JUNE 17, 2019 / 2:17 PM

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch court on Monday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to pay a 2.5 million euro ($2.8 million) fine for failing to prevent an explosion at its Moerdijk facility in 2014 and for breaching emissions limits at the plant.

The district court in Den Bosch said Shell had not done enough to prevent an incident on June 3, 2014 which resulted in a series of explosions and a large fire at the Moerdijk chemical plant.

“The factory, employees, the surroundings and the environment were subject to great danger that day”, the court said. “This justifies a significant punishment.” read more

Earlier this month, a Dutch court ruled that it had the jurisdiction and would hear a damages lawsuit against Shell brought by the widows of activists executed by Nigeria’s government after the protests in Ogoniland in the 1990s.

By Tsvetana Paraskova – May 27, 2019, 4:00 PM CDT

The Nigerian unit of Royal Dutch Shell doesn’t have any plans to return to exploring or producing oil in Ogoniland in Nigeria’s Rivers state after it ceased operations there in the 1990s, Igo Weli, General Manager, External Relations, at the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said this weekend at the release of Shell Nigeria’s 2019 Briefing Notes.

SPDC, as operator of the SPDC Joint Venture, carried out exploration and production operations in Ogoniland from the 1950s until the early 1990s. Production ceased in 1993 following a rise in violence, threats to staff, and attacks on facilities, Shell said. read more

MAY 15, 2019

The public prosecution department says Shell should pay the maximum fine of €2.4m for the explosion on the Moerdijk industrial estate in 2014 and a further €250,000 for not taking immediate action to halt the leak of a dangerous gas in 2016.

Shell should pay the maximum fine for the explosion because it had not done all it could to prevent the blast taking place, placing both workers and local residents in danger, the prosecutor said at a court hearing in Den Bosch on Tuesday. read more

The court ordered that the case should not be time-barred, while also granting the prayers of the plaintiffs that Shell should hand over the confidential internal documents to the plaintiffs’ lawyers

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK: MAY 02, 2019

The District Court of the Hague has issued an interim ruling in favour of wives of Ogoni leaders killed in 1995 during the military era of Sani Abacha.

The case, which was instituted by four wives of the slain leaders — Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula — accused Shell of being involved in the decision by the Nigerian government that led to the killing of their husbands.

The plaintiffs are also calling on the court to order Shell to hand over more than 100,000 internal documents crucial to the case. Shell’s lawyers have refused to do so, even though these documents were submitted as evidence in the US case.

Shell had said that the Dutch court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, but the court ordered that the case must continue.

In its ruling on Wednesday, the court ordered that the case should not be time barred, while also granting the prayers of the plaintiffs that Shell should hand over the confidential internal documents to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, and that they would have the opportunity to examine witnesses.

Amnesty International, an international human rights organization, supported Kiobel’s legal team to bring the case to the Netherlands in 2017, and detailed Shell’s role in the arrests and executions in a briefing. read more

by Allister Thomas: 26/04/2019, 11:49 amUpdated: 26/04/2019, 11:52 am

A new report alleges that Shell and Eni benefited ‘at the expense’ of the Nigerian people in a generous military-style contact in 2011.

Analysis from non-profit watchdog Global Witness suggests the firms signed a “Sole Risk” contract, which gave away Nigeria’s right to its share of the oil produced in the $1.1bn deal.

Court cases are underway into allegations of bribery in the deal for the OPL 245 license, which holds one of the country’s largest oil fields. read more

APRIL 5, 2019

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Environmentalist and human rights groups said on Friday they had started a lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell in the Netherlands to force the energy firm to cut its reliance on fossil fuels.

The groups, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Netherlands, handed over a court summons to Shell at its headquarters in The Hague, demanding it stop extracting oil and gas and cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.

“Shell spends billions on oil and gas exploration each year, with current plans to invest just 5 percent of its budget in sustainable energy and 95 percent in exploiting fossil fuels,” the groups said. read more

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Climate activists are planning to deliver a court summons to Shell in a court case aimed at forcing the energy giant to do more to rein in carbon emissions.

