A consortium — including oil producers BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil ASA — has been developing a blockchain-based platform for physical oil trades.

Every day, dozens of oil tankers — some as long as five football fields — set sail for ports around the world carrying millions of barrels of crude and a piece of paper that generations of sea captains have held as dear as their cargo.

The bill of lading is the document that verifies ownership of a commodity that can be worth more than $122 million per ship. Without it, buyers and sellers who trade $2.7 billion of crude daily are unable to do business in an ocean-going tanker market that supplies almost half of the oil consumed globally. read more

Saetre, Pouyanne & van Beurden in Oslo, Feb. 15 2018.: Photographer: Kyrre Lien/Bloomberg

Three of the world’s biggest oil companies called on Norway to help maintain funding for carbon capture and storage technology that is stagnating amid concerns about whether it can ever be cost-effective.

The chief executive officers of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and Norway’s state-controlled Statoil ASA gathered on the sidelines of an energy conference in Oslo to make the case for a flagship Norwegian project, in which the companies plan to store CO2 emissions under the North Sea after they’ve been shipped and piped from onshore industrial plants. read more

Ron Bousso: 12 FEB 2018

LONDON (Reuters) – With years of austerity in their rear-view mirrors, the world’s biggest oil companies are locked in a beauty contest to lure investors with promises of growth and greater rewards.

Royal Dutch Shell and Total are emerging as frontrunners after a three-year slump thanks to strong growth projections but Exxon Mobil, the biggest publicly traded oil company, has largely disappointed with a weaker outlook.

Major oil companies slashed spending and cut costs after oil prices collapsed in 2014 and can now generate as much cash with crude at $50-$55 a barrel as they did when the price was around $100 earlier in the decade. read more

Gaurav Sharma , CONTRIBUTOR: 18 JAN 2018

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s trading arm Shell Trading International made a significant move into blockchain development on Thursday (18 January) by bagging a minority stake in London, U.K.-based start-up Applied Blockchain.

In the simplest of terms, a blockchain is akin to a digitally distributed ledger that can be replicated and spread across many nodes in a peer-to-peer network, thereby minimising the need for oversight and governance of a single ledger. read more

Three years after causing an oil-price crash, the shale boom may not be enough to meet rising global demand because the industry has cut back so sharply on higher-risk mega-projects.

Discoveries of new reserves this year were the fewest on record and replaced just 11 percent of what was produced, according to a Dec. 21 report by consultant Rystad Energy. While shale wells are creating a glut now, without more investment in bigger, conventional supply, the world may see output deficits as soon as 2019, according to Canadian producer Suncor Energy Inc. read more

Oil giant Shell predicts a bright future for the North Sea. Picture: Ivar Langvik

ANGUS HOWARTH Published: 09:38 Wednesday 06 December 2017

A senior executive at Shell has predicted a bright future for the North Sea into the next decade and beyond. Steve Phimister, upstream vice president for the UK and Ireland for the multinational oil giant, said the company had no plans to sell off any more assets in the region.

Speaking at an event in Aberdeen yesterday he said: “We have, in the last year, conducted quite a significant divestment of a package of assets. It’s been done very intentionally and very clearly with an intention to focus on our core business. read more

By Chris Tomlinson: November 30, 2017

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

By Adam Williams: 9 November 2017, 21:27 GMT: Updated on 10 November 2017, 05:01 GMT

As the price of oil rises, an international rush is on for Mexico’s untapped deep-water riches.

The who’s who of the oil world — led by Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s two biggest drillers by market value — are lining up to bid in the country’s Jan. 31 deep-water auction. And the interest is international in scope, drawing Chevron Corp. from the U.S., the U.K.’s BP Plc, Norway’s Statoil ASA, France’s Total SA, Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd, Russia’s Lukoil PJSC and China’s Cnooc Ltd, among others. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 06/11/2017 7:33 am

Oil majors BP, Shell and Statoil have joined a consortium which will create a digital platform for the energy commodity trading sector.

The venture, which also includes commodity traders and banks, will be managed and operated as an independent entity.

The venture partners are BP, Shell and Statoil, trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria, and banks ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale.

They intend to create a secure, platform to manage physical energy transactions from trade entry to final settlement. read more

Now, some of the financial cost to the Corrib Gas Partners, Shell Ireland, Statoil and Vermilion Energy from the odourless gas being pumped into the network can be revealed.

