The last time I covered Shell(LSE: RDSB) shares was on 10 March. At the time, Shell’s share price had just crashed spectacularly due to plunging oil prices and the oil price war that had erupted between Saudi Arabia and Russia. My view back then was that Shell’s share price weakness was a buying opportunity.
Fast forward to today, and Shell’s share price is actually lower than it was when I covered the stock in March. Did I get it wrong? Let’s take another look at the investment case for Shell.read more
May 6th, 2020
by John Donovan.
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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
Mar 23rd, 2020
by John Donovan.
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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
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
Oil giant Shell has announced that Saudi Aramco has bought up its 50% interest in the Shell Saudi Arabia (Refining) Limited’s (SASREF) joint venture in Jubail Industrial City.
The deal has been agreed for more than £500 million.
Shell said the completion of the deal is contingent on “receipt of all necessary regulatory consents”.
The acquisition is understood to support Saudi Aramco’s longer term plan to increase the “complexity and capacity” of its refineries, as part of its downstream growth strategy.read more
Apr 21st, 2019
by John Donovan.
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DUBAI, April 21 (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco will acquire Royal Dutch Shell’s 50 percent stake in their Saudi refining joint venture SASREF for $631 million, the two companies said on Sunday.
The purchase, which is part of Aramco’s strategy to expand its downstream operations, will be completed later this year, they said in a joint statement.
Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Co (SASREF), based in Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, has a crude oil refining capacity of 305,000 barrels per day (bpd).read more
Apr 17th, 2019
by John Donovan.
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APRIL 17, 2019 / 12:46 PM
DUBAI, April 17 (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco plans to buy Royal Dutch Shell’s 50 percent stake in Saudi refining complex SASREF, a joint venture between the firms, two sources said on Wednesday.
One of the sources said an agreement has been reached between Aramco and Shell.
Aramco and Shell declined to comment.
Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Co (SASREF), based in Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, has a crude oil refining capacity of 305,000 barrels per day (bpd).read more
Nov 11th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Aramco this year signed a memorandum of understanding with Royal Dutch Shell to jointly pursue global gas business opportunities…
LONDON: Saudi Aramco has outlined to Arab News how it plans to massively ramp up its multibillion-dollar natural gas business, both in the Kingdom and overseas, as gas gradually replaces coal and oil in global power generation.
Gas is viewed as a cleaner energy source than coal or oil in power stations, and there is soaring demand in Asia.
“Gas is already a large global business and is expected to be among the fastest-growing fuels (60 percent growth) over the next quarter-century. And LNG (liquefied natural gas) is expected to make up almost half of global gas trade over the same period,” Aramco said in a statement.read more
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
DUBAI (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is fully committed to its gas joint venture in Iraq, after the energy major exited its oil assets in the OPEC country, and plans to boost its gas output there to 1.4 billion cubic feet (bcf) a day by 2020, a senior executive said.
Iraq’s gas development plans have long focused on Basra Gas Co (BGC), a $17 billion, 25-year project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell 44 percent and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) 5 percent.
The project was designed to aggregate gas from fields in the south including West Qurna 1, operated by Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N); Zubair, operated by Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI); and Rumaila, developed by BP (BP.L).read more
Mar 8th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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FILE PHOTO: Logo of Saudi Aramco is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama, Bahrain, March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Reuters Staff: 8 MARCH 2018
LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday to pursue international gas opportunities with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L).
That would include developments of gas upstream and liquefaction projects.
The MoU signed in London between the two energy companies was during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the United Kingdom.
Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Rania El Gamal; Editing by Mark Potter
The authoritative International Energy Agency announced on Monday that the United States will overtake Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest crude oil producer in five years .
To celebrate this once-unimaginable news, how about taking a trip down memory lane? The date is May 5, 2011. Diarmuid O’Connell, then the vice president of business development for Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric-car outfit, is testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.read more
Feb 21st, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Shell’s Norco Refinery
By Della Hasselle The Advocate (Baton Rouge): Posted Feb 20, 2018 at 12:10 PM Updated Feb 20, 2018 at 12:17 PM
When Iris Carter heard that the Shell Chemical plant near her childhood home in Norco had been ordered to spend $10 million on pollution control equipment to resolve decades of allegations that the plant was violating the federal Clean Air Act, she felt a variety of emotions.
