Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: 

Nigeria is suing Royal Dutch Shell and Eni for $1.1 billion that it claims it missed out on as a result of alleged corruption in a 2011 oil deal. The country said that it had lodged the claim in the High Court in London against the companies to recoup payments they made for an offshore oil exploration block. It alleges that the oil majors knew that much of the $1.3 billion they had paid to the Nigerian government to secure ownership of the OPL 245 licence ultimately would be paid in bribes. The allegations are already the subject of criminal proceedings in Italy and Nigeria. Both Shell and Eni deny any wrongdoing. Shell is an Anglo-Dutch group that employs about 80,000 people in more than… Want to read more? 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

Alexandra Alper: DECEMBER 11, 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A small amount of crude oil belonging to Royal Dutch Shell Plc leaked during a ship-to-ship oil transfer in Brazilian waters last month, the company confirmed to Reuters on Monday.

About 200 milliliters of crude were released on Nov. 30 during the maneuver, which was halted after the drip was detected, Shell said, adding that authorities were notified and the incident left no trace of oil in the sea.

However, a letter obtained by Reuters and sent to Brazilian environmental regulator Ibama by chartering firm Triaina Agencia Maritima said “drops of oil spilled into the ocean” and that the small quantity could not be measured. read more

Written by Allister Thomas – 06/12/2018 7:50 am

The UK Government has said it will encourage other oil and gas firms to follow Shell in linking executives’ pay packs to climate targets.

Earlier this week the energy major announced an unprecedented move to link remuneration to reducing its carbon footprint.

Climate groups widely welcomed the action, as Shell aims to make a 20% reduction by 20135 and 50% by 2050.

Starting in 2020, Shell will set the target each year, for the following three or five-year period.

In the House of Lords yesterday, the Bishop of St Albans,  Alan Smith, asked about efforts to encourage more oil and gas firms to follow suit. read more

Ben van Beurden

The linkage of carbon reduction targets to bonuses will not just apply to the top team but to a thousand or more senior Shell managers.

CARL MORTISHED: 5 Dec 2018

It’s tough setting pay incentives for the boss. You want him to have an eye on the big prize — more profits, more dividends. But you also want him to invest well, to run a tight ship and not sacrifice the long-term in pursuit of a quick buck. But what incentive is right when you worry that the core business might be banned within several decades?

Big oil companies wrestle with this. Investors adore the cash dividend from crude. But many want to know what the oil majors will do if petroleum-based fuels are phased out in order to reduce carbon emissions. Shell has been playing cat and mouse with some saintly shareholders who want their dividends free of soot and CO2. In order to achieve that, these investors want carbon-reduction targets embedded in the bosses’ bonus plans. read more

Shell issued a big announcement Monday: Not only will it be setting short-term targets in line with its longer-term “Net Carbon Footprint” ambition, but it will also be linking these targets with executive remuneration. Greener Shell = richer executives, or at least that’s the plan — the link will be subject to a shareholder vote at the company’s 2020 AGM.

The move is not entirely unprecedented — Statoil’s head of Norwegian production and development gets more money when absolute carbon emissions fall — but the scale of Shell’s proposal, which reverses a previous aversion to hard targets, is something else. According to the Financial Times, the link between long-term financial incentives and emissions reductions could affect up to 1,200 Shell executives. read more

Yet for oil, what’s past is prologue: even with higher prices, both the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and International Energy Agency (IEA) modeling have repeatedly forecast more demand for as far as the eye can see. After all, oil is the world’s most important fuel, supplying 35 percent of all energy used. While the link between economic growth and oil use can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, the two clearly progress in tandem – a long studied link demonstrated in regression modeling and peer-reviewed studies. read more

Nov. 19, 2018 1:04 PM ET

Summary

• Royal Dutch Shell has had a difficult time since the start of the oil crash. However, the company has an impressive portfolio and is executing on its plan.
• Royal Dutch Shell continues to earn tens of billions of dollars annually. The company is investing heavily in growth and buying back shares.
• I recommend interested investors take advantage of the current share prices given the company’s strength.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B) is an integrated oil company, one of the largest in the world. The company has a market cap of more than $250 billion and pays investors a very respectable dividend in the high-single digits. As we will see throughout this article, Royal Dutch Shell’s asset portfolio, growth, and potential make the company a strong investment.

