14 December 2018

About 180 jobs are at risk after energy giant Shell announced the closure of two fire-damaged chemical units within an oil refinery in Cheshire.

The positions at Stanlow in Ellesmere Port are in question following a blaze at the site in August, which damaged the units.

Shell said the cost of fixing the damage was “not economically viable”,

The two chemical plants at the site are owed by Shell but are run under a management agreement by Essar Oil UK.

Essar Oil UK employs over 900 staff, and a further 500 contractors also operate at the refinery. read more

More than 130 workers have been evacuated from a North Sea oil platform after it lost power.

Written by Reporter – 29/11/2018

Shell’s Brent Charlie, which is 185km (115 miles) North East of Lerwick, Shetland, contacted HM Coastguard just before 5pm on November 27 reporting that they had lost power and were running on backup batteries.

“The Brent Charlie platform was shut down for maintenance and although the 184 crew were safe and well the platform had limited power, meaning no lighting, heating or water,” said a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

“With severe incoming weather HM Coastguard and Shell made the decision to ensure the safety of the crew and to declare an emergency situation and evacuate 135 non-essential crew. read more

22 November 2018

The energy giant Shell is to increase the amount of gas processed at a Norfolk terminal by 16% – securing its future for “decades to come”.

The firm has spent £300m updating the plant at Bacton to allow 400 million cubic feet (11,300 litres) of gas to be processed.

“This means we can use the facilities more and reduce operating costs,” Anne O’Halloran, from Shell, said.

This firm is also drilling more wells in the Southern North Sea gas field. read more

By Lauren Berg

Law360 (September 24, 2018, 5:05 PM EDT) — The Golden State Water Co. has accused the Dow Chemical Co., Shell Oil Co. and others of product liability violations for contaminating drinking water with unsafe amounts of TCP, a toxic chemical…

SOURCE

By Amanda Cooper, Shadia Nasralla: AUGUST 22, 2018

* All staff evacuated – fire services

* Shell-owned chemical plant operated by Essar

* Scale of fire unclear – fire services

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

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

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

A characteristic throughout has been a quest to lead.

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

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

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

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

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

A Shell spokesman was not immediately available to comment.

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

Written by Allister Thomas and Chris Jaffray – 03/08/2018

Shell has been fined £60,000 after a technician was severely injured by a gas cylinder on a North Sea platform.

The incident in November 2014 took place on the Brent Delta installation when a gas cylinder unexpectedly discharged, causing projectiles to strike a worker.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard today that technicians were required to replace a gas cylinder within a system used to extinguish fires on November 9, 2014.

One technician rolled what he thought was an empty cylinder and took off a protective cap, however the cylinder was in fact fully charged which caused an uncontrolled release of gas and a loud bang –  resulting in the technician dropping the cylinder which caused the valve to shear, with projectiles severely injuring a second technician. read more

Shell announced last year that it was disposing of its 45 per cent stake in the Corrib gas field to a unit of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in an €830 million deal, resulting in about €1 billion of losses. The decision was announced just over 18 months after first gas finally flowed from the field 83km off the Mayo coast, after over a decade of opposition…

Lorna Siggins Western Correspondent: Wed, Aug 1, 2018

An investigation by the State’s energy regulator into the release of non-odourised gas from the Corrib gas refinery in north Mayo last year says it was caused by the upgrading of an information technology (IT) system.

“Deficiencies” in Shell E&P Ireland’s (SEPIL) operating procedures led to the incident last September, but there were no safety consequences for staff at the Corrib gas refinery or members of the public “in the immediate vicinity”, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has found. read more

BY MAREX 2018-06-11 12:58:00

Shell’s giant floating liquefied natural gas plant (FLNG), the Prelude, moved closer to production last week when she received a cool-down cargo from the LNG carrier Gallina.

The 70,000 dwt Gallina transferred a load of LNG to the Prelude on Wednesday and Thursday as the plant prepares for commissioning. It was the first time that Prelude has had an LNG carrier alongside to test the plant’s sophisticated loading arms.

