Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A+0.2%) is considering whether to make it mandatory for workers in some operations to get COVID-19 vaccinations or fire them on refusal – Reuters.
The energy company, employing some 86,000 workers in more than 70 countries, will weigh the pros and cons of the policy at an executive committee meeting today.
The company is also actively exploring the introduction of the policy for offshore workers in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company has already adopted a “soft enforcement” vaccination policy in the Gulf of Mexico and in the onshore Permian shale basin operations under which employees and contractors must produce a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination to access Shell sites.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A)(NYSE:RDS.B) is said to be considering selling its holdings in the largest U.S. oil field, holdings that may be worth as much as $10B.
The oil major is said to be evaluating selling all of part of its about 260,000 acres (105,200 hectares) in the Permian Basin, located mostly in Texas, according to media reports earlier.
CNBC reported that a sale is not imminent, though talks with a buyer or multiple acquirers are ongoing.
Jun 7th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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Seeking Alpha
Nord Stream 2’s completion a ‘fait accompli,’ Blinken tells House panel
Jun. 07, 2021 2:25 PM ETBASFY, ENGIY…By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline a “fait accompli” in testimony today before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and said the U.S. is working with Germany to mitigate the damage it will cause to Europe’s energy system.
Sanctioning the top executive of the project’s parent company would have led to worse U.S.-German relations, Blinken said, and now Germany has expressed a desire to prevent Russian President Putin from using Nord Stream 2 as leverage to weaken European nations by increasing dependency on Russia.
“We have an opportunity to make something positive out of a bad hand that we inherited when we came into office,” Blinken said.
May 31st, 2021
by John Donovan.
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Seeking Alpha
Big Oil’s Very Bad Wednesday
May 30, 2021 11:55 PM ETBNO, CVX, DBE…MV Financial
Summary
Those paying attention to the market chatter this week may have heard the phrase “Black Wednesday” pass the lips of pundits who study the fossil fuels industry, though the events didn’t result in any kind of immediate panic-selling by investors of energy shares.
At the annual shareholder meeting of Exxon Mobil, the company ceded at least two seats on its board of directors to a climate activist group called Engine No. 1.
At Chevron’s general meeting, shareholders voted on a measure to set strict emissions targets from the products it sells.
A Dutch court in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that Royal Dutch Shell must reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 against its 2019 levels – on an absolute basis, which is stricter than the carbon intensity targets that the company prefers to use as its benchmarks. Black Tuesday 1929 turned out to be a big deal.
Only ~100 km of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are left to lay, according to Russia’s ambassador to Germany, meaning the remaining pipeline could need just three more months for completion.
In an interview with German media outlet RND, Sergei Nechayev also said he was hopeful the Gazprom-led (OTCPK:OGZPY) pipeline would be completed before the upcoming German election on Sept. 26.
The ambassador’s comments suggest ~21 km have been laid in Danish waters in the April 1-May 7 period, according to S&P Global Platts.
Two Russian vessels – the Fortuna and the Akademik Cherskiy – currently are operating in Danish waters; it they will lay pipe at a combined 1 km/day, and assuming weather conditions allow, it would take ~100 days to lay the remaining pipeline.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says its $6B petrochemical complex in northwest Pennsylvania is now more than 70% complete and projected to be operational sometime in 2022.
Shell previously projected the startup in this year’s H1 after suspending work in March 2020 due to pandemic concerns.
The project is one of the largest construction sites in North America and includes a 1.6M mt/year cracker and three polyethylene plants with a combined capacity of 1.6M mt/year.
Portions of the site’s water treatment facility are being commissioned and the site’s 250 MW power plant will soon follow, the company says.
Shell has “hit peak oil, but not peak opportunity,” as its impressive portfolio of assets should drive long-term shareholder returns in the tens of billions of dollars, The Value Portfolio writes in a bullish analysis posted on Seeking Alpha.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A-0.8%) says cargo shipments have resumed at its 3.6M mt/yr Prelude floating LNG offshore Western Australia, 11 months after it went offline because of technical issues.
Prelude FLNG in the Browse basin has been plagued by technical issues since it started shipments in June 2019.
The Symphonic Breeze LNG carrier is scheduled to arrive at Japan’s Himeji port on Jan. 16 after leaving Prelude on Jan. 9, and the Gaslog Glasgow is scheduled to arrive at Prelude on Jan. 21, Argus reports.
