploration in the nation’s coastal waters in a five-year plan that is expected to withdraw areas off Alaska while possibly adding parts of the Atlantic.

Republican Lisa Murkowski said the head of the offshore energy office told her the agency will place areas of the energy-rich U.S. Arctic off limits. Those areas had been previously deferred from new leasing. Current leases in the Arctic, such as those held by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, won’t be affected. read more

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Oil crashes below $50 – Big Oil loses $200 billion

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Screen Shot 2014-02-18 at 18.34.00The meltdown in oil prices has wiped out more than $200 billion in market valuation among the 10 largest oil and natural gas companies in the S&P 500. To combat depressed prices, oil companies are hitting the brakes on spending and laying off workers. Investors are saying “enough.” They are dumping their energy stocks as the outlook for profits and dividends has diminished significantly.

From a BBC News article published 7 Jan 2015 under the headline:

Screen Shot 2015-01-07 at 23.11.04“Brent crude oil price dips below $50 a barrel”

The price of Brent crude oil has fallen below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2009.

It fell more than a dollar to $49.92 a barrel in early trading on Wednesday before edging back above the $50 mark.

Slowing global growth and increased supply of oil and gas have pushed prices sharply lower in recent weeks.

The price of oil traded in the United States, known as West Texas Intermediate crude, has already fallen below $50.

Many observers expect the price of oil to fall further as North American shale producers continue to supply increasing quantities of oil and gas, and the oil-producing group Opec resists calls for cuts in production to support prices. read more

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Shell’s future in the Arctic looks doubtful

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By: MICHEAL KAUFMAN
Published: Dec 23, 2014 at 12:38 pm EST

There is a large question mark on whether Royal Dutch Shell (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) will continue a new round of drilling in the Chukchi Sea and the Beufort Sea in the Arctic or not. The company earlier filed a lawsuit against a group of environmentalists to avoid any legal challenges in the future. The lawsuit sparked criticism from authorities and posed several problems for the Dutch oil giant.

Shell acquired the leases in 2008, after receiving approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). But a lawsuit was filed blaming BOEM for taking arbitrary estimates which were not reliable. BOEM as a result revised its assessment and issued a supplementary environmental statement, which revealed that around 4.4 billion barrels of crude oil could be pumped compared to the previous estimate of one billion barrels. read more

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Tumbling crude prices will lay waste to countries and companies alike

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Screen Shot 2014-12-22 at 09.22.26By John Donovan

The oil industry is leaving 2014 on a low note as far as oil prices are concerned. 

A financial earthquake has hit ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, Conocophillips and Total. 

The Sunday Times devoted a whole page article by Danny Fortson to the turmoil resulting from the collapse in the price of crude oil.

According to his article on page 5 of the Business Section of The Sunday Times published on 21 Dec 2014:

“Tumbling crude prices will lay waste to countries and companies alike”

…and tens of thousands of British jobs are at risk.  read more

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Why Shell Is Facing Problems In The Arctic

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By: MICHEAL KAUFMAN
Published: Dec 19, 2014 at 11:21 am EST

Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) is uncertain over its plans to drill in the US Arctic. The final decision regarding the company is expected to come in March, 2015. During this time the company is likely to consider various factors before taking a decision.

How crude oil prices have moved in the last six months seems will be a factor in any decision taken by management. Oil exploration and production (E&P) activities have fallen globally because of the dip in prices. read more

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Shell may abandon Arctic drilling indefinitely

Screen Shot 2014-12-19 at 15.36.47By John Donovan

Royal Dutch Shell is expected to announce by March if it will go forward with plans to drill for oil in Arctic waters offshore Alaska in 2015, a decision which may have more to do with the outcome of court cases and U.S. government reviews than global market fundamentals.

Shell’s decision is widely seen as a potential turning point for the company’s long-range Arctic plans, with billions already spent and rival companies putting their own Arctic drilling plans on hold; if Shell does not pursue drilling off north Alaska in 2015, it may abandon the region indefinitely. read more

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Talk of Shell BP tie-up to create £200bn world leader

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After a solid 10 hours locked in secret briefings at the Langham Hotel in London this week, 100 of BP’s top investors emerged into the crisp winter evening air to the grim news that oil prices had sunk to a new five-year low.

