Shell looks to Gulf of Mexico for lower carbon oil drilling; here’s what it means for Louisiana

• BY KRISTEN MOSBRUCKER | STAFF WRITER
• PUBLISHED APR 14, 2021 AT 5:00 PM | UPDATED APR 14, 2021 AT 7:43 PM

Despite headwinds from corporate mandates to reduce carbon emissions, a temporarily halt for new federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico while the Biden administration reviews its impact on climate change and low oil prices, Royal Dutch Shell sees itself drilling for more oil off the coast of Louisiana and Texas.

“We still think that we’ll be here for decades to come,” said Rick Tallant, vice president Gulf of Mexico at Shell. “There’s still a lot of running room in the Gulf of Mexico, the margins are very good for our investors and the greenhouse gas intensity is arguably the best in the industry.” read more

Shell makes record loss in 2020 after more write-offs

Published date: 04 February 2021

Shell posted a record loss in 2020 after it booked more hefty write-offs in the fourth quarter.

Excluding inventory effects, Shell made a loss of $4.48bn in the October-December period, compared with a profit of $871mn a year earlier. The quarterly loss was largely driven by pre-announced, non-cash post-tax impairment charges of $2.7bn and charges of $1.1bn mainly for “onerous contract provisions”. read more

Shell to raise investment plan for Mexican ultra-deepwater field to $345M

Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission approves Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) request to carry out all permitted activities in its exploration plan for the ultra-deepwater Xochicalco oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell will drill a well at depths of five miles trying to reach a Wilcox formation, with prospective reserves of as much as 562M boe, boosting its investment in the play to $345.8M from $104M in the original exploration plan, which was first approved in June 2019. read more

Sept 4, 2019

LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers, has asked U.S. regulators to extend the time by which it should complete an LNG export project in Louisiana by five years to 2025, regulatory filings showed.

The project, a 50-50 venture with U.S. midstream company Energy Transfer, envisaged converting an existing import and regasification facility in Lake Charles into a multi-train, 16.45 million tonnes per year (mtpa) facility. read more

North Sea gains must be sustained, Shell official warns

Sep 3rd, 2019

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – Excessive complexity held back the North Sea industry for many years, said Shell Upstream Director Wael Sawan during the plenary session at SPE Offshore Europe 2019.

The sector had made progress since the oil price fall in 2014, he acknowledged, helped by improved co-operation with governments in the region. “But we need to continue to innovate if we are to achieve the Oil & Gas Authority’s 2035 vision for the UK.”

Shell has played its part by driving down the costs of its North Sea operations by 45% over the past five years, he said, “and that has fundamentally changed the attractiveness of the investment.” read more

Bloomberg: Shell Profit Misses as Slowing Economy Hurts Gas, Chemicals

By Kelly Gilblom: 1 August 2019, 07:15 BST Updated on 1 August 2019, 08:14 BST

Cash flow rises, but integrated gas adjusted profit falls 25%

Shell CEO says macroeconomic conditions were challenging

Royal Dutch Shell Plc got caught into the same earnings trap as many of its peers, reporting second-quarter earnings that fell well short of expectations as the slowing global economy hit everything from natural gas to chemicals.

Profit in Shell’s integrated gas division was down by 25%, but earnings were lower across all of its businesses, including upstream oil and gas production, and refining and chemicals.

“We’ve seen some very severe macroeconomic headwinds — probably most pronounced in our downstream business where we saw some weaker refining margins — but especially a much weaker trading environment for petrochemicals,” Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Thursday. “In our upstream, we’ve seen headwinds particularly in North American gas.” read more

Shell completes sale of interest in the US Gulf of Mexico asset

by Mark Lammey 31/07/2019, 10:26 am

Shell has completed the sale of a 22.45% non-operated interest in the Caesar-Tonga asset in the US Gulf of Mexico to Equinor.

The total cash consideration was $965 million.

The transaction represents Shell’s focus on strategically positioning the deep-water business for growth and is consistent with its strategy to pursue competitive projects that deliver value in the 2020s and beyond.

