Houston Chronicle

Shell launches renewable power brand in Texas under a new branch of the company

Amanda Drane, Staff writer: June 7, 2022 Updated: June 7, 2022 10:08 a.m.

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

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

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

Marissa Luck Sep. 6, 2019 Updated: Sep. 6, 2019 6:55 a.m.

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

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

Sergio Chapa Aug. 30, 2019

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

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

By Jordan Blum: Updated 9:44 am CST, Monday, February 25, 2019

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

Shell inks renewable diesel deal in Oregon

Marissa Luck

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

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

By Marissa Luck, Staff Writer Feb. 1, 2019

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

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

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

Kelly Gilblom, Bloomberg: November 1, 2018

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

Dan Murtaugh and Stephen Stapczynski, Bloomberg Oct. 23, 2018

And then there was one.

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

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

By Jordan Blum: Updated 1:56 pm CDT, Friday, October 12, 2018

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

Photo: Michael Macor, Staff / The Chronicle

By Jordan Blum: April 13, 2018 Updated: 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

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

By Chris Tomlinson: February 9, 2018

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

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

Still, as company invests in solar firm, it plans to commission oil production vessel

Photo: John Davenport, STAFF

By Collin Eaton and Ryan Maye Handy

January 15, 2018 Updated: January 15, 2018 9:29pm

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

…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.

By James Osborne: December 22, 2017

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

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, 2017 Updated: December 16, 2017 12:17am

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

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

By Jennnifer Bolton, [email protected]: Sunday, October 1, 2017

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

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

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

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

By Collin Eaton: August 11, 2017

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

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

By Ryan Maye Handy: 8 July 2017

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

By L.M. Sixel: Wednesday, July 5, 2017

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.

RELATED: Shell sues former head of security 

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

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

By David Hunn: Thursday June 29, 2017

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

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

By L.M. Sixel: April 5, 2017

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

Shell leaves One Shell Plaza HQ after 45 years

By Sebastian Herrera: December 7, 2016

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

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

By David Hunn: August 26, 2016

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

Posted by Jordan Blum: Date: May 05, 2016

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

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

December 30, 2015 | By Collin Eaton

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

Posted on November 18, 2015 | By Collin Eaton

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

Posted on November 11, 2015 | By Joshua Cain

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

Marvin Odum President Shell Oil Co

Posted on November 10, 2015 | By Jordan Blum

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

Posted on November 3, 2015 | By Collin Eaton

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

Posted on October 29, 2015 | By Jennifer A. Dlouhy

WASHINGTON — Shell is walking away from oil exploration in Arctic waters north of Alaska, but it isn’t ready to close the door completely.

Disappointing results from a critical test well at the company’s Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, combined with the high costs of developing the region and an “unpredictable regulatory environment” have prompted Royal Dutch Shell “to cease further exploration activity offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future,” CEO Ben van Beurden told reporters Thursday. read more

By Rhiannon Meyers: October 26, 2015

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

$7 billion bust in the Arctic Ocean

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: 5 Oct 2015

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

By Collin Eaton: 29 Sept 2015

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

September 28, 2015 | By Jennifer A. Dlouhy

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

“The company’s repeated failures in basic readiness tests show that when things go wrong in the Arctic ocean, it will be a disaster…”

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: August 30, 2015

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