Bloomberg News: Jacqueline Poh: May 29, 2020: 10:51 AM EDT

Bloomberg) — Oil and gas companies worldwide have raised $171 billion of debt from the loan and bond markets since March after the coronavirus pandemic hit demand for fuel.

The $171 billion tally is equivalent to the volume of bonds sold for the industry in the whole year of 2019. The debt pile is set to grow further with almost $120 billion of borrowings due by the end of the year that will need to be either repaid or refinanced. Of that amount, $43 billion is in bonds and $76 billion in loans. read more

Shell, XOM to seek arbitration against Netherlands: report

May 29, 2020

Shell and ExxonMobil will file an arbitration claim against the Netherlands government over compensation for the early closure of gas field, according to Global Arbitration Review (GAR).

The companies operate the Groningen gas field through NAM — a 50-50 Dutch joint venture. Production from the onshore gas field causes earthquakes affecting local communities, which has prompted the government to shut it down early.

NAM is working with the Dutch government and other stakeholders to fulfill its obligations to residents of the area, which include compensation for damage caused by the earthquakes. read more

Merchants (MRCH) fund manager Simon Gergel has cut the investment trust’s stake in Shell (RDSB) by a third in response to the oil company’s historic move to slash its dividend last month.

The Anglo-Dutch company cut its quarterly dividend by two thirds from 47 to 16 US cents at the end of April, as the coronavirus crisis precipitated the first such move since the second world war.

Shell’s decision shocked income fund managers two days after rival BP (BP) had chosen to maintain its own dividend. However, Gergel reiterated his view that the company’s changing plans were as much of a challenge to the investment case as the loss of income. read more

Shell Offers Staff Voluntary Severance Pay

By Julianne Geiger – May 21, 2020, 5:30 PM CDT

As the price of a Brent barrel is trading at nearly half of what it was at the beginning of the year, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE: RDS.A) is planning on offering some staff voluntary severance, according to Bloomberg sources.

In a note to its staff, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said that the Dutch oil major was working to become leaner and more resilient, according to the Bloomberg sources who saw the correspondence. read more

OPL 245: How Italian Prosecutors Hid Vital Information from Judge

By Davidson Iriekpen: May 18, 2020 4:24 am

Facts have emerged that the lead Italian prosecutor in the criminal case involving Shell and ENI over the OPL 245 affair, Dr. Fabio De Pasquale, concealed a significant material fact from the Milanese court concerning the former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, THISDAY has learnt.

In the transcripts of the hearing with Criminal Proceeding No. 54772/13 RGNR, the prosecution witness, Ferri Alessandro, had told the court that Adoke owned the property at No. 271, Cadastral Zone A06 Maitama, Abuja, for which he had collected a mortgage of N300 million from Unity Bank in 2011. read more

Shell, Pieridae to try again after Alberta regulator blocks license transfers

The regulator said the Nord Stream 2 consortium – which also includes Uniper, Wintershall-Dea, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV and Engie – did not qualify for an exemption…

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s energy regulator on Friday declined to grant a waiver of European Union gas directives to the operators of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, dealing a fresh blow to the project to carry gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

Nord Stream 2, designed by Russia’s Gazprom to increase direct shipments to Europe, is far behind schedule and has faced political opposition from Washington, as well as from Ukraine and Poland through whose territory Russian gas is shipped to consumers in western Europe. read more

Malabu Oil Block: ex-minister Orubebe’s wife quizzed over N360m deals

MAY 15, 2020

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

Former Niger Delta Affairs Minister Godsday Orubebe’s wife Maureen, has been grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a N500 million deal linked to the $1.092 billion Malabu Oil Block scandal.

Mrs. Orubebe is also being investigated for alleged money laundering.

She was alleged to have bought three assets from the company of one of the suspects on trial over the Malabu Oil Block Settlement Agreement.

