NL TIMES

Designate Groningen earthquakes a national crisis, Ombudsman says

MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2021

The consequences of the fracking earthquakes in Groningen have all the features of a national crisis and should therefore be designated as such, National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen said. He wants this to keep attention on the situation in Groningen until homes are reinforced, damages are repaired, and residents feel safe, Trouw reports.

“I wanted to choose words that hit so hard that people think: damn it, now we really have to do something,” the National Ombudsman said in an interview with Trouw. “In one way or another, the attention for Groningen is disappearing. Things are taking too long, and the good things don’t really happen. This is a national crisis, which the government and administration have to deal with differently.” read more

Pump jacks at an oil field near Lost Hills, Calif. (David McNew/Getty Images)

By Charles Lane Opinion writer March 7 at 7:43 PM

The authoritative International Energy Agency announced on Monday that the United States will overtake Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest crude oil producer in five years .

To celebrate this once-unimaginable news, how about taking a trip down memory lane? The date is May 5, 2011. Diarmuid O’Connell, then the vice president of business development for Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric-car outfit, is testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. read more

A pump jack in a Permian Basin oil field in West Texas. The area has been a focus of the shale drilling boom. Credit Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS: JAN. 28, 2018

HOUSTON — A substantial rise in oil prices in recent months has led to a resurgence in American oil production, enabling the country to challenge the dominance of Saudi Arabia and dampen price pressures at the pump.

The success has come in the face of efforts by Saudi Arabia and its oil allies to undercut the shale drilling spree in the United States. Those strategies backfired and ultimately ended up benefiting the oil industry.

Overcoming three years of slumping prices proved the resiliency of the shale boom. Energy companies and their financial backers were able to weather market turmoil — and the maneuvers of the global oil cartel — by adjusting exploration and extraction techniques. read more

PETER SMITH

An umbrella group for 140 Presbyterian churches in Allegheny County is calling for a halt to the construction of a sprawling petrochemical plant in neighboring Beaver County, saying it would worsen already high levels of pollution and cancer risk in Southwestern Pennsylvania. 

“We are part of a faith tradition that has affirmed our responsibility to care for the earth as our home and care for all people, especially our most vulnerable populations,” says a letter signed by officials of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, representing more than 28,000 members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Allegheny County.

“This plant, and subsequent plants that are planned for the Ohio Valley, will be mass producing plastic products that have been linked to the death of animals and the diminishment of fragile natural habitats,” said the letter, approved by presbytery representatives at their December meeting. read more

Printed below is an English translation of an article published by the Dutch equivalent of the Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad under the headline “Shell is fully committed to oil and gas from shale“.

By Bert van Dijk • Energy Editor

Shale gas and shale oil may then have a negative sound in Europe and hardly play a role, governments in the US, Canada, China and Argentina do see a lot of it. Shell hopes to benefit from this favorable investment climate in the coming years, especially now that the company has drastically reduced the costs of extracting shale gas and oil in recent years. read more

The current abundance has erased memories of 1973 gas lines, which raised pump prices dramatically, traumatizing the United States and reordering its economy. In the decades since, presidents and politicians have made pronouncements calling for U.S. energy independence.

President Jimmy Carter in a televised speech compared the energy crisis of 1977 to “the moral equivalent of war.”

“It’s a total turnaround from where we were in the ’70s,” said Frank Verrastro, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. read more

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 / 12:10 PM

* Karoo is vast area famed for scenery, wildlife and fossils

* Study says previous gas estimates were “speculative”

* Authors say they used gas content measurements

By Ed Stoddard

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 28 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Karoo basin probably has a 30th of the shale gas deposits that some estimates had suggested, deflating expectations of an energy bonanza, a study published on Thursday said.

The findings by the South African Journal of Science have been published shortly before the expected award of the first shale gas exploration licences in the region. The government had said an award could happen by the end of September. read more

Zoltan Ban: May 8, 2017

When I decided to position for a coming oil price recovery towards the end of 2015, I decided on buying Shell (NYSE:RDS.A), alongside Suncor (NYSE:SU) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX). My investment strategy always has a longer term horizon, therefore Shell was an obvious choice, given the very generous dividend. When deciding to hold a stock for a number of years, it really makes a difference, as long as the dividend is sustainable, of course.

