EU should include ‘methane performance’ standard in emissions legislation: Shell

• AuthorStuart Elliott 
• EditorDaniel Lalor 
• COAL | NATURAL GAS
• 24 Feb 2021 | 15:50 UTC
• London

London — The EU should include a “methane performance” standard in its upcoming legislative proposals to tackle the issue of methane emissions to ensure it only imports gas from countries with similar policies, a senior official from Shell said Feb. 24.

Speaking during IP Week, Shell’s head of integrated gas, Maarten Wetselaar, said Europe has a major role to play in helping reduce methane emissions from upstream activity. read more

TIMELINE-Nord Stream 2: Russia to Germany gas pipeline’s difficult birth

Maarten Wetselaar, Klaus Schaefer, Mario Mehren, Alexey Miller, Gerhard Schroeder, Isabelle Kocher, Gerard Mestrallet, Rainer Seele, and Matthias Warnig after signing of financing agreements for Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project on April 24, 2017

Reuters Staff: DECEMBER 11, 2020

Dec 11 (Reuters) – Russia has resumed construction of the politically-charged Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, laying pipes after a one-year hiatus prompted by U.S. sanctions, the pipeline operator said on Friday. read more

Angela Macdonald-Smith: March 18, 2019

Oil major Shell has set out ambitions to build a major electricity generating and retailing business in Australia within the next decade as part of its global shift towards lower-carbon energy, in comments that look set to revive speculation that a significant acquisition may be on the cards.

Maarten Wetselaar, the group’s global head of gas and new energies, said it would be “an enormously lost opportunity” if Shell didn’t get good at supplying low-carbon electricity to consumers and make the most of its famous brand. read more

Oil major prepares for fundamental shift towards lower-carbon energy sources

Ed Crooks and Anjli Raval in Houston

Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas groups, is aiming to become the largest electricity company by the 2030s, as it prepares for a fundamental shift in global energy supplies towards lower-carbon sources. Maarten Wetselaar, Shell’s director of gas and new energies, told the Financial Times that the group could develop a power business, including supplying customers, trading and providing equipment, that was the same size as its oil or gas operations. read more

By Kevin Crowley and Alix Steel: 11 March 2019, 20:09 GMT: Updated on 11 March 2019, 21:38 GMT

Oil major aims to be top power producer by early 2030s

Shell seeks 8-12% returns in historically low margin business

Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to become the world’s biggest power company despite electricity’s historically narrow margins.

The world’s second-largest oil explorer by market value is spending up to $2 billion a year on its new energies division, mainly to grow in a power sector it envisions delivering 8 percent to 12 percent annual returns, according to Maarten Wetselaar, director of Shell’s integrated gas new energies unit. read more

Royal Dutch Shell plans to become the world’s biggest power company despite electricity’s historically narrow margins.

Written by Bloomberg – 12/03/2019 7:40 am

The world’s second-largest oil explorer by market value is spending up to $2 billion a year on its new energies division, mainly to grow in a power sector it envisions delivering 8-12% annual returns, according to Maarten Wetselaar, director of Shell’s integrated gas new energies unit.

“We believe we can be the largest electricity power company in the world in the early 2030s,” Wetselaar said.

“We are not interested in the power business because we like what we saw in the last 20 years.

“We are interested because we think we like what we see in the next 20 years.” read more

The agreement was signed by Maarten Wetselaar, Shell’s Director of Integrated Gas and New Energies together with Harib Al Kitani, CEO of Oman LNG in the presence of Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell.

The agreement will combine Shell’s experience of implementing technology and developing innovative solutions to support Oman LNG’s digitalisation drive to better equip it for the future.

Maarten Wetselaar said, “With energy transition and more demand for digitalisation, we are seeing the evolution of the industry. Innovative technology and data is creating an incredible opportunity in the energy industry, giving us the ability to track trends and make better decisions. We are delighted to collaborate with Oman LNG and explore new ways in which they can improve their asset efficiency and profitability, reduce operation costs, accelerate production and speed.” read more

Global supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will tighten next year despite more being produced, according to the latest forecast from Shell.

Written by Allister Thomas – 25/02/2019 11:09 am

In its 2019 Outlook for LNG, Shell said demand will continue to rise next year, with “supplies to tighten in the mid-2020s”.

Shell warned that more new projects are needed.

Demand for cleaner fuels to improve air quality in Asia saw demand rise by 27million tonnes to 319million in 2018, with demand expected to reach around 384million tonnes in 2020.

Supply is expected to rise by 35million tonnes this year but it will not be enough to offset demand, with the additional supply to be absorbed completely by Asia and Europe. read more

Shell’s Prelude floating LNG project has taken longer than expected to start up.  Shell Australia

By Angela Macdonald-Smith: 01 Feb 2019

Energy giant Shell has brushed off persistent talk about technical problems dogging the start-up of the huge Prelude floating LNG project off Australia’s far north-west coast but has signalled the first LNG cargo from the closely watched venture may still be several weeks away.