Royal Dutch Shell Asset Portfolio

Royal Dutch Shell has an incredibly strong asset portfolio that will provide it with both strong production and strong cash flow. read more

Nov. 12, 2018 11:13 AM ET

Summary

• The European Oil sector has demonstrated an impressive capital discipline, with renewed focused on cash earnings.
• Royal Dutch Shell is an exceptional cash generating machine that has recently released the best quarterly results in the company’s history.
• The muted share response to the earnings report creates a wonderful entry point to an unloved sector.

My high conviction investment thesis in Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B) is based on three success pillars. The first pillar is growth in net income, accompanied by a significant rise in free cash flow. The second pillar is shareholder friendliness, or how Shell treats its shareholders well. The third pillar, as in with every investment, is the current compelling valuation of shares

Responsible, Consistent Growth

In the third quarter, Shell generated adjusted net income in the amount of $5.6 billion, up a whopping 37 percent compared to the third quarter of last year. Earnings were 70 cents a share, up 40 percent year over year. More importantly, the company’s growth is well balanced between its different divisions. The upstream division (oil exploration) generated adjusted net income of1.88$ billion, compared to a meager 562$ million during the third quarter of 2017. read more

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

November 04, 2018, 07:19:00 AM EDT By Tyler Crowe, Motley Fool

This past quarter,  Royal Dutch Shell ‘s (NYSE: RDS-A) (NYSE: RDS-B) results showed the company can fund just about anything it wants right now. A large capital expenditure program? Yup. Pay down some debt? Sure! Fund its dividend? Of course! How about a $2 billion share repurchase program on top of all of that? Why not! The reason it is able to do this is that the company is generating an almost unfathomable amount of cash right now. Shell’s management said this was the most cash it has pulled in since the second quarter of 2008 when oil prices were in the $110-to-$120-per-barrel range. read more

1 November 2018

Royal Dutch Shell’s profits surged by 37% in the third quarter of the year on the back of rising oil prices.

The Anglo-Dutch giant said earnings excluding one-off items on a current cost of supply measure (CCS), which strips out price fluctuations, hit $5.6bn (£4.3bn) from $4.1bn last year.

Rising oil and gas prices in the July-to-September period were the main driver of profits.

Shell joins rivals, including BP, in reporting strong results.

However, the figure was lower than a company-provided analysts’ consensus forecast of nearly $5.8bn. read more

Anglo-Dutch oil major banks on Gulf of Mexico to help navigate energy transition read more

Giants amass cash for share buybacks and dividends

Rachel Millard: October 28 2018

The two biggest London-listed oil majors are expected to report higher profits and cash levels this week, driven by rising oil and gas prices as the industry’s recovery continues.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude averaged $75.80 during the third quarter of the year, 45% higher than the same period in 2017, while UK gas prices are up 54% year-on-year.

The rally following the crash that sent prices below $30 a barrel in 2016 is helping companies to repay debt and start rewarding shareholders, even as it pushes up costs for households and motorists. Analysts’ profit forecasts for BP, which reports on Tuesday, averaged $2.8bn (£2.2bn) compared with $1.9bn during the same quarter last year. read more

October 19, 2018 Oladeinde Olawoyin

The trial of officials of oil giants Eni and Shell over the controversial Malabu scandal will resume Wednesday at the Milan Palace of Justice in Italy, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The Milan court’s decision came after Simon Taylor, a founding director of anti-corruption group, Global Witness, appeared before it as witness on Wednesday.

Mr Taylor’s Global Witness, together with PREMIUM TIMES and its London partner, Finance Uncovered, have for years done extensive investigations into the long-running controversial oil deal. read more

David Sanderson, Arts Correspondent: October 20, 2018

Another oil company has pulled out of a sponsorship deal with a British cultural institution after years of protests.