Prelude’s restart follows a spike in prices for northeast Asian spot liquefied natural gas as colder than expected weather in northeast Asia has fueled urgent demand for cargoes.
Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission approves Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) request to carry out all permitted activities in its exploration plan for the ultra-deepwater Xochicalco oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico.
Shell will drill a well at depths of five miles trying to reach a Wilcox formation, with prospective reserves of as much as 562M boe, boosting its investment in the play to $345.8M from $104M in the original exploration plan, which was first approved in June 2019.read more
A controversial license transfer deal between Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Pieridae Energy (OTC:PTOAF) over aging assets in Alberta that failed to win approval from the province’s energy regulator say they will try again.
The regulator yesterday refused to allow licenses for sour gas wells, pipelines and other facilities to be transferred to Pieridae Energy from Shell Canada, saying the deal appeared to reduce Shell’s responsibility for cleaning up the sites, adding that the extent of contamination at the hundreds of facilities is unknown.
Shell says it will look for a way to transfer the licenses to Pieridae and keep the cleanup liabilities.
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
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
Liquefied natural gas is selling at the lowest price on record in Asia, a troubling sign for U.S. energy producers who have relied on overseas shipments of shale gas amid a weak domestic market.
Asian LNG prices fell to $3/MMBtu today, plunging from above $5/MMBtu as recently as Jan. 15, as a glut in the commodity spreads from the U.S. all over the globe.
“The fundamentals were already really weak” even before the coronavirus outbreak stalled economic activity in China, says Ira Joseph, head of gas and power analytics at S&P Global Platts. “The whole market is really oversupplied.”read more
Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) and partner Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) say they have paid a combined $355M to jointly acquire Schlumberger’s (NYSE:SLB) 49% interest in Argentina’s onshore Bandurria Sur block.
Each partner bought a 24.5% interest in the block that covers ~56K gross acres in the central area of the Vaca Muerta play.
The two companies also reached a preliminary agreement with 51%-owner YPF to acquire an additional 11% interest, which would give Equinor and Shell each a 30% non-operated interest and YPF owning 40% interest and continuing as operator.read more
Power Hedge: Macro, energy, alternative energy, contrarian
Summary
Shell Midstream’s performance was similar to what it had seen last quarter, although Hurricane Barry had a negative impact because of the shutdowns it caused.
The company’s onshore pipelines continue to perform well, with Zydeco a very notable example.
There is some very real growth potential offshore as Shell ramps up Appomattox and other companies in the region do the same and pump oil into the Mars pipeline.
The company generated an adequate distribution coverage, although it was not as high in this quarter as I would normally like to see.
The financial structure is still concerning, as it does not have sufficient assets to cover its debt.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) -3% pre-market and trades nearly 4% lower in London despite beating Q3 earnings estimates, as the company warns global economic conditions could slow the timetable for its $25B share buyback program.
“Prevailing weak macroeconomic conditions and challenging outlook inevitably create uncertainty about the pace of reducing gearing to 25% and completing the share buyback program within the 2020 time frame,” CEO Ben van Beurden says.
Gearing – the ratio between debt and market cap – rose in the quarter to 27.9% from 23.1% a year earlier.read more
Just Energy (NYSE:JE) +4.7% after-hours on news it agreed to sell its U.K. operations to Shell Energy Retail Ltd. (RDS.A, RDS.B) for ~C$17M.
JE says the sale of Hudson Energy Supply UK will help narrow its geographic focus and concentrate on its core operations.
In addition, JE says it has identified another C$20M/year in cost savings, to bring total annualized cost savings initiatives announced so far to C$60M.
The company also says the strategic review process initiated in June is ongoing, and it has not set a specific timeframe for the conclusion of the review.read more
*Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) asks U.S. regulators to extend the time required to complete the Lake Charles liquefied natural gas export project in Louisiana by five years to 2025.
*Shell says the delay is due to its takeover of the project after its 2016 acquisition of BG Group caused it to re-evaluate and strike new agreements, according to a letter dated last Friday to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
*The project, a 50-50 venture Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET), would convert an existing import and regasification facility in Lake Charles into a multi-train, 16.45M mt/year facility.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) subsidiary Shell Chemical reportedly is advancing feasibility studies for a potential $1.2B expansion of monoethylene glycol production at its Geismar, La., chemicals complex.
As part of the project, Shell would build an MEG plant at the site that it could approve as early as 2020, pending final engineering, design and investment decisions, according to the Louisiana Economic Development.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) is moving to sell its stake in Indonesia’s $15B Abadi liquefied natural gas project, Reuters reports, part of its ongoing asset disposal program to raise cash to help pay for its $54B purchase of BG Group in 2015.