The sale contributes to Shell’s ongoing divestment programme.

Shell currently is the largest leaseholder and one of the leading offshore producers of oil and natural gas in the US Gulf of Mexico. read more

JULY 9, 2019 / 10:58 PM

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Major U.S. oil producers on Tuesday began evacuating and shutting in production at their deepwater Gulf of Mexico platforms in advance of a tropical disturbance expected to become a storm this week.

A tropical depression is expected to form late on Wednesday or Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center, and move westward across the northern Gulf of Mexico, home to dozens of oil and gas producing facilities.

Chevron Corp (CVX.N), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L), BP Plc (BP.L) and BHP (BHP.AX) are removing staff from 15 offshore energy platforms, according to company statements. read more

PR Newswire: May 23, 2019

HOUSTON, May 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its subsidiary Shell Offshore Inc (Shell) announces today that production has started at the Shell-operated Appomattox floating production system months ahead of schedule, opening a new frontier in the deep-water US Gulf of Mexico. Appomattox, which currently has an expected production of 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), is the first commercial discovery now brought into production in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico Norphlet formation.

“That Appomattox was safely brought online ahead of schedule and far under budget is a testament to our ongoing commitment to drive down costs through efficiency improvements during execution,” said Andy Brown, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. “Appomattox creates a core long-term hub for Shell in the Norphlet through which we can tie back several already discovered fields as well as future discoveries.”

Appomattox is a story of efficiency through innovation. By way of optimised development planning, better designs and fabrication, and expert drilling execution, Appomattox has realised cost reductions of more than 40% since taking final investment decision in 2015. The start of production at Appomattox is only just the beginning of further maximising the flow of resources in the prolific Norphlet surrounding Appomattox.

Shell’s global deep-water business has a strong funnel of development and exploration opportunities in Brazil, the US, Mexico, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mauritania, and the Western Black Sea.  Production worldwide is on track to reach more than 900,000 boe/d by 2020 from already discovered, established reservoirs. The company continues to be one of the largest leaseholders in the US deep water and remains one of the most prolific offshore producers of oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell designs and operates its deep-water projects to be competitive and, since 2014, has reduced its unit development costs and unit operating costs by about 45%.

Cautionary Note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc

directly and indirectly

owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release “Shell”, “Shell group” and “Royal Dutch Shell” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ”Subsidiaries”, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this release refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as “joint ventures” and “joint operations”, respectively.  Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control read more

By Mark Lammey: 6 MAY 2019

Deep-water Gulf of Mexico has always been about making the impossible possible, according to Rick Tallant, Shell’s vice-president of production for the region.

Now, Shell is trying to make the possible affordable, he said.

Mr Tallant said companies had to do a lot of “soul searching” during the downturn to work out how the industry could survive and compete with Brazil, West Africa and parts of Asia.

A shift in the industry’s mindset and culture was vital in the quest to reinvent itself and get “fit for the future” in the GoM, he said.

Shell spent a lot of time focusing on lowering operating costs and investing more wisely, which meant embracing standardisation, harnessing the local supply chain, and vastly improving performance management. read more

APRIL 24, 2019 / 3:16 PM

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s U.S. unit said on Wednesday that it had made one of its biggest oil discoveries in the Blacktip deepwater well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Blacktip, operated by Shell and co-owned by U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp, Equinor ASA and Repsol, is the company’s second material discovery in the Perdido Corridor, Shell’s Upstream Director Andy Brown said.

Blacktip was discovered in the Alaminos Canyon, about 30 miles from the Perdido platform and discovery at Whale, a deepwater well operated by Shell and co-owned by Chevron. read more

APRIL 11, 2019 / 8:55 AM /

(Adds comment from Delek CEO, details on Caesar Tonga field, industry background)

April 11 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its stake in the Caesar Tonga field in the Gulf of Mexico for $965 million in cash to a subsidiary of Israel’s energy conglomerate Delek Group.