Shell’s withdrawal from a deal with the National Gallery follows that of BP from Tate and other organisations.

Shell said that its decision to end the 12-year agreement, thought to have been worth about £500,000 over that period, would allow it to focus on work to “inspire the next generation of engineers” through science, technology, engineering and mathematics programmes. read more

Speaking on a panel at SPE’s Annual Technology Conference and Exhibition in Dallas last month, Choong shared that Shell has made one of those choices by signing a 3-year deal to use the enterprise-wide analytics platform developed by Silicon Valley-based C3 IOT on Microsoft’s Azure cloud service.

The development comes on the heels of BP’s September announcement that is expanding the use of a competing analytics platform. Taken together, these cases reveal how large operating companies plan to manage and put into action their growing arsenals of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) programs. read more

BY MAREX 2018-10-17 19:01:00

Following Chevron’s lead, Shell has decided to sell its interests in the Danish North Sea offshore sector. In an announcement on Wednesday, the Dutch oil major said that it will sell its shares in its Danish upstream sector division, Shell Olieog Gasudvinding Danmark, to the Norwegian Energy Company (Noreco). Noreco will pay $1.9 billion and assume Shell’s obligations in the Danish North Sea, including its share of the decommissioning and redevelopment costs for the overhaul of the Tyra platform. read more

By Samantha Oller, Senior Editor/Fuels, CSP

LAS VEGAS — More than a decade ago, major oil companies largely exited the retail business in the United States, as upstream profits dwarfed downstream retail opportunities. One of those global oil giants—Royal Dutch Shell, The Hague, Netherlands—has since amassed a massive network of 43,000 branded sites in 80 countries, including 14,000 in the United States. These U.S. locations are operated solely by Shell-branded marketers and dealers, but soon, they will be joined by Shell itself. read more

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, today marks 40 years since it pioneered the modern deep-water era, celebrating a legacy of innovation that continues as part of the company’s growth strategy.

Shell currently has deep-water projects and exploration opportunities in the U.S., Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mexico, Mauritania, and in the Western Black Sea. That global presence began with a 1970s prospect, 105 miles southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. read more

Posted by Jui Kate: 12-Oct-2018

The British-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell has reportedly announced its plans to invest in the North Sea to construct a gas field 149 miles east of Aberdeen. As per trusted sources, the energy giant is making a slew of new investments in the basin after selling off about EUR 2.4 billion worth of North Sea fields and assets in early 2017.

Reportedly, Shell decided to invest in the Arran field following investments in revamping the Fram field in the Central North Sea, the Penguins field in the northern North Sea, and the Alligin field West of Shetland. According to a press release by Shell, the Arran field is likely to produce nearly 100 million cubic feet of gas and 4,000 barrels of condensate each day which is equivalent to 21,000 barrels of oil. read more

By Reuters• last updated: 12/10/2018: 

By Marianna Parraga and Alexandra Ulmer

MEXICO CITY/CARACAS (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc is negotiating the sale of its stake in a Venezuelan oil joint venture to Paris-based Maurel & Prom , three sources said this week, a move to scale down its crude business in the ailing OPEC-member country to focus on gas.

The Anglo-Dutch company is seeking to sell its 40 percent stake in Petroregional del Lago, a joint venture with Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA in the western state of Zulia near Colombia. read more

SOURCE

Corruption trial in Nigeria may last several months, says Shell

Royal Dutch Shell has said the corruption trial over a Nigerian oil deal may last several months, warning staff of continued critical media coverage in the $1.3 billion case.

An internal memo sighted by Reuters indicates that Shell’s Legal Director, Donny Ching, encouraged employees to study an internal web page that the Anglo-Dutch oil giant had set up for the case before responding to questions from relatives and friends.

Shell and its Italian peer, Eni are defendants in a Milan bribery trial, now in its early stages, focusing on the 2011 purchase of Nigeria’s $1.3 billion OPL 245 offshore oilfield. read more

NO, IT’S NOT MALCOLM BRINDED. HIS BRIBERY & CORRUPTION TRIAL (RE OPL 245) ALSO RELATING TO NIGERIA, IS STILL IN PROGRESS. 

