By Ivana Kottasová, CNN Business

Updated 1819 GMT (0219 HKT) February 15, 2019

London (CNN Business)Royal Dutch Shell is making a bet on home battery storage as it tries to boost its sustainable energy business.

The oil giant announced Friday that it has purchased Sonnen, a German startup that makes residential battery systems that store energy generated from solar panels.

The move puts Shell in direct competition with companies such as Samsung (SSNLF), LG (LPL) and Tesla (TSLA), which makes a home battery system called the Powerwall. read more

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy German residential solar battery maker sonnen, as the oil and gas major expands its electricity business in its bid for a bigger role in the global transition to low-carbon energy.

Sonnen, which has 40,000 battery systems worldwide and in 2017 had sales of 65 million euros ($73 million), is the German market leader in home storage batteries and has expanded into electric vehicle charging systems.

Regulatory approval and completion of the transaction, involving Shell New Energies, was expected in the first quarter of 2019, a sonnen spokesman said, without giving a value. read more

Sophie Vorrath 13 February 2019

The Australian arm of global oil major, Royal Dutch Shell, has firmed up plans to build a 120MW solar farm in Queensland’s Western Downs region, which it describes as one of many “great opportunities” to evolve and grow the business in the Australian market.

In an address to the Melbourne Mining Club on Wednesday, Shell Australia chair Zoe Yujnovich said the “well-advanced plans” for the company’s first solar farm proposed building the 400,000 panel project on land adjacent to its QGC onshore natural gas business near Wandoan. read more

Jillian Ambrose, energy editor: 13 FEBRUARY 2019 

Royal Dutch Shell will join forces with renewable energy developers to build an €18m (£15.7m) floating wind project off the coast of Norway by next year.

The Anglo-Dutch fossil fuel giant will take a majority stake in the development company that hopes to prove that the cost of floating wind projects could fall significantly using innovating approaches.

Shell has increased its share of the project from an initial one third stake to almost two thirds, alongside German renewables company Innogy and Denmark’s Stiesdal Offshore Technologies. read more

• Madeleine Cuff
• @Madeleine_BG
• 14 February 2019

Energy giants Shell and Innogy have teamed up with Stiesdal Offshore Technologies (SOT) to invest in an €18m demonstration project they hope could slash the costs of installing floating wind turbines.

The trio yesterday announced the final investment decision on the TetraSpar floating wind project, firing the starter gun on work to install a turbine with a floating foundation off the Norwegian coast.

The plan is to create a turbine foundation featuring a modular structure, which would be constructed from tubular steel and incorporate a suspended keel. The companies said that because the design can be assembled on land and towed fully constructed out to sea, it should deliver significant cost savings compared to current designs for floating turbines. read more

Makani could become a player in offshore wind power.

Alphabet is turning yet another one of its X projects into a business, but this time it’s enlisting the help of an unusual ally. Makani Power, a venture making electricity-generating kites (see above), has become a full-fledged subsidiary of Alphabet thanks in part to a minority investment from Shell — yes, the fossil fuel giant. The two hope to shift the technology from the land to offshore, where winds are stronger. They’re betting that the kites will be easier to deploy than conventional wind farms, since they could deploy with floating buoys instead of requiring platforms that reach down to the ocean bed. read more

Shell Australia has “well advanced” plans for a 120 MW utility scale PV array to supply its QGC onshore gas operations in northern Queensland. The announcement was made Shell Australia Chairman Zoe Yujnovich during a speech today, in which she pointed to an Australian “energy transition” in which “electrons will play a bigger role”.