She was frustrated, she said, and angry. But she wasn’t surprised. As Carter sees it, this should have happened more than 20 years ago, when she and her family first helped start a campaign to abandon an area she said had become too polluted to live in.read more
Jan 29th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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A pump jack in a Permian Basin oil field in West Texas. The area has been a focus of the shale drilling boom.Credit Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America
HOUSTON — A substantial rise in oil prices in recent months has led to a resurgence in American oil production, enabling the country to challenge the dominance of Saudi Arabia and dampen price pressures at the pump.
The success has come in the face of efforts by Saudi Arabia and its oil allies to undercut the shale drilling spree in the United States. Those strategies backfired and ultimately ended up benefiting the oil industry.
Overcoming three years of slumping prices proved the resiliency of the shale boom. Energy companies and their financial backers were able to weather market turmoil — and the maneuvers of the global oil cartel — by adjusting exploration and extraction techniques.read more
Jan 10th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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REUTERS STAFF: JANUARY 10, 2018
KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – State oil giant Saudi Aramco has hired Olivier Thorel, a former senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell, as executive director for its chemicals business, the company said on Wednesday.
Thorel started his post at Saudi Aramco on Jan. 1. He held various positions with Shell in downstream operations after joining the company in France in 1990, Aramco said in its weekly magazine the Arabian Sun.
Saudi Aramco is growing its investments in downstream including chemicals as part of its strategy to diversify by balancing out its upstream and downstream activities.read more
The Chinese investment bank CICC has joined oil majors Saudi Aramco, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron in backing a Californian start-up that is developing machine learning technology for the oil and gas sector. Maana has so far focused on uses of data to help oil and gas companies increase speed and reliability in their operations.
Major European oil companies are making major efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change. American majors are dragging their behinds.
Royal Dutch Shell pledged Tuesday to slash carbon emission by 50 percent and boost investment in clean, renewable energy. CEO Ben van Beurden promised to spend at least $2 billion on on wind power, biofuels and electric cars, about the same amount it will spend on shale oil.
“It is making sure that the products within society have an overall lower carbon footprint,” Beurden told investors, according to the Guardian newspaper. “That is the long-term way of making sure our business remains a relevant business in the face of the energy transition.”read more
Global oil prices broke above two year highs and could climb higher to hit $70 a barrel in the wake of a shock anti-corruption purge of Saudi royals and senior officials.
Oil prices bounded to highs not seen since July 2015 at over $64 a barrel on Monday following a sweep of arrests targeting ministers, investors and members of the Saudi royal family on corruption charges over the weekend.
The shock crackdown also helped drive shares in Royal Dutch Shell to within a breath of its highest ever share price at £24.89 following the company’s rosy financial results last week. Before the oil price crash in late 2014 the company’s shares traded at a peak of £25.76.read more
Nov 3rd, 2017
by John Donovan.
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HOUSTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc has shelved a plan to permanently close the gasoline-producing unit at its 227,586-barrel-per-day Convent, Louisiana, oil refinery in early 2018, the company said on Thursday.
Shell has decided to overhaul the 92,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) next year, extending its production for at least four to five years, a company spokesman said.
“Shell re-evaluated the cat cracker end-to-end economics and determined that the business case was strong to run the FCCU for another cycle,” Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said.read more
Aug 17th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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HIROFUMI MATSUO, Nikkei senior staff writer
TOKYO — One after another, the top executives of Western oil majors have been stepping into the great Persian Gulf rift.
It has been more than two months since Saudi Arabia and other Arab states severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, and there are no signs of a thaw. But soon after the decision was made, a oil bosses began heading to Doha, the Qatari capital.
On June 14, just nine days after Qatar’s neighbors closed off their airspace and closed the sole land border, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods followed on June 24. Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne took his turn on July 11.read more
Aug 11th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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IEA sees OPEC’s commitment to clearing global glut fading
Agency reduced demand estimates for this year and 2018
Royal Dutch Shell Plc has restarted four units at its Pernis refinery and more will be brought online in the coming days, according to an environmental regulator.