Prelude is now testing its systems in preparation for first gas from Shell’s Prelude field, which holds an estimated three trillion cubic feet of natural gas (in combination with the adjacent Concerto field). Royal Dutch Shell hopes to begin generating revenue from the multi-billion-dollar project sometime this year. read more

A quarter of Shell shareholders turned on Ben Van Beurden after he pocketed €8.9m (£7.8m)

Jillian Ambrose: 22 MAY 2018 • 2:02PM

The boss of Royal Dutch Shell has suffered a bruising shareholder revolt after more than a quarter of its investors voted against his multi-million euro payout for last year.

Ben Van Beurden pocketed €8.9m (£7.8m) for 2017 after trebling the company’s profits to $12.1bn (£9bn) as the oil giant staged an impressive recovery from a crash in prices.

But shareholders took against the FTSE 100 boss after an accident in Pakistan last year claimed the lives of more than 200 people in an explosion of a fuel tanker operated by one of the energy giant’s subsidiaries. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc will face difficult questions at its annual general meeting next week after an investor-advisory group urged shareholders to challenge executive pay and the company’s response to a fatal accident in Pakistan. 

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., an influential adviser on corporate governance, has recommended investors reject Shell’s pay report at its AGM on May 22, saying it was initially “silent” on the Pakistan incident. ISS also said it could only offer “qualified support” to the re-election of the independent director looking after corporate social responsibility.  read more

By City & Finance Reporter for the Daily Mail: PUBLISHED: 21:51, 13 May 2018 | UPDATED: 21:51, 13 May 2018

The boss of oil giant Shell is facing the threat of a revolt over his £7.8million pay packet.

Institutional Shareholders Services, a leading investor advisory group, is recommending that Ben van Beurden’s pay is voted down at the annual general meeting later this month.

ISS said it also wants more information about how the 60-year-old’s bonus was affected by an incident in Pakistan in 2016, when a fuel tanker operated by a Shell Pakistan contractor exploded, killing more than 200 people. read more

By Kevin Keane: BBC Scotland’s environment correspondent: 26 April 2018

The Health and Safety Executive has written to all oil and gas operators expressing concern about the number of gas releases in the industry.

The regulator said some had come “perilously close to disaster” and that more needed to be done to tackle them.

The HSE said a “lack of leadership” was often to blame for leaks, and called for firms to review their processes.

Operators have until July to respond with a summary of their planned improvements.

The HSE has written to operators ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. The platform exploded in July 1988, leaving 167 men dead. read more

The firm also drew attention to a number of safety incidents in 2017 which it is working to address and provide support to victims for, including oil spills and theft in Nigeria, earthquakes in Groningen and a road tanker disaster in Pakistan.

Written by Allister Thomas – 09/04/2018 1:12 pm

The company has published the findings in a report to accommodate UK regulations requiring transparency on government payments.

It includes payments in 29 countries where Shell operates and does not include details related to refining, natural gas liquefaction, or gas-to-liquids activities which are not in the scope of UK regulations.

Shell made the largest contribution to Nigeria, paying over £3billion last year, while the smallest sum went to Bulgaria at £109million.

The funds for Nigeria include the government’s production entitlement, covering more than £2.1billion. read more

The UK’s workplace safety watchdog has reprimanded Shell following a gas leak on the Brent Bravo platform in November.

Written by Mark Lammey – 17/01/2018 11:38 am

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Shell has failed to “prevent the uncontrolled release of flammable or explosive substances”.

Its inspector accused the oil major of failing to ensure valves on the rig were kept in “efficient working order and in good repair”.

Shell has been given until March 8 to comply with the improvement notice.

A spokesman for Shell UK said: “Shell UK can confirm that we were issued with an HSE improvement notice on 8^th December 2017 in relation to a small hydrocarbon release on our Brent Bravo platform in the North Sea. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 03/01/2018 12:00 pm

Energy giant Shell has been ordered to improve its safety procedures at the St Fergus plant near Peterhead.

The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the company had failed to made “adequate arrangements” to ensure that “emergency shutdown and emergency depressurisation valve actuators” were maintained in an “efficient state and effective working order”.

HSE initially gave Shell until December 21 to comply with the improvement notice, but the deadline has now been extended to February 28.

A spokeswoman for Shell said: “We can confirm that we have been issued with an improvement notice on 23^rd November 2017 in relation to the maintenance of emergency shutdown valves at our St Fergus plant in North East Scotland. read more

By MarEx  18 December 2017

Shell has launched an investigation after a lifeboat accidentally “descended” from the aging Brent Alpha platform during maintenance.