The assets were alleged to be part of those which over $523 million (out of $1.06b) was used for. read more

Shell poised for investment in Nigeria LNG venture

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says all conditions have been met for the final investment decision on a new liquefied natural gas processing unit at Nigeria LNG, including a formal commitment from the groups expected to provide financing for the project.

Nigeria LNG is a joint venture, with 49% owned by Nigerian National Petroleum, 26% by Shell, 15% by Total (NYSE:TOT) and 10% by Eni (NYSE:E).

Once operational, the new unit Train 7 will add 8M metric tons/year of capacity to the Bonny Island facility, taking the total to ~30M mt/year. read more

Alberta Energy Regulator blocks sale of Shell assets over clean-up concerns

Shell adding more workers to Beaver County construction site

By: Paul J. Gough – Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times
Updated: May 14, 2020 – 5:13 PM

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals is planning to reintroduce more workers to its Beaver County construction site, which had been temporarily shut down in March over Covid-19 safety concerns.

Several weeks ago, Shell began to add more workers from the 300 or so that had remained there for security and other approved purposes even after the construction had been temporarily halted. It now has 800 workers there as it adds employees, but it’s a small portion of the 7,000 or so it had two months ago. read more

Sakhalin-2 LNG postpones part of maintenance to 2021 -source

13/05/2020

Russia’s Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant will postpone some annual maintenance work to 2021 due to logistic difficulties over the spread of the coronavirus, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

Russia’s second-largest LNG plant after Novatek-led Yamal LNG had initially planned to complete the work this summer.

However, the source said the maintenance would be done gradually, at one of two lines and start in June. The first stage of the maintenance would last about a month, the source said. read more

By Elizabeth May | Opinion | May 12th 2020

It has been an interesting week. On the morning of May 6, I held a press conference in West Block before the weekly in-person session of Parliament opened. I spoke about how virtual Parliament is working, and Green recommendations to make it work better.

When we got to questions, the first one was CBC’s Julie Van Dusen. She asked about a possible bailout to Big Oil. And I explained that the evidence was coming in thick and fast that oil’s day was done. And she zeroed in on: “Are you saying oil is dead?” read more

Big Oil Earnings Battered By Virus, But Worst is Yet to Come

Laura Hurst: May 11 2020, 4:31 AM

EXTRACTS

(Bloomberg) — Big Oil emerged from first-quarter earnings battered and bruised, but things are only going to get uglier.

Major oil and gas producers from Norway to the U.S. saw profit plunge in the opening three months of the year. Exxon Mobil Corp. reported its first loss in over 30 years, Royal Dutch Shell Plc cut its dividend for the first time since the Second World War.

Big Oil’s generous dividends have long been its main attraction to investors. But thanks to Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden they are no longer sacrosanct, after he slashed his company’s payout by two thirds. read more

AMSTERDAM, May 7 (Reuters) – Shell Netherlands said on Thursday it bid in a tender last week to build a 760 MW wind farm off the Dutch coast, and it hopes to couple it with a large new hydrogen plant it would build in Rotterdam.

The Dutch subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell said it had entered a bid in the Hollandse Kust Noord tender, together with a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi.

Other known bidders in the tender, the latest in a series of such auctions by the Dutch government, include Orsted of Denmark. read more

By Matthew Green: MAY 6, 2020

LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) – Britain’s advertising watchdog has ruled Royal Dutch Shell’s ad campaign on petrol pumps promising customers they can “drive carbon neutral” is acceptable, following complaints.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major said in October it would become the first petrol retailer in Britain to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from customers’ fuel purchases at its service stations at no extra cost by backing forestry schemes.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said in March it had launched an investigation into an accompanying advertising campaign after receiving complaints from people who thought it was misleading given the role of oil in climate change. read more

