An overview of the Niger delta where signs of oil spills can be seen in the water in Port Harcourt, Nigeria August 1, 2018. Picture taken August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Ron Bousso

Ron Bousso

BODO, Nigeria (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell wants to reweight its footprint in Nigeria to focus on oil and gas fields far offshore, away from the theft, spills, corruption and unrest that have plagued the West African country’s onshore industry for decades.

But for the company that pioneered Nigeria’s oil industry in the 1950s, the Niger Delta remains as important — and problematic — as ever.

While Shell has cut onshore oil production and sold some onshore assets, it continues to invest in others. In fact, onshore production has risen in recent years as a share of Shell’s output in Nigeria, an analysis of company data over the past decade shows. read more

Olesya Astakhova

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Production of oil and natural gas at the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin is expected to decline next year, the local government said in an emailed response to a Reuters query.

Sakhalin, which is also famous for producing seafood, derives most of its oil and natural gas from two offshore projects – Sakhalin-1, led by ExxonMobil, and Sakhalin-2, led by Russia’s Gazprom.

Sakhalin-1 shareholders also include Russia’s Rosneft, Japan’s Sodeco and India’s ONGC. Apart from Gazprom, Sakhalin-2 shareholders include Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi. read more

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

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

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

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

The $900 million (679.79 million pounds) power project, being built by Sinolam LNG affiliate Sinolam Smarter Energy LNG Power Co, expects to begin taking deliveries of the super-cooled natural gas in 2020, the advisors told Reuters late Wednesday.

The deal with a Shell trading unit comes as a trade dispute between the United States and China has put global LNG exports in the spotlight. This week, China imposed tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods, including a 10 percent tax on LNG imports effective Monday, in response to the U.S. slapping tariffs on some $200 billion of Chinese goods. read more

Newly found documents from the 1980s show that fossil fuel companies privately predicted the global damage that would be caused by their products.

The documents make for frightening reading. And the effect is all the more chilling in view of the oil giants’ refusal to warn the public about the damage that their own researchers predicted. Shell’s report, marked “confidential,” was first disclosed by a Dutch news organization earlier this year. Exxon’s study was not intended for external distribution, either; it was leaked in 2015.

Nor did the companies ever take responsibility for their products. In Shell’s study, the firm argued that the “main burden” of addressing climate change rests not with the energy industry, but with governments and consumers. That argument might have made sense if oil executives, including those from Exxon and Shell, had not later lied about climate change and actively prevented governments from enacting clean-energy policies. read more

At approximately 5 a.m. on September 10, during heavy rains brought on by Tropical Storm Gordon, a methane gas pipeline run by Energy Transfer Partners in Beaver County was hit by a landslide and exploded. No lives were lost, but a home was destroyed, dozens were evacuated and several farm animals were killed in the blast.

The pipeline had been operating for one week.

Environmental groups in the Pittsburgh region say the incident raises significant questions about the long-term safety of pipelines and natural gas infrastructure all over Western Pennsylvania. read more

Shell changes offshore rotas in UK North Sea after strikes at Total

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil giant Shell (RDSa.L) will switch to a less tiring rota system for its offshore workers in the British North Sea, it said on Tuesday, as rival Total (TOTF.PA) has faced strike action over plans to have workers spend more days offshore.

Workers at three of Total’s offshore platforms in the British North Sea have staged strikes over the group’s plans to introduce a rota that would require them to stay offshore for three weeks and onshore for three weeks.

Fewer staff changeovers can increase efficiency and save transport costs. read more

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018 / 11:39 PM

HOUSTON (Reuters) – LyondellBasell Industries 263,776 barrel per day (bpd) Houston refinery was flaring on Monday afternoon due to a malfunction at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s nearby Deer Park, Texas chemical plant, according to Gulf Coast market sources.