Gordon Deegan: Irish Independent: Wednesday 1 November  2017 

Corrib Gas Partners lost out on estimated natural gas revenues of around €38m in the third quarter of this year as a result of odourless gas getting into the network and a scheduled downtime.

Production ceased at the Bellanaboy gas terminal in Co Mayo on September 9th for a scheduled downtime and a total of 31 days of production were lost.

This was as a result of odourless gas being pumped into the gas network in the west of Ireland after the plant was restarted temporarily. read more

OCTOBER 27, 2017

LONDON (Reuters) – A $1 billion fund created by top energy companies to curb climate change will back technologies being developed by U.S. cement maker Solidia Technologies and engine maker Achates Power, it said on Friday.

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) was set up last year and includes Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell.

Solidia Technologies will receive funding for making cement with carbon dioxide instead of water, potentially lowering emissions by 70 percent and water use by 80 percent, the OGCI said. read more

The world’s biggest oil companies are closing more clean energy deals as pressure to diversify their businesses mounts and growth accelerates among green technologies.

Oil majors more than doubled the number of acquisitions, project investments and venture capital stakes, to 44 in 2016 from 21 the year before, according to research published Tuesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In the last 15 years, they’ve completed 428 transactions and spent $6.2 billion building stakes in clean energy companies. read more

Representatives from Shell, Statoil and Total have teamed up to steer a project that will store carbon dioxide captured from industrial operations in Norway offshore. Photo courtesy of Ole Jørgen Bratland/Statoil

Oct. 2 (UPI) — Norwegian energy company Statoil said Monday it was leading a partnership aimed at advancing Paris climate efforts through carbon capture and storage.

Statoil said it would lead a project alongside the Norwegian subsidiaries of Royal Dutch Shell and French supermajor Total in storing carbon dioxide captured from industrial facilities in eastern Norway at an offshore site. read more

By Irina Slav – Oct 01, 2017, 5:00 PM CDT

Say what you will about offshore oil and gas exploration, but it’s still alive and kicking—high production costs and all. The latest demonstration of the viability of deepwater projects, even in the post-2014 oil industry era, comes from none other than Brazil.

On Wednesday, the country’s National Petroleum Agency put 287 oil and gas blocks up for auction, and only 37 found buyers. Too few, it might seem at first. But the proceeds came in at more than US$1.2 billion—a hefty share of this pledged by heavyweight Exxon. The NPA’s expectations for the proceeds were much more modest, at $157 million. read more

Statoil ASA is among producers involved in discussions with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. about joining offshore production in the emirate, according to a Norwegian diplomatic dispatch.

“All the major oil companies, including Statoil, are positioning themselves for a cooperation with Adnoc in the offshore segment,” Norway’s embassy in Abu Dhabi wrote in a message to the Foreign Ministry in Oslo dated Aug. 17, which was obtained by Bloomberg through a freedom-of-information request. read more

It’s no secret that oil majors are among the biggest corporate emitters of pollution. What may be surprising is that they’re reducing their greenhouse-gas footprints every year, actively participating in a trend that’s swept up most corporate behemoths.

Sixty-two of the world’s 100 largest companies consistently cut their emissions on an annual basis between 2010 and 2015, with an overall 12 percent decline during that period, according to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance released ahead of its conference in London on Monday. read more

AUGUST 22, 2017 / 2:13 PM

LONDON (Reuters) – French oil major Total (TOTF.PA) has overtaken rival Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) to become the second-largest producer in the North Sea with its acquisition of Maersk’s (MAERSKb.CO) Norwegian and UK producing assets.

The $7.45 billion deal by Total was welcomed by the market, with analysts saying it helped the French company rebalance its portfolio by adding assets in developed countries after going for projects in riskier places such as Iran and Russia. read more

By Nick Cunningham – Aug 20, 2017, 6:00 PM CDT

Canada’s oil industry has faced a lot of strain lately. The list of oil majors selling off assets and withdrawing from high-cost oil sands is long. ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell, Marathon Oil, Murphy Oil and Statoil have sold upwards of $25 billion worth of oil sands assets this year. ExxonMobil also wrote down more than 3.5 billion barrels of oil reserves in Canada at the beginning of 2017. The companies viewed Alberta’s bitumen and heavy oil as no longer competitive in a $50 market, and many of them are focusing on other types of production, such as shale. read more

Oil majors quietly investing into new technology start-ups

‘Disruptive power’ from small companies prompts Shell to move

Major oil companies are joining Silicon Valley in backing energy-technology start-ups, a signal that that those with the deepest pockets in the industry are casting around for a new strategy.