Those sentenced alongside the SPDC managing director are Shell’s Secretary and Head of legal and the Deputy Country Head of Legal/Managing Counsel Global litigation sub-Sahara Africa.The judge directed the Nigerian Police Force and other law enforcement to effect immediate arrest of the aforementioned Shell officials who were absent in court and send them to prison.

By Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt: OCTOBER 10, 2018

A Port Harcourt High Court yesterday sentenced the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mr. Osagie Okunbor, and two others to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour for disobeying court order.

But reacting to the court judgment, the SPDC’s spokesman, Bamidele Odugbesan, said the oil giant did not accept the judgment and had appealed it. 

“We do not accept that SPDC has disobeyed any lawful order of court and have accordingly appealed this judgement.  read more

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden

Adam Vaughan: Tue 9 Oct 2018

The boss of Shell has said a huge tree-planting project the size of the Amazon rainforest would be needed to meet a tougher global warming target, as he argued more renewable energy alone would not be enough. Ben van Beurden said it would be a major challenge to limit temperature rises to 1.5C (equivalent to a rise of 2.7F), which a landmark report from the UN’s climate science panel has said will be necessary to avoid dangerous warming. FULL ARTICLE read more

Jillian Ambrose, energy editor: 9 OCTOBER 2018 • 3:35PM

The energy giant’s chief executive Ben Van Beurden has warned the industry not to be swayed by the flurry of headlines marking Shell’s steps towards cleaner energy.

“Even headlines that are true can be misleading,” he told delegates at a London conference.

“They might even make people think we have gone soft on the future of oil and gas. If they did think that, they would be wrong,” he said.

Speaking one day after the UN’s landmark climate report warned that more must be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Mr Van Beurden said Shell still “means business” on oil and gas. read more

8 October 2018

Leakage from an oilfield operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at Aghoro community in Bayelsa has discharged some 1,114 barrels of crude oil into the environment.

The leakage has adversely affected the fishing vocation of residents who had withdrawn from fishing to pave way for clean up.

The resulting oil spill impacted and polluted an estimated area of 113.03 hectares, according to a joint Investigation Visit (JIV) report of the incident obtained by newsmen in Yenagoa on Monday. read more

Jennifer Luxton / The Seattle Times: Originally published October 5, 2018 at 2:31 pm Updated October 5, 2018 at 4:59 pm

Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden

Can an oil and gas company favor a price on carbon emissions while not endorsing every attempt to achieve one? Yes — but Initiative 1631 has some serious flaws.

It may seem counterintuitive for an oil and gas company to favor a scheme that would potentially make doing business more expensive. But Shell’s longstanding support for a government-led carbon price is based on our belief that a well-crafted policy would benefit all of us — society and industry. read more

By Staff reporter

The assets, which include service stations and asphalt production, were sold to Brazil’s Raizen for $916 million.

Royal Dutch Shell opts to sit on the sidelines while BP shovels money into opposing Initiative 1631.

By Hal Bernton: Seattle Times staff reporter: September 30, 2018 

In speeches, reports and online posts, BP and Royal Dutch Shell leaders proclaim support for government rules that put a price on greenhouse-gas pollution resulting from the combustion of oil, natural gas and coal.

But as Washington voters head toward a November vote on an initiative to impose a carbon fee on fossil fuels, the two oil giants have gone their separate ways.

Shell, which operates the state’s second largest refinery, in Anacortes, has opted to sit on the sidelines of what has emerged as one of the most expensive initiative battles in Washington history. If approved, Initiative 1631 could serve as a model for other states. read more

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”), and its bid consortium member Chevron Brasil Óleo & Gás Ltda (“Chevron”), today won a 35-year production sharing contract for the Saturno pre-salt block located off the coast of Brazilin the Santos Basin. Shell will pay its share of the total signing bonus for the block, equating to approximately USD $390 million [R$ 1,562 billion]. 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 Tsvetana Paraskova – Sep 26, 2018, 9:00 AM CDT

Brent Crude at $80 a barrel is not an “unreasonable” price of oil, and it will support investment in oil and gas infrastructure after the downturn, Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday.