The Shell chemical plant takes fuel gas supplied by pipeline from the Lyondell refinery, the sources said. Compressors that transport the fuel gas from the pipeline into the chemical plant were said to be malfunctioning on Monday afternoon. read more

Shell targets lower methane emissions from oil and gas operations

Methane is released into the atmosphere mostly from the burning of excess gas, known as flaring, as well as through leaks in gas infrastructure such as wells, pumps and pipelines.

The gas has a bigger greenhouse impact than carbon dioxide, even though the oil and gas industry produces less methane and the gas also has a shorter lifetime.

The methane target will be measured against a baseline leak rate, which is currently estimated at range from 0.01 percent to 0.8 percent across the company’s oil and gas assets, it said. read more

Sep. 17, 2018 3:45 PM ET| By Carl Surran, SA News Editor

By JOANNE HART, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 22:01, 15 September 2018 | UPDATED: 13:44, 16 September 2018

Research for The Mail on Sunday shows that even though many firms are struggling to generate extra profits, they are rewarding investors with a payouts bonanza.

Royal Dutch Shell tops the generosity league. It is set to pay dividends of more than £11 billion this year, followed by HSBC, £7.6 billion, and BP, £6 billion, in third place.

The research is likely to cause controversy, coming just days after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, criticised businesses for focusing on short-term profits and called for a wealth tax to create a fairer society and higher wages for working people. 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

CAIRO, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Egypt has signed a deep-water oil and gas exploration deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas worth around $1 billion for 8 wells in the country’s West Nile Delta, the petroleum ministry said on Saturday.

The country also signed a second $10 million deal with Rockhopper, Kuwait Energy (IPO-KEC.L) and Canada’s Dover Corporation for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said.

Egypt aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a string of major discoveries in recent years including Zohr, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. read more

The Canadian Press:

VANCOUVER — Shell Canada Ltd. has given up its offshore exploration rights, clearing the way for the creation of Canada’s first protected marine area under the Canada Wildlife Act.

The company voluntarily released permits for about 50,000 square kilometres in an area off British Columbia’s coast to allow for the creation of the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area.

The company’s rights cover an area more than one-and-a-half times the size of Vancouver Island, which is hard to value, said Shell Canada president Michael Crothers, at a news conference on Thursday. read more

By Michael Ruffolo in News | September 13th 2018

The Canadian affiliate of one of the world’s largest oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell, is releasing 50,000 square kilometres of offshore exploration permits off the coast of British Columbia and promoting conservation.

Shell Canada president Michael Crothers made the announcement in Vancouver on Thursday alongside Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who said the area would become part of the new Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area. read more

• Author: Nick Coleman
• Editor: Jonathan Fox
• Topic: Oil and Gas 2018 Outlook: EMEA
• 11 Sep 2018 | 11:49 UTC: London

• Added Brexit costs “completely” wrong direction
• Uncertainty puts industry at risk: OGUK
• Shell UK head hails “revitalized” strategy

London — Shell on Tuesday joined calls by the oil and natural gas industry for the UK to avoid a “no-deal” Brexit, with Shell country head Sinead Lynch warning that added costs in the form of barriers to trade and movement of talent would be “completely the wrong direction” to go in.

Industry group Oil & Gas UK warned Tuesday that uncertainty surrounding UK withdrawal from the EU, due on March 29, 2019, risked damaging confidence and impeding the industry’s recovery. read more

• Author: Jim Magill
• Editor: Pankti Mehta
• Commodity: Petrochemicals
• 10 Sep 2018 | 17:35 UTC

Houston — Shell’s plans to build a world-class ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania took a step forward Friday with the approval by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of rate structures for the company’s proposed Falcon Ethane Pipeline system.