From Royal Dutch Shell Plc to Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest investor-owned oil companies are dribbling money into ventures probing the edge of energy technologies. The investments go beyond wind and solar power into projects that improve electricity grids and brew new fuels from renewable resources. read more

By REUTERS: JULY 27, 2017, 4:48 A.M. E.D.T.

LONDON/PARIS — Europe’s major oil and gas companies have turned a corner after a three-year slump, reporting strong growth in profits as cost cutting paid off and vowing to press on with saving more money amid a fragile recovery in oil prices.

Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil reported sharp increases in cash flow from operations in the second quarter as profits beat analyst expectations, meaning they can all comfortably pay dividends and reduce debt. read more

By Ryan Maye Handy: 8 July 2017

India hopes to sell only electric vehicles by 2030. China is offering incentives to buy electric cars and investing heavily in renewable technologies. Volvo will scrap the pure internal combustion engine in favor of hybrids and electric cars.

And on Thursday, France announced it plans to ban the sale of diesel and gasoline-fueled cars by 2040.

The world’s major oil companies might disagree when global demand for petroleum will peak, but the news of the past seven months suggests that they should be worried, if they aren’t already. Nations, states and private companies are demanding cleaner energy, leaving the world’s oil producers to face a reckoning that many haven’t yet accepted. read more

By REUTERS JUNE 6, 2017, 4:03 P.M. E.D.T.

OSLO — About 150 oil platform workers would go on strike, potentially disrupting output from several Norwegian fields, if they fail to get a pay deal by midnight on Friday, their union said on Tuesday.

Lederne, the smallest of the three Norwegian unions representing oil industry workers, said the strike would target platforms at Eni’s Goliat, Shell’s Draugen and Statoil’s Kvitebjoern, Oseberg East and Gudrun fields.

“We believe it would mean shutting down production on those platforms,” a spokesman for the union said. read more

Tanzania’s government has prepared a draft agreement with international oil companies willing to take part in a $30-billion LNG export project, and has sent the draft for ministerial review, local media reported on Wednesday, citing a senior official at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals.

State-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) is partnering with ExxonMobil, Statoil, Ophir, and Shell in developing an LNG project that would allow the country to export gas from its offshore resources. read more

Posted by Mark Young:15 Feb 2017

Norway’s oil and gas powerhouse Statoil ASA has finalised its exit from the Canadian oilsands and is by no means alone in a list of high-profile internationally-based operators to agree a sale of Canadian upstream assets during the past 12 months.

Statoil (Oslo:STL) is selling its interest in the Kai Kos Denseh project to Athabasca Oil Corp. (TSX:ATH) for an initial Cdn$578 million. Analysis of this transaction can be found here.

Other significant sales agreed upon in 2016 by non-Canadian companies include: read more

By Ron Bousso | LONDON

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC.N) are renegotiating their five-year-old joint venture in the Permian shale basin in Texas, Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said on Thursday.

The 50-50 JV in the Delaware basin, which expires this year, will likely see the operatorship of the asset “consolidated in a different way”, Henry said in an earnings presentation to analysts.

Henry also said that Shell’s position in the Haynesville basin to the east of the Permian, which it acquired through its takeover of BG Group last year, “won’t necessarily stay in our portfolio.” read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 19/01/2017 6:00 am

The US Government said yesterday that it had cleared Shell and Statoil to bid for an offshore wind farm licence off North Carolina later this year.

The 122,405 acre Kitty Hawk licence will be offered in a commercial wind lease sale on March 16, the US Interior Department said yesterday.

Shell and Statoil are among nine companies to have made the shortlist.

Last month, Statoil said it had won an offshore wind lease off New York with a $42million bid. read more

By Ron Bousso and Karolin Schaps | LONDON

Royal Dutch Shell plans to link part of its executive bonuses to greenhouse gas emissions and conduct more active screening of future investments to further efforts to reduce the energy group’s carbon footprint, its CEO told Reuters.