Company unit Shell Offshore will sell its 22.45 percent non-operated interest in a deal, which is likely to close by the end of the third quarter of 2019, Shell said in a statement. read more

By SIMON NEVILLE, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 21:52, 30 March 2019 | UPDATED: 21:52, 30 March 2019

Royal Dutch Shell is leading the charge back to the Gulf of Mexico nine years after the region was hit by BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The Anglo-Dutch business splashed out $84.8 million (£64.7 million) on 87 drilling sites at an auction this month, having made just three bids at the previous auction in August last year.

Shell bosses have placed significant focus on the area in the past six months. At its results in January, the firm revealed production in the area had increased 50 per cent in two years to a peak of 40,000 barrels of oil a day. read more

Royal Dutch Shell (

The sale brought in the most revenue from such an event since the oil price downturn, with $244M in high offers received, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Anadarko Petroleum (APC -0.7%) and Hess (NYSE:HES) were the next highest bidders by dollar amount of high bids, totaling $24M and $18M respectively.

Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) placed the apparent high bid of the sale, offering $24.4M for Mississippi Canyon Block 801, and teaming up with Kosmos Energy (NYSE:KOS) to win Keathley Canyon Block 964 with a $7M bid. read more

Marissa Luck, Houston Chronicle Jan. 31, 2019

Royal Dutch Shell says it has reached a tentative deal with the union impacting 30,000 refinery workers and a consortium of Big Oil majors and energy companies nationally. The deal affects 5,000 refinery, chemical and pipeline workers in the Houston area.

Royal Dutch Shell – representing several energy companies including Exxon Mobil, Shell, PBF Energy, Valero, Phillips 66, Chevron, Chevron Phillips Chemical, LyondellBasell and Marathon Petroleum – said it has struck a tentative deal with the United Steelworkers union just hours before a 12:01 a.m. deadline. read more

Shell sticking with spending discipline as 2018 profits soar

Ron Bousso: January 31, 2019

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

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

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

Marissa Luck, Houston Chronicle: Monday, Jan 7, 2019

The Gulf Coast has become home of one the largest producers of a common plastic: Shell fired up its fourth alpha olefins unit at its chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, the company said Monday.

The multi-billion dollar expansion adds 425,000 metric tons per a year in capacity to the chemical manufacturing site, bringing its total alpha olefin production up at Geismar to more than 1.3 million metric tons per a year. That makes it the largest alpha olefins producing site in the world, the company said. read more

Dec. 18, 2018 7:06 AM ET

Summary

• Enormous reductions in development costs have made new upstream oil projects in the US Gulf of Mexico quite economical.
• Royal Dutch Shell plc expects the Vito field to break even in a low pricing environment.
• Commentary on where these cost reductions are coming from, with an eye on third-party pricing deflation in the offshore space.

Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is investing in upstream projects that are capable of earning a decent return in most oil pricing environments. The US Gulf of Mexico is one of the energy giant’s core upstream plays for this reason. In May 2018, Royal Dutch Shell plc reached first-oil at the Kaikias project in the Gulf of Mexico a year ahead of schedule. Reducing the Kaikias project’s total development costs by 30% allowed Royal Dutch Shell plc to announce that it will break even on that endeavor when realizing just $30 per barrel of oil sold. Next year, the Appomattox development in the US GoM is expected to reach first-oil and Royal Dutch Shell plc has already achieved major cost savings at that project. Farther out, the Vito development in the US GoM is expected to achieve first-oil by 2021. Let’s dig in. read more

Anglo-Dutch oil major banks on Gulf of Mexico to help navigate energy transition read more

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

Anjli Raval in New Orleans

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

Katherine Blunt: Oct. 14, 2018

Shell’s petrochemicals unit recently installed a 285-foot cooling and condensation tower at its petrochemicals complex now under construction in Pennsylvania. Photo: Shell

Shell has completed a substantial step in the construction of its plastics production complex in Pennsylvania, a project expected to catalyze similar developments in the Northeast if the region continues to build the pipelines and storage needed to support a petrochemicals hub rivaling that along the U.S. Gulf Coast. read more

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, today marks 40 years since it pioneered the modern deep-water era, celebrating a legacy of innovation that continues as part of the company’s growth strategy.