By Nick Cunningham – May 04, 2020, 5:00 PM CDT

Exxon posted its first quarterly loss in more than 30 years. But even as debt mounts and questions arise about peak oil demand, the oil supermajor nevertheless vowed to protect its dividend while also aiming to grow indefinitely into the future. Exxon lost $610 million in the first quarter, down from a profit of $2.4 billion a year earlier. Worse, the period only included a few weeks of oil prices at catastrophically low levels. As a result, the second quarter is bound to lead dramatically worse numbers. read more

By Alex Kimani – May 04, 2020, 3:00 PM CDT

After months of a deep and harrowing slide, fuel demand across the world is finally starting to sputter back to life. Traffic data, pipeline flows, and sales at gas stations in the Texas City of San Antonio, Beijing, and Barcelona all suggest that the oil demand slump may have already bottomed out. But don’t rush to pop the champagne corks just yet.  Indications so far are that the road to full recovery is going to be harder than climbing out of a subterranean pit, with many oil traders predicting that it might be a year or more before demand returns to pre-crisis levels. read more

Shadia Nasralla

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) – The ongoing transition to low-carbon energy sources may accelerate as economies recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis, the head of oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday.

Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said while Shell was not ringfencing its low-carbon Integrated Gas and New Energies division from spending cuts to weather the crisis, those businesses would be shielded from the worst of the reductions.

“Where possible, we try to spare (New Energies) a little bit and that is basically because we still believe that there is an energy transition underway which may even pick up speed in the recovery phase of this crisis and we want to be well positioned for it,” he said after Shell announced first-quarter results. read more

30 APRIL 2020

The energy giant also suspended the next tranche of its share buyback programme.

The move came as it announced a 46% fall in first-quarter net income to $2.9bn (£2.3bn).

Chief executive Ben van Beurden warned of “continued deterioration in the macroeconomic outlook”.

He said Shell was taking “further prudent steps to bolster our resilience” and “underpin the strength of our balance sheet”.

Global demand for oil has all but dried up as lockdowns across the world have kept people inside. read more

Bloomberg News: Javier Blas: April 26, 2020

(Bloomberg) — Negative oil prices, ships dawdling at sea with unwanted cargoes, and traders getting creative about where to stash oil. The next chapter in the oil crisis is now inevitable: great swathes of the petroleum industry are about to start shutting down.

The economic impact of the coronavirus has ripped through the oil industry in dramatic phases. First it destroyed demand as lockdowns shut factories and kept drivers at home. Then storage started filling up and traders resorted to ocean-going tankers to store crude in the hope of better prices ahead. read more

Apr. 23, 2020 3:20 PM ET|About: Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A)|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Royal Dutch Shell paid the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s most powerful lobbying group, at least $12.5 million in 2019, the oil giant revealed.

Driving the news: The tally, which Shell tells Axios is consistent with recent years, shows up in a report Shell published yesterday on its trade group memberships.

Why it matters: The report, posted the same day Shell announced new climate pledges, provides a look at how much a major oil company pays to be part of various associations. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to eliminate all net emissions from its own operations and the bulk of greenhouse gases from fuel it sells to customers by 2050.

The energy giant is following in the footsteps of its peers BP Plc and Repsol SA, which have already set similar targets. Shell’s move indicates that, despite the turmoil caused in the industry by the coronavirus, major oil and gas companies aren’t abandoning the transition to cleaner energy. read more

SINGAPORE, April 14 (Reuters) – GCL Oil& Natural Gas Co Ltd has entered a framework agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to explore setting up a joint venture based in eastern China to market and trade liquefied natural gas (LNG), the privately owned Chinese company said on Tuesday.

The proposed JV would secure LNG supplies from Shell and market the fuel to a receiving terminal which GCL is planning in Jiangsu province, GCL said in a statement.

A Shell spokeswoman confirmed the agreement. read more

APRIL 13, 2020 / 7:53 AM /

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Shell has, in an unusual move, offered liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes for loading from 2021 onwards for a period of at least five years through a tender, three traders said on Monday.

The firm has issued a five-year strip tender offering four cargoes a year from 2021 onwards with an option to extend for another five years, two of them said.