The new initiative by the Anglo-Dutch group comes in response to mounting pressure from investors to adapt to an expected flattening in oil consumption within as little as five years and international plans to phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century to combat global warming. read more

Norway oil and gas workers may strike, threatening UK gas supply

Mon Oct 3, 2016

Workers at three onshore plants serving Norway’s oil and gas industry will strike from Oct. 7 unless they get a new wage deal, the SAFE labour union said on Monday, potentially threatening Britain’s natural gas supplies.

Some 338 workers at Statoil’s Melkoeya LNG plant, Shell’s Nyhamna natural gas processing plant and ExxonMobil’s Slagen refinery terminal would go on strike if talks on a new pay deal break down, the union said.

The Melkoeya plant turns gas from the Arctic Snoehvit field into liquefied natural gas (LNG) which is shipped worldwide, while Nyhamna supplies about 20 percent of Britain’s natural gas demand from the giant Ormen Lange field offshore Norway. read more

Ben Chapman: 6 Sept 2016

Never mind the drop in crude prices, huge spending cuts and thousands of job losses, the world’s top oil and gas companies are set to produce more than ever for some time.

While top oil companies struggle with slumping revenues following a price rout after years of spectacular growth, their production has grown as projects sanctioned earlier in the decade come on line. Overall production at the world’s seven biggest oil and gas companies is set to rise by around 9 per cent between 2015 and 2018, according to analysts’ estimates. read more

By  Katie Fehrenbacher: JULY 29, 2016

Analysts expected the oil giants’ cost cutting to help more.

Many of the world’s biggest oil companies continue to feel the pain as low oil prices continue to undercut profits and lead to shuttered projects and layoffs.

Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, BP, and Chevron announced dismal earnings this week, missing expectations and showing how slashing spending and pulling back isn’t yet enough in a world where oil has dropped from a high of $115-per-barrel in 2014 to a low of $27-per-barrel in January of this year. read more

Wayne Duggan: 20 July 2016

A number of British stocks have been hit hard since the referendum vote to leave the EU, but Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) is not one of them. Shares are now up 0.3% since the Brexit vote after initially falling more than 8% during the knee-jerk market sell-off.

With the possibility that the Brexit could severely impact British GDP growth in coming years, RDS.B offers a unique opportunity to invest in a company within a sector that is in a global upswing, a company that has significant international exposure and a company that is committed to maintaining the single largest dividend payment in the MSCI World Index. read more

Gary Shilling for Bloomberg View suggested oil could drop to $10.

By Ed Crooks: Friday, July 1, 2016

Oil was one of the markets where the initial shock of the UK’s Brexit vote quickly faded. Brent crude was about $51 per barrel as the voters went to the polls last week, and today was trading at about $49.50. 

The 34 per cent rise in oil so far in 2016 has been its best start to a year since 2009, and helped commodities outperform other asset classes over the past six months.

The rise in prices has brightened the mood in Texas, according to a new survey carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. It looks like being a good data source to watch in future. read more

By Rakteem Katakey: June 22, 2016 — 12:01 AM BST

The biggest oil-industry downturn in a generation has companies collaborating in ways they never thought possible.

In this global effort, one of the world’s most expensive oil regions intends to lead the way. Last month companies operating in the North Sea started pooling spare parts and tools, and they are even sharing plans on how to drill wells so they can work faster and cheaper, said Paul Goodfellow, Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s vice president for the U.K. and Ireland.

This is a big change from oil’s boom, when costs weren’t such an issue as long as $100-a-barrel crude kept flowing. As companies focus on adapting to prices closer to $50 by making their spending less wasteful, they also aim to boost profitability for years to come by keeping costs low as markets recover. read more

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and JOHN SCHWARTZ: A version of this article appears in print on May 24, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition

HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil has been under pressure for over a year to explain its handling of climate change issues in the past. Now the company faces new pressure to explain its future, particularly how it will change in response to a warming world.

At the company’s planned annual meeting on Wednesday in Dallas, shareholders will vote on a resolution to prod Exxon Mobil to disclose the risks of climate change to its business. read more

Terry Macalister: Saturday 21 May 2016

The world’s largest oil companies have in recent weeks announced a series of “green” investments – in wind farms, electric battery storage systems and carbon capture and storage (CCS). These unexpected moves come hot on the heels of revelations by Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, that it plans to sell off parts of its national oil company and diversify its economy away from petroleum.