There were other factors which I saw as positive long term prospects that makes Shell stock worth holding on to for a while. Shell’s leadership in the LNG sector, in large part thanks to the BG deal is one of the things that attracted me to the stock. As I stated many times before, I believe that natural gas will eventually become the number one energy source on the planet and as such it will have to become more flexible in terms of delivery. LNG shipments will most likely become a globally strategic industry, which is likely to grow a lot in coming years and decades. read more

Gary Bourgeault: 28 March 2017

One of the best things to happen to the U.S. shale industry was the plunge in the price of oil. It caused creative companies with good management to aggressively pursue ways of slashing costs, while at the same time improving productivity.

A number of the pure plays like EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) have been able to significantly improve efficiencies, to the point EOG can generate a 30 percent return when oil is at $40 per barrel. Lately, major producer Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) has taken a larger position in shale, and says new wells in its Permian holdings can generate a profit at $20 per barrel. Overall, it can make money when oil is at $40 in the Permian. read more

by Javier Blas: 21 March 2017, 10:26 GMT

Big Oil is muscling in on shale country.

Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp., are jumping into American shale with gusto, planning to spend a combined $10 billion this year, up from next to nothing only a few years ago.

The giants are gaining a foothold in West Texas with such projects as Bongo 76-43, a well which is being drilled 10,000 feet beneath the table-flat, sage-scented desert, and which then extends horizontally for a mile, blasting through rock to capture light crude from the sprawling Permian Basin. read more

Extracts from a weekly briefing by Ed Crooks: January 6, 2017

In our predictions for 2016, we were right that oil would end the year over $50 – modesty forbids me from mentioning which writer made that forecast – but missed that an agreement between Opec and non-Opec producers would be one of the factors underpinning the price. For 2017 Anjli Raval made the call, arguing that crude was again likely to end the year above $50, on the grounds that a lower price would still be too low to enable sufficient investment in production to meet demand. read more

Written by Niamh Burns – 26/10/2016 7:35 am

An energy contractor working at a Shell Canada site has been killed in an accident, according to reports.

The 47-year-old was fatally injured in the workplace incident near Fox Creek, Alberta, on Sunday.

He was an employee of Secure Energy Services and was working at the Shell Canada site 260km northeast of Edmonton.

It’s understood the man had been struck by a hose.

An Occupational Health and Safety spokeswoman said: “The work site was situated by the side of a river and the workers were pumping water to a different location for wellsite activities. read more

Officials made the comments during a parliamentary hearing with Shell and ExxonMobil executives after being challenged by GroenLinks MP Liesbeth van Tongeren, broadcaster NOS reported.

‘We acknowledge that the people of Groningen are dealing with most of the problems caused by gas extraction, which we in the Netherlands can thank for our prosperity,’ Shell Nederland president Marjan van Loon said.

‘That is why the people of Groningen deserve our support. The NAM has expressed its regrets and I can fully support that. So I can say too, “I’m sorry, sorry”.’ read more

Samuel Osborne: Sunday 4 Sept 2016

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in Oklahoma has brought fresh attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake happened at 7.02am on Saturday, in north-central Oklahoma, on the fringe of an area where regulators had stepped in to limit wastewater disposal. 

The shallow quake struck 9 miles northwst of Pawnee, where there were no immediate reports of injuries. Damage in the town appeared to be minor.

An increase in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has been linked to underground disposal of wastewater from oil and natural gas production. read more

John Dagge, Herald Sun: August 30, 2016 

SHELL Australia has blasted the Victorian government’s move to permanently ban fracking and extend a moratorium on conventional onshore gas development, saying it will result in higher energy bills.

Chairman Andrew Smith has also warned the decision will cost the state investment dollars and jobs and make it more difficult for manufacturers, already under pressure, to stay in business.

“Every Victorian household and business will now pay higher energy prices moving forward,” Mr Smith said. read more

By Michael McDonald – Jul 20, 2016, 2:23 PM CDT

Investors getting cold feet about the spiking price of Big Oil stocks over the last year may risk missing out on further gains, according to one top ranked analyst. Doug Terreson of Evercore, one of the top ranked oil analysts according to Institutional Investor magazine, is recommending that investors stick with integrated oil majors like Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, and Exxon despite the run up in their prices.