Oil slipped, heading for the biggest weekly loss in a month, as the outlook for demand dimmed amid an already shaky market.
Futures dropped 0.8 percent in New York Friday, poised for a weekly decline of 2.8 percent. The International Energy Agency reduced demand estimates for OPEC crude this year and in 2018, and said there are doubts about the group’s commitment to cutting production, according to its monthly report released Friday. Even a pledge by Saudi Arabia and Iraq to strengthen their commitment to the curbs and maintain balance in world crude markets isn’t helping to prop up prices.read more
As Saudi Aramco’s much hyped IPO approaches, the company’s most recent annual review, released last week, provides insight into its strategic direction. Aramco has positioned itself to be accepted by investors as a major international oil company (IOC) and as a globally diversified energy enterprise with integrated downstream and sales operations around the world. Currently, Aramco is a national oil company (NOC), owned by the government. But upon its expected public offering of shares, it will join the ranks of other major IOCs.read more
More than half of global industrial emissions can be traced back to just 25 corporate and state producing entities, the report says.
China, India and Russia’s coal industries and major oil and gas players like Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell are among those named in the paper from CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project.
The research found that 100 active fossil fuel producers were linked to 71% of global industrial greenhouse gases since 1988.read more
Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell acknowledged that a shift towards renewable energy — including battery-powered cars — was under way but said oil and gas would remain indispensable for decades to come. Ben van Beurden of Shell said the transition to low-carbon technologies would “take place over generations” rather than as a rapid “revolution”.
Jul 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to spend as much as $1 billion a year on its New Energies division as the transition toward renewable power and electric cars accelerates.
“In some parts of the world we are beginning to see battery electric cars starting to gain consumer acceptance” while wind and solar costs are falling fast, Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden said in a speech in Istanbul on Monday. “All of this is good news for the world and must accelerate,” while still offering opportunities for producers of fossil fuels.read more
The Chinese coal industry and stock market debutant Saudi Aramco have been named as the world’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.
As new data claims to have identified the top 100 emitters of greenhouse gases over the last three decades, a leading NGO has warned that natural resources companies need to transform their business models to adapt to a low-carbon future.
Just 100 firms are responsible for 71pc of carbon dioxide gases released into the atmosphere since 1988, the year that climate change was first recognised as an international problem, according a report by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).read more
Jun 27th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Mergers and acquisitions in Canada are set for the strongest start in a decade as foreigners sell their oil sands investments. ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are leading the exodus amid a bear market for crude. However, Canadian producers are responding by pumping money into oil deposits in the remote boreal forests, which trail only Saudi Arabia and Venezuela in proved reserves but are more expensive to extract.
Crude slumped last week after a shock rise in US stockpiles, up 3.3million barrels to 513million, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Brent crude slipped to about $48 a barrel, its lowest level since December, and analysts said it could go sharply lower.
Crude dipped below $27 a barrel in January last year and Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, said a repeat of those levels is a distinct possibility: “Crude tends to overshoot on both the upside and the downside.”read more
May 26th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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FILE PHOTO: Logo of Saudi Aramco is seen at the 20th Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference (MOES 2017) in Manama, Bahrain, March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo
Saudi Aramco plans to spend $18 billion in the next five years to expand its operations in the Americas, focusing on its U.S. oil refining subsidiary Motiva Enterprises, Motiva said on Thursday.
Motiva [MOTIV.UL] called the $18 billion estimate “a general framework of opportunities” to increase refining capacity, branch into chemicals, and expand its commercial operations, marketing and branded presence in the next five years.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Saudi Aramco complete the separationof the assets, liabilities and businesses of their U.S.-based refining and marketing joint venture.
Shell now holds sole ownership of the 235K bbl/day Norco refinery, where subsidiary Shell Chemical already operates a petrochemical plant, and the 242,250 bbl/day Convent refinery, which Motiva previously said will be integrated to create the Louisiana Refining System, as well as 11 distribution terminals.read more
May 2nd, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc halted the restart of the heavy oil hydrocracking unit (HCU) at its 235,000 barrel per day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery on Tuesday due to a leak, sources familiar with plant operations said.