Shell currently has deep-water projects and exploration opportunities in the U.S., Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mexico, Mauritania, and in the Western Black Sea. That global presence began with a 1970s prospect, 105 miles southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. read more

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

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

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

25 Sept 2018

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

Tom DiChristopher | @tdichristopher

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aug. 13, 2018 12:14 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor: 12 July 2018

Shell Subsidiary to Pay $3.8 Million for 2016 Gulf Spill

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The May 11, 2016, spill of nearly 2,000 barrels (317974.6 liters) occurred about 97 miles (156 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast.

The New Orleans Advocate, citing court documents, reports that an investigation pointed to a leak in a piping system that is used to transport oil from a production well on the sea floor.

The settlement isn’t final. It must first be published in the Federal Register and have a 30-day public comment period before it can get final approval from a federal judge. read more

Shell To Hand Over $3.9M Over 2016 Gulf Oil Spill

By Michael Phillis

Law360 (July 5, 2018, 5:27 PM EDT) — Shell Offshore Inc. agreed to pay nearly $3.9 million in connection with a May 2016 spill of more than 80,000 gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred about 100 miles from the Louisiana coast, according to a consent decree filed Thursday in federal… SOURCE

Jun. 30, 2018 12:54 AM ET

Summary

• Renewal of assets with great focus on the future.
• Natural gas as energy source will continue to grow.
• Share buybacks and generous dividends.

Background

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) has been actively focusing on what kind of business it wants to be involved in. Part of this activity is to change the composition of its assets. It has been selling plants and oil licenses, and invested where it wants to position the company.

Disposals have also been done to reduce the total debt level. Much of the debt came from the $35 billion acquisition of BG Group back in March of 2016.

Disposals

Early this year, Shell communicated that its plans were to leave oil and gas operations in as many as 10 countries and instead focus more heavily on gas-rich Australia and shale opportunities in the United States. read more

Jun. 5, 2018 1:09 AM ET

Summary

• Shell has made a huge bet on a deeply buried resource in the Gulf of Mexico.
• In this article we explain, why they continue to spend billions of dollars in Deepwater, when other companies have abandoned it.
• We also provide a range where we would consider adding to our Shell position.

FULL ARTICLE

Kaikias, an economically resilient, subsea development in the US Gulf of Mexico

HOUSTON, May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore, Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, announces today the early start of production – around one-year ahead of schedule – at the first phase of Kaikias, an economically resilient, subsea development in the US Gulf of Mexico with estimated peak production of 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).

Shell has reduced costs by around 30% at this deep-water project since taking the investment decision in early 2017, lowering the forward-looking, break-even price to less than $30 per barrel of oil. read more

Map showing the location of Shell’s Dover discovery and its proximity to Shell’s new Appomattox host in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico 

HOUSTON, May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore, Inc. (“Shell”) today announced a large, deep-water, exploration discovery in the Norphlet geologic play in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with its Dover well (100% Shell). The Dover discovery is Shell’s sixth in the Norphlet and encountered more than 800 net feet of pay (244 meters). The discovery is located approximately 13 miles from the Appomattox host and is considered an attractive potential tieback. Shell’s Appomattox host has now arrived on location in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and is expected to start production before the end of 2019. read more

Appomattox set sail from Ingleside, Texas, USA, to its final location in the Gulf of Mexico read more

Reuters Staff: May 10, 2018

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will sell its stake in Amberjack Pipeline Co to its master limited partnership Shell Midstream Partners LP (SHLX.N) for $1.22 billion, the U.S. pipeline operator said on Thursday.

