Shell said Tuesday it is entering the residential power market in Texas, offering renewable power to Texans under a new branch of the company.
The launch of Shell Energy Solutions, a Texas power retailer, marks Shell’s entry into the U.S. power market. Its power plans will offer perks for electric vehicle drivers and homeowners with solar panels.
The move is the latest in a series of steps by the oil giant to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and reposition itself more broadly as an energy provider as the energy transition accelerates. It follows an announcement last week that it had bought a Houston-based gas station and convenience store chain Landmark as the global oil giant positions itself to provide charging stations and motor fuels of the future.read more
Feb 26th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc is pushing ahead on its massive deep-water drilling plan in Mexico, even as it doesn’t foresee production starting under the current government.
The global oil major plans to drill four wells this year, and a similar amount next year, said Alberto de La Fuente, Shell’s Mexico country chief. It’s part of a drilling campaign that will include 10 to 13 wells and cost from $800 million to $2.4 billion.
Shell has a major position in Mexico’s deep-waters at a time when access is hard to come by. Mexico’s new government under Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, has promised to reverse the neoliberal policies of his predecessor and has canceled further auctions and joint-venture opportunities with state owned Petroleos Mexicanos.read more
Dec 31st, 2019
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell is officially moving out of the gassy Haynesville shale after selling its last package of acreage to a private Houston firm.
Houston-based Castleton Resources, which primarily focuses on the Haynesville in East Texas and Louisiana, will scoop up about 55,000 net acres from Shell that’s currently producing more than 100,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day. The companies are not revealing the sale price.
Shell previously sold most of its Haynesville position five years ago, but still had some piecemeal remaining acreage.read more
When car enthusiast John Hennessey started a YouTube channel more than a decade ago, he just wanted his Sealy auto modification shop to keep up with the times.
Fast forward 12 years and Hennessey’s social media presence has exploded to 340,000 YouTube subscribers and 1 million Instagram followers watching his mechanics modify high-end cars and trucks to go ridiculously fast. Hennessey, who describes himself as the“Chief Horsepower Evangelist” at his company, rubs elbows with famous Indy 500 and NASCAR drivers at automotive industry events.read more
Aug 31st, 2019
by John Donovan.
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From left, Shell workers Adam Harrison, Dakota Stormer and Natasha Qamar take a demo ride in an ElecTrip vehicle.Photo: Juan Figueroa, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Royal Dutch Shell makes its money selling oil, gasoline and other petroleum products. But when it comes to its employees traveling between Houston and other major Texas cities, how does one of the world’s largest oil companies transport them?
Electric cars.
Earlier this week, Shell approved $40,000 in vouchers for employees to use ElecTrip, a Tesla-based ride-sharing service headquartered in Houston. The vouchers will pay for about 400 zero-emission rides to meetings in Austin, Dallas San Antonio and other Texas cities.read more
Apr 2nd, 2019
by John Donovan.
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The liquefied natural gas arm of oil giant Shell has become the first customer at NextDecade’s proposed $15 billion Rio Grande LNG export terminal at the Port of Brownsville.
NextDecade announced the 20-year sale and purchase agreement at the LNG2019 conference in Shanghai on Monday night.
Under the deal, Shell will buy 2 million metric tons of LNG per year from the proposed Brownsville facility starting in 2023.
“We are honored to have Shell as the first foundation customer of our Rio Grande LNG project,” NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman said in a statement. “Shell is not only the largest portfolio LNG company in the world, Shell is also a recognized pioneer in the global LNG business.”read more
Royal Dutch Shell’s new LNG outlook report projects that global liquefied natural gas demand will continue to rise in the years ahead – led by Asian growth – as Shell seeks to solidify its stake as the world’s LNG leader.
With natural gas continuing to replace coal as a cleaner-burning power source from the United States to China, Shell expects annual LNG demand worldwide to surge more than 30 percent from 292 million metric tons in 2017 to 384 million tons in 2020. Last year, demand grew by 27 million tons, or more than 9 percent, to 319 million, and this year demand should spike by another 11 percent or 35 million tons, Shell said.read more
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
Feb 1st, 2019
by John Donovan.
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By Marissa Luck, Staff Writer
Shell has named Gretchen Watkins as the new president of its North American operations in Houston. Watkins is the former CEO of Maersk Oil. Friday, Jan. 4, 2019, in Houston. Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Gretchen Watkins’ family was living an idyllic life in Copenhagen, where bicycles outnumber cars on many the city’s roadways. The oil industry veteran said it was the norm for her kids to take public transportation to commute.