Terreson’s thesis is that many of the catalysts for positive price performance remain in place. In particular, integrated oil companies have effectively reduced operating capital costs permanently, which lowers their breakeven expense to produce oil. The retort to this point of course is that Big Oil stocks may have cut costs but frackers have been much more successful than integrated majors in cutting their costs as a percentage of pre-crash production cost. read more

By Cassandra Legacy – Jul 14, 2016, 3:27 PM CDT

Since at least the end of 2014 there has been increasing uncertainty over oil prices, from whether so-called “Peak Oil” has already happened, to matters of EROI (or EROEI) values for current energy sources and for alternatives, to climate change and the phantasmatic 2oC warming limit, and the feasibility of shifting rapidly to renewables or sustainable sources of energy supply. Overall, it matters a great deal whether a reasonable time horizon to act is say 50 years, i.e. in the main the troubles that we are contemplating are taking place way past 2050, or if we are already in deep trouble and the timeframe to try and extricate ourselves is some 10 years. Answering this kind of question requires close attention to system boundary definitions and scrutinizing carefully any assumptions. read more

By Ed Crooks: June 10. 2016

Two of the most widely respected energy analysts – BP’s economics team and the International Energy Agency – published reports this week, and both brought bad news for fossil fuel producers. They differed, however, in the focus of their gloomy perspectives. For BP, publishing its 65th annual Statistical Review of World Energy, it was coal that came off worst. As Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist, put it in his presentation, “2015 was undoubtedly an annus horribilis for coal”. The shift to natural gas for power generation in the US gathered pace, and there was a second consecutive year of declining consumption in China. read more

By Ed Crooks: April 15, 2016

All eyes in the oil market this weekend will be on Sunday’s meeting in Doha, which will bring together leading producers including Russia and most – although perhaps not all – of the members of Opec. Expectations that the countries will agree to freeze production, encouraged this week by statements from Russian and Iraqi representatives, have helped drive Brent crude prices up more than 60 per cent from about $27 per barrel in January to around $44 today.  The heads of some of the world’s largest trading houses have concluded that for oil producers, the worst is probably now over. read more

Royal Dutch Shell, Falcon Oil & Gas and Bundu Gas & Oil are among five companies which have applied for exploration licenses being reviewed by South Africa’s Petroleum Agency, the regulator said on Tuesday.

The Petroleum Agency will submit its recommendations to the government by early May. The ministry of mineral resources will make the final decision on granting licenses.

“One area of real opportunity for South Africa is the exploration of shale gas,” a statement from cabinet ministers responsible for the economy said. read more

Shell one of the early examiners of gas potential in a country plagued by an electricity crisis

By Daniel J. Graeber: March 8, 2016

PRETORIA, South Africa, March 8 (UPI) — The South African government said Tuesday it was expecting to reap the rewards of shale natural gas, with exploration slated as early as 2017.

Royal Dutch Shell is among the early entrants into the South African shale sector, reviewing the prospects for gas in the country’s Karoo basin.

South African Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti told government officials in Pretoria shale gas exploration presents a real opportunity for economic growth in the country. read more

…many of those involved have been ridiculed, slandered, spied on, harassed, beaten and jailed – all for upholding their democratic right to peaceful dissent. Incidents included the 2005 jailing of the Rossport Five, who spent 94 days in prison at the behest of Shell.

Ruairí McKiernan

As gas is flared into the skies above north Mayo, it is worth reflecting on a project that has been one of modern Ireland’s greatest scandals, a stunning fiasco in planning, economics, environmental protection and the abuse of civil liberties.

Far from it being just about energy supply, jobs and development, the Corrib gas project cuts to the core of this republic and asks big questions about how the country is run.

For more than 10 years now, campaigners have attempted to highlight the project’s many flaws. read more

Sectors | Wed Nov 18, 2015 4:33pm IST

By Anthony Deutsch and Toby Sterling

A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered more cuts in gas production at Groningen, Europe’s largest gas field, saying the government had given too little consideration to the stronger and more frequent earthquakes extraction had caused.