The approval allows Shell to move forward in its plans to build the 97-mile pipeline designed to carry ethane extracted from Marcellus and Utica gas produced in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

The Falcon Pipeline, with a proposed capacity of about 107,000 b/d, will originate at two ethane supply points in Ohio and one ethane supply point in Pennsylvania and will transport the ethane to delivery points in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including the 86,000 b/d ethane cracker that Shell proposes to build near Monaca, Pennsylvania. read more

Royal Dutch Shell: A bold bet to remain the world’s second-largest gas producer

Royal Dutch Shell became the world’s second-largest gas producer in 2016 after spending $70 billion to buy BG Group, which boosted Shell’s natural gas production rate by 25% while also adding a large-scale LNG business and vast gas reserves. Shell produces natural gas from several countries, with its largest supplies coming from Norway, Malaysia, Australia, the U.S., and Canada. Australia is its biggest source of gas at more than 600 BCF in 2017, which is more than double the output of its other top regions. 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

Sep. 6, 2018 1:30 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

By Paul Burkhardt: 5 September 2018, 00:01 BST: Updated on 5 September 2018, 14:31 BST

• Rigs drilling in Africa’s waters have hit a two-year high

• Companies including Exxon, Shell, BP have accumulated acreages

Africa is entering the oil-hunt spotlight as drillers, flush with cash after crude’s recovery, are turning their attention back to the continent’s potentially vast resources.

The world’s biggest companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are setting up camp across Africa. Armed with stronger balance sheets and higher crude prices the industry is on track to double drilling in African waters this year. Rising natural gas demand is adding to the attraction. read more

By Vanand Meliksetian – Sep 04, 2018, 3:00 PM CDT

Since the early days of the oil and gas industry, a group of Western companies has dominated the industry. These companies have been named ‘Big Oil’ due to the size of their global footprint. Despite their technological superiority and significant access to capital, these organizations are now facing difficulties in maintaining market share and profitability. Changing requirements concerning fuel types as well as an increasing focus on environmental impacts have transformed the global energy market. Inevitably, these companies have been forced to change their strategy to remain relevant to customers. read more

Gaurav Sharma: Contributor

For ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) shareholders much of the current trading has felt decidedly lackluster. Upon the conclusion of the recent earnings season, most commentators agreed that neither it nor its Anglo-Dutch rival Shell (LON:RDSA) managed to captivate the market’s imagination.

Instead, that accolade went to BP (LON:BP) with its quadrupling of quarterly profits and a $10.5 billion signature acquisition of U.S. shale assets. Furthermore, an examination of annualized financials suggests Shell’s revenue, at $305.2 billion in 2017, capped that of ExxonMobil at $237.1 billion by some distance, even though the latter’s profits and market capitalization exceed that of its rival. read more

‘A museum dedicated to science education should not be helping promote any company that is actively exacerbating this planetary emergency until they show a serious proactive drive to switch to renewables’

• Josh Gabbatiss Science Correspondent
• @josh_gabbatiss

Tens of thousands of people have urged the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry to drop Shell as a sponsor from an upcoming event.

The announcement that the museum’s new exhibition, “Electricity: the spark of life”, would be supported by the oil giant sparked controversy among local groups.

Specifically, they have highlighted the role that fossil fuels play in driving global climate change and the role that oil companies have played in the phenomenon.

A petition with over 57,000 signatures has been handed to the museum as the Manchester Science Festival, which includes the new exhibition. read more

Shell plans opening 1,200 retail stations in India in 10 years

Terming it as one of the “most largest expansions” ever planned by Shell, he said “each one of those stations can easily accommodate about 100 workers. Simply put, one lakh jobs will get created…”

These retail stations, in turn, will trigger several other jobs in terms of infrastructureNSE -2.22 % building to supply those stations with fuel and retail products, he said.

“The infrastructure creation for supplying fuels and lubricant products to these retail stations could easily generate thousands of jobs,” Prasad told here at an event organised by the company here. read more

Science and industry museum accused of hypocrisy for taking money from oil company read more

Along with Royal Dutch Shell, Total was among the first energy companies to halt crude oil purchases from the Islamic Republic, fearing repercussions if they failed to do so.