The QGC operations sprawl across a landmass the size of Belgium and is Shell’s largest LNG project globally. Image: Shell

FEBRUARY 13, 2019 JONATHAN GIFFORD

Fossil fuel giant Shell’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations globally is set to be partly supplied by PV power. Shell Australia announced the move today, which will come in the form of a 120 MW solar farm to be developed on land that forms some of its QGC fracking operations in Queensland. The gas is liquefied, in an energy intensive process, at the 8.5 million tonne Curtis Island export facility near Gladstone – the company’s biggest LNG operation globally. read more

Shell Australia chairman Zoe Yujnovich said industry must help to direct government to create a durable energy policy after more than a decade of failed energy and climate policies. CREDIT: BEN RUSHTON

By Cole Latimer: February 13, 2019 — 7.30pm

Shell has blasted the federal government over climate and energy policies saying business needs to take the lead on climate action, and the Coalition blaming high gas prices on exports “cannot go unchallenged”.

In a speech, Australia chief Zoe Yujnovich lashed the government’s performance on climate change and threats to cut off gas exports, saying industry needs to take the lead on climate and energy as governments are unable to “sell” their constantly changing policies. read more

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN Business

Updated 0832 GMT (1632 HKT) February 12, 2019

London (CNN Business)Climate activists are preparing legal action aimed at forcing Royal Dutch Shell to exit the oil business.

A coalition of environmental groups in the Netherlands said Tuesday that they will hand over a court summons on April 5 if Shell does not change its business model to comply with the Paris climate accord. read more

GRAPHIC DOES NOT APPEAR IN REUTERS ARTICLE

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

AMSTERDAM, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Gas production at the Groningen field in the north of the Netherlands is falling faster than planned, the Dutch government said on Friday.

Output at the field will fall to 15.9 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the year ending October 2020, the government said, which is 1.5 bcm lower than originally planned.

The Dutch government last year said it would end production by 2030 and lower it as quickly as possible in coming years, as decades of extraction have led to a series of damaging earthquakes in the region. read more

Unplanned smoke and flaring at Shell in Deer Park

Wednesday, February 06, 2019 05:36PM

DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) —

Officials are working to resolve an unplanned flaring activity at the Shell in Deer Park.

The company tweeted Wednesday that a process unit upset caused noticeable flames and smoke to appear from the facility.

Shell says they are working to control the smoke and flaring, and that there’s no danger to the surrounding community or industry neighbors.

SOURCE

Shell inks renewable diesel deal in Oregon

Marissa Luck

Royal Dutch Shell has inked a long-term deal to purchase renewable diesel from a proposed $1 billion renewable project in Oregon.

Shell Trading Co. said it would purchase renewable diesel from NEXT Renewable Fuels Inc.’s proposed 12.3 million barrel (600 million gallon) project in Port Westward on the Columbia River in northern Oregon, according to an announcement from NEXT. The company will supply Shell and other partners with its alternative liquid fuels once the project opens in 2021. read more

Shell Offshore to pay $2.2 million fine for 2016 Gulf spill

By Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Shell Offshore Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.2 million civil fine to the federal government to settle charges that the company violated the Clean Water Act by spilling 1,900 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in May 2016 when a subsea pipeline cracked at the company’s Green Canyon oil field.

The fine, announced in the Federal Register on Friday (Feb. 1), will be paid after the expiration of a 30-day comment period. The money will be deposited in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is used to pay for oil spill cleanups. read more

Shell open to carmaker partners in EV charging expansion

FEBRUARY 1, 2019

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Shell is open to partnerships with carmakers to expand electric vehicle (EV) charging beyond its petrol stations, one of the oil major’s executives said on Friday.

As part of efforts to compete with rival BP in the growing EV sector, Shell this week bought U.S. charger provider Greenlots – a supplier for Volvo and Volkswagen’s U.S. subsidiary as well as for utilities and residential sites – for an undisclosed sum. read more

Shell ‘leading the way’ on climate change

Written by Mark Lammey – 31/01/2019 12:38 pm

Oil super major Shell is “ahead of the curve” on facing up to climate change responsibilities, its boss said today.

Green investor groups have been putting increasing pressure on oil companies to clean up their acts in recent times.

In December, Shell revealed plans to link pay for its top brass to the achievement of emissions targets.

Shell said it would start setting targets for shorter periods in an effort to cut the net carbon footprint of its energy products by around half by 2050, and 20% by 2035. read more

The chairman of oil giant Shell said Thursday that he doubts clean energy can move fast enough to meet the United Nations climate warnings without a substantial policy push, despite the technology being readily at hand.