They also come in the aftermath of a United Nations climate change agreement and before annual general meetings for Shell and Exxon Mobil this week, meetings at which shareholders will demand that more be done to tackle climate change. read more

Written by Phil Allan – 02/05/2016 12:20 pm

Shell has received consent to use two subsea wells on the Draugen field in the Norwegian Sea.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority has given Shell consent to commission the last two wells, designated G2 and G3 after the company began its programme to drill four subsea wells on the field in 2013. The first two came on stream in 2014.

The PSA consent also covers underwater equipment, subsea pumps and equipment on board the Draugen facility linked to these wells. read more

Business | Wed Mar 23, 2016

Statoil Fuel and Retail gained European Union antitrust approval on Wednesday for its acquisition of Shell’s (RDSa.L) Danish retail and wholesale fuels business after agreeing to sell some businesses to allay competition concerns.

The European Commission had been concerned that the deal could have led to Danish consumers paying more for their fuel, diesel, gasoline and light heating oil.

Statoil Fuel and Retail, which operates in Denmark under the Statoil brand and is controlled by Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATDb.TO), received the EU green light after pledging to sell 205 petrol stations and Shell’s commercial fuels business. read more

Van der Veer was the chief executive officer at Royal Dutch Shell from 2004-2009, when he retired. Van der Veer then continued as a non-executive director on the board of Shell until 2013. He started to work for Shell in 1971 and has experience within all sectors of the business. In addition, Van der Veer is the chair of the supervisory boards of ING Bank and Royal Philips Electronics and member of the supervisory board of Boskalis Westminster Groep, and has significant competence within corporate governance. read more

* Companies seek to safeguard growth for when market recovers

* U.S. firms abandon deepwater projects for shale oil fields

* Britain’s BP bets on Egyptian gas, Shell on major acquisition

By Ron Bousso and Terry Wade

LONDON/HOUSTON, Feb 7 As oil and gas companies cut ever-deeper into the bone to weather their worst downturn in decades, boards have adopted contrasting strategies to lead them out of the crisis.

Crude prices have tumbled around 70 percent over the past 18 months to around $35 a barrel, leading to five of the world’s top oil companies reporting sharp declines in profits in recent days.

Executives at energy firms face a tough balancing act: they must cut spending to stay financially afloat while preserving the production infrastructure and capacity that will allow them to compete and grow when the market recovers. read more

Commodities | Mon Feb 1, 2016 9:28pm GMT

Credit ratings agency Standard and Poors on Monday downgraded oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc to A+/A-1 from AA-/A-1+ and put its long-term credit rating on creditwatch negative citing sliding oil prices.

S&P said Shell’s one-notch downgrade, driven by weaker forecasts for its credit metrics over 2016-2018 and slower profit improvements, excluded the ratings impact of its BG Group Plc acquisition.

Shell had said it was prepared for a downgrade as a result of the BG deal. read more

1 FEBRUARY 2016

Standard & Poor’s sliced Royal Dutch Shell’s credit rating on Monday…

The New York-based ratings company lowered Shell’s rating by one notch to “A+” from “AA-” and said it may make more cuts in the future.

FULL ARTICLE

David Marino: Bloomberg.com:

1 February 2016

Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating on Royal Dutch Shell Plc and sees a significant likelihood of downgrades for several Europe-based integrated oil and gas majors in the next weeks.

“We lowered our ratings on Royal Dutch Shell Plc to ’A+/A-1’ from ’AA-/A-1+’ and placed the long-term rating on CreditWatch with negative implications,” S&P said in an e-mailed statement. “We also placed on CreditWatch negative our ratings on BP Plc, Eni SpA, Repsol S.A., Statoil ASA, Statoil Forsikring AS, Statoil US Holdings Inc., and Total S.A.” read more

Moody’s will also review the ratings of two U.S. refining joint ventures linked to Shell, Motiva Enterprises LLC and Deer Park Refining LP.

By Mikael Holter and Rakteem Katakey: Bloomberg.com: 22 JAN 2016

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and Statoil ASA, three of Europe’s biggest oil producers, were among more than 100 energy companies whose credit ratings were placed on review for possible downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service.