From an article in The Sunday Telegraph 14 December 2014 by Andrew Critchlow

UK oil giants fight for control in a current of falling prices

Investors in BP and Royal Dutch Shell – Britain’s biggest international oil companies – now find themselves caught in the crossfire of a much bigger game

After a solid 10 hours locked in secret briefings at the Langham Hotel in London this week, 100 of BP’s top investors emerged into the crisp winter evening air to the grim news that oil prices had sunk to a new five-year low.

Given the challenges facing big oil producers, the mood at the briefing, led by BP’s upstream chief executive Lamar McKay, was described as being “serious” by those present. However, the thought of US crude crashing below $60 (£38) per barrel, a baseline level that most oil majors use to stress test the profitability of their future projects, will have pushed sentiment to a new low. read more

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Oil majors BP and Shell may be ready for more mergers

Some of Shell’s big shareholders are said to be frustrated by the company’s continued spending on expensive far-flung projects that fail to yield healthy returns. Alongside its profit warning at the start of this year, Shell announced that it was halting a controversial exploration programme off the coast of Alaska because the costs had far outweighed the results. Some $4.5bn had been ploughed into exploring in the region since 2005. Rumours continue to swirl that an activist investor is circling Shell with a view to taking a stake and forcing it adopt a more radical strategy. read more

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Judge suspends Arctic drilling, orders new environmental report

Screen Shot 2014-04-04 at 09.49.25Extracts from a Los Angeles Times article by Paresh Dave published 24 April 2014

In the ongoing battle over offshore drilling, a federal judge in Alaska told regulators Thursday to redo an environmental impact study that underestimated the amount of recoverable oil and, potentially, the risks to delicate Arctic habitat. The decision by U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline stopped short of scrapping the $2.6 billion in leases, however. In light of the new analysis, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will have to decide whether to move forward with or cancel the agreed-upon leases with Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips and other companies. read more

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Oil firms’ cost cuts may jeopardise worker safety – Norway watchdog

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Shell oil rig Kulluk seen grounded off the coast of an Alaskan island.

Extract from a Reuters article by Gwladys Fouche published 24 April 2014

OSLO, April 24 (Reuters) – Cost-cutting by oil companies could jeopardise the safety of workers in the future, Norway’s safety watchdog warned on Thursday. The regulator said it was concerned that as a result safety standards could be compromised in Norway, where the world’s biggest oil companies drill offshore, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, Total, Statoil and Exxon Mobil. read more

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Shell Discovers Oil at Limbayong Field in Offshore Sabah

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29Extract from an article by Petroliam Nasional Berhad published by RIGZONE on Monday 17 March 2014

Malaysia’s national oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) and Royal Dutch Shell plc announced Monday an oil discovery offshore Sabah, Malaysia. The drilling of the Limbayong-2 appraisal well was carried out by the consortium of Shell Malaysia (35 percent), ConocoPhillips (35 percent) and Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd (30 percent).

FULL ARTICLE

Petroliam Nasional Berhad | Petroliam Nasional Berhad |
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Big Oil’s troubles

Big Oil’s troubles will lead to the next huge advance in energy technology

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By Steve LeVine

They spent too much

And they discovered that their technology was inferior

Survival and industry culture will trigger a big leap

FULL ARTICLE

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Why Royal Dutch Shell’s Fire Sale May be Cause for Concern

Screen Shot 2013-12-22 at 19.09.52…both BP’s and ConocoPhillips’ asset sales look downright modest in comparison to the outright fire sale Royal Dutch Shell will soon embark on. Royal Dutch Shell unloaded billions last year, with even greater amounts to be sold off over the next two years. That’s why investors may have legitimate cause for concern about the fate of Shell’s future growth trajectory.

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by Bob Ciura

Royal Dutch Shell plans to sell off several billion dollars worth of assets over the next two years. Should investors be worried?