The summons is being delivered to Shell’s headquarters in The Hague on Friday afternoon.

The move comes a year after the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth sent a letter to Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden accusing the company of “breaching its legal duty of care” by causing climate damage across the globe. read more

$165K Settlement Reached With Shell Oil Over Refinery Violations in 2015, 2016

By Bay City News: Published Mar 14, 2019

The Shell Oil Company has agreed to pay $165,000 as part of an agreement with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District regarding air quality violations at their refinery in Martinez in 2015 and 2016, according to air district officials.

The settlement, which the district announced today, addresses 16 violations over two years including sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide emissions, a shelter-in-place order, a cargo vessel tank that was overdue for emissions inspections and broken seals on a liquid storage tank. read more

Former Shell CEO Peter Voser is an unlucky man. He had the incredible misfortune to be in charge of the bad guys at both corporate giants, Shell and UBS Bank simultaneously, while presumably being personally innocent of any criminal acts? What are the chances of that happening? The question of managerial negligence, twice-over, must surely be another matter?

By John Donovan

Printed below is an article published yesterday by BBC News reporting that the “Swiss banking giant UBS has been fined €3.7bn (£3.2bn; $4.2bn) in a French tax fraud case.”

The article goes on to say that “Following similar cases in the US in 2009 and Germany in 2014, the bank accepted large fines.”

During the period of criminal activity the then Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc – Peter Voser – was paid millions of Swiss francs in his role as a director of UBS AG. He was also a member of the governance and nominating committee and of the strategy committee. read more

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN Business

Updated 0832 GMT (1632 HKT) February 12, 2019

London (CNN Business)Climate activists are preparing legal action aimed at forcing Royal Dutch Shell to exit the oil business.

A coalition of environmental groups in the Netherlands said Tuesday that they will hand over a court summons on April 5 if Shell does not change its business model to comply with the Paris climate accord. read more

Shell Offshore to pay $2.2 million fine for 2016 Gulf spill

By Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Shell Offshore Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.2 million civil fine to the federal government to settle charges that the company violated the Clean Water Act by spilling 1,900 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in May 2016 when a subsea pipeline cracked at the company’s Green Canyon oil field.

The fine, announced in the Federal Register on Friday (Feb. 1), will be paid after the expiration of a 30-day comment period. The money will be deposited in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is used to pay for oil spill cleanups. read more

Angry Dutch citizens on Thursday will ask their country’s highest court to put an immediate end to gas production in the Groningen region due to the risk of life-endangering earthquakes.

17 Jan 2019 

THE HAGUE: Angry Dutch citizens on Thursday will ask their country’s highest court to put an immediate end to gas production in the Groningen region due to the risk of life-endangering earthquakes.

Decades of extraction from what once was Europe’s largest natural gas field have led to dozens of minor tremors every year, damaging thousands of homes and sparking unrest among locals.

An unusually severe, magnitude 3.4 quake prompted the Dutch government last year to decide to end production by 2030 and to lower it as quickly as possible in coming years. read more

EXCLUSIVE: TV chef who previously campaigned for green causes is facing a major backlash

The TV chef has launched Jamie Oliver deli by Shell (Image: PA)

Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria.

By Tom Bryant: Head Of Showbiz: 20:54, 15 JAN 2019

Jamie Oliver has sparked fresh fury after trying to defend his £5million food-to-go deal with Shell.

The TV chef, 43, yesterday launched his range for the oil giant, despite campaigning for action on climate change.

He said he had “thought a lot” before agreeing to it, adding: “There are pitfalls working for any client, they all have their own baggage.”

But campaigners hit out at his reasoning, which comes after Jamie told of a cash crisis at his company.

Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria. read more

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

Almost a year on from raids that led to over a dozen arrests, including of several former employees of the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell, charge sheets state that around 340,000 tonnes of gasoil were stolen from the oil major’s Pulau Bukom site in Singapore. Some of the incidents date back to 2014.