A Shell spokesman said operations were stable on Tuesday at the Convent refinery.
The refinery began restarting the 45,000 bpd hydrocracker, called the H-Oil Unit, over the weekend. Shell was planning to return the unit to operation by the end of this week.
Shell became the sole owner of the Convent refinery on Monday when it and previous refinery co-owner Saudi Aramco divided the assets of their Motiva Enterprises LLC [MOTIV.UL]joint-venture.read more
May 1st, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Shell assumes ownership of Norco, Convent refineries in Motiva deal with Saudi Aramco
Advocate staff report
Royal Dutch Shell has assumed sole ownership of refineries in Norco and Convent as part an agreement with Saudi Aramco to split up the assets of their Motiva joint venture.
Shell, which also has a chemical plant in Convent, also assumes ownership of 11 distribution terminals and Shell-branded markets in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, a portion of the Florida panhandle, and the Northeast.
Saudi Aramco, through its Saudi Refining Inc. subsidiary, assumes ownership of the Motiva Enterprises LLC name, the refinery at Port Arthur, Texas, and 24 distribution terminals. Motiva has the right to exclusively sell Shell-branded gasoline and diesel in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as well as the eastern half of Texas and the majority of Florida.read more
Apr 21st, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Shell Oil Co, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, on Thursday reaffirmed the target date to split up the Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] refining joint venture with co-owner Saudi Aramco [IPO-ARMO.SE] would be May 1.
Shell and Saudi Aramco in March 2016 announced the plan to divide up the nearly 20-year-old venture, which runs three refineries and other assets. The date of the split has been pushed back twice since the announcement.
As part of the deal, Saudi Aramco will make a $2.2 billion balancing payment to Shell. Of that total, Aramco will only have to pay about $700 million in cash to Shell, with the remainder satisfied by Aramco assuming most of Shell’s half of the $3.2 billion debt held by Motiva.read more
A Motiva Enterprises investigation into the dramatic Aug. 11 fire at its St. James Parish oil refinery found the blaze resulted from a small valve failure that could not have been foreseen and prevented.
The Houston company reached that conclusion in a recent report to the State Police after a monthslong probe into the four-hour blaze that sent black clouds billowing into the sky, forced the evacuation of 1,400 workers and contractors during an intermittent lightning storm and heavily damaged an important H-Oil unit.read more
The giants are gaining a foothold in West Texas with such projects as Bongo 76-43, a well which is being drilled 10,000 feet beneath the table-flat, sage-scented desert, and which then extends horizontally for a mile, blasting through rock to capture light crude from the sprawling Permian Basin.read more
Mar 7th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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by Javier Blas, Joe Carroll, and Margot Habiby: 7 March 2017
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. will pay Royal Dutch Shell Plc $2.2 billion including debt to finalize the breakup of a 19-year refining partnership known as Motiva Enterprises LLC.Saudi Aramco’s Saudi Refining unit will take full ownership of the Motiva Enterprises name and legal entity, including the largest refinery in the U.S. at Port Arthur in Texas, and 24 distribution terminals, according to a joint statement. Shell will take sole ownership of the Norco and Convent refineries in Louisiana and 11 distribution terminals.
Aramco will make a $2.2 billion balancing payment, split between debt and cash and subject to adjustments including working capital, Shell said in a separate statement. Aramco will assume almost all of Motiva’s $3.2 billion of net debt, including $1.5 billion of Shell’s share. A cash payment will cover the balance, Shell said. The arrangement will also take the Anglo-Dutch company closer to its target of selling $30 billion of assets in the three years to 2018.
“Motiva is a strong competitor among U.S. refiners, and we value this important link with the dynamic U.S. energy sector,” said Abdulaziz Al-Judaimi, senior vice president of Aramco’s downstream business. “Our intent is to continue providing Motiva with strong financial support as it transitions into a stand-alone downstream affiliate.”read more
Feb 6th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Mon Feb 6, 2017
HOUSTON Shell Oil Co, the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said on Monday it expects to divide the refineries and other assets of the Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] joint venture with co-owner Saudi Aramco in the second quarter of 2017.