The last year was a tough one for integrated oil majors. Thinning refining margins put a serious dent in downstream earnings, and upstream profitability failed to impress despite cooperative energy prices. As a result, it’s not entirely surprising to see members of Big Oil such as (NYSE: BP) sell off non-critical assets.

Even independent exploration and production major ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), which isn’t nearly as integrated as its peers after spinning off its downstream and midstream business, got in on the asset sale game last year. read more

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Oil Profits Slump as Higher Spending Fails to Lift Output

Screen Shot 2013-10-01 at 07.56.54Investors are shunning the world’s biggest oil companies as drilling costs surge, major projects are delayed and energy prices stagnate. Shell, the second-largest oil company by market value, will report its lowest fourth-quarter profit since 2009 after The Hague-based explorer was socked with cost overruns on some of its most important new fields. Ben van Beurden, who took the helm at Shell at the start of the year, said Jan. 17, in Shell’s first profit-warning in a decade, that disruptions in Nigeria, weak refining margins and lower U.S. natural gas production brought down earnings.

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Jan 29, 2014 12:00 AM GMT

Investors are shunning the world’s biggest oil companies as drilling costs surge, major projects are delayed and energy prices stagnate.

Crude and natural gas producers from Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to ConocoPhillips began issuing profit warnings three weeks ago as they tallied the extent of fourth-quarter disappointments. Shareholders have punished the stocks, making the energy sector the worst performer in the MSCI World Index this year, in anticipation of bleak earnings disclosures later this week. read more

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Alaska Coastal Oil Drilling Challenge Revived by U.S. Court

Screen Shot 2013-11-01 at 09.31.18Alaskan coastal drilling by oil companies including ConocoPhillips (COP:US) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) may be further delayed after a U.S. court revived conservation group claims that the government acted illegally in opening almost 30 million acres on the continental shelf to energy exploration.

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By Karen Gullo January 22, 2014

Alaskan coastal drilling by oil companies including ConocoPhillips (COP:US) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) may be further delayed after a U.S. court revived conservation group claims that the government acted illegally in opening almost 30 million acres on the continental shelf to energy exploration.

Sierra Club and other organizations sued the government after the $2.6 billion sale of development leases for the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska in 2008, saying the amount of oil from the leases was far higher than the 1 billion barrels the U.S. Interior Department had estimated in an an environmental review. read more

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Selection of article links relating to Royal Dutch Shell 17 Jan 2014

Screen Shot 2013-10-01 at 07.56.54Selection of article links relating to Royal Dutch Shell kindly provided by a regular contributor

How Royal Dutch Shell Will Soon Become a Major Player in Natural  DailyFinance-2013 was a difficult year for integrated major Royal Dutch Shell due to … disruptions in Nigeria, one of its major oil-producting geographies.

Federal Reserve: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Is What Scares Us …: Huffington Post-Jan 14, 2014: That expansion, plus recent catastrophes like the BP oil spill, has ….

Shell shock: Oil giant warns of ‘significantly lower’ profitCNBC.com read more

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Western energy companies flocking to China to unlock shale reserves

FINANCIAL TIMES

ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips of the US, and Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Eni from Europe, are among the international oil companies that have signed deals to explore shale resources in China. Yet for all the excitement, the future of China’s shale remains cloudy. 

FULL FT ARTICLE

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Greenland explores Arctic mineral riches amid fears for pristine region

The move comes as BP and Shell join others exploring for oil and gas in the pristine waters off Greenland, as concerns grow that the wave of industrialisation in the region will damage the pristine environment.Screen Shot 2013-01-18 at 22.39.30

London Mining’s £1.5bn iron ore mine and new oil drilling licences for BP and Shell spark concern for environment

Screen Shot 2014-01-05 at 20.04.13 Site of London Mining’s iron ore mine at Isua, Greenland. Photograph: London Mining

London Mining, a British mineral company, is trying to attract Chinese and other international investors to build a £1.5bn iron ore mine just outside the Arctic Circle in Greenland.

The move comes as BP and Shell join others exploring for oil and gas in the pristine waters off Greenland, as concerns grow that the wave of industrialisation in the region will damage the pristine environment.