Output at the field, the world’s 10th largest, will now be capped at 27 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year from 33 bcm, the court said, adding that the government had failed to sufficiently weigh public safety risks. read more

Liam Denning: November 18, 2015

If you’ve never been to Groningen, it’s a pleasant college town in the northern Netherlands. It also happens to share its name with one of the world’s largest natural gas fields. Tourists are best advised to focus on the scenic bicycling routes. Exxon Mobil is more attuned to what lies beneath.

The region around Groningen has a problem that is becoming familiar in places like Oklahoma: earthquakes brought on by gas production. On Wednesday, a Dutch court ruled that the production cap on the giant field should be reduced temporarily by another 18 percent, to about 950 billion cubic feet for the year that started October 1. Altogether, the cap has been cut by about a third since 2014. read more

Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network | August 31, 201

Shell is betting on finding the oil industry’s Holy Grail: according to 2008 estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic contains more than 20 percent of the world’s remaining hydrocarbon resources—including at least 90 billion barrels of oil.

If Shell does strike oil in big quantities maybe its gamble will pay off—and its anxious shareholders can look forward to handsome payouts.

But the whole venture is a high-risk business. The decision by the U.S. administration to allow Shell to start drilling in the Chukchi Sea, off the coast of Alaska, is highly controversial. read more

By Heide Brandes: 28 July 2015

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – Several earthquakes shook Oklahoma on Monday as the state experiences a sharp increase in the frequency of tremors linked to wastewater disposal from gas and oil drilling, including from fracking, state and federal officials said.

Three of Monday’s quakes measured above a magnitude 4.0, with a 4.5 earthquake centered just north of Crescent, roughly 45 miles (72 km) north of Oklahoma City, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. read more

An application to start fracking at a site on the Fylde coast in Lancashire has been rejected by councillors.

Energy firm Cuadrilla wanted to extract shale gas at the Little Plumpton site between Preston and Blackpool.

Lancashire County Council rejected the bid on the grounds of “unacceptable noise impact” and the “adverse urbanising effect on the landscape”.

Cuadrilla said it was “surprised and disappointed” and would consider its “options” regarding an appeal.

A spokesman added: “We remain committed to the responsible exploration of the huge quantity of natural gas locked up in the shale rock deep underneath Lancashire.” read more

Article by Rakteem Katakey published 10 June 2015 by Bloomberg.com

The U.S. has taken Russia’s crown as the biggest oil and natural-gas producer in a demonstration of the seismic shifts in the world energy landscape emanating from America’s shale fields.

U.S. oil production rose to a record last year, gaining 1.6 million barrels a day, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review of World Energy released on Wednesday. Gas output also climbed, putting America ahead of Russia as a producer of the hydrocarbons combined.

The data showing the U.S.’s emergence as the top driller confirms a trend that’s helped the world’s largest economy reduce imports, caused a slump in global energy prices and shifted the country’s foreign policy priorities. read more

Article by Nathan Vardi: Forbes Staff: Friday 5 June 2015

To the surprise of nobody, Saudi Arabia and the other OPEC member states decided in Vienna on Friday to maintain production targets of 30 million barrels a day, making sure the world remains flooded with oil. The fact that OPEC—particularly the core countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates—have refused to play their traditional stabilizing role and cut oil production makes it less likely that oil prices will rebound to the $115 a barrel level that was reached about one year ago. read more

by Grant Smith and Maher Chmaytelli: Bloomberg.com: 27 May 2015

When Saudi Arabia argues next week that OPEC should keep up production to fight the rise in U.S. shale oil, prices will be on its side.

Crude plunged for eight of nine weeks prior to the group’s November gathering, when the kingdom faced down opposition from the majority of fellow members, who advocated output reductions to tackle a global glut. With oil companies around the world cutting investment, U.S. output peaking and prices up, Saudi Arabia’s strategy will be extended at OPEC’s semiannual meeting on June 5, say Societe Generale SA and Bank of America Corp. read more

By: MICHEAL KAUFMAN: Published: May 26, 2015 

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) head of oil and gas production in Americas, Marvin Odum has told the Financial Times (FT) in an interview that the company’s Arctic drilling operations would take at least a decade to extract oil reserves, which would then be sent to production.