“We should be able to balance the market at that sort of oil price level, but of course bringing on new production is not a short-term event,” van Beurden said, noting that it takes years for the industry to bring new production online. read more

Harder: 26 Sept 2018

Royal Dutch Shell is sitting out a multi-million dollar fight over a carbon fee proposal in Washington state even as nearly all other oil companies with operations there rally to oppose it.

Why it matters: It’s a sign of the oil industry’s uneven, years-long evolution toward supporting policies that put a price on carbon emissions. And whether Washington State voters support the initiative, which is on the state-wide ballot this Election Day, will be a bellwether for other attempts at big climate policy. read more

25 Sept 2018

• Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden says $80 oil is not “unreasonable” and will help fuel spending on oil and gas infrastructure after a period of underinvestment.
• The Trump administration’s steel quotas are beginning to impede some of Shell’s construction projects in the United States, van Beurden said.
• Shell has not yet canceled any construction due to the trade barriers, and it is driving down the cost of its offshore projects.

Tom DiChristopher | @tdichristopher

The Trump administration’s steel quotas present a challenge to building new oil and gas infrastructure in the United States, but rising crude prices help fuel investment, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden tells CNBC.

International benchmark Brent crude hit a nearly four-year high above $81 a barrel on Monday as the market braces for U.S. sanctions on Iran that threaten to wipe about 1 million barrels a day off the market. Brent’s multiyear high came after OPEC, Russia and other oil producers declined to boost output to tackle rising prices. read more

In Nigeria, Shell finds there’s no easy way out

25 Sept 2018

Royal Dutch Shell wants to shift its operations in Nigeria to focus on oil and gas fields far offshore, away from the theft, spills, corruption and unrest that have plagued the West African country’s onshore industry for decades.

SOURCE

Sep. 24, 2018 6:06 PM ET| By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

An overview of the Niger delta where signs of oil spills can be seen in the water in Port Harcourt, Nigeria August 1, 2018. Picture taken August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Ron Bousso

Ron Bousso

BODO, Nigeria (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell wants to reweight its footprint in Nigeria to focus on oil and gas fields far offshore, away from the theft, spills, corruption and unrest that have plagued the West African country’s onshore industry for decades.

But for the company that pioneered Nigeria’s oil industry in the 1950s, the Niger Delta remains as important — and problematic — as ever.

While Shell has cut onshore oil production and sold some onshore assets, it continues to invest in others. In fact, onshore production has risen in recent years as a share of Shell’s output in Nigeria, an analysis of company data over the past decade shows. read more

Olesya Astakhova

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Production of oil and natural gas at the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin is expected to decline next year, the local government said in an emailed response to a Reuters query.

Sakhalin, which is also famous for producing seafood, derives most of its oil and natural gas from two offshore projects – Sakhalin-1, led by ExxonMobil, and Sakhalin-2, led by Russia’s Gazprom.

Sakhalin-1 shareholders also include Russia’s Rosneft, Japan’s Sodeco and India’s ONGC. Apart from Gazprom, Sakhalin-2 shareholders include Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi. read more

By Kiel Porter and Kelly Gilblom: 20 September 2018, 21:38 BST

• Oil major seeks to sell its Caesar Tonga stake to Focus Oil
• Shell is nearing end of $30 billion divestment program

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, shedding assets to pay for its takeover of BG Group Plc, is in talks to sell its interest in a Gulf of Mexico oilfield to Focus Oil, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal could value Shell’s stake in the Caesar Tonga field at about $1.3 billion, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. A deal hasn’t been completed and negotiations could still fall apart, they said. read more

Newly found documents from the 1980s show that fossil fuel companies privately predicted the global damage that would be caused by their products.

The documents make for frightening reading. And the effect is all the more chilling in view of the oil giants’ refusal to warn the public about the damage that their own researchers predicted. Shell’s report, marked “confidential,” was first disclosed by a Dutch news organization earlier this year. Exxon’s study was not intended for external distribution, either; it was leaked in 2015.