Greenland and the wider Arctic is seen as one of the new frontiers for exploiting mineral wealth, but uncertain national boundaries have also opened up potential political, if not military, conflicts. read more

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Big Oil sits out lobbying on Iran as Congress stands firm

The companies that have lobbied Congress this year have largely been U.S. divisions of larger international oil companies, such as BP America, part of London-based BP Plc and Shell Oil Co, the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

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By Timothy Gardner and Andy Sullivan: WASHINGTON Sun Dec 22, 2013 7:24am EST

(Reuters) – As debate rises in Washington over the first thaw in relations between Iran and the United States in decades, powerful oil companies are opting for an unusual tactic: silence.

Oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp and ConocoPhillips could earn huge profits if the United States loosened economic sanctions on Iran, allowing access to its oil and natural gas fields, some of the world’s largest and least costly to produce. read more

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Taylor: Will SEC give oil companies the green light on secrecy?

In the event that Shell and Eni’s handling of the deal is found to be in breach of U.S. anti-bribery laws, investors, who were not given the opportunity to assess these payments, could also be on the hook for penalties that could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

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By Simon Taylor | December 7, 2013

Lack of new disclosure rules for foreign government access puts investors at risk

Conspicuously missing from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s annual update on regulatory activity released last week is a rule requiring companies to disclose what they pay foreign governments for access to natural resources. The agency needs to put an immediate end to these secret payments if it is to do its job of protecting investors.

When the SEC proposed disclosure rules in August 2012 as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law, the American Petroleum Institute (which represents companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron) sued the SEC to keep their deals – and the public – in the dark. In July, a federal court supported the institute’s case and ordered the SEC to revise its original payment disclosure rule. The SEC needs to make the rewrite a top priority so that a new version of the rules is released in early 2014. read more

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Large Companies Prepared to Pay Price on Carbon

ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, BP and Shell, all major contributors to the Republican party…

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Shell, a co-owner of the Motiva oil refinery in Port Arthur, Tex., has added climate-related carbon taxes to its long-term budgets. Michael Stravato for The New York Times

By CORAL DAVENPORT:  A version of this article appears in print on December 5, 2013, on page A1 of the New York edition

WASHINGTON — More than two dozen of the nation’s biggest corporations, including the five major oil companies, are planning their future growth on the expectation that the government will force them to pay a price for carbon pollution as a way to control global warming.

The development is a striking departure from conservative orthodoxy and a reflection of growing divisions between the Republican Party and its business supporters.

A new report by the environmental data company CDP has found that at least 29 companies, some with close ties to Republicans, including ExxonMobil, Walmart and American Electric Power, are incorporating a price on carbon into their long-term financial plans. read more

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BP and Shell among oil firms Iran wants back in country

Iranian Oil Minister seeks talks with oil giants to return Iran to help tap world’s fourth-largest oil reserves after sanctions are lifted

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By Reuters: 2:25PM GMT 04 Dec 2013

Iran on Wednesday named seven Western oil companies it wants back in its vast oil and gas fields once international sanctions are lifted and said it would offer contract terms in April next year.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh named the seven in order: BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total of France, Italy’s ENI, Norway’s Statoil, and US companies Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips.

Iran has the world’s fourth-largest proved national reserves of oil – most of it cheap to produce – and is also home to the biggest proved reserves of natural gas, some 18pc of the global total. read more

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Is the Last Oil Frontier About to Open Up?

Royal Dutch Shell , for example, has spent more than $5 billion on its Alaskan Arctic program with nothing to show for it. This time around Shell has signed a contract with Transocean on a rig that starts in July. Previously, Shell had used its own rig, Kulluk, and one owned by Noble Corp. . It was the Kulluk that ran aground in 2012…

by Matthew DiLallo, The Motley Fool Nov 26th 2013 2:00PM

Melting Arctic ice caps are springing forth a new frontier for global commerce. New sea lanes are starting to open and more activity is coming to the region. This changing landscape has some suggesting that the last frontier for oil and gas companies might soon be more accessible.