That was less than a year ago. Now her family has moved from one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world to a city dominated by highways and traffic congestion. Watkins, 50, went from living in a country whose leaders are debating ambitious new climate laws to a city whose fate is tied to the proliferation of fossil fuels.
It’s been almost a year since Watkins relocated her family to Houston so she could prepare to take over in one of Shell Oil Co.’s most iconic positions: She officially started as Shell’s president of U.S. operations in January, the first female in a position typically filled internally by longtime male employees.read more
Feb 1st, 2019
by John Donovan.
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Marissa Luck, Houston Chronicle
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
Jan 7th, 2019
by John Donovan.
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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
Oil is trading well below its price of a decade ago, but you’d have no idea looking at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s giant pile of cash.
The Anglo-Dutch oil major generated the most cash from operations in 10 years last quarter — almost $15 billion. The last time Shell pumped out that much money was the year crude soared to $140 a barrel, compared with about $75 today.
As a result, the company is showing greater confidence. It increased the pace of a $25 billion buyback program, rewarding shareholders who stuck with it through crude’s collapse. The cash surge is a feather in the cap of Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden, who splashed more than $50 billion on buying BG Group Plc in 2016 during the depths of the downturn.read more
Australia’s nine-year, $200 billion boom in liquefied natural gas still has a final debut in the works: Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Prelude, floating 200 kilometers (124 miles) off its northwest coast. It’s the last project in that investment cycle to start production after Japan’s Inpex Corp. shipped its maiden cargo from Ichthys LNG on Monday.
Shell’s Prelude is among seven export projects in gas-rich Australia sanctioned since 2009 by global energy giants including Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., as well as regional big hitters such as Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Malaysia’s Petroleum Nasional Bhd. The Pacific nation now rivals Qatar as the world’s biggest seller of LNG, a form of natural gas super-chilled into a liquid that can be shipped on tankers.read more
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
Royal Dutch Shell is the U.S. leader in retail fuel sales and now Shell is launching new American pilot programs so people can fill up almost anywhere or charge their electric vehicles.
First Shell will pilot its new “Shell TapUp” app-based program in Houston where it will take fueling trucks to its customers to fill their tanks. The program started in the Netherlands and is now coming to the U.S.
Shell will start offering the service to its employees and to other businesses so vehicles are filled up in their company parking lots. Then, Shell aims to eventually expand to all customers so people can get fuel while they’re shopping at the grocery or dining at a restaurant. Shell won’t come to your house; the goal is to service multiple customers at a time in larger parking lot or garage settings.read more
Apr 13th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Photo: Michael Macor, Staff / The Chronicle
By Jordan Blum: April 13, 2018Updated: April 13, 2018 8:19am
What did you know and when did you know it? Those are the questions increasingly directed at Big Oil as concerns about global warming, rising sea levels and climate change grow.
For a few years now, Exxon Mobil has faced a bombardment of allegations — which the Texas oil company denies — that it knew about climate change related to fossil fuels in the 1970s and buried the evidence. State investigations in New York and Massachusetts continue to focus on whether Exxon Mobil misled the public and the company’s investors.read more
Mar 6th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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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, 2018Updated: 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
The leaders of the world’s largest and most powerful energy companies are talking about the fight to mitigate human-caused climate change.
Some are even putting their money where their mouths are.
While some conservative political leaders still deny that the Earth is heating up due to humans burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases, the people who produce those fuels and chemicals have recognized the imperative to limit global warming to a rise of 2 degrees Celsius.read more
Jan 31st, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Photo: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND, Stringer: Shell is a shareholder in the Elgin rig, shown here operating 150 miles from Aberdeen in the North Sea in 2012. Shell is selling stakes in 10 North Sea fields.
Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle: Updated 7:01 am, Wednesday, January 31, 2018
BP said it made two successful discoveries in the North Sea – one of which is with fellow Big Oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron.
BP said it struck oil in its Capercaillie prospect in the central North Sea east of Scotland, as well as the northwestern corner of the North Sea in the Achmelvich well, the latter of which is the partnership with Shell and Chevron.
The discoveries lend optimism to a slowly rebounding offshore energy sector, especially in the North Sea that’s so critical for Europe’s oil supplies.read more
Shell Oil Co. plans to plow around $200 million into a Tennessee solar company, the latest deal that finds a major oil company investing in renewable energy as the industry prepares for a day when crude demand plateaus.