Nor did the companies ever take responsibility for their products. In Shell’s study, the firm argued that the “main burden” of addressing climate change rests not with the energy industry, but with governments and consumers. That argument might have made sense if oil executives, including those from Exxon and Shell, had not later lied about climate change and actively prevented governments from enacting clean-energy policies. read more

At approximately 5 a.m. on September 10, during heavy rains brought on by Tropical Storm Gordon, a methane gas pipeline run by Energy Transfer Partners in Beaver County was hit by a landslide and exploded. No lives were lost, but a home was destroyed, dozens were evacuated and several farm animals were killed in the blast.

The pipeline had been operating for one week.

Environmental groups in the Pittsburgh region say the incident raises significant questions about the long-term safety of pipelines and natural gas infrastructure all over Western Pennsylvania. read more

Shell changes offshore rotas in UK North Sea after strikes at Total

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil giant Shell (RDSa.L) will switch to a less tiring rota system for its offshore workers in the British North Sea, it said on Tuesday, as rival Total (TOTF.PA) has faced strike action over plans to have workers spend more days offshore.

Workers at three of Total’s offshore platforms in the British North Sea have staged strikes over the group’s plans to introduce a rota that would require them to stay offshore for three weeks and onshore for three weeks.

Fewer staff changeovers can increase efficiency and save transport costs. read more

Shell targets lower methane emissions from oil and gas operations

Methane is released into the atmosphere mostly from the burning of excess gas, known as flaring, as well as through leaks in gas infrastructure such as wells, pumps and pipelines.

The gas has a bigger greenhouse impact than carbon dioxide, even though the oil and gas industry produces less methane and the gas also has a shorter lifetime.

The methane target will be measured against a baseline leak rate, which is currently estimated at range from 0.01 percent to 0.8 percent across the company’s oil and gas assets, it said. read more

Sep. 17, 2018 3:45 PM ET| By Carl Surran, SA News Editor

CAIRO, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Egypt has signed a deep-water oil and gas exploration deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas worth around $1 billion for 8 wells in the country’s West Nile Delta, the petroleum ministry said on Saturday.

The country also signed a second $10 million deal with Rockhopper, Kuwait Energy (IPO-KEC.L) and Canada’s Dover Corporation for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said.

Egypt aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a string of major discoveries in recent years including Zohr, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. read more

The Canadian Press:

VANCOUVER — Shell Canada Ltd. has given up its offshore exploration rights, clearing the way for the creation of Canada’s first protected marine area under the Canada Wildlife Act.

The company voluntarily released permits for about 50,000 square kilometres in an area off British Columbia’s coast to allow for the creation of the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area.

The company’s rights cover an area more than one-and-a-half times the size of Vancouver Island, which is hard to value, said Shell Canada president Michael Crothers, at a news conference on Thursday. read more

By Michael Ruffolo in News | September 13th 2018

The Canadian affiliate of one of the world’s largest oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell, is releasing 50,000 square kilometres of offshore exploration permits off the coast of British Columbia and promoting conservation.

Shell Canada president Michael Crothers made the announcement in Vancouver on Thursday alongside Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who said the area would become part of the new Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area. read more

• Author: Nick Coleman
• Editor: Jonathan Fox
• Topic: Oil and Gas 2018 Outlook: EMEA
• 11 Sep 2018 | 11:49 UTC: London

• Added Brexit costs “completely” wrong direction
• Uncertainty puts industry at risk: OGUK
• Shell UK head hails “revitalized” strategy

London — Shell on Tuesday joined calls by the oil and natural gas industry for the UK to avoid a “no-deal” Brexit, with Shell country head Sinead Lynch warning that added costs in the form of barriers to trade and movement of talent would be “completely the wrong direction” to go in.

Industry group Oil & Gas UK warned Tuesday that uncertainty surrounding UK withdrawal from the EU, due on March 29, 2019, risked damaging confidence and impeding the industry’s recovery. read more