With these changes come new challenges. It’s not just global oil companies that are interested in exploring this final frontier. Countries like China and Russia are looking to stake claim to the region, which could one day prove to be an issue for national security. That is why this transformation will need to be handled with care to protect the already fragile environment and relationships with those nations seeking to extract the region’s natural resources. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The 1 Threat That Could Kill a Major Oil Company

The first company which will have a leak of oil [in the Arctic]… a drop, is a dead company.

— Christophe de Margerie, Total CEO 

At a recent event at the Council on Foreign Relations, Total‘s CEO did not mince words about the risks of drilling for oil in the Arctic: It’s risky, and the chances of an oil spill in the region is simply too great for Total to justify investing in oil exploration there. While there are differing opinions across the oil space regarding if and how we should explore drilling in the Arctic, de Margerie’s statements raise a very poignant question for oil and gas investors: How much are our energy investments at risk of a “giant killer”-type accident? Let’s take a look at the risks involved in Arctic drilling and who is involved in the Arctic. read more

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U.S Government Opens Leasing of Chukchi Sea to Other Drillers after Shell Backed Out

The U.S government announced Thursday that they will be welcoming other oil and energy companies interested in leasing Chukchi Sea near Alaska after Shell backed out..

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By Julie S: Sept 29, 2013

The U.S government announced Thursday that they will be welcoming other oil and energy companies interested in leasing Chukchi Sea near Alaska after Shell backed out, Reuters reports.

Chukchi Sea is located at the northwest side of Alaska and believed to hold more than 15 billion barrels of oil, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) calculation.

Shell was the first company to lease in 2008 for $2.1 billion. The company started its preliminary drilling in 2012 but experienced challenges in their equipment. It also reported accidents happening on-site. Finally, the company announced that it will no longer drill in Chukchi Sea for 2013. It also did not say if there will be drilling for 2014. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

U.S. govt gauges interest in new Chukchi Sea offshore oil leasing

Screen Shot 2013-01-11 at 20.09.51(Reuters) – The U.S. government on Thursday started to formally gauge energy companies’ interest in future oil and gas leasing in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska, site of a trouble-plagued 2012 exploration season for Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Shell did preliminary drilling on one Chukchi well in 2012. After experiencing equipment failures and accidents, it declined to drill again this year. The company has announced no decision about returning to complete that well or drill others in 2014.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept 26 | Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:07pm EDT

(Reuters) – The U.S. government on Thursday started to formally gauge energy companies’ interest in future oil and gas leasing in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska, site of a trouble-plagued 2012 exploration season for Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

The “Call for Information and Nominations” issued by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the first step in a potential Chukchi Sea lease sale under consideration for 2016, officials said. read more

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The risk of sharing your ideas with Shell

By John Donovan

Royal Dutch Shell is once again inviting people to share their ideas with the oil giant. (see article below)

I caution anyone contemplating doing so to be on their guard.

In my experience Shell has no respect for confidentiality or intellectual property rights.

I have successfully sued Shell many times for breach of confidence and breach of contract in respect of ideas I disclosed to the company in strictest confidence and Shell then used without giving me any credit or payment.

I know many other people who have had the same problems in having their ideas ripped off by Shell. read more

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China Gains New Friends in Its Quest for Energy

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A version of this article appears in print on September 24, 2013, on page A4 of the New York edition

ATYRAU, Kazakhstan — On the northern reaches of the Caspian Sea, not far from this old Soviet town known for its oil and sturgeon, lies a vast new oil find, the biggest outside the Middle East. China was rebuffed when it asked for a stake 10 years ago.

But when the pumps finally started this month, the China National Petroleum Corporation had won a share in the project, known as Kashagan, and President Xi Jinping was in the region recently to celebrate, another indication that China’s influence has eclipsed even Russia’s across the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. read more

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Links to a selection of Shell related articles

Screen Shot 2013-08-29 at 17.22.26Links to a selection of current Shell related articles kindly supplied by a regular contributor

Montepeque of Platts Caught in Battle Over Oil Assessments: Bloomberg: The oil-market investigation became public in May when European … Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), three of Europe’s largest oil companies, …

Shell will keep oil shale R&D, sell its other Colorado assets: Denver Business Journal (blog)-Aug 23, 2013; Royal Dutch Shell’s U.S. subsidiary will keep its oil shale research project going in Colorado, but the company’s other assets in the … read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Nigeria: Shell, Chevron, Others Declare $38.76bn Dividend

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Nigerians were once again the losers, as six international oil companies — Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhilips, Chevron, Total, Eni and ExxonMobil — paid their shareholders a dividend of $38.76 billion (N6.201 trillion) in 2013.