A unit of Houston’s Shell Oil will purchase almost half of Silicon Ranch Corp., a Nashville company that operates solar projects around the United States, for up to $217 million, the company’s biggest investment in utility-scale solar energy yet, the company said on Monday. Shell Oil is the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil major. read more
Dec 24th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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…hanging over any potential development in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve is the failed attempt by Royal Dutch Shell to tap reserves off Alaska. In 2015, after years of legal fighting with environmental groups, the European oil giant announced it was abandoning $2.5 billion in drilling rights in U.S. Arctic waters.
WASHINGTON – In enacting the biggest overhaul of the tax code in 30 years, the Republican-controlled Congress also opened the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. But already environmentalists are moving to shut it down.
Just hours after the Senate passed the legislation Wednesday, environmental groups swore to fight to block the drilling provisions.
The National Audubon Society released a statement that it would “do whatever it takes to prevent drilling in America’s bird nursery.”read more
Dec 16th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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31 million barrels of oil later, new life for old rig
Royal Dutch Shell’s 36-year-old Cougar oil and gas platform. The bulk of the platform was converted into an artificial reef in November.
By Collin Eaton:December 15, 2017Updated: December 16, 2017 12:17am
After chugging along for 37 hours, the lumbering heavy-lift vessel reached its destination 110 miles off Louisiana. There, the ship’s powerful cranes lowered a massive steel structure, used to support offshore oil platforms, to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, 200 feet below the surface.
This location, however, will never produce oil. Instead, the 3,000-ton frame, from a retired platform operated by Royal Dutch Shell, will become home to barnacles, mussels, sponges and other aquatic invertebrates and a way station for migratory fish from red snapper to whale sharks seeking food and shelter.read more
Dec 8th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Steve Hill, executive vice president of Shell Energy, discusses Shell’s growth in the liquefied natural gas industry aboard Dynagas’ Lena River LNG carrier as its docked at Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG
By Jordan Blum: December 7, 2017
SABINE PASS, La. – In 2011, Cheniere Energy was a little-known company with big ambitions when it signed an $8 billion contract that would transform the United States into an exporter of liquefied natural gas after decades of relying on foreign suppliers.read more
For the past year, the city of Deer Park has been celebrating its founding 125 years ago with a series of events, ceremonies, recognition and fanfare, culminating in a free Nov. 4 concert featuring country singer RaeLynn.
But to keep looking forward, it is vital for the city to look back at the deep roots it shares with Shell Deer Park, Position 1 City Councilwoman Sherry Garrison said.
“I think it’s important for people to know how connected we are, and how connected our success as a city is tied to Shell Deer Park,” she said.read more
Sep 24th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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The rise of battery-powered cars threatens disaster for Houston’s oil and gas economy.
Houston Chronicle: September 23, 2017
Halfway around the globe, a storm is brewing that will pose a greater threat to our oil and gas industry than Hurricanes Harvey or Ike, or even a massive storm surge right up Houston Ship Channel.
The danger: China wants to stop buying gasoline. Specifically, at an automotive conference in Tianjin, the nation’s vice minister of industry and information technology stated that the government is planning on a total phaseout of vehicles powered by fossil fuels. This announcement follows similar plans from Britain and France to ban sales of diesel and gasoline cars by 2040. That’s decades away, but the world is undeniably moving towards a future where the internal combustion engine is a thing of the past.read more
Aug 28th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle: 27 August 2017
Royal Dutch Shell said Sunday the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey is causing the shutdown of its massive refining and petrochemical complex in Deer Park.
Shell is closing one of Texas’ largest refineries, which can refine more than 315,000 barrels of crude oil a day into gasoline and other petroleum products.
“The top priority of Shell Deer Park is to operate in a safe and environmentally sound manner. Due to continued inclement weather conditions from Hurricane Harvey, Shell Deer Park is conducting a controlled/planned shut down of the refinery and chemical plant,” Shell said in an email response.read more
Aug 13th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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The hull of a massive deep-water platform owned by Royal Dutch Shell recently left South Korean shipyards as it set off for Texas. The hull will be attached to the topsides of the platform before its installation in the Gulf of Mexico.