The leading executives dealing with this particular exploration project stated that there are enormous difficulties that the company is facing during the process of securing environmental approvals. Amid strong opposition from environmental groups, to obtain the needed approvals is taking longer than the expected time. read more

Shell’s Arctic voyage marks beginning of peak oil era

Anglo-Dutch company’s search for resources in the Arctic is a sign that the world is running out of options for new oil reserves

By Andrew Critchlow, Commodities editor

In his critically acclaimed 2005 book ‘Twilight in the Desert’, the prominent oil economist Matthew R. Simmons predicted that Saudi Arabia’s oil wells would soon run dry.

His argument was based on the age of the seven main fields, which the kingdom still to this day depends upon to pump the bulk of its 10m barrels per day (bpd) of crude. These fields in the main have been producing for over a generation and, despite official figures placing Saudi Arabia’s proven reserves at over 260bn barrels, Mr Simmons argued that the kingdom would struggle to increase its output to keep pace with the projected increases in the demand over the next half century marking the beginning of a period known as “peak oil”. read more

An article by PASCOE SABIDO, PUBLISHED BRUSSELS, TODAY, BY EUOBSERVER.COM

2015 is a big year for climate in Europe: the UN talks in Paris, this December; the implementation of the EU’s 2030 climate targets; mapping out the Energy Union.
Judging by the European Commission’s public statements, one would think the EU was firmly on its way to transforming our energy system towards efficient and renewable energy.

But in reality, its recently-established advisory group for the evaluation of shale gas development is opening the back door to this harmful and polluting technology across Europe, despite massive public opposition. read more

“Predicting risk is also hard, the report noted, because there is no scientific consensus on just how powerful such quakes can be. The report estimated the effects of shocks up to magnitudes 6 and 7, while noting that some scientists have speculated that the catastrophic 7.9-magnitude earthquake in China in 2008 was caused by human activity.”

Article bBy RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA PUBLISHED APRIL 23, 2015 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

The United States Geological Survey on Thursday released its first comprehensive assessment of the link between thousands of earthquakes and oil and gas operations, identifying and mapping 17 regions where quakes have occurred.

The report was the agency’s broadest statement yet on a danger that has grown along with the nation’s energy production.

By far the hardest-hit state, the report said, is Oklahoma, where earthquakes are hundreds of times more common than they were until a few years ago because of the disposal of wastewater left over from extracting fuels and from drilling wells by injecting water into the earth. But the report also mapped parts of eight other states, from Lake Erie to the Rocky Mountains, where that practice has caused quakes, and said most of them were at risk for more significant shaking in the future. read more

Article by Javier Blas and Rakteem Katakey published 10 April 2015 by Bloomberg.com

BP Plc coined the slogan “Beyond Petroleum.” The new industry mantra might be “Beyond Oil and Into Gas.” Oh, and while we’re at it, “Down With Coal.”

Consider Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s recent $70 billion acquisition of BG Group Plc — clearly a huge bet that natural gas will prove to be its cash cow of the future.

The petroleum industry’s move toward gas is hardly new — the hydraulic fracturing shale revolution is in its second decade, after all. Still, Shell’s move is an emphatic confirmation that some among the Big Oil family firmly believe gas will play a growing role in meeting the energy demand of emerging countries such as China and India that are trying to move away from dirtier coal. read more

Article by Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Michael Wines published by The New York Times:

As Quakes Rattle Oklahoma, Fingers Point to Oil and Gas Industry

A version of this article appears in print on April 4, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition

PRAGUE, Okla. — Yanked without warning from a deep sleep, Jennifer Lin Cooper, whose family has lived near here for more than a half-century, could think only that the clamor enveloping her house was coming from a helicopter landing on her roof. She was wrong.

A 5.0-magnitude earthquake — the first of three as strong or stronger over several days in November 2011 — had peeled the brick facade from the $117,000 home she bought the year before. Ms. Cooper, 36, could not get out until her father pried a stuck storm door off the front entrance. Repairs have so far cost $12,000 and forced her to take a second job, at night, to pay the bill. read more

FROM AN ARTICLE BY CORAL DAVENPORT PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORK EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES ON 21 MARCH 2015

New Federal Rules Are Set for Fracking

Extracts

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday unveiled the nation’s first major federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing, a technique for oil and gas drilling that has led to a significant increase in American energy production but has also raised concerns about health and safety risks.