The tender closes on May 18, they added.

The cargoes are likely for loading from Australia, one of them said. read more

Ron Bousso: APRIL 8, 2020

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s greenhouse gas emissions declined in 2019 to their lowest in four years, according to data provided by the energy company.

At the same time, burning of unused natural gas in Shell’s upstream oil and gas operations, a process known as flaring, rose last year by 13.5%, the data showed.

The increase in flaring was due mostly to an “unanticipated spike” in flaring during the start-up of the giant offshore Prelude liquefied natural gas plant in Australia, it said. read more

8 April 2020

ROYAL Dutch Shell received around $110 million (£87m) more back from the UK Government in respect of its oil and gas exploration and production activity than it paid in taxes last year, the company has revealed.

In a report on the payments it made to governments in 2019 the oil giant disclosed that it received tax rebates in respect of its UK North Sea business totalling $116 million. These dwarfed the $6.5m that the company paid in fees.

The report highlights the value of the tax relief provided to firms in respect of the costs of decommissioning North Sea facilities. read more

Bloomberg News: Laura Hurst: April 7, 2020(Bloomberg)

— Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s greenhouse gas emissions edged lower last year due to asset sales, while the amount of natural gas burned off wastefully from its facilities — known as flaring — increased.

Shell’s direct emissions fell to 70 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019 from 71 million a year earlier, it said Tuesday in a report. That’s the lowest since 2016.

“The main reasons for the decrease were divestments (for example, in Argentina, Canada, Iraq, Malaysia, Norway and the U.K.),” the report said. “These decreases were partly offset by the startup of the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility in Australia.” read more

RTTNews.com

(RTTNews) – Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS-B, RDSB.L, RDSA.L, RDS-A) Tuesday said it expects to record post-tax impairment charges in the range of $400 million to $800 million for the first quarter, based on changes to oil price outlook for 2020.

In its first-quarter trading update, the company said it expects Integrated Gas production to be between 920 and 970 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. LNG liquefaction volumes are expected to be between 8.8 and 9.2 million tonnes.

In the Upstream, production for the quarter is expected to be between 2,650 and 2,720 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. read more

UPDATE 2-Shell pulls out of U.S. Lake Charles LNG project, Energy Transfer delays FID

* Energy Transfer delays FID from late 2020 to early 2021

* Shell relinquishes 50% stake amid spending cuts

* Decision comes after collapse in oil prices 

By Ron Bousso and Shradha Singh

March 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc pulled out of a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant under development in Louisiana following the recent crash in oil and natural gas prices that has forced the company to make deep spending cuts.

Energy Transfer LP, which was developing the project with Shell, said it remains focused on the commercial development of Lake Charles and is working toward making an early 2021 final investment decision (FID) to build the plant. read more

Shares in Shell and BP still part of the scheme

Jon Stone Policy Correspondent @joncstone: 24 March 2020

The parliamentary pension fund for MPs is still investing in fossil fuels despite parliament declaring a climate emergency, new figures show.

The fund is still heavily invested in Shell (£8m) and BP (£4.4m) despite over 350 current and former MPs backing a campaign to set a good example by diverting cash elsewhere.

MPs have however welcomed news in the fund’s latest filings that it is increasingly shifting its cash towards renewable energy – with five per cent of investments going to the green sector for the first time. read more

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB.L) has announced plans to cut costs, slash planned spending, and abandon a share buyback, as businesses look to hold on to cash in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Shell said on Monday it would cut operating costs by up to $4bn over the next 12 months and reduce planned spending by $5bn in 2020. The company is also abandoning a planned $1bn share buyback.

Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, said the cash conservation measures were driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to a slump in demand for oil as the global economy grinds to a halt, and the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. read more

MARCH 18, 2020 / 8:41 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc RDSA.L will temporarily suspend construction activities on a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker being constructed along the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, amid concerns about coronavirus spreading, the company said in a statement late Wednesday.