“We are pleased with the progress we have made to date, and anticipate completion of the transaction in Q2 2017,” Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said in an email. “The April 1 date is a target that the internal project teams are working toward.”read more
Jan 26th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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EXTRACT
The latest disposal came on Sunday with the $820m sale of Shell’s stake in a Saudi Arabian petrochemicals joint venture to Saudi Basic Industries. This followed a $1.4bn withdrawal last month from the Showa Shell refining joint-venture in Japan. A further break-up is being negotiated with Saudi Aramco over their Motiva US refining JV.
Jan 24th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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23 January 2017
LONDON (ICIS)–Royal Dutch Shell’s chemicals business will continue to be a “growth engine” for the company despite the $820m disposal in its Saudi joint venture with SABIC, a spokesperson for the UK-Netherlands energy major said on Monday.
Shell announced late on Sunday it was divesting its 50% stake at SADAF, a 37-year old joint venture with the Saudi petrochemicals major.
The SADAF joint venture, at Jubail Industrial City, has six petrochemical plants with a total output of more than 4m tonnes/year, according to Shell, including production plants of ethylene and styrene with output capacities of 366,000 tonnes/year and 400,000 tonnes/year, respectively, according to Shell’s 2015 financial report. read more
Royal Dutch Shell said its move to sell off its share in a petrochemical joint venture with a Saudi partner is part of its effort to retool its regional focus.
Shell sold its stake in a joint venture effort to Saudi Basic Industries Corp. for $820 million in a move that solidifies the Dutch supermajor’s shifting priorities in the wake of last year’s acquisition of BG Group.
The agreement marks the end of a joint venture agreement that was set to expire in 2020.read more
The Saudi Petrochemical Co. venture, known as SADAF, is ending earlier than the planned 2020 expiration, the Hague-based Shell said in an e-mailed statement Sunday. SADAF in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, has six petrochemicals plants with total production of about 4 million metric tons a year, it said.
Shell’s acquisition of BG Group Plc last year has turned its attention to restructuring its business and focusing on existing assets, and is sending “mixed signals about its desired role” in the Middle East, Arab Petroleum Investments Corp., the investment banking arm of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, said in a report last week. Shell in 2015 ended plans to build a $6.5 billion petrochemical plant in Qatar and last year exited a natural gas exploration venture in Abu Dhabi.read more
Jan 22nd, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) 2010.SE has signed an agreement to acquire the 50 percent that it does not already own in its petrochemical venture with Shell Arabia, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), for $820 million, SABIC said on Sunday.
“As per the partnership agreement between the two companies that stipulates the right of SABIC to renew or end the partnership by the end of 2020…SABIC decided to acquire the full stake of Shell, which is 50 percent,” it said.read more
Jan 13th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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By Ed Crooks of the Finacial Times: January 13, 2017
In the 1930s many newspapers carried impressively detailed diagrams showing France’s defences along the German border, described by Popular Mechanix and Inventions magazine as the “world’s greatest underground fortifications”. By the end of May 1940, Hitler had demonstrated that while the Maginot Line might indeed be an engineering marvel, it was also irrelevant, as his panzer divisions swept past it through Belgium and into France. Last year’s agreement between leading oil-producing countries to curb their output had something of the same feel about it this week.read more
Jan 6th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Extracts from a weekly briefing by Ed Crooks: January 6, 2017
In our predictions for 2016, we were right that oil would end the year over $50 – modesty forbids me from mentioning which writer made that forecast – but missed that an agreement between Opec and non-Opec producers would be one of the factors underpinning the price. For 2017 Anjli Raval made the call, arguing that crude was again likely to end the year above $50, on the grounds that a lower price would still be too low to enable sufficient investment in production to meet demand.read more
Dec 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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HOUSTON, Dec 18 2016 (Reuters) – A malfunction on Saturday triggered flaring at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Norco, Louisiana, chemical plant, said a Shell spokesman.
Shell’s Ray Fisher on Sunday declined to say which unit sustained the malfunction.