“Our analysis says we could solve this problem with the technology we have, but there is not enough pull to get it over in the kind of time frame that the scientists say we really need to avoid that,” said Chad Holliday, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, speaking at an energy innovation forum in Washington. read more

Angry Dutch citizens on Thursday will ask their country’s highest court to put an immediate end to gas production in the Groningen region due to the risk of life-endangering earthquakes.

17 Jan 2019 

THE HAGUE: Angry Dutch citizens on Thursday will ask their country’s highest court to put an immediate end to gas production in the Groningen region due to the risk of life-endangering earthquakes.

Decades of extraction from what once was Europe’s largest natural gas field have led to dozens of minor tremors every year, damaging thousands of homes and sparking unrest among locals.

An unusually severe, magnitude 3.4 quake prompted the Dutch government last year to decide to end production by 2030 and to lower it as quickly as possible in coming years. read more

EXCLUSIVE: TV chef who previously campaigned for green causes is facing a major backlash

The TV chef has launched Jamie Oliver deli by Shell (Image: PA)

Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria.

By Tom Bryant: Head Of Showbiz: 20:54, 15 JAN 2019

Jamie Oliver has sparked fresh fury after trying to defend his £5million food-to-go deal with Shell.

The TV chef, 43, yesterday launched his range for the oil giant, despite campaigning for action on climate change.

He said he had “thought a lot” before agreeing to it, adding: “There are pitfalls working for any client, they all have their own baggage.”

But campaigners hit out at his reasoning, which comes after Jamie told of a cash crisis at his company.

Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria. read more

January 15, 2019

Jamie Oliver has defended his decision to sign a reported £5 million deal with Royal Dutch Shell despite years of campaigning for action on climate change. The television chef said that he had anticipated the accusations of hypocrisy that he has faced since news leaked of his agreement to design a range of deli food for the oil major’s British petrol stations. Oliver said that he had “thought a lot” before signing the deal, but had reached the conclusion that “there are pitfalls working for any client and they all have their own baggage”. He argued that the partnership “was absolutely worth it” if it meant that people had access to better-quality food. The chef, who was named an “environmental champion” by the UN Environment… read more

JANUARY 14, 2019

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell and Dutch pension fund manager PGGM are considering a joint bid for Dutch energy company Eneco [ENECO.UL], which analysts estimate to be worth around 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion).

The 53 municipalities that own Eneco, which is heavily invested in sustainable energy projects, said in December they will sell it via an auction later this year.

Shell and PGGM, who gave no financial details, said they were looking for “a long term commitment” with Eneco, which is expected to appeal to energy companies that want to increase their exposure to renewable energy production. read more

The Dutch High Court says it will consider demands on Jan. 17 seeking an immediate end to gas production from the Groningen field, after the government said it would cut output gradually.

The High Court says it received 26 objections to the plan, expressing concerns about seismic risks caused by drilling and demanding an urgent halt in production.

Analysts say the court is unlikely to grant an immediate halt because the Netherlands still depends on Groningen gas for a significant part of its energy supply. read more

By Dominic Walsh

Ben van Beurden has marked five years as chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell by giving a “wide-ranging interview” on climate change, his leadership style and “Shell’s biggest financial transformation” — an interview given to, erm, Royal Dutch Shell’s website. But rest assured, the oil group’s in-house journalists weren’t letting their boss off lightly. The transcript published yesterday features such hard-hitting questions as: “Who do you turn to for advice and support?” (answer: his wife, Stacey); “What are you most proud of when you look back at 2018?”; and “Why is trust so important for Shell?” A real zinger, that one. read more

Shell’s Pulau Bukom industrial site in western Singapore. (Photo: AFP)

08 Jan 2019 04:54PM (Updated: 08 Jan 2019 05:00PM)

SINGAPORE: Oil giant Shell has been fined S$400,000 for a fire which broke out at a petroleum refinery on Pulau Bukom in 2015, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Tuesday (Jan 8). 