Massive Shell platform starts its journey to Texas
The massive four-column hull of a deep-water oil platform began sailing from South Korea to Texas this week, starting a monthslong voyage that will bring Shell closer to finishing a multibillion-dollar Gulf of Mexico project.read more
Aug 3rd, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Shale drillers show few signs of slowing as profits expand
The optimism from the U.S. shale fields followed quarterly reports last week that showed major international producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are also learning to make money at $50 a barrel…
Alex Nussbaum and Joe Carroll, Bloomberg: Published 6:46 am, Wednesday, August 2, 2017
The shale surge that’s tied down global oil prices shows no signs of abating, as four of the biggest U.S. drillers said they’re not backing away from lofty production targets for 2017.
In second-quarter earnings reports, EOG Resources Inc., Devon Energy Corp., Newfield Exploration Co. and Diamondback Energy Inc. all outlined goals on Tuesday that would help push U.S. output toward a record 10 million barrels a day next year. Even Pioneer Natural Resources Co., which trimmed the top end of its forecast due to delays in the Permian shale basin, still expects to increase oil and natural gas volumes by 16 percent at year’s end.read more
India hopes to sell only electric vehicles by 2030. China is offering incentives to buy electric cars and investing heavily in renewable technologies. Volvo will scrap the pure internal combustion engine in favor of hybrids and electric cars.
And on Thursday, France announced it plans to ban the sale of diesel and gasoline-fueled cars by 2040.
The world’s major oil companies might disagree when global demand for petroleum will peak, but the news of the past seven months suggests that they should be worried, if they aren’t already. Nations, states and private companies are demanding cleaner energy, leaving the world’s oil producers to face a reckoning that many haven’t yet accepted.read more
A decision by Shell Oil Co. to reject the hiring recommendation of its former head of U.S. security has led to another discrimination lawsuit against the company, a subsidiary of the international oil major Royal Dutch Shell.
Earlier this year Crockett Oaks III sued Shell for allegedly firing him after he objected to hiring preferences based on age and gender. Oaks and a selecition committee chose a 53-year-old man with a military background for a security advisor opening, but Shell executives allegedly blocked his hiring and directed Oaks to find a young, female candidate instead, according to court documents.
The case was settled —no details are available in the federal court records —but the man Oaks sought to hire sued Shell in June for age discrimination and retaliation after the energy giant revoked his job offer.read more
Jun 30th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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By Ryan Maye Handy: 29 June 2017
Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday that it plans to acquire MP2 Energy, a power and retail electric company based in the Woodlands, as the oil major seeks to diversify its business.
The transaction, if approved by regulators, would expand Shell’s electricity business beyond the West Coast into Texas, the Midwest and the East Coast. MP2, which manages power plants and runs a retail electric business, serves mostly industrial and commercial customers. In Texas, however, it offers residential electric plans for customers, including a program with rooftop solar systems. The company also operates in Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania.read more
South Korean gas company and Royal Dutch Shell are considering throwing their weight behind yet another liquefied natural gas plant.
Energy Transfer Partners announced on Thursday that Korea Gas Corporation and BG LNG Services, a Houston-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, are interested in working with the Dallas pipeline giant on its Lake Charles LNG Liquefaction Project.
The Lake Charles project in Louisiana is wholly owned by Energy Transfer and its entities. The company expects to build on its existing regasification import facility there.read more
May 4th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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By Collin Eaton: Business Reporter, Houston Chronicle: May 3, 2017
The recovery in energy prices won’t produce a mad rush into deep-water fields anytime soon, but drillers are still spending billions this year on more cost-efficient projects that can outlast cheap oil, says the executive who leads Shell’s deep-water business.
Over the next two years, Royal Dutch Shell plans to spend up to $14 billion developing new and existing deep-water projects in places like the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, but it’s trying to keep costs nailed down with myriad initiatives that have, for example, reduced its offshore staff by nearly a third.read more
Crockett Oaks III, a former FBI agent who led the U.S. security operations of Shell Oil Co., was part of a selection committee that last year recommended the hiring of a 53-year-old man with a military background as a security adviser. But when the company directed the committee to find a younger female candidate, Oaks objected to hiring based on age or gender and was subsequently fired.
Those allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed by Oaks that is testing the limits of employee confidentiality agreements. Shell Oil, the U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, last week obtained a temporary court order blocking Oaks from revealing potentially damaging information about Shell’s personnel practices to support his claim.read more
In the coming months, roughly 3,400 Shell Oil Co. employees will be moving from the oil giant’s downtown headquarters into its Energy Corridor campus as Shell looks to eventually house all of its Houston-based employees on the west side.