A Shell spokesperson said that on Saturday morning, a mechanical failure occurred during routine maintenance, “allowing [the lifeboat] to descend into the sea.” The BBC reports that the lifeboat davit’s clutch slipped during work on the boat. No injuries were reported, and the boat was recovered the following day. read more

REUTERS STAFF: 18 DECEMBER 2017

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Three offshore oil workers filed a lawsuit against units of Royal Dutch Shell and Enbridge, seeking $1 million in damages for injuries they allegedly received during a Nov. 8 fire on a U.S. Gulf of Mexico production platform.

The suit, filed in Galveston County court in Texas on Dec. 5, claims safety lapses on Shell’s Enchilada platform caused severe injuries to the three. The complaint seeks more than $1 million in damages from Shell International Exploration and Production, Shell Offshore, and Garden Banks Gas Pipeline Co, a unit of Enbridge, which owns a gas pipeline connected to the platform. read more

Shell’s Enchilada platform, sitting atop Garden Banks Block 128 in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast, caught fire early Wednesday (Nov. 8), injuring two workers. This map shows the location, outlined in yellow.

The lawsuit claims Shell and the pipeline operator were negligent or grossly negligent, failing to maintain a safe work environment…

Updated Dec 15, 9:54 PM; Posted Dec 15, 9:53 PM

By Jennifer Larino: [email protected] NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Three workers injured in a November fire on Shell’s Enchilada platform in the Gulf of Mexico are suing the oil and gas company in a Texas county court. The suit claims Shell, its Gulf of Mexico subsidiary and a pipeline operator “acted with flagrant and malicious disregard” for the health and safety of the workers leading up to the incident. read more

By Neanda Salvaterra: December 12, 2017: Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said on Tuesday it has suspended production on two offshore oil and gas platforms following the shutdown of a major European oil transport node.

The British-Dutch oil giant confirmed that it has halted the flow of oil and gas from its Shearwater and Nelson platforms in the central North Sea as a result of the shutdown of the Forties Pipeline System owned by Ineos, a refining and chemicals company. read more

REUTERS STAFF: DECEMBER 11, 2017 

SINGAPORE, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said a fire at its Singapore refinery-petrochemical site was extinguished on Sunday and no one was hurt in the incident.

The fire occurred at one of its manufacturing units on Bukom Island at about 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) and was extinguished shortly after by the site’s firefighters, a company spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement.

Shell was investigating the cause of the incident and did not expect any impact on its customers, she said. read more

CATHERINE GRIWKOWSKY: 15 November 2017

One person was injured and the Shell Scotford site was evacuated for several hours after a heavy oil mixture leak on Wednesday afternoon.

The “hydrocarbon release” happened around 12:30 p.m. inside a processing unit at the Scotford Facility near Fort Saskatchewan, according to a statement sent by Tara Lemay on behalf of Shell. The all-clear was sounded at 6:30 p.m.

One person reported a minor injury and all non-essential personnel were moved off-site as a precaution, the statement said. All personnel were accounted for. read more

Emergency crews were called to respond to a hydrocarbon release at a Shell Canada’s Scotford upgrader facility northeast of Fort Saskatchewan on Wednesday afternoon. Craig Ryan/ Global News

By Phil HeidenreichOnline journalist  Global News

Emergency crews were called to respond to a hydrocarbon release at a Shell Canada facility northeast of Fort Saskatchewan on Wednesday afternoon.

The company said the incident unfolded at its Scotford upgrader facility which processes crude bitumen. Late Wednesday afternoon, Shell confirmed an alarm was sounded and personnel were “relocated away from the incident as a safety precaution.” read more

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) released a statement today about the impact on its operations resulting from a fire at the Shell Enchilada platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell advised in a statement on Nov. 12 that a plan for repairing the damaged portions of the asset is being developed. All production coming into the Garden Banks Gas Pipeline system also remains shut in until further notice.

Hess production is shut in at its Baldpate, Conger and Penn State Fields. Production is also shut in at the Shell-operated Llano Field (Hess 50 percent interest). Hess production at these fields is approximately 30 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. read more

By Carlie Kollath Wells: [email protected]: NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune: 8 November 2017

Two people were injured Wednesday morning (Nov. 8) in a fire on a Shell oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the company said. The remaining 46 workers were safely evacuated.