Some local officials have called for construction to be stopped to limit the potential spread of the novel coronavirus, due to the large number of workers on the project. read more

Jet fuel demand has cratered as airlines suspend flights due to the coronavirus, which has infected more than 204,000 people and killed 8,710, prompting travel restrictions from governments around the world, including the United States. Market participants and refiners have had to scramble to adjust to incredibly low prices.

Gulf Coast jet cash prices were at 26.50 cents per gallon below futures, the lowest seasonally since at least 2011, the earliest data available, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Robert Campbell, head of oil products at consultancy Energy Aspects, estimates that demand for jet is down more than 20 percent from normal levels of about 8 million barrels per day. read more

Canada’s C$40 billion ($30 billion) inaugural natural gas export project on the west coast has remained on schedule despite the global Covid-19 outbreak, project managers said in an update.

The executives overseeing the Royal Dutch Shell plc-led LNG Canada project said the British Columbia (BC) construction labor force of more than 2,000 had so far remained sealed against the pandemic. Crews of 1,200 building the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal’s supply pipeline, Coastal GasLink (CGL), had also to date evaded the pandemic. read more

By Alex Kimani – Mar 15, 2020, 10:00 AM CDT

Global oil giants are facing ever-increasing public pressure and higher levels of scrutiny over their responsibility to curb harmful greenhouse emissions. Yet, in the sprawling oilfields of Texas, New Mexico and North Dakota, an industry-old practice of burning off unwanted natural gas has refused to die.

The burning off (flaring), as well as the intentional release (venting) of natural gas, is proving to be a black eye that Permian producers just can’t get rid of. read more

LONDON: Shell Energy Europe Limited, the energy marketing and trading division of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed a multi-year supply deal for power from a battery storage project in southwest England, the company said on Monday.

The 100-megawatt (MW) powerstorage project is backed by China Huaneng Group and Chinese sovereign wealth fund CNIC, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

The two 50-MW batteries will enable Shell Energy Europe and its subsidiary Limejump to use renewable power in the area, the firm said. read more

12-Mar-2020

Royal Dutch Shell plc published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended December 31, 2019. The 2019 Annual Report and Accounts can be downloaded from www.shell.com/annualreport.

In compliance with 9.6.1 of the Listing Rules, on March 12, 2020, a copy of the 2019 Annual Report and Accounts was submitted to the National Storage Mechanism. This document will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM.

Printed copies of the 2019 Annual Report and Accounts will be available from April 16, 2020, and can be requested, free of charge, at www.shell.com/annualreport. read more

Jonathan Saul

Shell has provisionally booked three 2 million barrel vessels, known as very large crude carriers (VLCCs), for storage options for at least three months, the sources said.

A Shell spokeswoman declined to comment.

Once the charters were fully negotiated, or fixed, they would be the first tankers to be used for floating storage after the recent fall in oil prices. [O/R]

The shipping sources said at least one of the vessels had an option to store oil in the United States.

Oil prices and the broader crude market pricing structure collapsed in recent days after OPEC and other major producing nations ended an output cut deal. read more

The humongous amount represents the punitive measures slammed on Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited for devastating the community and its environs and ecosystem with oil spillage.

By Akin Akinwale: 8 March 2020

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has made a garnishee order compelling the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay the people of Ejama Community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State a total sum of N182.7 billion. The amount is to be deducted from the account of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. in the custody of the CBN.

Lawyers to Ejama community told THISDAY last night they have since served the CBN the garnishee order absolute.

The humongous amount represents the punitive measures slammed on Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited for devastating the community and its environs and ecosystem with oil spillage. read more

Hopes that Canada could turn into a gas export powerhouse seem to be waning fast.

The current climate for energy investments in the country and the global market for liquefied natural gas are a far cry from October 2018, when a Royal Dutch Shell Plc-led group announced plans to build a massive LNG terminal on British Columbia’s coast and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed the project as “a vote of confidence” in Canada.