The fire left six workers injured, including two with critical injuries after they suffered 50 per cent and 70 per cent burns.

On Aug 21, 2015, two groups of workers were simultaneously conducting maintenance and project works on a crude distillation unit at the refinery, said the ministry. read more

• Author Andrew Toh    Wanda Wang    Eric Yep
• Editor Wendy Wells
• 03 Jan 2019 | 07:14 UTC

Singapore — Shell will load the first condensate cargo from Australia’s Prelude FLNG project at end January, according to shipping reports and sources Thursday.

The condensate will be loaded in a 80,000 mt clip over January 31 to February 2, shipping reports showed.

A vessel has not been fixed for the cargo, and shipbrokers said Shell began looking for an Aframax tanker to load the cargo Thursday.

Shell did not immediately respond to an email query seeking comment.

The destination of the cargo is unclear, though trade sources have said that the oil major will likely use the cargo within its own network of splitters and refineries. read more

Shell’s wind development division considers Britain, including the North Sea, to be a key offshore market: ARTERRA/UIG/GETTY IMAGES

Royal Dutch Shell is considering bidding for rights to develop offshore wind farms in British waters as the Anglo-Dutch oil major seeks to re-enter the UK sector after a ten-year absence.

Dorine Bosman, Shell’s vice-president of wind development, said that the company was interested in seabed leases that are due to be awarded this year by the Crown Estate. read more

Spreadsheet-analysing investors in control of trillion-dollar funds are forcing polluters to change

Anjli Raval and Attracta Mooney in London: 27 December 2018

When an activist shareholder group last year launched a campaign to force Royal Dutch Shell to set hard targets for cutting carbon emissions, just 6 per cent of those eligible to vote backed the plan. Yet within months Shell had announced an “ambition” to halve its carbon footprint by 2050… This December it pledged to set firm short-term emissions targets from 2020 that will be tied to executive pay. “If we don’t meet them there will be consequences to my salary and others,” said Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive. FULL FT ARTICLE read more

By Irina Slav – Dec 26, 2018, 10:00 AM CST

Shell plans to increase the annual amount of money it invests in renewable energy to US$4 billion, the supermajor’s head of gas and new energy, Maarten Wetselaar told The Guardian in an interview.

The figure is double the maximum current annual investment Shell has allocated for cleaner energy initiatives but the increase will only materialize if these initial investments prove to make financial sense.

“I would like my current business to be financially credible enough for not only the company, but shareholders, to want to double it and look at more,” Wetselaar told The Guardian. read more

Company already committed to spend $1bn-$2bn annually in the next two years on low carbon energy read more

Written by Rebecca Buchan – 24/12/2018 7:40 am

REVVY, STEADY, GO: The Shell Recharge initiative is being brought to Scotland after it met with great success south of the border

Energy giant Shell has announced it is throwing its weight behind renewable energy in Scotland with the introduction of three electric charge points at locations around the country.

Charging docks will be placed at service stations in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dunblane in a move which rolls out an already well established initiative, Shell Recharge, north of the border following its success in England. Jane Lindsay-Green, Shell UK future fuels manager, said the sites were chosen because of their proximity to main driving routes, and where there is an opportunity to reach more EV drivers. read more

Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: December 21, 2018

Royal Dutch Shell has boosted its expansion into the offshore wind sector with two deals to establish a significant position in the nascent US industry.

The Anglo-Dutch energy group has splashed out $175 million over the past week on the rights to develop hundreds of turbines in the waters off New Jersey and Massachusetts, which could power more than 1.5 million homes.

Dorine Bosman, vice-president for wind development at Shell, below, said its expertise from developing offshore oil and gas fields should help it to compete against established offshore wind players to secure subsidy contracts needed for the proposed wind farms to go ahead. read more

19 December 2018

(Reuters) – EDF Renewables North America said on Wednesday it had formed a joint venture with oil and gas firm Royal Dutch Shell plc’s (RDSa.AS) new energies division to co-develop a lease area for offshore wind energy in New Jersey.