A Shell spokesman said the fire happened at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday on its Enchilada platform at Garden Banks 128. Shell said it had identified the source of the fire and was “actively responding to the situation.” read more

Offshore workers were exposed to the risk of fire and explosion after blunder led to a gas leak on a southern North Sea installation.

Written by Alan Shields – 11/10/2017 12:27 pm

The uncontrolled release took place on the Barque PB, a normally unmanned platform, on July 19.

Around 138kg of flammable hydrocarbon gas was released from pipework connected to the vessel V2000, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

A subsequent probe found that flammable gas had been used to leak test the pipework instead of inert nitrogen gas – which was available.

Failings were found in the arrangements for the effective planning, organising and control for the reinstatement of the pipework. read more

By Dan Molinski Published October 03, 2017: Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell reported a leak and emissions Tuesday at its Deer Park, Texas refinery and chemical plant.

“A leak was found on the bottom of debutanizer distillation column. The cause of the leak is still under investigation,” the refinery said in a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It added that it was “reducing feed rate to unit to minimize emissions.”

Deer Park is located along the Houston Ship Channel, 20 miles east of downtown Houston. The facility includes a 326,000-barrel-a-day refinery. read more

Flaring and excessive black smoke pouring into the night sky after explosion and uncontrolled shutdown

By Greg Fischer Editor-in-chief: Sep 26, 2017

Around 8 p.m. on Tuesday night a huge flash could be seen in the sky in the direction of the St. James Motiva plant on Highway 44 and Highway 70.

Many people shared sightings of the explosion on social media. The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office has stated that a transformer exploded, causing an electrical fire at an Entergy substation near the plant.

The substation is the main electrical source for the plant, commonly called Motiva. Entergy has reached out to clarify that the transformer is owned by the Shell Convent Refinery. read more

NEWS FROM JULY 2, 2015 RELEVANT TO RECENT EVENTS

Oil giant Shell was today fined over £6,000 after a diesel leak on board the same North Sea platform where two workers died 12 years ago.

Sean McCue, 22, and Keith Moncrieff, 45, lost their lives when they were overcome by gas while working on the energy firm’s Brent Bravo rig in 2003.

The oil company was previously fined nearly one million pounds admitting safety breaches which led to their deaths.

Yesterday Shell UK bosses returned to the court after approximately 13 to 15 tonnes of diesel spilled into the North Sea despite warnings over the transfer system going back over a decade. read more

AUGUST 30, 2017 / 6:16 PM

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) staff have returned to a major oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico in preparation to restart production one week after its shutdown due to Hurricane Harvey, industry sources said on Wednesday.

A small team was airlifted to the Perdido platform and is currently assessing conditions to understand when production can be resumed, the sources said.

Perdido, operated by Shell, was shut down on Aug. 23 ahead of Hurricane Harvey’s arrival. The hub, the second deepest in the Gulf of Mexico, normally produces around 100,000 barrels per day of oil and gas. read more

Upstreamonline.com reports 30 Aug 2017…

Shell has been served with more safety warnings over a gas leak in May at its Brent Charlie facility in the UK northern North Sea, which is only now beginning a gradual restart of production.

A Shell spokesperson told Upstream on Wednesday that the facility commenced a gradual restart at the weekend and is fully up-manned.

Free access to article subject to Upstreamonline.com terms

Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle: 27 August 2017

Royal Dutch Shell said Sunday the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey is causing the shutdown of its massive refining and petrochemical complex in Deer Park.

Shell is closing one of Texas’ largest refineries, which can refine more than 315,000 barrels of crude oil a day into gasoline and other petroleum products.

“The top priority of Shell Deer Park is to operate in a safe and environmentally sound manner. Due to continued inclement weather conditions from Hurricane Harvey, Shell Deer Park is conducting a controlled/planned shut down of the refinery and chemical plant,” Shell said in an email response. read more

AUGUST 27, 2017

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Sunday it has not yet been able to assess damage to its deepwater Perdido platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico after evacuating it ahead of Tropical Storm Harvey, which came ashore as a hurricane.

The company scrapped plans on Saturday to send a reconnaissance flight over the platform, about 200 miles (321 km) south of Freeport, Texas, said spokesman Curtis Smith. A second flight will be attempted on Sunday.

Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Sandra Maler read more

According to Reuters, oil and gas companies, including Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, have halted production and are evacuating employees from their facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Posted By Alex Zielinski on Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 2:50 pm

What was a mere “tropical depression” on Wednesday has quickly turned into a grown-ass, potentially life-threatening hurricane. The National Hurricane Center has now predicted that Hurricane Harvey, the storm brewing the the Gulf of Mexico, will the Texas shores Friday night with 125 mph winds, drenching the coastline from Corpus Christi east to the Louisiana border with up to 2 feet of rain.

The NHC predicts Bexar County will be hit with up to 10 inches of rain over the weekend, and the county’s officially under a flash flood warning. Monica Ramos, a county spokeswoman, said that public works crews are preparing for heavy flooding  — especially in the city’s south side — by  monitoring creeks, drainage ways, and low water crossings as the storm grows near. read more

Australia’s $180 bln LNG megaproject boom enters final stretch

* Shell, Inpex race to tap gas in adjacent fields

* Ichthys LNG targets first output by March 2018

* Prelude FLNG seen starting between April and July

* Australia on course to 88 mln T/yr LNG export capacity

By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE, Aug 14 (Reuters) – The last massive component of Australia’s $180 billion liquefied natural gas construction boom arrived on Monday, stepping up a race between Anglo-Dutch giant Shell and Japan’s Inpex to start chilling gas for export in 2018.

Company reputations are at stake, as well as first access to overlapping gas fields and Australia leapfrogging Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of LNG.

The Ichthys Venturer, a floating production, storage and offloading facility, travelled 5,600 km (3,500 miles) from a South Korean shipyard and will be moored 220 km off Western Australia to handle condensate from the Ichthys field. read more

December 19th, 2013, Norco Louisiana, A flare from the Shell Refinery illuminates the sky. 

Published August 07, 2017 Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said Monday that a fire over the weekend at its Norco refining and chemicals facility in Louisiana has forced it to shut down a unit.

“There is no timetable for the restart of the unit,” Shell said in an emailed statement, without identifying the specific unit. “Operations are stable. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we do not provide details about the operational status of individual units or information on supply.” read more

Written by Alan Shields – 02/08/2017 10:09 am

Royal Dutch Shell has been served a prohibition notice over the potential for “fire and explosion” on the Brent Charlie platform.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the supermajor had failed to act under the Offshore Prevention of Fire regulations.

The watchdog said the breach related to the possibility of an uncontrolled release of flammable or explosive hydrocarbons from safety critical pipework in the Column Four leg.

The breach was recorded back in May, with the prohibition notice served at the end of the month. read more

“Shell is in the process of shutting down all the units at the site,” a company spokesman said, as cited by AFP. He added that the process might last for “hours, or even several days.”

Taking all “necessary precautions,” the company said it estimates that “loadings at depot Pernis will be interrupted until and including tomorrow.”

Firefighters succeed in dousing the flames by Sunday morning at around 6:00am [0400 GMT].

However, flashes at the plant could be still seen Sunday evening, as mangement decided to launch a flaring process to burn off excess natural gas in accordance with safety guidelines. read more

RON BOUSSO: JULY 30, 2017 / 8:45 PM

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell suspended loadings of oil products from its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands following a fire at the plant, the company said in a statement to traders on Sunday.

Shell shut down most of its production at Pernis, Europe’s largest refinery, after the fire at the 404,000 barrels per day plant late on Saturday caused a power outage.

The company said that no casualties were reported in the incident and the fire was under control, but it expected loadings to be suspended on Monday as well. read more

Royal Dutch Shell is shutting down most units at its refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands after a fire at a high-voltage electricity switch station.

Shell spokesman Thijs van Velzen says the fire started late Saturday and was extinguished by Sunday morning. Nobody was injured.

The Pernis refinery in Rotterdam’s sprawling port is Europe’s largest. It has the capacity to refine just over 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The shutdown led to Shell burning off excess gases at the plant, a process known as flaring. The move sent large flames into the sky on Sunday.Van Velzen says the cause of the fire is under investigation. He declined comment on the financial implications of the shutdown. read more

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday it will pay compensation to the victims of an oil tanker fire in Pakistan last month that killed 215 people, after Pakistan’s oil and gas regulator threatened legal action.