Smokes rises out of chimneys from a Shell oil refinery on Pulau Bukom, five kilometres to the south of the main island of Singapore on January 13, 2015. 

Around $150 million worth of oil was stolen from Shell’s biggest global refinery over several years, Singapore court documents reviewed by Reuters show, far more than reported when police first revealed the heist earlier this year.

Almost a year on from raids that led to over a dozen arrests, including of several former employees of the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell, charge sheets state that around 340,000 tonnes of gasoil were stolen from the oil major’s Pulau Bukom site in Singapore, in incidents dating back to 2014. read more

Shell is facing a civil suit in Netherland over its alleged complicity in the killing of Mr Saro-Wiwa and the eight other Ogoni activists. The suit was filed on June 28, 2017, by four of the widows of the Ogoni Nine, led by Esther Kiobel.

Cletus Ukpong: 10 November 2018

It is exactly 23 years today since Ken Saro-Wiwa, a playwright, environmental activist and Ogoni leader was brutally executed.

He was executed on November 10, 1995, by the Nigerian government under the leadership of the then military dictator, Sani Abacha.

Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight of his kinsmen, who became popularly known as the Ogoni Nine, were sentenced to death by a special military tribunal set up by Mr Abacha who later died in June 1998 inside the presidential villa under mysterious circumstances. read more

Italian prosecutors allege that a year after its agreement with the U.S., Shell and Eni SpA, its partner in Nigeria, paid more than $1 billion to win offshore licenses, which mostly went to bribes.

As the company moves away from oil, it can’t shake its years operating in the pollution- and graft-ridden nation.

A leaking, out-of-service Shell oil well head catches fire in Nigeria in 2006. PHOTOGRAPHER: ED KASHI/VII

By Kelly Gilblom

Perched in a helicopter sweeping over the mangrove forests of the Niger Delta, a photographer named Casey is looking for trouble. And she finds it, down among a cluster of tree trunks stained with crude. A faint disturbance in a jungle clearing turns out to be a group of men pawing at a pipeline, a tiny slice of a 1,200-mile web that feeds Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s bustling export hub on Bonny Island. Some of the men flee as the chopper closes in, but most redouble their efforts as Casey aims her camera. “I’ve seen things get better,” she said before takeoff. “Then they go back to getting worse.” 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

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

Energy giant Shell has been fined £40,000 for breaching climate pollution rules at the Mossmorran Chemical plant in Fife.

Written by Allister Thomas – 17/07/2018

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency  (SEPA) imposed the fine after Shell broke regulation on reporting emissions at the site between 2013 and 2015.

Shell operates a plant at the site in Fife to process thousands of tonnes of North Sea gas per day.

The company had under reported propane unit volumes by approximately 0.5% of total plant volumes over the three-year period.

EU rules mean the firm is obliged to report its climate pollution.

A note on the Sepa website states: “Failure to comply with condition 4 of a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Permit. read more

Shell Subsidiary to Pay $3.8 Million for 2016 Gulf Spill

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The May 11, 2016, spill of nearly 2,000 barrels (317974.6 liters) occurred about 97 miles (156 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast.

The New Orleans Advocate, citing court documents, reports that an investigation pointed to a leak in a piping system that is used to transport oil from a production well on the sea floor.

The settlement isn’t final. It must first be published in the Federal Register and have a 30-day public comment period before it can get final approval from a federal judge. read more

Shell CEO says ‘foolhardy’ to set carbon reduction targets

Ron Bousso: JULY 5, 2018

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s boss said it would be “foolhardy” for the oil and gas producer to set hard targets to reduce carbon emissions as it risked exposing the energy giant to legal challenges.

The energy industry has struggled in recent years to find a clear path to secure its role as the world shifts from fossil fuels in order to meet the 2015 Paris climate agreement goals.

Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden last year set out ambitions last year to halve its carbon emissions by 2050, far exceeding rivals. But the Dutch CEO resisted calls by activists and some investors to set binding targets. read more

Shell, Exxon not to seek compensation for end of Groningen gas production: government

Reuters Staff: Monday June 25, 2018

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Energy companies Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil will not submit a claim for missed revenue due to the Dutch government’s decision to halt gas production at the Groningen field by 2030, the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday.

“A lot of gas will be left in the ground,” Economy minister Eric Wiebes said at the presentation of his deal with the oil majors responsible for extracting Groningen gas.

“That gas is the property of the oil companies, but they will not submit a claim and the government is not required to compensate them.” read more

Nigeria: Court Orders Shell to Pay $3.6 Billion Fine Over Oil Spill

20 June 2018

Lagos — Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, sitting at a Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a suit by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd challenging the imposition of $3.6billion fine on it by the Federal Government.

The court resolved all the issues in the defendant’s favour and dismissed the suit.

Shell sued the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), challenging its powers to impose levies or fines over oil spills.

The plaintiff prayed the court to declare that NOSDRA cannot, in the light of Section 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution, validly exercise any powers under Section 5, 6, 7 and 19 of the NOSDRA Act. read more

REUTERS STAFF: JUNE 13, 2018 / 4:03 PM

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s Supreme Court threw out an appeal from Shell and four former Shell managers to stymie a corruption trial that has also involved Eni’s chief executive, legal sources said on Wednesday.

The long-running graft case on alleged corruption in Nigeria, revolves around the 2011 purchase by Eni and Shell of Nigeria’s OPL-245 offshore oilfield for about $1.3 billion. The trial began last month, with the next hearing set for June 20. read more

Jun. 8, 2018 10:39 AM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Shell campaigner loses High Court case against Corrib gas pipeline

MAURA HARRINGTON – Campaigner against the Shell Corrib gas project in Co Mayo. Alone, unrepresented, faced four senior counsel. 

By Ann O’Loughlin: 08/06/2018 – 12:15:57

A campaigner against the Shell Corrib gas project in Co Mayo has lost her High Court bid to overturn a ministerial consent for a pipeline bringing gas to a refinery at Ballinaboy.

Maura Harrington, who has opposed the project since 2001, has described it as “a land, sea and air attack on the place that is Erris”. read more

Shell Settles With Epa For Hazardous Waste ViolationsBay

City News Service: Published 11:37 pm, Monday, June 4, 2018

Shell Oil will pay a settlement to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for hazardous waste violations at a crude oil refinery near Martinez. The settlement will include a $142,664 civil penalty and $220,300 in equipment improvements. The initial EPA complaint included failure to manage and report hazardous waste materials…

FULL ARTICLE

May 25, 2018 12:58 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

A confidential study that Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has been accused of trying to shield from public view showed worsening “catastrophic” pollution around oil spill sites in Nigeria, WSJ reports.

At least one of the study’s authors has urged the findings to be widely distributed because they pointed to significant health risks to the local Bodo community in Nigeria but said that Shell had denied him permission to publish the study’s results in a scientific journal, according to the WSJ report. read more

A federal judge yesterday said he needed more information before deciding whether to dismiss lawsuits by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland alleging that Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), BP and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) should pay to protect residents from the impacts of climate change.

The judge also wants the companies to produce additional material backing up claims that they should not be a part of the case because the court lacked jurisdiction over them. read more

The five defendants are the world’s largest investor-owned oil companies: Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP PLC, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Five oil companies are due to ask a federal judge on Thursday to dismiss a pair of climate change lawsuits filed by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup will hear arguments on the companies’ motions for dismissal in his San Francisco courtroom at 8 a.m. Thursday.

The lawsuits filed last year claim the corporations created a
public nuisance by producing “massive quantities” of oil and natural gas and promoting their use while knowing they lead to global warming and rising sea levels. read more

REUTERS STAFF: MAY 24, 2018

By Estelle Shirbon

LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) – A British judge ruled on Thursday that Nigeria’s Bodo community, which has been involved in a protracted legal battle with Shell over the clean-up of two 2008 oil spills, should retain the option of litigation for another year.