The area, spread over 183,353 acres and located off the coast of Atlantic City, has the potential to produce about 2,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy, EDF said in a statement.

The Trump administration is streamlining permits for offshore wind industry and carving out new areas for leasing to boost domestic energy production and jobs. read more

December 20, 2018

MUMBAI: Royal Dutch Shell Plc has picked up 49% stake in Cleantech Solar, a Southeast Asia and India-focused solar energy systems developer, for $100 million in what could be the British energy giant’s first investment in the alternate energy space in Asia.

The transaction is expected to get concluded in January 2019, the two companies said on Wednesday. Headquartered in Singapore, Cleantech Solar owns and operates more than 120 solar power plants across Southeast Asia, representing ove .. read more

By Neal Baker: 

JAMIE Oliver has been slammed after agreeing a £5million business deal with oil giant Shell – despite his green campaigning.

The TV chef has been hired to revamp the food offering at Shell service stations.

It comes after his business empire lost £20million last year, forcing him to close a further 12 of his 37 remaining Jamie’s Italian restaurants and making 600 staff redundant.

But his latest venture has been heavily criticised, leading to accusations he is “not taking seriously” the threat of climate change. read more

Jamie Oliver has agreed a £5million tie-up with Shell – despite his green campaigning.

The TV chef’s £5million deal with the oil giant comes after his business empire lost £20million last year – and despite years of him campaigning for action on climate change.

The arrangement will see him update food at Shell service stations.

Labour’s Anna McMorrin, who is on the Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee, said the move sent out the wrong message given that “he has a lot of support from young people”.

The Cardiff North MP, who visited the Arctic recently to see the ravages of global warming first-hand, said: “ Climate change is the major issue facing all of us. read more

14 December 2018

About 180 jobs are at risk after energy giant Shell announced the closure of two fire-damaged chemical units within an oil refinery in Cheshire.

The positions at Stanlow in Ellesmere Port are in question following a blaze at the site in August, which damaged the units.

Shell said the cost of fixing the damage was “not economically viable”,

The two chemical plants at the site are owed by Shell but are run under a management agreement by Essar Oil UK.

Essar Oil UK employs over 900 staff, and a further 500 contractors also operate at the refinery. read more

While it is true that Royal Dutch Shell gave shareholder activists on climate an early Christmas present, agreeing to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 per cent by 2035 and 50 per cent by 2050 ( FT View, December 7), a closer look reveals that the commitment is a cynical game.

FULL FT ARTICLE

Alexandra Alper: DECEMBER 11, 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A small amount of crude oil belonging to Royal Dutch Shell Plc leaked during a ship-to-ship oil transfer in Brazilian waters last month, the company confirmed to Reuters on Monday.

About 200 milliliters of crude were released on Nov. 30 during the maneuver, which was halted after the drip was detected, Shell said, adding that authorities were notified and the incident left no trace of oil in the sea.

However, a letter obtained by Reuters and sent to Brazilian environmental regulator Ibama by chartering firm Triaina Agencia Maritima said “drops of oil spilled into the ocean” and that the small quantity could not be measured. read more

Australia will further cement its top position as the final new project in the pipeline, Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude, comes online by next year.

Jessica Jaganathan: DECEMBER 10, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Australia overtook Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time in November, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed on Monday.

The surge in Australian exports follows the start up of a number of export projects in the country over the past three years, most recently the Ichthys project offshore its northern coast.

In November, Australia loaded 6.5 million tonnes of LNG for exports while Qatar exported over 6.2 million tonnes, the data showed. read more

By Kelly Gilblom: 10 December 2018, 00:00 GMT

• Dutch group Follow This may also target Exxon Mobil, Chevron
• Resolutions ask companies to align business with Paris accord

The activists who rankled Royal Dutch Shell Plc by filing climate-change resolutions for three straight years now are targeting other oil majors.