Shell hopes to raise ~$1B from the sale of its 35% stake in the Abadi project, according to the report.
Project construction was due to start in 2018 but was delayed in 2016 until at least 2020 after Indonesian authorities instructed a switch from an offshore to an onshore facility.read more
Japan’s JERA says it signed an agreement with a Mitsubishi unit to buy as much as 1.2M mt/year of liquefied natural gas from the Royal Dutch Shell-led (RDS.A-0.6%) LNG Canada project.
The heads of agreement is for ~15 years starting from April 2024, says JERA, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power (OTCPK:TKECF) and Chubu Electric Power (OTC:CHUEF) and the world’s top buyer of liquefied natural gas.
Buyers from the project so far include trading house Vitol as well as Asian utilities such as Tokyo Gas, Toho Gas and Korea Gas.read more
Shell must produce 214 terawatt hours of clean power every year by 2035 to become the biggest low-carbon electricity provider, which Bernstein says could be achieved through organic growth, ultimately managing 61 GW of power capacity, but the company probably will want to move faster and expand acquisitions of electricity producers.read more
The sale brought in the most revenue from such an event since the oil price downturn, with $244M in high offers received, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Anadarko Petroleum (APC-0.7%) and Hess (NYSE:HES) were the next highest bidders by dollar amount of high bids, totaling $24M and $18M respectively.
Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) placed the apparent high bid of the sale, offering $24.4M for Mississippi Canyon Block 801, and teaming up with Kosmos Energy (NYSE:KOS) to win Keathley Canyon Block 964 with a $7M bid.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A+0.4%) urges the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas production, instead of weakening them as planned.
In unusually frank terms, Shell’s U.S. chief Gretchen Watkins told the CERAWeek conference today that the Environmental Protection Agency needs to tighten rules to plug methane leaks, saying “We don’t usually tell governments how to do their job but we’re ready to break with that and say, ‘Actually, we want to tell you how to do your job.'”read more
Shell’s investment could surpass $650M if exploration continues, according to the president of Colombia’s National Hydrocarbons Agency.
The government recently modified contractual terms for offshore exploration and launched a new process that allows companies to apply to explore in areas of interest, offering 20 blocks as part of a strategy to boost the oil sector.read more
The tender marks XOM’s entry into gas exploration in Egypt, while Shell is awarded the most concessions – three for oil and two for gas.
Egypt expects investments of at least $750M-$800M in the first stage of exploration in the 12 concessions, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla says.read more
Jan 10th, 2019
by John Donovan.
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Jan. 9, 2019 11:58 AM ET| By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
The Dutch High Court says it will consider demands on Jan. 17 seeking an immediate end to gas production from the Groningen field, after the government said it would cut output gradually.
The High Court says it received 26 objections to the plan, expressing concerns about seismic risks caused by drilling and demanding an urgent halt in production.
Analysts say the court is unlikely to grant an immediate halt because the Netherlands still depends on Groningen gas for a significant part of its energy supply.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says China has awarded it a license to independently trade oil products in the country’s domestic wholesale oil market, allowing it to carry out purchases and sales of oil products for its customers in the Chinese market.
“The wholesale business of refined products has long been dominated by Chinese national oil companies and is typically reserved for Chinese companies,” says Kang Wu, head of S&P Global Platts Asia analytics. “The latest license to a wholly-owned foreign company is unique and set to increase the competitiveness of the wholesale market in China.”read more
Dec 18th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Dec. 18, 2018 7:06 AM ET
Summary
Enormous reductions in development costs have made new upstream oil projects in the US Gulf of Mexico quite economical.
Royal Dutch Shell plc expects the Vito field to break even in a low pricing environment.
Commentary on where these cost reductions are coming from, with an eye on third-party pricing deflation in the offshore space.
Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is investing in upstream projects that are capable of earning a decent return in most oil pricing environments. The US Gulf of Mexico is one of the energy giant’s core upstream plays for this reason. In May 2018, Royal Dutch Shell plc reached first-oil at the Kaikias project in the Gulf of Mexico a year ahead of schedule. Reducing the Kaikias project’s total development costs by 30% allowed Royal Dutch Shell plc to announce that it will break even on that endeavor when realizing just $30 per barrel of oil sold. Next year, the Appomattox development in the US GoM is expected to reach first-oil and Royal Dutch Shell plc has already achieved major cost savings at that project. Farther out, the Vito development in the US GoM is expected to achieve first-oil by 2021. Let’s dig in.read more
Dec 3rd, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Dec. 3, 2018 2:45 PM ET|By:Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Gas production at the earthquake-prone Groningen field will drop by at least 75% to below 5B cm/year in the next five years, the Dutch government says, as measures to reduce demand for Groningen gas are working ahead of schedule.