The Interior Department began drafting the rules, focused on drilling safety, in Mr. Obama’s first term after breakthroughs in the technology, also known as fracking, led to a surge in the production of oil and gas. read more

By JUSTIN SCHECK and SELINA WILLIAMS: WALL STREET JOURNAL

March 18, 2015 11:20 p.m. ET

Exxon, Shell and others are pulling back from once-promising shale finds in Europe, Asia

After spending more than five years and billions of dollars trying to re-create the U.S. shale boom overseas, some of the world’s biggest oil companies are starting to give up amid a world-wide collapse in crude prices.

Chevron Corp. , Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have packed up nearly all of their hydraulic fracturing wildcatting in Europe, Russia and China. 

“The pace of development outside North America is slower everywhere than people thought it would be,” Simon Henry, Shell’s chief financial officer, said in a recent interview. read more

FROM TIMES LIVE – SUNDAY TIME SA: ARTICLE BY LONI PRINSLOO 15 March 2015

Shell gets cold feet on SA shale-gas

Multinational oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell is pulling its top shale-gas man out of South Africa, an indication that companies are growing increasingly frustrated with government delays over shale-gas legislation.

This week, Business Times was told that Jan-Willem Eggink – whom Shell sent to South Africa from Libya to monitor South Africa’s shale gas opportunity – would be pulled out of the country in coming weeks. Other highly skilled staff would follow him.

“While government is sitting around farting, these companies are shifting their money away from South Africa and our economy will lose billions,” said a member of parliament, who declined to be named. read more

From an article by AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein published 14 Feb 2015 by Associated Press under the headline: 

“STUDY: OKLAHOMA’S DAILY SMALL QUAKES RAISE RISK OF BIG ONES”

SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Small earthquakes shaking Oklahoma and southern Kansas daily and linked to energy drilling are dramatically increasing the chance of bigger and dangerous quakes, federal research indicates.

This once stable region is now just as likely to see serious damaging and potentially harmful earthquakes as the highest risk places east of the Rockies such as New Madrid, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina, which had major quakes in the past two centuries.

They are mostly in areas with energy drilling, often hydraulic fracturing, a process known as fracking. Many studies have linked the increase in small quakes to the process of injecting wastewater deep underground because it changes pressure and triggers dormant faults. read more

Comment: These events appear to have happened on Paul Goodfellow’s watch?: According to his current Linked-in profile Goodfellow was Shell VP Unconventionals from 2012-2013

FROM AN ARTICLE BY SUSY KELLY PUBLISHED 28 JAN 2015 BY THE HERALD-STANDARD UNDER THE HEADLINE:

“Report: Fracking failures lead to environmental harm in area and state”

Extract

A report released Tuesday by a nonprofit environmental research group shows that despite assurances to the contrary, companies who develop unconventional natural gas wells have polluted the environment in Pennsylvania and will continue to do so under current regulatory standards.

In April 2013, EQT, Chevron Appalachia, Consol and Shell formed the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD), promising not only that safe, sustainable shale resource development was possible, but that they would do it of their own accord, according to the report. Data from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) shows those four companies failed to uphold state requirements at least 100 times, according to PennEnvironment’s research. read more

By: MICHEAL KAUFMAN: Published: Jan 20, 2015

James Chanos is a renowned short-seller, hedge fund manager, and the founder of Kynikos Associates – an investment firm which specializes in short-selling. In an interview with CNBC last Friday, Mr. Chanos cited serious problems for some of the largest oil producers, leading him to short some major oil companies for a couple of years, including Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), and Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (NYSE:PBR). read more

By John Donovan

There have been a number of posts on our Shell Blog by insiders welcoming the apparent departure of Paul Goodfellow, Vice President US Unconventionals for Upstream Americas.

e.g.

POSTING BY “F-150”

So, Christmas has finally arrived in The States with the announcement that Goodfellow is finally leaving. After seeing the havoc he has inflicted in Deepwater and Unconventionals it will be good for folks like Crouching Tiger to see the damage non-Americans can do to shareholder value. Remember Walter, Phil and David Greer? read more

BP can’t be immune to the upheaval. Today its job announcement is focused on the UK. But it won’t be long till it announces staff reductions in Houston, another of its important centres.