The latest sign of disenchantment came this week as a C$9 billion ($6.7 billion) LNG project in Quebec lost a large potential investor, which the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. identified as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. That follows announcements last year that Chevron Corp. is planning to sell its 50% stake in an LNG project in British Columbia, and its partner in the venture is seeking to trim its stake as well. read more

Oil majors including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are facing uphill battles to convince U.S. courts to enforce multi-billion dollar arbitration awards they secured against Nigeria’s state oil company.

The companies accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. of taking more crude than it was entitled to under four deals that were signed in 1993 to incentivise them to develop deep offshore blocks. Those projects today account for about 30% of the country’s 2 million barrels of daily output. read more

Shell to explore sale of two U.S. refineries

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it will seek to sell two U.S. refineries, in Alabama and Washington state, the latest step in the drive by European oil majors to reduce their refining footprints.

The Mobile, Ala., facility has a crude capacity of 79K bbl/day and is oriented toward chemicals.

A sale of the Puget Sound refinery in Anacortes, Wash., with a 145K bbl/day processing capacity, would limit Shell’s U.S. refining presence to the Gulf Coast, where its two main facilities are the Convent and Norco refineries in Louisiana. read more

New York, NY—The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), a global non-profit organization that advances dispute prevention and resolution practices and solutions, announced that Kimberly R. Phillips, General Counsel, Global Litigation, for Shell Oil Company has joined its Board of Directors. She was confirmed at a Board Meeting that took place just prior to CPR’s Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida in late February.

Kimberly is a seasoned legal professional with experience in both the private law firm and corporate legal environments. In her current General Counsel role, she leads a team of 125 lawyers and legal professionals, sitting in 14 countries, who are responsible for managing Shell’s disputes across the globe. She sits on the Global Legal Leadership Team and she also supports a Shell subsidiary business as a Board Director. read more

BY DAILY SABAH: ISTANBUL BUSINESS: Mar 05, 2020

Shell & Turcas Petroleum company is facing a TL 2.7 million fine by Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) over making limited fuel delivery before price rises, the authority announced Thursday.

An investigation was launched into the company over its limited fuel supply to petrol stations and an initiative to manipulate prices initially in Sept. 17, 2019.

The regulator stressed then that no distribution company, regardless of its name, will be allowed to manipulate and victimize customers over fuel prices set in free-market conditions, adding that it will not hesitate to take the necessary steps regarding such moves that disrupt market activities. read more

by Allister Thomas: 04/03/2020, 6:00 am

Bringing about the energy transition needs to make “economic sense” and be socially and environmentally sustainable, according to Shell’s chief technology officer.

Yuri Sebregts, the top scientist for the energy giant, said long-term solutions need to be “investible” and the move to a lower-carbon energy system “cannot happen based entirely on goodwill-funded developments”.

The Shell boss, speaking to EV at the Baker Hughes conference in Florence last month, said Shell’s near-term goals are to invest $2-3 billion annually on development of low-carbon technologies which could make an 8-12% return on investment and later be scaled up. read more

MARCH 2, 2020 / 5:02 PM

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Somalia has agreed an initial roadmap with a Shell/Exxon joint venture to explore and develop potential offshore oil and gas reserves, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said on Monday.

“I am delighted we have agreed an initial roadmap with the Shell/Exxon joint venture. This gives us confidence in (the)ability to further explore any offshore hydrocarbon potential,” minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed said in a statement. read more

Investors who take an interest in Royal Dutch Shell plc (AMS:RDSA) should definitely note that the CEO & Director, Ben Van Beurden, recently paid €22.74 per share to buy €217k worth of the stock. Although the purchase only increased their holding by 1.5%, it is still a solid purchase in our view.

Check out our latest analysis for Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Ben Van Beurden is the biggest insider purchase of Royal Dutch Shell shares that we’ve seen in the last year. So it’s clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being €20.48). Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels. read more