The government decided this year to shut down in 2030 what was once Europe’s largest natural gas field, citing several earthquakes over decades of extraction that damaged thousands of homes and buildings.
Production is set to drop to 19.4B cm in the year that began in October, already down 65% from its peak of 54B cm in 2013.read more
Nov 20th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Summary
Royal Dutch Shell has had a difficult time since the start of the oil crash. However, the company has an impressive portfolio and is executing on its plan.
Royal Dutch Shell continues to earn tens of billions of dollars annually. The company is investing heavily in growth and buying back shares.
I recommend interested investors take advantage of the current share prices given the company’s strength.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B) is an integrated oil company, one of the largest in the world. The company has a market cap of more than $250 billion and pays investors a very respectable dividend in the high-single digits. As we will see throughout this article, Royal Dutch Shell’s asset portfolio, growth, and potential make the company a strong investment.
Royal Dutch Shell Asset Portfolio
Royal Dutch Shell has an incredibly strong asset portfolio that will provide it with both strong production and strong cash flow.read more
The Dutch government says it expects gas production from Groningen, Europe’s largest onshore field, will fall to 7.5B cm/year by 2022 and drop to zero in the following years.
The government also gave its final approval to limit output from Groningen to 19.4B cm/year for the gas year 2018-19, compared to 21.6B cm/year previously.
Groningen production is limited due to activity at the site linked to earthquakes in the region, with the government under pressure to enforce further restrictions.
Gas company NAM, which runs the Groningen field, is a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM).
Nov 13th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Nov. 12, 2018 11:13 AM ET
Summary
The European Oil sector has demonstrated an impressive capital discipline, with renewed focused on cash earnings.
Royal Dutch Shell is an exceptional cash generating machine that has recently released the best quarterly results in the company’s history.
The muted share response to the earnings report creates a wonderful entry point to an unloved sector.
My high conviction investment thesis in Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B) is based on three success pillars. The first pillar is growth in net income, accompanied by a significant rise in free cash flow. The second pillar is shareholder friendliness, or how Shell treats its shareholders well. The third pillar, as in with every investment, is the current compelling valuation of shares
Responsible, Consistent Growth
In the third quarter, Shell generated adjusted net income in the amount of $5.6 billion, up a whopping 37 percent compared to the third quarter of last year. Earnings were 70 cents a share, up 40 percent year over year. More importantly, the company’s growth is well balanced between its different divisions. The upstream division (oil exploration) generated adjusted net income of1.88$ billion, compared to a meager 562$ million during the third quarter of 2017.read more
Going over Royal Dutch Shell’s LNG Canada endeavor.
The pros and the cons.
Why this is ultimately a good idea.
Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is making another big bet on liquefied natural gas, this time in Canada. On October 1, 2018, Royal Dutch Shell plc and its partners announced a positive investment decision on the ~US$31 billion (~40 billion Canadian dollars) Canada LNG venture. The goal is to bring an LNG export facility online in Kitimat, British Columbia, to take advantage of both its existing infrastructure (deep-water ports, roads, electricity grids) and its easy access to Asian markets. While I am a shareholder of Royal Dutch Shell, that doesn’t mean I want to be a cheerleader for every decision the company makes. Here is what I view as a very reasonable assessment of LNG Canada, highlighting both the pros and cons of this endeavor. Let’s dig in.read more
Oct 18th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Oct. 18, 2018 3:46 AM ET| By: Yoel Minkoff, SA News Editor
Growing oil and gas production from shale fields will act as a “good balance” for deepwater projects, the new head of Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) U.S. business, Gretchen Watkins, said in her first interview since joining the Anglo-Dutch major in May.
“It’s a natural hedge in the portfolio,” she added.
Investments into shale, or short-cycle projects, have risen as energy companies have been under pressure to rein in costs, pay down debt and boost returns amid a global shift towards forms of cleaner energy.
An energy consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Eni (NYSE:E) developing the Karachaganak gas condensate field will pay $1.1B to Kazakhstan’s government to settle a profit-sharing dispute, the country’s energy ministry says.