Drop down deals – where a parent transfers assets to its master limited partnership (MLP) – are practiced widely by energy companies to boost the value of their midstream assets without losing ownership of critical infrastructure. read more

Workers at a project in Malaysia. Shell has operations in more than 70 countries: FLICKR

Emily Gosden: April 2018

Royal Dutch Shell reported its best quarterly profits in five years but disappointed investors yesterday by generating less cash than expected and failing to start promised share buybacks.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant said that resurgent oil and gas prices helped deliver a 69 per cent surge in profits to $5.7 billion in the first quarter — the highest since the first quarter of 2013.

Underlying profits of $5.3 billion were fractionally ahead of market forecasts but cashflow was below expectations and Shell’s shares fell 0.73 per cent. read more

Shell rendering of its Vito deep-water development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Vito will feature a new, simplified host design and associated infrastructure.

HOUSTON, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, today announces the final investment decision for Vito, a deep-water development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with a forward-looking, break-even price estimated to be less than $35 per barrel. This decision sets in motion the construction and fabrication of a new, simplified host design and subsea infrastructure. read more

Nikkei staff writers: April 21, 2018 05:23 JST

TOKYO — An international consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell and includes China National Petroleum Corp., Korea Gas and Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp. is moving ahead on a long-stalled liquefied natural gas plant in Canada, as environmental concerns drive Asia toward cleaner energy sources.

Japanese plant engineering company JGC and American counterpart Fluor jointly won orders to design and build the project in the British Columbia community of Kitimat on Canada’s Pacific coast for an estimated $14 billion. read more

If that is the case, a Reuters analysis of the sale’s results shows reason to worry about demand in future offshore auctions.

The sale brought in $124.8 million, as just 1 percent of the 77 million acres (31.2 million hectares) offered found bidders. Reuters examined the acreage offered and leased, and nearly all the purchases show big drillers stuck closest to existing infrastructure, shunning the most far-flung areas.

While U.S. crude oil production reached a record last year at more than 10 million barrels a day, most new development is in onshore shale regions. The U.S. Interior Department has said it wants to open all U.S. coasts for drilling, including the Atlantic and Pacific. But the Gulf result indicates limited interest even in already-developed areas, never mind unexplored coasts. read more

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS: MARCH 21, 2018

HOUSTON — In a setback to Trump administration efforts to increase offshore oil production, the industry responded with only modest interest on Wednesday in a federal auction covering a record 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.

Companies bid on only 1 percent of the acreage, and the winning bids yielded a mere $125 million for the government.

The results reflected broad uncertainty among oil executives that global oil prices can remain at current levels over $60 a barrel, as well as a general preference for drilling in onshore shale fields that require smaller investments and are less risky. read more

Summary

• Shell declared an income of $13.4 billion compared to $4.8 billion in 2016.
• Merger with BG was a game-changer for Shell.
• Shell has now positioned itself as an energy company that is ready to embrace new challenges.

Headquartered in the Hague, Netherlands, Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) has established itself as one of the most prominent oil and gas companies in the world. Although the last few years have been tough for the energy giant, Royal Dutch Shell has now started making the right moves, which will reap benefits in near future.

In its recently published Annual report for 2017, Shell declared an income of $13.4 billion compared to $4.8 billion in 2016. Although it must be noted that high oil and natural gas prices contributed to this yearly gain, a year-on-year increase of 279% is commendable. read more

BY MAREX 2018-03-09 20:02:00

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has released its final report on the 2016 leak at Shell’s Glider field in the Gulf of Mexico, which resulted in the release of an estimated 80,000 gallons of oil.

The leak resulted from a fracture in a load limiting joint on the field’s well #4 jumper. The load limiting joint is a pipe fitting that is designed to fail in a known manner when placed under excessive stress, thereby preventing damage to complex, hard-to-repair parts of the subsea production system. read more

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden speaks at the CERAWeek conference at the Hilton Americas, Wednesday, March 7, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle: Updated 12:01 pm, Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said Wednesday that climate change is the biggest issue facing the energy sector, encouraging the European oil major to invest more in cleaner-burning gas and renewable energy.