Lawyers for Bodo had accused Shell of trying to kill off the legal case by seeking a court order that would have meant the community had to meet onerous conditions before it could revive its litigation, which is currently on hold. read more

By Hugo Miller , Kelly Gilblom , and Sergio Di Pasquale: 24 May 2018, 08:40 BST Updated on 24 May 2018, 10:23 BST

A briefcase seized from a Geneva apartment two years ago could be the key to an Italian bribery case against Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA — if it makes it to Milan in time.

The bag held SIM cards, Nigerian passports, a laptop and a hard drive containing more than 40,000 documents, and belonged to Emeka Obi, according to a spokesman for the Geneva Prosecutor’s Office. Swiss prosecutors found it during a raid for an unrelated investigation and are trying to get it to their Italian colleagues, who are prosecuting Obi as an alleged middle man in a $1.1 billion kickback scheme involving the energy companies vying for a Nigerian oil license.

Obi’s lawyers persuaded a Geneva judge to put the contents of his briefcase under seal, citing his rights to privacy. Now a decision by Geneva’s Measures of Constraint Court on whether to lift that seal is expected as soon as this month.

While officials in Milan have moved forward with charges against the oil companies without the briefcase, the evidence could strengthen the graft case. The trial, which centers around events in 2011, begins on June 20. Milanese Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale said he has “sent more reminders” to the Swiss saying he wants the briefcase, underscoring its importance. read more

By Jeremy Hodges, Lauren Leatherby and Kartikay Mehrotra
May 24, 2018

In the global fight against climate change, one tool is proving increasingly popular: litigation.

From California to the Philippines, activists, governments and concerned citizens are suing the biggest polluters and national governments over the effects of climate change at a break-neck pace.

“The courts are our last, best hope at this moment of irreversible harm to our planet and life on it,” said Julia Olson, an attorney for Our Children’s Trust, a legal challenge center in the U.S. that is involved in climate change litigation across 13 countries, including the U.S., Pakistan and Uganda. read more

Nigeria: Shell’s Oil Spill Dispute With Nigerian Villagers Back in UK Court

Lawyers for the Bodo community in Ogoniland of Rivers State, which was devastated by two major oil spills in 2008, went to court in London yesterday to fend off what they said was an attempt by Shell to kill off their litigation.

This is coming as crude oil price rose briefly to $80 per barrel yesterday after the United States toughened its stance on Iran and Venezuela, key oil producers and members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The Bodo oil spills have been the subject of years of legal wrangling. read more

Estelle Shirbon: MAY 22, 2018

LONDON (Reuters) – Lawyers for the Bodo community in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, which was devastated by two major oil spills a decade ago, went to court in London on Tuesday to fend off what they said was an attempt by Shell to kill off their litigation.

The Bodo oil spills have been the subject of years of legal wrangling. In 2015, Shell accepted liability for the spills, agreeing to pay 55 million pounds ($83 million at the time) to Bodo villagers and to clean up their lands and waterways. read more

Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed tomorrow to rule on the garnishee proceedings filed by some Ogoni chiefs from Ejama community in Rivers State against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and First Bank of Nigeria Limited for their failure to pay a N122 billion judgment debt against Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SDPC).

The judge also fixed the same day to rule on whether to jail the Chairman of First Bank, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, for failing to pay the amount as ordered by a Federal High Court in Owerri, Imo State. read more

Reuters Staff: MAY 14, 2018

MILAN (Reuters) – The trial of top executives from oil majors Eni (ENI.MI) and Shell (RDSa.L) over alleged corruption in Nigeria kicked off on Monday with a brief procedural hearing and a decision to re-adjourn next month.

At the next hearing, set for June 20, the Milan court said it would assess requests from third parties, including a series of international non-profit organizations, to join the case.