The move is indicative of an energy industry downturn in Houston that has led oil companies to slash thousands of jobs and consolidate office space to meditate costs.
Shell will leave its One Shell Plaza headquarters, a 50-story skyscraper, after 45 years.read more
Sep 24th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Next year will mark the end of an era as Royal Dutch Shell largely abandons its iconic tower and consolidates workers on the west side of town in its Woodcreek complex in the Energy Corridor and the Shell Technology Center a few miles south of Woodcreek. Only Shell’s energy trading team will remain downtown.
The move – largely to cut costs in the ongoing oil bust – continues the exodus of Big Oil from downtown Houston. Exxon Mobil moved out last year when it built its massive new campus by Spring. Of Houston’s 10 largest energy employers, just Chevron and CenterPoint Energy remain downtown.read more
Landmark, a technology unit of the energy services company Halliburton, is betting that it is, unveiling a cloud-computing platform last week that will allow companies to collaborate on developing software to process the massive volumes of data they collect on everything from geology to seismology to chemistry to drilling to flows of oil and gas. The idea is that easy and open access to the code on which the platform is based will lead to faster and better analysis of the data and ultimately to innovations that allow the industry to extract more oil and gas at lower costs.read more
The oil and gas sector largely has itself to blame for the financial hemorrhaging many energy companies now face, said Harry Brekelmans, Royal Dutch Shell’s projects and technology director.
Rather than just low price of oil, redundancies, cost overruns and inefficiencies throughout the supply chain have made the industry far too inefficient during years of growth with $100 per barrel oil, Brekelmans said at at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.read more
Jan 11th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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HOUSTON — The oil bust that has cost the United States roughly 70,000 energy jobs has become more severe than any downturn in 45 years, Morgan Stanley said Monday, as crude prices fell a sixth day.
Crude prices tumbled below $32 a barrel on Monday, and over the past 19 months have plunged further and for a longer time than even the 1986 oil bust that deeply bruised the Texas economy. Morgan Stanley says the five major downturns since 1970 no longer can be a credible guide as the oil market enters “uncharted territory.”read more
HOUSTON — Royal Dutch Shell has started extracting natural gas off the coast of Ireland after more than a decade of project delays and an estimated $3.1 billion in unexpected cost overruns.
The Anglo-Dutch oil major on Wednesday said it aims to pump enough gas from the Corrib gas field to quench as much as 60 percent of Ireland’s demand for gas. It’s the latest move by Shell to cement its place among the world’s biggest gas suppliers, coming eight months after the company agreed to a $53 billion deal to buy British liquefied natural gas firm BG Group.read more
HOUSTON — Probing one of its recent discoveries in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Royal Dutch Shell found 100 million barrels of oil equivalent buried at its Kaikias field, nearby three of its massive production facilities and a network of subsea pipes, the company said Wednesday.
The one-year-old Kaikias discovery, about 60 miles south of the Louisiana coast in the Mars-Ursa basin, is nowhere near the size of the big-ticket deep-water oil fields that Shell uncovered in that region two decades ago.read more
A pipeline subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has sold a crude terminal in Illinois and a pipeline system in the Gulf of Mexico for $390 million to a master limited partnership affiliated with Shell.
Shell Midstream Partners, the Houston-based MLP that Shell formed in 2014, said on Wednesday that it will buy Pecten Midstream from another Shell subsidiary, Shell Pipeline Co.
Pecten Midstream operates the Lockport Crude Terminal about 50 miles from Chicago and the Auger Pipeline System, which transports crude oil from parts of the Garden Banks and Keathley Canyon offshore blocks in the Gulf.read more
A carbon tax or cap-and-trade system in the U.S. — and globally — would serve the energy industry better than the current slate of piecemeal state and federal regulations, Shell Oil Co. President Marvin Odum said Tuesday.
He acknowledged that Congress won’t take action soon in gridlocked Washington, but said that people should move beyond sound bites. Odum spoke at University of Houston’s energy symposium focusing on whether now is the right time for a carbon tax.read more
HOUSTON — Shell has found another $1 billion in costs it could shake free after it buys BG Group, company officials said Tuesday, partly in response to critics of the huge acquisition Shell announced when crude was more expensive in the spring.
The cuts would mean more job losses on top of the 7,500 in layoffs Shell has announced this year, but officials declined to say how many jobs would be affected or lost.