By Scott Belinksi – Sep 01, 2018, 10:00 AM CDT

As Iran is turning to the UN’s International Court of Justice to have the US-imposed sanctions against its oil suspended, the EU is preparing for the hit its economies will have to absorb once the full weight of Washington’s punitive measures comes into effect in the fourth quarter of this year. With these latest moves, American intentions are clear: cut off Iranian oil from the market entirely and reduce Tehran’s financial power. As oil prices rise, however, the White House’s policy looks set to hurt more countries than just Iran. Will Europe’s economies take the hit – or will they fight back? read more

MARTIN BAILEY: 29th August 2018 09:59 GMT

Two of the major Dutch museums have just ended their collaboration with Shell, at a time of mounting protests over sponsorship by fossil fuel companies. Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum and the Mauritshuis in The Hague both terminated arrangements with the country’s largest oil and gas firm this summer.

A Mauritshuis spokesman says that it had a six-year partnership contract with Shell, which was due to end in July and was not renewed. Surprisingly, however, the latest annual report of the Mauritshuis states that support from Shell Nederland and two other partners is “crucial for the long-term future of the museum”. Shell has also been supporting technical research on paintings by Jan Steen, but this work is almost complete and is due to be published by the end of the year. read more

Public protests in Ireland about Shell led Corrib Gas Project

Gordon Deegan: August 28 2018 2:30 AM

The Corrib Gas partners have reported a 25pc jump in revenues to €362m in the first half of this year in spite of external electricity supply issues hitting production at its gas terminal in the second quarter.

That is according to new quarterly figures provided by Canadian firm Vermilion.

It said production between April and the end of June decreased 7pc quarter-over-quarter and 11pc year-over-year for the first six months.

However, sales for the first six months were up by 25pc to €362m (Can$549m) on the same period last year. read more

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors including Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG providing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11 billion) in cost.

By Elena Mazneva and Anna Shiryaevskaya | Bloomberg
August 27 at 12:00 AM

A planned new natural-gas pipeline into Europe from Russia is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, worries leaders in Eastern Europe, has stirred the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump and has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the hot seat.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a planned new 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas from fields in Russia to the EU network at Germany’s Baltic coast. It will double the capacity of an existing undersea route — the original Nord Stream — that opened in 2011. Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors including Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG providing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11 billion) in cost. read more

..reacting to the allegation of intimidation, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations Manager of Shell, denied use of force to compel the company’s host communities to sign the JIV report.

27 August 2018

The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta and oil major, Shell on Monday denied allegations of coercing the leadership of Aghoro 1 community in Bayelsa to sign a disputed report on oil spillage.

A disagreement in the areas impacted by an oil leak on the Trans Ramos Pipeline within Shell’s oilfield at Aghoro communities in Bayelsa has stalled the release of a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) report of the oil spill.

Community leaders, who participated in the JIV to determine the cause of the spill reportedly refused to sign the report. read more

Shell aims to establish a network of hydrogen filling stations in the Netherlands and expects to roll out four stations by 2020—two in Amsterdam, one in The Hague, and one in Pesse.

Last update: August 24, 2018
Author: PetrolPlaza Correspondent Daniel Infante Tuaño

The oil giant wants to play an active role in the Dutch energy transition and is also working on establishing a network of fast charging stations for electric vehicles, reports Gasworld.

To roll out the hydrogen stations, Shell is availing of a government scheme called the Demonstration Regulation for Climate Technologies and Innovations in Transport (DKTI Transport) of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, which offers subsidies to low emission transport solutions.

In addition, Shell’s hydrogen stations are part of the extensive hydrogen project H2Benelux, a project co-financed by the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ of the European Union. read more

Aristofanis Papadatos: 25 August 2018

Summary

• Royal Dutch Shell has not cut its dividend since World War II and is currently offering a 5.6% dividend yield.
• The oil major has frozen its dividend for 18 consecutive quarters.
• The big question is whether it will raise its dividend amid excessive free cash flows and a brightening outlook of the oil sector.

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is an oil giant that has benefited from the rally of the oil price in the last 12 months, just like its peers. However, the oil major has paid the same dividend for 18 consecutive quarters, as it froze its dividend at the onset of the downturn of the oil market that began in 2014. Therefore, the big question is whether the company will raise its dividend in the upcoming quarters.