After the fuel tanker crashed and started leaking on the side of a highway, hundreds of people from a nearby village rushed to the scene to collect the fuel. They were engulfed in flames when the spill ignited.

Pakistan wants Shell to pay $2.4 million, or $9,500 to the heirs of each person killed. read more

A Pakistani subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday agreed to pay a fine of about 257 million rupees ($2.4 million) in compensation for a tanker truck explosion that killed more than 200 people last month.

The fiery blast on June 25 was one of the worst accidents in Pakistan’s history. A tanker carrying fuel rolled over in Punjab province and villagers rushed to collect leaking fuel.

Something then set off a fireball.

The regulator, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), held Shell Pakistan responsible for the accident in which 217 people died and 61 were injured. read more

Shell Must Face ‘Take-Home’ Asbestos Suit, Calif. Court Says

Law360, New York (June 6, 2017, 7:03 PM EDT) —

A California appeals court has reversed itself and revived a lawsuit against Shell Oil Co. filed by a former employee’s wife who alleges she contracted mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos that accumulated on her husband’s work clothing. The decision by the Second Appellate District panel on Friday followed the state Supreme Court’s December finding in Kesner v. Superior Court of California that employers can be held liable for injuries caused by secondhand asbestos exposure suffered by household members of employees. The panel, following the high court’s “take-home” liability… read more

By Laura Paterson: 

A GAS LEAK sparked a major evacuation and shut down of a North Sea oil rig.

The gas detection alarm was sounded on Friday morning on Shell’s Brent Charlie platform, 115 miles north-east of Shetland.

The oil giants said all 176 people on board have been accounted for and a total of 31 non-essential workers were being evacuated from the platform as a precaution.

A Shell spokeswoman said: “Following a gas detection alarm, production was shut down and the platform called to muster. The source of the leak has been safely detected and isolated and a full investigation into the cause will be completed. read more

Written by Energy Reporter – 22/05/2017 6:39 am

The alarm was raised on Friday on the operator’s Brent Charlie.

The oil super major was forced to shutdown production after a gas detection alarm was triggered.

A total of 31 personnel were flown off the platform. The crew were largely associated with production, which remains suspended today.

Investigations into the cause of the isolated incident will be carried out for the remainder of the day.

The Brent field, operated by Shell, lies off the north-east coast of Scotland, midway between the Shetland Islands and Norway. It was discovered in 1991. The field’s lifespan was originally estimated to be only 25 years. To date, the Brent field has produced around three billion barrels of oil equivalent. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 19/04/2017 12:18 pm

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Shell had failed to put appropriate controls in place to protect workers from dangerous gases in one of the platform’s legs.

HSE said the company had identified the risks of exposure to hydrogen sulphide and hydrocarbon gas while accessing the column C1 leg.

But Shell did not adequately describe how control measures would be “organised, controlled, monitored or reviewed”, according to HSE.

The prohibition notice was served early in February. read more

• BY DAVID J. MITCHELL | [email protected] APR 4, 2017

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

By MICHELLE FAUL: The Associated Press: March 4, 2017

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nigeria wants Royal Dutch Shell to reopen one of its main pipelines but the oil multinational is resisting, analysts say, for fear it could once again be bombed by militants.

The Trans Forcados Pipeline, the main feed to the 400,000-barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal, has been shut for all but three weeks of the past year, Lagos-based SBM Intelligence said in its weekly risk analysis published Friday.

In their most sophisticated attack, militants used divers to blow up an underwater section of the pipeline in the Atlantic a year ago. Defying militant death threats, Shell flew in underwater engineers who took seven months to get the pipeline operational. read more

Extracts from a Reuters/Nasdaq article “Australia’s Ichthys LNG dealt blow as major contractor pulls plug”  dated 25 Jan 2017.

Australia’s$200 billion LNG production ramp-up is one of the biggest increases in supply the industry has ever seen, and it will lift Australia over Qatar as the world’s biggest exporter of the fuel.

Even so, most of Australia’s LNG projects currently under construction, including Chevron’s huge Gorgon facility and Royal Dutch Shell’s floating Prelude production vessel, are having trouble keeping within budget and sticking to schedules, and more delays are expected. read more