The dividends were for the 2012 financial year, which was approved by their respective shareholders a couple of weeks ago.

The dividends declared by the six oil majors represent about 52.93 per cent of the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s, NSE, market capitalization of N11.714 trillion. read more

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Shell hires for Arctic Offshore

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Oil Patch Insider: Shell hires for Arctic Offshore

Although media attention on Shell’s problems with its Alaska Arctic exploration program and the deferral of similar programs by ConocoPhillips and Statoil has tended to question the oil companies’ continuing commitment to the Arctic offshore, a recent half-page advertisement by Shell in the Anchorage Daily News would seem to imply that the company’s Alaska program is still alive and well. The advertisement, seeking job applications from “engineering and technical professionals,” says that Shell is seeking to fill immediate vacancies based in Anchorage. Those vacancies include positions such as a marine contracts manager, an ice management lead, well engineers and well supervisors, the advertisement says. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell looks at more asset sales in Nigeria

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21 June 2013

LAGOS — Oil giant Shell announced Friday it may sell more of its onshore oil blocks in Nigeria, where theft and sabotage have repeatedly cut into production in Africa’s largest crude producer.

The British-Dutch firm, Nigeria’s biggest producer, also said the joint venture its Nigerian subsidiary operates was planning to invest $3.9 billion (3 billion euros) on gas projects and pipeline work.

Shell said it may continue with efforts to sell off its interests in onshore oil blocks. It has sold its interests in eight blocks since 2010 for a total of $1.8 billion, it said. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

New oil licenses fuel Barents battle

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June 13, 2013

Oil & Energy Minister Ola Borten Moe splashed more oil on the simmering battle over the Barents Sea this week when he announced the award of 20 new oil production licenses in the area. He also awarded four more in the Norwegian Sea, and environmentalists were not pleased.

Some of the bullish Norwegian oil minister’s awards allow oil companies to venture closer to the sensitive Arctic waters around Svalbard, and that’s a highly controversial move. Oil companies won permission to look for new sources of oil and gas above 74-degrees latitude and not only environmental groups have been opposed to that. Newspaper Aftenposten noted that countries including Great Britain and Russia have erlier expressed that a border in principle runs along the 74-degree mark. Areas beyond that are in the so-called “Svalbard box” which they don’t think Norway has the right to manage alone. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Norway grants 24 oil licenses in Arctic-focused round

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Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:16am EDT

* 24 licenses awarded to 29 companies

* Statoil, Shell, Conoco, Total, ENI among winners

* 36 oil firms had applied, 86 blocks were on offer

OSLO, June 12 (Reuters) – Norway awarded 24 oil and gas exploration licences on Wednesday, focusing on the Arctic Barents Sea, in an effort to prolong oil output after more than a decade of decline.

Statoil, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Total, ENI and nine other firms received the right to operate licences, while a total of 29 firms won stakes in licences. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Kulluk report due in July as hearings end

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Screen Shot 2013-06-09 at 00.33.11By Tim Bradner, Alaska Journal of Commerce: June-Issue-2 2013

Two weeks of U.S. Coast Guard hearings on the grounding of Shell’s drill rig Kulluk concluded May 30. A report on conclusions of the inquiry is due in early July, but that deadline may be extended, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Brian McNamara said.