Kazakhstan says its production sharing agreement with the consortium also will amend terms so that it will receive a higher share of future revenues from one of the country’s biggest hydrocarbon fields.read more
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, which U.S. giants Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) joined just last week, commits to cutting methane emissions to an intensity of 0.25% of all fossil fuel the group of 13 member companies produces by 2025.
The pledge could be cut further to 0.2% intensity, which would echo targets set individually by group members BP, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and XOM to reduce methane emissions.
“Our aim is to work towards near zero methane emissions from the full gas value chain in support of achieving the goals of the Paris [Climate] Agreement,” the heads of the OGCI members say.
The OGCI represents nearly a third of global oil and gas production and also includes France’s Total (NYSE:TOT) as well as national oil companies of China, Mexico, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says the $1.1B investment in the giant Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan reached this month is aimed at sustaining high production levels and creating significant value from the field.
Shell says the Karachaganak Debottlenecking Project “aims to extend the duration of the plateau liquid production and will bring significant value creation to both the [Russian] Republic and the contractor.”
Shell and Eni (NYSE:E) each hold 29.25% stakes in Karachaganak, which produced 247K bbl/day of liquids last year; other stakeholders are Chevron (NYSE:CVX) with 18%, Lukoil (OTCPK:LUKOY, OTC:LUKOF) with 13.5%, and state-owned KazMunaiGaz 10%.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has been cleared to continue constructionof its multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania after the U.S. Department of Commerce waived restrictions on imported steel from South Korea, Argentina and Brazil.
Piping for the Shell project has been sitting in port for months, unable to move to Pennsylvania since the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports.
The cracker, which is expected to enter service in the early 2020s, is designed to consume more than 100K bbl/day of ethane to produce 1.5M metric tons/year of ethylene and 1.6M metric tons/year of polyethylene.
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
“Together with German partners we are working on the new natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, which will complete the European gas transport system,” Vladimir Putin declared as he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel near Berlin on Saturday.
While the U.S. wasn’t present at the meeting, it could have a big say in the outcome amid concerns that it would increase Europe’s already-high dependence on Russian natural gas and give the Kremlin political leverage and substantial revenues.
The project is being developed by Gazprom (OTCPK:OGZPY), along with Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), Wintershall, Uniper (OTC:UNPPY), OMV (OTCPK:OMVZY) and Engie (EMGIY).
The deal reduces the joint venture supply of Maya to 70K bbl/day while shifting the crude to a fixed $59.35/bbl for 10 years beginning in 2023, which allows for more crude options at the 340K bbl/day refinery and some stability for a formula-priced feedstock rocked by wild swings in West Texas Sour prices, Argus reports.
Pipeline bottlenecks connecting Permian light sweet production to larger markets have helped to depress prices for the sour crude; a fixed Maya price of $59.35/bbl would mark a nearly 3% discount from prices so far this year.
While the energy industry likes the flexibility of U.S. shale, sentiment has “flipped” back in favor of deepwater drilling after a dramatic fall in investment during the oil market downturn, Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) head of exploration and production Andy Brown tells Financial Times.
The economics of some projects, which once required high crude oil prices to be profitable, has seen a “transformation,” Brown believes, with cash generation surpassing that of U.S. shale “because of fundamental cost reduction… Breakeven prices in deepwater – we are now talking $30/bbl.”
“It’s great to have both in the portfolio and we are growing our shales business… but in terms of sheer cash flow delivery, our deepwater has significantly more cash flow potential,” Brown says.
The cost of drilling a well in the Appomattox, a deepwater oil and gas development that is Shell’s largest floating platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, had fallen two-thirds in the past four years, Brown also says.
Separately, the head of Shell’s global refining operations, Lori Ryerkerk, reportedly will step down at the end of August after five years in a job, to be succeeded by Robin Mooldijk, who currently serves as VP of its Manufacturing Americas segment.
Aug 5th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Aug. 5, 2018 8:37 AM ET
Summary
Shell daily production dipped slightly in Q-2, causing a miss of EPS by 0.15 share.
Investors were not impressed and discarded the stock in droves.
In late May it reached an all time high stock price. It has since back-tracked about 10% and we are dipping our toes in at present levels.
Shell has been transforming it’s business model in recent years, and may now deserve a higher multiple.
Further, the 25 billion dollar stock buy back will tend to put upward pressure on the share prices.