The multinational announced the beginning of production from the offshore Prelude gas field in late December but is still in the process of commissioning the complex LNG processing systems on board what is the world’s largest floating structure. read more

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

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

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

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

Published by Will Owen, Editorial Assistant
LNG Industry, Monday, 15 October 2018 09:44

A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Maarten Wetselaar, Member of the Executive Committee of Royal Dutch Shell, was recently held in St. Petersburg.

The parties discussed relevant issues related to bilateral cooperation, including the Baltic LNG project. Emphasis was placed on the priority measures aimed at developing a joint design concept (pre-FEED). read more

Shortly after Ben van Beurden took over as chief executive of Royal Dutch ShellPLC, he bet the company on natural gas, with a roughly $50 billion takeover of a rival focused on shipping the fuel around the globe. Now he is preparing to double down.

Mr. van Beurden said Tuesday that a consortium led by the Anglo-Dutch energy giant will decide before year-end whether to move forward with a $30 billion, liquefied-natural-gas export terminal in western Canada.

“We postponed the decision previously when the project wasn’t ready in terms of economic fortunes,” he told The Wall Street Journal… read more

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.37% PLC said it will announce plans to lay out targets to manage its emissions of the greenhouse gas methane Monday, joining a handful of major oil companies that have made similar pledges this year.

Shell has been outspoken about the value of natural gas as a “bridging” fuel—a cleaner-burning fossil fuel that can help bolster renewables like solar and wind energy when, for instance, the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

The company’s long-term strategy is wedded to gas. In 2016, it spent roughly $50 billion to buy smaller rival BG Group, an acquisition that cemented Shell’s position as one of the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas players. read more

Ben Marlow, executive business editor: 9 SEPTEMBER 2018 • 8:39PM

Like a pair of mysterious soothsayers, Maarten Wetselaar and John Abbott are peering into the future. The world they see is almost unrecognisable from the one we inhabit today, and yet it is only just around the corner.

In the west, the petrol car has become obsolete. Lorries are powered by liquid natural gas. Freight liners criss-cross the oceans fuelled by hydrogen. Solar and wind provide the energy to our homes.

And the petrol station has been reimagined as an unlikely retail hotspot where people routinely gather to do their food shopping, pick up parcels, and sip artisan coffee. A convoy of vehicles are being rebooted at one of many charging points on the forecourt. read more

Published by Will Owen, Editorial Assistant Monday 19 March 2018

Shell and Gazprom representatives have held a working meeting in St Petersburg to discuss the state and prospects of their strategic cooperation in the gas sector.

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, led the Gazprom delegation; and Maarten Wetselaar, Member of the Executive Committee of Royal Dutch Shell, and his associates represented Shell.

During the meeting, particular attention was paid to joint efforts in the LNG industry, especially the construction of the third train of the LNG plant within the Sakhalin II project. read more

Ron Bousso: 26 FEB 2018

LONDON (Reuters) – More than $200 billion of investment in liquefied natural gas is needed to meet a boom in demand by 2030, Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s top LNG trader, said on Monday.

The LNG market is set to continue its rapid expansion into 2020 as facilities approved for construction in the first half of the decade come on line, in a development expected easily to meet sharp growth in consumption of the super-chilled fuel.

But a decline in spending in the sector since 2014 as a result of weaker energy prices will create a supply gap from the mid-2020s unless new investments emerge, Shell said in its 2018 LNG Outlook. read more

Extracts from FT article by Andrew Ward, Energy Editor, published Sunday 18 February 2018:

Oil majors see their chance in staid world of utilities

Maarten Wetselaar, head of Shell’s “new energy” strategy, predicts the proportion of worldwide energy consumption met by electricity would increase from less than 20 per cent today to about half in coming decades. Mr Wetselaar declines to comment on speculation that Shell’s next target could be the Dutch utility Eneco. But he says: “If we’re going to build a power business that is meaningful to Shell — a real fourth pillar alongside oil, gas and chemicals — we will need to do more of these deals.” read more

Shell said its UK energy would be “significantly organised around solar and wind”CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES

Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: February 10 2018, 12:01am, 

Royal Dutch Shell’s plans to take on the Big Six energy suppliers include buying gas-fired power plants and building wind and solar farms in Britain.

The Anglo-Dutch oil company will use its network of 1,000 petrol stations to market the venture and sign up household and business energy customers, Maarten Wetselaar, an executive director of Shell, said. It aims eventually to offer related services, such as electric car charging in homes. read more

by Angela Macdonald-Smith: Nov 29, 2017

Royal Dutch Shell has sewn doubt in the market about an early 2018 start-up of the oil major’s innovative Prelude floating LNG project off the coast of north-west Australia, with chief executive Ben van Beurden signalling that the project will only start contributing noticeably to cash flow in 2019.

While the ramp-up of the $US54 billion (71 billion) Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia was named by Mr van Beurden as among projects named to help grow cash flows next year, Prelude was included in the later batch. read more

A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Maarten Wetselaar, Member of the Executive Committee of Royal Dutch Shell, took place in St. Petersburg today.