Robert Peston article published by BBC News 15 Jan 2015

BP sees $50 oil for three years

BP’s job announcement later today, including a few hundred job losses in Aberdeen, is being made because it does not expect the oil price to bounce any time soon.

The oil price has dropped around 60% since June, to $48 a barrel, and I understand that BP expects that it will stay in the range of $50 to $60 for two to three years.

Although no oil company has a crystal ball, this matters – especially since it has a big impact on its investment and staffing ambitions.

So plans that it had already initiated to reduce costs have taken on a new element, namely postponement of investments in new capacity that have not been started, and shelving of plans to extend the life of older fields where residual oil is more expensive to extract. read more

This time some of the pain will be taken by the big integrated energy firms, such as Exxon Mobil and Shell. After a decade of throwing shareholders’ cash at prospects in the Arctic and deep tropical waters to little effect, they began cutting budgets in 2013.

Extracts from an article published by The Economist on 6 December 2014

In a bind

Abundant oil and gas have been extracted from underground rocks by blasting them with a mixture of water, chemicals and sand—“fracking”, in the jargon.

…the firms responsible embody an all-American formula of maverick engineers, bold entrepreneurs and risk-hungry capital markets that no country can match.

Yet now that oil prices have fallen by almost 40% in six months, these firms’ mettle is being tested. Across America shale-shocked executives will spend Christmas overhauling their strategies to cope with life at $70 per barrel, even as investors dump their firms’ shares and bonds. read more

By John Donovan

The Russian News Agency Tass is reporting that Graham Tiley, the country manager of Shell Ukraine has admitted in a meeting with a local high-ranking official that Royal Dutch Shell has failed to achieve the desired progress in the Yuzovka gas field in Ukraine’s east.  Tiley blamed the fracking failure on the situation in the neighbouring Donetsk region.

TASS REPORT

The Dutch government Minister of Economic Affairs, Henk Kapm, is seeking to renegotiate deals with Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell on the extraction and sale of Dutch gas. It seems reasonable to speculate that it is not his intention for the renegotiation to benefit the oil giants, who are joint owners of the Dutch Petroleum Company (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij – NAM), operators of the earthquake prone Groningen gas field.

FULL ARTICLE

Worthy winners of France’s fiercely contested ‘Prix Pinocchio’ 2014 were selected last night, recognising corporate greed, hypocrisy and malfeasance, based on a record vote since the awards began. Shell won hands down for the Pinocchio award category ‘One for all and all for me!’, with 43% of the vote, for the development of shale gas projects across the entire world – except in Holland, its home country, which is subject to a fracking moratorium. read more

By John Donovan

WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGES ROYAL DUTCH SHELL TAX EVASION IN NIGERIA 

A former manager of Shell Production Development Company in Nigeria has accused Shell of massive tax evasion. He also alleges that the Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission demanded a bribe from him as part of a related cover-up plan for Shell. The whistleblower also claims that his safety is in jeopardy. All strangely reminiscent of allegations surrounding the Corrib gas project in Ireland. MORE INFORMATION HERE.

SHELL FIRE SALE OF NIGERIAN ASSETS

A consortium led by Aiteo Group has won the auction for Shell oil block OML 29 in Nigeria, with a bid of N434b. The total cost of the acquisition is said to be $2.7 billion, allowing for working capital. MORE INFORMATION read more

“Shale Fracking is a “Ponzi Scheme” … “This Decade’s Version of the Dotcom Bubble”

By John Donovan

A regular contributor has very kindly drawn my attention to an article published by GlobalResearch under the headline: “Shale Fracking is a “Ponzi Scheme” … “This Decade’s Version of the Dotcom Bubble”

In making the case to support the headline, the article contains a host of extracts from well known publications.

e.g.

A Losing Bet

In 2011, the New York Times wrote:

“Money is pouring in” from investors even though shale gas is “inherently unprofitable,” an analyst from PNC Wealth Management, an investment company, wrote to a contractor in a February e-mail. “Reminds you of dot-coms.” read more