Introduction
We were a little shocked at Shell’s, (RDS.A,RDS.B) decline on it’s Q-2 earnings release. Any serious review of operations could have foretold it. When you sell off $30 bn worth of assets that produce oil, you’re going to see a decline of this type. I mean seriously, we’re talking about 40K BOPD essentially on a company that produces over 3.5mm BOPD.
Perhaps large investors were wondering if the company is allocating capital in sufficient amounts to maintain and grow production. When we look we see that the company has been investing at a consistent rate to maintain production longer term.read more
Shell’s Energy Transition Report envisions a low fossil fuel future. It is therefore taking steps to adapt to this vision.
It is currently spending about $1-2 billion per year on a segment called “new energies”.
While its Energy Transition Report seems unrealistic, raising potential concerns in regards to Shell’s investment strategy, there are valid reasons to diversify, such as low oil & gas discovery levels.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) is in talks to sell two Nigerian oil licenses, including infrastructure assets such as a natural gas-fired power plant, for $2B, Bloomberg reports.
Discussions have been advanced at times and run into hurdles at others as the Nigerian entity has yet to secure financing, according to the report.
Shell has sold billions of dollars of Niger Delta assets in the past decade amid local opposition, civil conflict, militant attacks and accusations of causing pollution, and another sale would allow the company to focus on its operations in Nigerian waters, where the risks of attacks on infrastructure and theft are lower.
The Trump administration has granted the oil and gas sector its first exclusions from a 25% tariff on steel imports, after agreeing with Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) that the specialty steel the companies were importing is not manufactured in the U.S.
The U.S. Commerce Department approved exclusions for 243 metric tons of steel casing and production tubing Shell said it would use when drilling wells in the Gulf of Mexico, and to CVX for 50 metric tons of corrosion resistant stainless steel tubing.
The exclusions mark a victory for the oil and gas industry, which is concerned that the tariffs could raise their costs; the Commerce Department has processed only 241 out of more than 20K steel tariff exclusion requests.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) reportedly has signed an agreement with Nigeria’s state-run oil company and two other groups to develop natural gas projects worth $3.7B, as part of the country’s efforts to deal with a looming domestic fuel shortage.
The seven projects would add 3.4B cf/day of natural gas to the Nigerian market to avoid a shortage that has been forecast for 2020, with gas produced under the projects used to produce a target amount of 15 GW of electricity by that year.
Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer but has suffered a decline in oil and gas investments – despite the rebound in crude oil prices – due to a lack of government incentives and a delay in the approval of energy industry reform.
Jun 30th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Jun. 30, 2018 12:54 AM ET
Summary
Renewal of assets with great focus on the future.
Natural gas as energy source will continue to grow.
Share buybacks and generous dividends.
Background
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) has been actively focusing on what kind of business it wants to be involved in. Part of this activity is to change the composition of its assets. It has been selling plants and oil licenses, and invested where it wants to position the company.
Disposals have also been done to reduce the total debt level. Much of the debt came from the $35 billion acquisition of BG Group back in March of 2016.
Disposals
Early this year, Shell communicated that its plans were to leave oil and gas operations in as many as 10 countries and instead focus more heavily on gas-rich Australia and shale opportunities in the United States.read more
Germany has been assured by the U.S. that any sanctions imposed on Russia will not affect construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to bring Russian gas to Europe, says a spokesperson for Germany’s economy ministry.
The U.S. embassy in Berlin says there has been no change in policy, Reuters reports.
The Nord Stream 2 consortium, consisting of Russia’s Gazprom (OTCPK:OGZPY) and five European companies – Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), BASF’s (OTCQX:BASFY) Wintershall, Engie (OTCPK:ENGIY), OMV (OTCPK:OMVJF) and Uniper (OTC:UNPPY) – last month started preparatory work in the Greifswald bay off Germany’s Baltic coast on a new twin pipeline that will double Russia’s export capacity of 55B cm to Germany.
Separately, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller says the company can set a new gas export record of nearly 200B cm this year, up nearly 3% Y/Y, breaking last year’s record volume of 194.4B cm of gas to Europe and Turkey.
Jun 28th, 2018
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
Jun. 27, 2018 2:57 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
Production at the Groningen natural gas field will come in lower than expected this year as the Dutch government works to end production completely by 2030 in an effort to limit seismic risks in the region.
Output will have fallen to 19B-20B cm in the year ending October 2018, the Dutch gas sector regulator says, below the original cap of 21.6B cm set for the year and down from 24B cm last year.
The Groningen field is a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM).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?