Posted by OilVoice Press – OilVoice: 22-Nov-2017

The meeting addressed relevant aspects of strategic cooperation.

Particular attention was paid to joint efforts in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector. The parties discussed the construction project for the third train of the LNG plant on Sakhalin Island and the progress of the Joint Study Framework Agreement for the Baltic LNG project.

The meeting also focused on the Nord Stream 2 project.

Background

Royal Dutch Shell is a British-Dutch oil and gas holding company focused on hydrocarbon production, processing and marketing in over 90 countries worldwide. read more

The world’s second-biggest liquefied natural gas exporting nation will probably curb shipments next year to avoid a domestic shortfall of the fuel, according to the Australian head of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

The Australian Energy Market Operator will probably declare a shortage for eastern states in the next two to four weeks, Shell Australia Chairwoman Zoe Yujnovich said at a Bloomberg event Wednesday in Sydney. That would trigger the country’s domestic gas security mechanism, a policy announced in June that could limit LNG exports from plants that draw more gas from local markets than they supply. read more

Europe’s biggest energy company is investing in projects to boost global gas demand and aims to continue feeding the market it’s nurturing with new liquefied natural gas export plants.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is supporting the development of gas use in heavy transport such as shipping and is also helping smaller and less credit worthy customers begin importing LNG, Maarten Wetselaar, the company’s director of integrated gas and new energies, said at an event at Bloomberg’s Sydney office Wednesday. As new LNG customers enter the market, that will open a window for Shell and others to develop new low-cost export plants. read more

By Lynn Doan: June 10, 2016 – 10.52 PM BST

For months, banks including Citigroup Inc. have talked about a massive oversupply in the global market for liquefied natural gas. The head of natural gas at Royal Dutch Shell Plc, one of the world’s biggest producers of the fuel, would beg to differ.

“There isn’t really yet the kind of oversupply that people talk about,” Maarten Wetselaar, Shell’s integrated gas and new energies director, said on Friday in an interview in Palo Alto, California. For proof, he said, look at Europe, where natural gas demand gained last year and LNG imports from overseas were little changed. read more

Angela Macdonald-Smith: Energy Reporter: 15 April 2016

Shell Australia chairman Andrew Smith is set to call on LNG industry leaders to drop their egos and get serious about collaboration to reduce costs, deliver better returns and improve competitiveness.

“We must put collaboration ahead of our industry’s natural desire to immortalise our own activities in concrete and steel,” Mr Smith will tell the LNG18 conference in Perth on Friday.

“Australia’s LNG industry will deliver greater economic value and better international competitiveness when we get better at the sharing of infrastructure on commercial terms.” read more

Michael Crothers at Shell E&P Ireland Limited

By John Donovan

On 7 November, we published the first news of the firing of Lorraine Mitchelmore, the President and Country Chair of Shell Canada.

The information, which came from a Shell insider source, was posted on our Shell Blog under the alias of “Manny”

The departure of Lorraine Mitchelmore has been confirmed today by the mainstream media, 10 days later.

She claims that she was not sacked, but stepped down to spend more time with her children.  read more

Angela Macdonald-Smith: November 4, 2015

Royal Dutch Shell remains unequivocally bullish on prospects for liquefied natural gas despite the current market glut, pointing to several options for new supply projects after its planned $US70 billion ($97 billion) takeover of BG Group and plenty of new markets opening up around the world.

“The fundamentals of this market look as robust now as in the past to us,” chief financial officer Simon Henry told investors overnight Australian time, spelling out Shell’s expectation that global LNG demand will expand at 5 per cent a year to 2030, only modestly lower than the 8 per cent annual growth seen since 2000. read more

Rakteem Katakey: November 3, 2015: Bloomberg.com

• Raises estimates of savings after combination to $3.5 billion

• Gas business becomes stand-alone unit under Maarten Wetselaar

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said its record takeover of BG Group Plc will still deliver value to investors even in a prolonged oil-industry downturn and reshaped its business in preparation for the acquisition.

Europe’s biggest oil company will save an addition $1 billion in operating costs from the combination with BG, bringing the total estimate of synergies from the deal to $3.5 billion, Shell said in a statement on Tuesday. The takeover will still add to the company’s earnings per share and cash flow from operations even after the outlook for Brent crude prices to 2018 dropped by $10 to $15 a barrel since the deal was announced in April. read more

Maarten Wetselaar, Integrated Gas Director, Royal Dutch Shell Plc

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands, November 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ —

Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”, NYSE: RDS.A, NYSE: RDS.B)) today announces the appointment of Maarten Wetselaar Integrated Gas Director with effect from January 1st, 2016.

Integrated Gas in Shell has grown into a business that generated $11 billion of cash flow per year average over the last three years, compared to $2 billion in 2009. Integrated Gas is now being established as stand-alone organisation in Shell, reflecting both its enlarged scale and investment potential. In this new role, Maarten will become a member of the Executive Committee of Shell. read more