At Monday’s hearing Domenico Cartoni Schittar, a lawyer representing the Nigerian government, said he was stepping down from his role.  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

A corruption trial against oil giants Shell and Eni and Nigeria’s ex-oil minister Dan Etete is getting started in Milan. The case deals with alleged bribes valuing millions, and the Italian trial is not the only one.

Starting Monday, the Italian city of Milan will be the scene of a month-long trial that deals with corruption allegations in the oil industry.

The Milan public prosecutor’s office accuses the Italian oil firm Eni and the British-Dutch oil company Shell of having paid millions of dollars in bribes in order to acquire a lucrative oil exploration and drilling license in Nigeria.

Now 15 defendants are facing trial. Most of them employees of the two companies but Nigeria’s ex-Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete, will also be tried. read more

• Ben Chapman
• @b_c_chapman
• Sunday 13 May 2018 18:19 BST

Royal Dutch Shell, Italian oil giant Eni and a number of senior executives at the two firms face trial in Milan on Monday over corruption charges relating to a $1.1bn (£800m) deal for a Nigerian oil block.

The Milan public prosecutor alleges that $520m from a 2011 deal to buy rights to a vast oil block off Nigeria’s coast was converted into cash and intended to be paid to the then Nigerian resident Goodluck Jonathan, members of the government and other Nigerian government officials.  read more

By Bayo Akinloye: 12 MAY 2018

The Royal Dutch Shell and Eni, along with a number of their senior executives, will on Monday face criminal charges in Milan, Italy, for alleged aggravated international corruption for their role in a $1.1bn deal for a Malabu Oil’s OPL 245.

This was made known in a statement yesterday by the international corruption watchdog, the Global Witness.

It noted that no company as large as Royal Dutch Shell or senior executives of a major oil company had ever stood trial for bribery offences.  read more

FILE PHOTO: The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) headquarters are seen in Abuja, Nigeria December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo

For decades, communities in the Niger Delta oil heartland have complained that spills and pollution have destroyed their land and killed off wildlife. Rights group Amnesty International accused international oil majors Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Eni SpA in March of negligence when addressing spills in Nigeria.

Paul Carsten, Alexis Akwagyiram: MAY 10, 2018

The draft laws, posted on the Nigerian legislature’s website on April 30, are the versions intended for the Senate, the upper house of parliament.

The PIB aims to improve transparency, attract investors, stimulate growth and increase government revenues.

After being debated for well over a decade, the unwieldly and contentious legislation was broken into sections to help it pass into law. read more

By Bob Van Voris: 4 May 2018, 23:09 BST Updated on 5 May 2018, 02:09 BST

Case affects global economy, national security, companies say

New York argues oil companies denied climate change science

This lawsuit is based upon the fundamental principle that a corporation that makes a product causing severe harm when used exactly as intended should shoulder the costs of abating that harm. Defendants here produced, marketed, and sold massive quantities of fossil fuels—primarily oil and natural gas—despite knowing that the combustion and use of fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases (“GHG pollution” or “GHGs”), primarily carbon dioxide (“CO2”). Defendants have also known for decades that GHG pollution accumulates and remains in the atmosphere for up to hundreds of years, where it traps heat, a process commonly referred to as “climate change” or “global warming,” and that this process would cause grave harm.

Five of the world’s biggest oil companies asked a judge to throw out New York City’s lawsuit seeking to hold them responsible for costs related to the environmental changes caused by their products. 

BP Plc, Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., and Royal Dutch Shell Plc argued that the court lacks the authority to resolve broad policy questions with “profound implications for the global economy, international relations and America’s national security.” read more

The world’s biggest oil companies, for long typecast as villains of climate change, are seeking to reinvent themselves as environmental pioneers.

“We’re not going to be sitting back and say let’s see what society does and we’ll follow that,” said Ben van Beurden, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. “We’re more than prepared to be assertive and lean forward and say: ‘This is what it takes.”’