A source familiar with plant operations said the malfunction was in an olefins unit at the chemical plant.
The Shell chemical plant in Norco shares the safety flare system with the adjoining Motiva Enterprises refinery. Flaring from the chemical plant is sometimes thought to come from the refinery.read more
Dec 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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ByRUSSELL GOLD: Dec. 16, 2016 2:45 p.m. ET
The election of Donald Trump threatens to complicate efforts by Saudi Arabia’s national oil company to purchase refineries and expand its petrochemical footprint in the U.S.
Speaking in Louisiana earlier this month, he said: “We use refineries from other countries. The whole thing is just crazy. It’s crazy.”
That stance could complicate a continuing deal: Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are in talks to end a joint venture called Motiva Enterprises. The Saudi company, which is state owned and state controlled, has said it expects after negotiations are concluded to own the 603,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. Shell is expected to get two smaller refineries in Louisiana.read more
Today I’m looking at the critical reasons to sell out of Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB).
A drop in the ocean
The oil sector’s major players breathed a huge sigh of relief last week after OPEC — responsible for four-tenths of the world’s oil supply — confounded the expectations of many and agreed to cut its output.
Saudi Arabia brokered a deal that will see production fall by 1.2m barrels per day, to 32.5m barrels beginning in January. The news prompted Brent oil to top the $55 per barrel marker for the first time since the summer of 2016.read more
NEW YORK/HOUSTON In a corner of the prolific Bakken shale play in North Dakota, oil companies can now pump crude at a price almost as low as that enjoyed by OPEC giants Iran and Iraq.
Until a few years ago it was unprofitable to produce oil from shale in the United States. The steep slide in costs could encourage more U.S. shale output if OPEC members cut supplies, undermining the producer group’s ability to boost prices. OPEC ministers meet Wednesday to weigh output cuts to end a two-year glut that has pressured global oil prices.read more
OPEC has agreed its first limit on oil output since 2008, sources in the producer group told Reuters, with Saudi Arabia accepting “a big hit” on its production and agreeing to arch-rival Iran freezing output at pre-sanctions levels.
Brent crude futures jumped 8 percent to more than $50 a barrel after Riyadh signaled it had finally reached a compromise with Iran after insisting in recent weeks that Tehran fully participate in any cut.read more
Opec’s possible production cut is the oil market equivalent of Schrödinger’s cat: neither dead nor alive. When they met in Algiers in late September, Opec ministers agreed the need to reduce output, but left the allocation of the cuts between individual members to be finalised later. If they cannot agree on that, the deal will die. At their meeting in Vienna on Wednesday, the ministers will have to open the box, and we will find out whether or not the agreement is still breathing.read more
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
JOHN DONOVAN, THE OWNER OF THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER SHELL FOCUSSED WEBSITES
SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.websitepublishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
Shell Breaking News
Shell Renewables Head to Leave Amid Fossil Fuel ShiftJune 30, 2023 14:49Financial PostBreadcrumb Trail Links PMN Business Shell Plc’s European renewable power boss Thomas Brostrom has decided to leave the company as the oil supermajor revises its strategy to focus more investment into fossil fuels. Author of the article: Bloomberg News …
Shell and BP take a beating as bank woes hit crude pricesMarch 15, 2023 17:36Proactive InvestorsBP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) shares have taken a hit, dropping over 8%, due to a sell-off in the banking sector.
The natural resources market has been volatile, with Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate falling by 4- …
Shell CEO Pay Up 50%March 9, 2023 21:23Manufacturing Business TechnologyCEO of Royal Dutch Shell Ben van Beurden speaks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Shell paid outgoing Chief Executive Ben van Beurden a total of 9.7 million pounds ($11.5 million) in 2022 as the …
Former Shell CEO's pay jumped 53% to $11.5m in 2022March 9, 2023 11:17Gulf NewsBen van Beurden, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell, speaks during the 26th World Gas Conference in Paris, France, June 2, 2015
Image Credit: Reuters
London: Shell's former chief executive, Ben van Beurden, received a pay package of 9.7 …
SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders. (JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?