Dividend record

Despite the downturn that began in 2014, Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and Total (TOT) have continued to raise their dividends, albeit at a low single-digit rate. BP (BP) followed the same path as Shell and froze its dividend for 15 consecutive quarters, but eventually raised it in the running quarter, thanks to the strength of the oil price and the brightening outlook of the oil market. Therefore, Shell is the only oil major that has kept its dividend flat for such a long period. read more

REUTERS STAFF: AUGUST 22, 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.AS) Brazil chief said on Wednesday that the company is evaluating the assets of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA’s (ELET6.SA) that are being put up for sale as part of the state-owned utility’s debt reduction and privatization plans. Andre Araujo also told reporters that the company was considering participating in an upcoming Brazilian government auction for projects in the wind energy sector. read more

By Amanda Cooper, Shadia Nasralla: AUGUST 22, 2018

* All staff evacuated – fire services

* Shell-owned chemical plant operated by Essar

* Scale of fire unclear – fire services

A Shell subsidiary said it would begin remediation efforts as soon as site assessments in the Niger Delta communities impacted by the spill are completed.

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell closed an oil pipeline in the Niger Delta region while investigations into a Sunday crude oil release takes place. File Photo by Tife Owolabi/EPA

Aug. 20 (UPI) — An export pipeline in the Niger Delta remained closed after a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell said it was responding to a release of crude oil.

The subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd., said a multilateral investigation unit was reviewing what led to the Sunday releasefrom its Trans Ramos oil pipeline in the Niger Delta. Though no estimated spill volume was released, by the company, 95 percent of it was already recovered from two impacted communities in the region. read more

Shell says it recovers 95% spilled oil in Bayelsa, Delta communities

August 20, 2018: Agency Report

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) says it has recovered more than 95 per cent of spilled oil from the recent incidents in Bayelsa and Delta states.

SPDC Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, made this known in a statement he issued on Sunday in Port Harcourt.

Mr Odugbesan said that recoveries were made on sections of the Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) in Aghoro community, Bayelsa and Odimodi community, Delta.

He said that the pipeline, which remained shut-in since the incidents, supplied crude to the SPDC Joint Venture-owned Forcados Oil Terminal in western Niger Delta for export. read more

Shell oil traders trade one Caribbean paradise for another

Julia Payne: AUGUST 17, 2018

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) oil traders in the Caribbean island of Barbados are getting ready for a tough gig – they’re being moved to the Bahamas next month.

The relocation of the oil and gas company’s trading hub for Latin America will make travel to customers in the key region easier for its employees, a company spokeswoman said.

Graphic: reut.rs/2BjNlUz

“Shell Western Supply and Trading can confirm it is relocating from Barbados to the Bahamas, effective September 2018,” the spokeswoman said. read more

By Elizabeth Burden and Thomas Biesheuvel
15 August 2018, 08:54 BST

*Methodist fund developing system analyzing company ethics
*Top mining and oil companies will be graded by end of 2018

Divestment may be too blunt an instrument to encourage the world’s biggest oil and mining companies to behave ethically: the Methodist Church is prepared to back those committed to mending their ways.

While the precise workings of its new “traffic light system” are still being debated, the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church plans to determine by the end of the year whether BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and Equinor ASA have the ethical credentials to merit continued investor support. Those preferences will be denoted by red, amber and green categories, which will reflect a firm’s efforts and commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, its asset mix, capital expenditure, climate strategy and governance. read more

In spite of everything hurled by the North Sea and global market conditions across half a century, and despite predictions to the contrary, Shell remains a big player on the UK Continental Shelf.

Energy Voice interviewed Shell UK upstream vice president Steve Phimister aboard the Shearwater platform.

Written by Jeremy Cresswell – 15/08/2018 6:00 am

A characteristic throughout has been a quest to lead.