Irked by a shareholder resolution that would force Europe’s largest oil company to create specific emissions targets, the CEO took the unusual step of engaging with five reporters on Monday about Shell’s vision for a decarbonized world. Not only is Shell implementing its own, much stronger, measures to manage the energy transition, according to Van Beurden, but it can also drag the rest of the world along with it. read more

Tristan R. Brown: Apr. 16, 2018 12:44 PM ET

Summary

• A Netherlands environmental NGO has threatened to bring yet another climate change lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell if it does not fundamentally change its business operations.
• While multinational corporations are constantly being threatened with legal action, this specific one is unique.
• It has the hallmarks of recent climate lawsuits against Shell in the U.S., but would be based in a court system that has mandated stricter climate policy before.

Can non-shareholder private entities force oil and gas companies to accept lower returns on capital? Investors in Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B) will receive an answer to this question if an environmental NGO moves forward with a threatened lawsuit in the Netherlands that would require the company to do exactly that.

Notably, Shell recently committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% through 2050 via billions of dollars of investments in renewable energy capacity. The NGO in question, Friends of the Earth Netherlands (aka Milieudefensie), deems this effort insufficient and insists that the company must abandon its oil and gas reserves and be “net zero” (i.e., no net emissions of greenhouse gases) by that date instead. While Shell’s investors largely shrugged off the threat (see figure), if they even noticed it at all, the development represents the opening of a new front in the lawsuits being waged by U.S. municipalities against the company and its Big Oil competitors. read more

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) urges shareholders to oppose a resolutionfrom activist investors that would hold the company to firm targets for cutting carbon emissions, even as it reiterates its commitment to fighting climate change.

Climate activist Follow This is offering a resolution for Shell’s May 22 annual general meeting urging the company to set more aggressive targets aligned with the Paris climate deal goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius.

“We will not be tied to an approach that potentially moves too quickly or too slowly to this transition,” says CEO Ben van Beurden. “If society finds a way to go faster, we will go faster… but we cannot do it single-handedly.” read more

By Janene Pieters on Monday April 16, 2018

Shell “should have been more assertive” in its warnings about climate change, Ben van Beurden, CEO of the Dutch oil and gas giant said in a podcast by Studio Energie. Environmental group Milieudefensie recently filed a lawsuit against Shell for the role it played in the climate problems the world currently faces. 

In 1991 Shell released a film that outlined a disturbing picture of the problems climate change will cause in the future. “Perhaps we should have talked louder, maybe we should have made a bigger problem out if it? To be honest, I think, if we look back on that, we could and should have been more assertive”, Van Beurden said in the podcast, according to NOS. “Because now the problem is put on us, while ultimately it is of course a much broader social problem.”  read more

April 13, 2018

Economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes is embroiled in a dispute with Shell and ExxonMobil about the bill for closing the gas taps in Groningen, broadcaster NOS said on Friday.

The dispute revolves around a potential billion euro claim facing the Dutch state from the oil giants, NOS says. It bases its claim on documents obtained using freedom of information legislation.

If the plans goes ahead to close off the Groningen fields by 2030, some €50bn to €125bn worth of gas will remain underground. And documents from 2016 show the oil companies will make a claim against the Dutch state for lost income, the broadcaster said. read more

Milieudefensie and Groningen residents dump fracking earthquake rubble in front of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague, 26 Oct 2017. Photo: @milieudefensie / Twitter

Shell and Exxon wants the government to pay them billions of euros in compensation for the gas that will not be extracted from Groningen now that the government is gradually reducing gas production in the province to zero, NOS reports.

With the government’s plans to stop gas extraction in Groningen, between 50 and 120 billion euros of gas will remain un-mined, according to documents NOS got by appealing to the freedom of information act. The oil companies want compensation for that. Previously Minister Erik Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate said that the government “does not want a claim for damage over the gas remaining in the ground”, according to the broadcaster.  read more