Coast Guard officials are probing Shell’s decisions and risk analysis in sending the drill rig across the Gulf of Alaska under tow during the winter, and whether the proper tugs and tow equipment were used. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Misadventures in Alaska

Screen Shot 2013-01-04 at 09.05.24Though Royal Dutch Shell has made major strides over the past decade in overcoming the negativity surrounding the 2004 reserve overstatement scandal, which led to the ouster of its CEO and other top executives, the company continues to be plagued by operational blunders that are straining its relationships with shareholders. At the company’s annual meeting last Tuesday, top executives were overwhelmed by a barrage of questions from anxious shareholders about the company’s beleaguered oil campaign off the northern coast of Alaska, which, despite nearly $5 billion of investment, has yet to produce a single drop of oil. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Oil executives tune out the call of the wild Arctic

Screen Shot 2013-01-10 at 16.33.18The Arctic may hold 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its gas, but a series of blunders and failures there are making executives fight shy of such a sensitive area and turn their attention back to more conventional resources and the shale revolution. The turning point likely came on New Year’s eve, when Royal Dutch Shell’s drillship ran aground in rough waters off Alaska, setting off a public relations storm that inflicted much pain on the firm, made more acute by how little it had to show for the $4.5 billion it has spent on the Arctic since 2005. read more

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The Biggest Criminal Enterprise in History

Article recommended by Esther Kiobel

The Biggest Criminal Enterprise in History

Terracide and the Terrarists Destroying the Planet for Record Profits

by Tom Engelhardt Call it irony, if you will, or call it a nightmare, but Big Oil evidently has no qualms about making its next set of profits directly off melting the planet. We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide.  And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide.  But we don’t have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known it until, historically speaking, late last night.  A possibility might be “terracide” from the Latin word for earth.  It has the right ring, given its similarity to the commonplace danger word of our era: terrorist.The truth is, whatever we call them, it’s time to talk bluntly about the terrarists of our world.  Yes, I know, 9/11 was horrific.  Almost 3,000 dead, massive towers down, apocalyptic scenes.  And yes, when it comes to terror attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings weren’t pretty either.  But in both cases, those who committed the acts paid for or will pay for their crimes.In the case of the terrarists — and here I’m referring in particular to the men who run what may be the most profitable corporations on the planet, giant energy companies like ExxonMobilChevronConocoPhillipsBP, and Shell — you’re the one who’s going to pay, especially your children and grandchildren. You can take one thing for granted: not a single terrarist will ever go to jail, and yet they certainly knew what they were doing. FULL ARTICLE
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Three Oil Giants Suspend Chukchi and Beaufort Sea Drilling Plans

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Three Oil Giants Suspend Chukchi and Beaufort Sea Drilling Plans read more

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Noble Corp says Royal Dutch Shell Plc in talks to renew Arctic rig contract

Screen Shot 2013-01-29 at 14.38.10 By Reuters | 18 Apr, 2013, 08.41PM IST Noble Corp, owner of the world’s third-largest offshore drilling fleet, said on Thursday Royal Dutch Shell Plc was in talks to extend its contract to use the Noble Discoverer beyond February 2014, underlining its long-term plans for the offshore Arctic.

The Discoverer is undergoing repairs in South Korea after Shell postponed its 2013 drilling plans for offshore Alaska after a problematic foray there last year.

But Roger Hunt, Noble’s senior vice-president for marketing and contracts, said recent moves to push ahead with drilling in the Russian Arctic by Exxon Mobil Corp and Rosneft underlined the potential of the overall region. Hunt did not see the decision last week by ConocoPhillips to defer its drilling off the coast of Alaska as indicative of the industry losing interest. read more

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Should the U.S. Expand Offshore Oil Drilling?

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A version of this article appeared April 15, 2013, on page R6 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal,

EXTRACT

In the bureau’s 2012-17 plan, the Arctic waters of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska are the chief areas slated for expanded leasing outside the Gulf. Environmental groups fear that drilling in the Arctic threatens the habitat of endangered marine mammals and have worked to prevent Royal Dutch Shell PLC from exploring its existing leases. Shell’s recent operating setbacks, none of which involved actual drilling, intensified opposition. Shell, Statoil ASA and ConocoPhillips have all suspended Arctic exploration amid technical challenges and regulatory uncertainty, at least until 2014 for Shell and 2015 for the others. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.