Driving Shell forward is VP Upstream President Steve Phimister who, by coincidence, was born the same year as Shell’s UKCS odyssey began 50 years ago.

The super-major has lived through boom times followed by harsh periods when commodity prices were in the basement and, from the late 1990s, speculation grew as to whether such companies had a future in the North Sea. read more

Aug. 14, 2018 6:19 PM ET| By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Shell hails bounceback towards deepwater drilling

Head of exploration says break-even prices are now $30 a barrel

Anjli Raval, Senior Energy Correspondent AUGUST 12, 2018

Royal Dutch Shell is doubling down on drilling for oil far beneath the oceans, as the energy group eyes a cash bonanza from traditional deepwater projects despite a growing focus on new US shale investments. Andy Brown, Shell’s head of exploration and production, said the industry was seeing a “bounceback” towards deepwater… FULL FT ARTICLE read more

REUTERS STAFF: AUGUST 12, 2018 / 11:12 PM

HOUSTON (Reuters) – The heavy oil hydrocracking unit (HCU) at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (RDSa.AS) 209,787 barrel per day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery was shut after a fire early on Sunday, sources familiar with plant operations said.

The fire broke out on the 45,000 bpd HCU, call the H-Oil Unit, at about 1:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday, the sources said.

A Shell spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

No injuries were reported due to the blaze, the sources said. read more

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

* Lori Ryerkerk to leave company at end of Aug

* To be succeeded by Robin Mooldijk, head of Americas refining

* Ryerkerk oversaw major refining overhaul

LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) – The head of Royal Dutch Shell’s global refining operations Lori Ryerkerk will step down at the end of the month after five years in a job where she oversaw a vast overhaul of the business, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Ryerkerk will be succeeded by Robin Mooldijk, who currently serves as Vice President Manufacturing Americas, responsible for the Anglo-Dutch company’s refining and chemical plants in the United States, Canada and Argentina. read more

Austrian oil company given permission by watchdog to takeover Shell’s NZ business

JOHN ANTHONY: August 11 2018

New Zealand’s competition watchdog has given approval for an Austrian oil and gas company to buy Royal Dutch Shell’s New Zealand assets.

The acquisition will result in OMV taking ownership of Shell’s entire New Zealand portfolio, including its stake in the Maui and Pohokura gas field joint ventures with Todd Energy and the associated production, pipeline and tank assets.

The sale, worth $794 million, marks the end of Shell’s association in New Zealand after more than 100 years. read more

Bomu-Lewe Incessant Crises: What Authorities Should Know

By: Nii Poi Vikem

After the discovery of crude oil in Oloibiri, Bomu was the next place crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Nigeria and it was the entry port for a multinational oil giant like Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC into the belly of Ogoniland and Nigeria.

This strategic economic significance has made Bomu the pride of Nigeria’s economic growth, though completely denied the appurtenances derivable from the major role it played and still plays in Nigeria’s economic indices. read more

Daniel J. Graeber: AUG. 8, 2018

Aug. 8 (UPI) — A division of Shell came up empty-handed when drilling into a frontier prospect in the Norwegian Sea, a national petroleum regulator announced Wednesday.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation’s energy regulator, reported that the regional subsidiary of the Dutch supermajor drilled a dry hole in its first effort in a wildcat area near the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea.

A wildcat well is one drilled into an area not previously known to contain hydrocarbons. The NPD said the drilling facility used in the effort will now move to another license area in the Norwegian Sea where a regional division of French supermajor Total will try its hand with a wildcat well. read more

By Miles Dean

Before considering whether the claims have any merit it is necessary to turn back the clock to 2005 when the two operating limbs of the Shell group were brought under one central holding company. The U.K. limb being The Shell Transport and Trading Company plc (“STTC”), the Dutch arm being Royal Dutch Petroleum Company NV (“RDPC”). By way of corporate reorganization, these two companies were brought under the common ownership of a new U.K. incorporated but Dutch tax resident company, namely Royal Dutch Shell plc (“RDS”) on July 20, 2005. read more