The reviews come after the rating company cut its oil-price forecasts and should for the most part be completed this quarter, Moody’s said in a statement on Friday. Prices may recover more slowly than companies expect and there is a risk they may fall further, it said. read more

…many of those involved have been ridiculed, slandered, spied on, harassed, beaten and jailed – all for upholding their democratic right to peaceful dissent. Incidents included the 2005 jailing of the Rossport Five, who spent 94 days in prison at the behest of Shell.

Ruairí McKiernan

As gas is flared into the skies above north Mayo, it is worth reflecting on a project that has been one of modern Ireland’s greatest scandals, a stunning fiasco in planning, economics, environmental protection and the abuse of civil liberties.

Far from it being just about energy supply, jobs and development, the Corrib gas project cuts to the core of this republic and asks big questions about how the country is run.

For more than 10 years now, campaigners have attempted to highlight the project’s many flaws. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Statoil ASA no longer face an European Union investigation into potential manipulation of fuel benchmarks, the regulator indicated on Monday. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

By Aoife White: Stephanie Bodoni: Peter Levring and Gaspard Sebag: Bloomberg.com: 7 December 2015

• EU’s Vestager shows willingness to dump cases going nowhere
• Commission retreats from high-profile oil investigation

Days after dropping a high-profile probe into some of Wall Street’s top banks, the European Commission quietly sounded the retreat from an antitrust case that’s embroiled some of the world’s biggest oil producers since 2013. read more

Reuters – Mon, 7 Dec 2015 17:58 GMT

By Philip Blenkinsop and Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Dec 7 (Reuters) – EU antitrust regulators have dropped Shell, BP, and Statoil from an investigation into suspected rigging of ethanol benchmarks, focusing instead on three producers of the biofuel.

The European Commission said on Monday it had opened a formal antitrust investigation into the actions of Spanish company Abengoa SA, Belgium’s Alcogroup SA and Lantmännen ek för of Sweden.

In April, EU antitrust regulators raided several bioenthanol companies and at the same time stepped up a two-year investigation into biofuel price benchmarks. In 2013, it searched the offices of BP, Shell and Statoil too. read more

By Aoife White: December 7, 2015

• Crude oil sector no longer under investigation in case

• EU steps up case focusing on ethanol benchmarks rigging

Oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Statoil ASA, no longer face a European Union investigation into potential manipulation of crude oil benchmarks.

The European Commission “is currently not investigating further behaviors in price benchmarks for the crude oil sector,” Ricardo Cardoso, a spokesman for regulator said in an e-mail. He said the EU’s current probe focuses “on price benchmarks for the ethanol sector.”

Raids on Shell, BP, Statoil and price publisher Platts in May 2013 over suspected benchmark-rigging echoed probes into banks for trying to fix the London Interbank Offered Rate and foreign exchange markets. EU antitrust regulators levied 1.7 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in fines later that year over Libor manipulation. read more

STAVANGER, NORWAY: Business News | Thu Nov 19, 2015

Shell plans to decide next year whether to resume installing subsea compressors at its giant Ormen Lange field offshore Norway, a company’s senior executive said on Thursday, after stopping the project last year to save costs.

“We still expect in the course of 2016 that we will get to a point where we can see whether we can sanction a good development there or not,” Mark Wildon, a vice-president at Shell Norway, told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference. read more

Marvin Odum President Shell Oil Co

Posted on November 10, 2015 | By Jordan Blum

A carbon tax or cap-and-trade system in the U.S. — and globally — would serve the energy industry better than the current slate of piecemeal state and federal regulations, Shell Oil Co. President Marvin Odum  said Tuesday.

He acknowledged that Congress won’t take action soon in gridlocked Washington, but said that people should move beyond sound bites. Odum spoke at University of Houston’s energy symposium focusing on whether now is the right time for a carbon tax. read more

By Jon Yeomans: 30 Oct 2015

BG Group, which is due to be taken over by Shell early next year, has reported a slump in profits as the low oil price continues to take a toll on producers.

Net income at the Reading-based company fell 63pc to $280m (£182m) in the third quarter from $759m a year earlier. Nonetheless, this beat expectations, with some analysts pencilling in a result closer to $200.5m.

Including impairments, disposals and foreign exchange movements caused by the falling value of the dollar, BG recorded a loss of £101m. read more