Shell aims to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2050 while shifting its roughly 50-50 oil and gas balance to a portfolio that’s closer to 70 percent gas, van Beurden said at the CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference in Houston. Shell already is the world’s leader in liquefied natural gas.  read more

FILE PHOTO – Wael Sawan, Executive Vice President for Shell’s deepwater division, poses for a picture before an interview for Reuters during an oil conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

Ron Bousso: 7 MARCH 2018

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A potential tariff on U.S. steel imports could affect Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) plans to go ahead with a major oil field development in the Gulf of Mexico, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Wael Sawan, who heads Shell’s deepwater operations, said President Donald Trump’s intention to slap up to 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminium could materially impact the value of the Vito development off the Louisiana coast, one of a handful of projects Shell is planning to greenlight this year. read more

Forecasters at Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil major, have predicted that global oil demand could peak within a decade as electric cars and other clean energy technologies gain larger market shares.

March 5, 2018 Updated: March 5, 2018 8:42pm

Houston’s energy industry, which drives the local economy, has much brighter days ahead as global oil demand climbs, shale production booms and U.S. crude grabs larger shares of global markets, according to forecasts, industry officials and analysts.

The United States is already pumping oil at record levels above 10 million barrels a day, surpassing Saudi Arabia, and may take over from Russia as the world’s production leader by the end of 2018. Over the next five years, daily U.S. production is expected to climb 3.5 million barrels, or 35 percent, to more than 13 million barrels, according to a forecast by the International Energy Agency, which monitors the global oil industry. read more

Shell’s oil and gas reserve life – the number of years it can sustain production at its current levels – has steadily declined in recent years despite the acquisition of BG Group

LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) – The gasps in the audience were clearly audible at the auction of Mexico’s oil blocks a month ago as Royal Dutch Shell’s hefty bids were announced one by one.

The Anglo-Dutch major knew something no one else did.

Six months earlier, its drilling rig had struck a giant oil reservoir, the Whale well, in the U.S. side of the Gulf of Mexico – just across the border from many of the Mexican blocks, which share a similar Paleogene-age geology.

Calculating that this significantly increased the chances of the Mexican blocks also containing treasure, Shell delayed the announcement of the discovery until the day of the auction, after bids had been submitted. read more

Shell’s deepwater production in Brazil, Nigeria, the Gulf of Mexico is much bigger and more profitable, but the firm sees the nimble, fast-returns U.S. onshore shale as an engine for growth.

“We can see strong (shale) production growth, strong cash surpluses that gives us a balance in our portfolio where you can ramp investment up and down, you can moderate that, very unlike deepwater which is quite chunky,” Andy Brown told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IP Week conference. read more

Source: Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

By Sara Sneath

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune; 15 FEB 2018

For nearly 40 years, a 350-foot-tall metal frame in the Gulf of Mexico supported a platform that pumped oil and gas from the seafloor. The 3,000-ton structure was recently converted into an artificial reef off the coast of Louisiana, where it will serve as habitat for fish and other marine life.

Shell’s Cougar platform was installed in 1981 and produced about 31 million barrels of oil and gas over its lifetime, said Shell external relations advisor, Theodore Rolfvondenbaumen. The platform was recently decommissioned and the deck and topside were brought back to shore. The metal frame of the structure was donated to Louisiana’s Artificial Reef Program. 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

…these are also the same waters unsuccessfully explored by Royal Dutch Shell in 2015, after which the company halted Arctic operations for the foreseeable future.

Sam Ori , Contributor: JAN 8, 2018 @ 09:58 AM

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke released the Trump Administration’s long-awaited offshore drilling proposal last week. Once enacted, the plan will replace the existing leasing schedule, which was designed by the previous administration and had been set to run through 2022. New administrations are free to scrap the hold-over plans of prior administrations, and anyone who followed the 2016 presidential campaign knew that President Trump had a dramatically different view of offshore energy development than his predecessor. read more