The value of Shell’s original $70 billion offer for the British gas producer, which is known for its prized Brazilian deep-water fields and its big liquefied natural gas business, fell to $56 billion a month ago and edged back up to about $60 billion as Shell’s share price and crude prices have fallen. Shell had proposed to pay for the deal mostly with shares.read more
Transocean and Royal Dutch Shell struck an agreement to delay the delivery of two new ultradeep-water drillships as the offshore drilling industry cools amid a global downturn in oil prices.
The Swiss-based offshore drilling contractor announced early Monday that it would push back the operating and delivery contracts of the Deepwater Pontus and Deepwater Poseidon by one year each.
Drillships are used to hunt for new oil and gas in waters deep offshore. With oil prices refusing to budge above $50 a barrel for months, oil companies have throttled expensive offshore exploration projects as they wait for crude to rebound.read more
WASHINGTON — Shell’s dreams of an Arctic oil bonanza were dashed with disappointing results from a critical exploratory well this summer, but they were in full force seven years ago, when the company aggressively outbid competitors to nab drilling rights in the Chukchi Sea.
Reeling from a scandal involving overstated reserves and desperate to replenish its portfolio, Royal Dutch Shell spent $2.1 billion buying up those Chukchi Sea leases, vastly outspending the competitors who plunked down just $800 million combined in the same government auction.read more
HOUSTON — Royal Dutch Shell’s oil unit in Malaysia said it will cut 1,300 jobs, or about 20 percent of its Malaysian workforce, over the next two years as it restructures itself.
Shell Malaysia said Tuesday it is trying to become a more efficient company but gave few details beyond disclosing the coming staff reductions. It said it has made “adjustments” to its upstream portfolio but didn’t elaborate.
“Shell Malaysia is preparing itself to be more competitive in a low oil price environment,” Shell Malaysia Chairman Iain Lo said in a written statement. “Continuing business as usual is not sustainable. We are taking difficult, but necessary action.”read more
WASHINGTON — After spending $7 billion and seven years searching for oil under Arctic waters, Royal Dutch Shell on Monday said its quest had come up dry.
Shell announced that its exploratory oil well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska encountered “indications of oil and gas” that are “not sufficient to warrant further exploration” — a significant blow for the Anglo-Dutch firm that had hoped to find a multibillion barrel crude reservoir in those remote waters.
“Shell continues to see important exploration potential in the basin, and the area is likely to ultimately be of strategic importance to Alaska and the U.S.,” said Marvin Odum, director of Shell Upstream Americas. “However, this is a clearly disappointing exploration outcome for this part of the basin.”read more
WASHINGTON — Newly released documents reveal the extent of problems with anti-pollution equipment on a Shell-contracted Arctic drillship earlier this year.
The records, provided by the U.S. Coast Guard in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, also describe a botched fire drill by the crew of another Shell-contracted drilling rig months before it began boring an exploratory oil well in the Chukchi Sea.
That rig, the Transocean Polar Pioneer, was moored in Seattle and being prepared for its Arctic mission in May, when the Coast Guard conducted an initial inspection and two emergency drills onboard.read more
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
JOHN DONOVAN, THE OWNER OF THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER SHELL FOCUSSED WEBSITES
SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.websitepublishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
Shell and BP take a beating as bank woes hit crude pricesMarch 15, 2023 17:36Proactive InvestorsBP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) shares have taken a hit, dropping over 8%, due to a sell-off in the banking sector.
The natural resources market has been volatile, with Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate falling by 4- …
Shell CEO Pay Up 50%March 9, 2023 21:23Manufacturing Business TechnologyCEO of Royal Dutch Shell Ben van Beurden speaks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Shell paid outgoing Chief Executive Ben van Beurden a total of 9.7 million pounds ($11.5 million) in 2022 as the …
Former Shell CEO's pay jumped 53% to $11.5m in 2022March 9, 2023 11:17Gulf NewsBen van Beurden, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell, speaks during the 26th World Gas Conference in Paris, France, June 2, 2015
Image Credit: Reuters
London: Shell's former chief executive, Ben van Beurden, received a pay package of 9.7 …
Big Oil Goes Green: Shell Acquires VoltaFebruary 9, 2023 06:03Law Street MediaIn Big Oil’s latest foray into green energy, Shell has announced its acquisition of Volta, Inc. for $169 million.
Expected to close during the first half of 2023, the all-cash deal “builds on the momentum in electric mobility by combining one of the …
SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders. (JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?