Follow This, a Dutch group that accumulates shares in oil companies in order to press them over greenhouse gas emissions, has filed another resolution against Shell for 2019. It also filed its first resolution against BP Plc and may target Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. in the same way.

The group, led by former journalist Mark van Baal, has been a source of frustration for Shell management, even though its resolutions have gone down to defeat. Van Baal stood up at the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s May 2018 shareholder meeting and said Shell was misleading its investors by saying it was on track to meet global climate targets, prompting CEO Ben van Beurden to angrily retort that wasn’t the case. read more

7 December 2018

Dow Chemical Co and Shell Oil Co have been hit with a lawsuit by the city of Arcadia, California accusing the companies of contaminating the city’s drinking water with a toxic chemical found in pesticides the companies once made.

Filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, the lawsuit said the companies knew or should have known that the chemical, known as 1,2,3-trichloropropane, or TCP is toxic and renders drinking water unsafe.

The companies still manufactured and marketed pesticides containing the chemical for years, the lawsuit said. read more

Written by Allister Thomas – 06/12/2018 7:50 am

The UK Government has said it will encourage other oil and gas firms to follow Shell in linking executives’ pay packs to climate targets.

Earlier this week the energy major announced an unprecedented move to link remuneration to reducing its carbon footprint.

Climate groups widely welcomed the action, as Shell aims to make a 20% reduction by 20135 and 50% by 2050.

Starting in 2020, Shell will set the target each year, for the following three or five-year period.

In the House of Lords yesterday, the Bishop of St Albans,  Alan Smith, asked about efforts to encourage more oil and gas firms to follow suit. read more

DECEMBER 5, 2018

MILAN (Reuters) – The Russian government has asked Italy to be “reasonable” over a Russian citizen caught up in a Nigerian graft case in Milan and drop the charges against him, according to legal documents seen by Reuters.

Ednan Tofik ogly Agaev, a former Russian ambassador in Colombia, is charged with international corruption in a case revolving around the 2011 purchase by oil majors Eni and Shell of Nigeria’s OPL 245 oilfield.

Milan prosecutors allege bribes totalling around $1.1 billion (£862.4 million) were paid to win the licence to explore the field. read more

Ben van Beurden

The linkage of carbon reduction targets to bonuses will not just apply to the top team but to a thousand or more senior Shell managers.

CARL MORTISHED: 5 Dec 2018

It’s tough setting pay incentives for the boss. You want him to have an eye on the big prize — more profits, more dividends. But you also want him to invest well, to run a tight ship and not sacrifice the long-term in pursuit of a quick buck. But what incentive is right when you worry that the core business might be banned within several decades?

Big oil companies wrestle with this. Investors adore the cash dividend from crude. But many want to know what the oil majors will do if petroleum-based fuels are phased out in order to reduce carbon emissions. Shell has been playing cat and mouse with some saintly shareholders who want their dividends free of soot and CO2. In order to achieve that, these investors want carbon-reduction targets embedded in the bosses’ bonus plans. read more

Gas production at the earthquake-prone Groningen field will drop by at least 75% to below 5B cm/year in the next five years, the Dutch government says, as measures to reduce demand for Groningen gas are working ahead of schedule.

The government decided this year to shut down in 2030 what was once Europe’s largest natural gas field, citing several earthquakes over decades of extraction that damaged thousands of homes and buildings.

Production is set to drop to 19.4B cm in the year that began in October, already down 65% from its peak of 54B cm in 2013. read more

Shell issued a big announcement Monday: Not only will it be setting short-term targets in line with its longer-term “Net Carbon Footprint” ambition, but it will also be linking these targets with executive remuneration. Greener Shell = richer executives, or at least that’s the plan — the link will be subject to a shareholder vote at the company’s 2020 AGM.

The move is not entirely unprecedented — Statoil’s head of Norwegian production and development gets more money when absolute carbon emissions fall — but the scale of Shell’s proposal, which reverses a previous aversion to hard targets, is something else. According to the Financial Times, the link between long-term financial incentives and emissions reductions could affect up to 1,200 Shell executives. read more