Shell has sold its remaining stake in the Corrib gas field, formally marking its exit after nearly two decades of involvement.

The UK company, one of the largest oil and gas firms in the world, announced yesterday that it had completed a deal to offload a 45 per cent interest in the gas field to a unit of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

The deal, which was agreed in July last year, will include a cash payment of $958 million (€846 million), interest of $54 million and additional payments of $285 million, subject to gas prices and production from Corrib. The transaction could therefore be worth $1.3 billion (€1.1 billion). read more

By Pat McGrath

Western Correspondent

The oil company Royal Dutch Shell has completed the sale of its shares in the Corrib gas field off the north Mayo coast.

The deal means Shell no longer has any involvement in the operation of the project.

Last year, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) agreed a deal to purchase all Shell interests on the Corrib venture, for €1.08 billion.

Gas was first detected off the north west coast in the late 1990s but the project to bring it ashore was mired in controversy and subject to several challenges. read more

BY DAVE DENTINGERNOVEMBER 29, 2018 12:41PM@BlackburnSarnia

An alert was issued by Shell Canada about an upset at its Corunna plant Thursday morning.

The Aamjiwnaang Notification System says a cat cracker unit trip is causing high flaring and noise.

A Chemical Valley Emergency Coordinating Organization notice was issued.

Imperial says elevated flaring and noise is expected to continue for several more days at the Sarnia refinery while equipment repairs are made.

Company spokesperson Kristina Zimmer said Wednesday afternoon that construction of scaffolding was complete, and a repair plan had been finalized that includes replacement of a line. read more

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

Written by Reporter – 29/11/2018

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

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

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

Shell has not paid any profit tax in the Netherlands for years, despite earning billions of euros in the country every year, newspaper Trouw reports based on “well informed” sources and a confidential internal document from the Ministry of Finance. 

Over the past decade Shell made profits ranging from 2 billion to 55 billion euros per year all over the world. Most of this was earned abroad, and the company was taxed in the country were the profits were made. In the Netherlands Shell derives income from its head office’s activities, service stations, the chemical plants in Moerdijk, and the refinery in Pernis. All in all Shell made 1.3 billion euros in profit on those activities last year.

According to Trouw’s sources, Shell has two main ways to brush away the profits made in the Netherlands, so as not to pay tax, using legal deductions. Firstly, the company can deduct interest in the Netherlands for loans that are used to invest abroad. And secondly, Shell charges losses suffered from, for example, the search for oil abroad, against the profit made in the Netherlands. Profits made by foreign oil extraction are not taxed in the Netherlands, but the losses made with that oil extraction may be deducted from Dutch profits. read more

Friday, Nov 23, 2018

Shell has started to supply natural gas from the Ineos and Spirit Energy-owned Clipper South field into the UK gas network via Shell’s Clipper hub in the southern North Sea.

Under a new commercial agreement with Ineos and Spirit Energy, Shell is remotely operating the Clipper South field and transporting the gas through the Clipper hub for processing at Shell’s Bacton terminal in Norfolk. The gas is then fed into the UK National Grid.

The unmanned Clipper South platform had relied upon the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS) and Theddlethorpe gas terminal to transport its gas to shore. The new Clipper hub to Bacton route will help ensure its continued operation after the planned decommissioning of those assets. read more

• AuthorAndreas Franke
• EditorJonathan Fox
• CommodityElectric Power

London — Oil major Shell’s new energy unit has joined a consortium for the 500 MW offshore wind project at Dunkirk to be tendered by the French government in H1 2019.

Shell is already part of a successful consortium that was awarded the 730 MW Borselle 3 and 4 offshore wind tender in the Netherlands at Eur54.60/MWh.

Shell’s New Energy unit plans to invest an average $1 billion-$2 billion per year until 2020 in mainly renewable energy projects, it said.

–Andreas Franke, [email protected] read more

22 November 2018

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

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

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

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

NOVEMBER 21, 2018 / 10:20 AM

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – East Timor has agreed to buy Royal Dutch Shell’s stake in the Greater Sunrise natural gas fields off the northern coast of Australia for $300 million, the government and Shell Australia said on Wednesday.

The agreement for Shell’s 26.56 percent stake in the project will allow the tiny nation to push for development of the field. The site, which was discovered in 1974, straddles the maritime border between Australia and East Timor and disputes between the two countries over the border has delayed development. 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

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.AS) female employees in Britain earned on average 18.6 percent less than their male colleagues in 2018, the company said in a report on Wednesday, narrowing the gender pay gap from 2017’s 22.2 percent.

The difference in earnings between men and women has provoked significant anger among many women in recent years and sparked a public debate in Britain over why pay is still so different for men and women.

“We are confident that we pay men and women equally for work of equal value,” the Anglo-Dutch company said in a statement. read more

Shell exit from Greater Sunrise paves way for Chinese

East Timor has bought Shell’s stake in the Greater Sunrise project, giving it a majority share and putting more impetus behind the project’s development

East Timor’s decision to buy out Shell’s stake in the Greater Sunrise fields has revived momentum in the project, which will require billions of dollars of investment, and paves the way for Chinese participation.

Dili agreed on Tuesday to pay $300 million for Shell’s 26.56% stake in the fields, which straddle the Australian and Timorese sea beds. The move follows a recent agreement to buy out ConocoPhillips’ share of the fields.

The Greater Sunrise project was considered to be politically stranded and of negligible… 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

David Pilling, Africa Editor, in Maputo: 13 November 2018

Royal Dutch Shell has accused Anadarko Petroleum of holding it and the Mozambican government to hostage by refusing to supply enough domestic gas in the first phase of a giant liquefied natural gas project. 

As part of efforts to develop the local economy, Shell plans to build a 38,000-barrel-a-day gas-to-liquid plant that will produce kerosene, diesel and naphtha. But Moon Hussain, director of the project, said Anadarko was obstructing its plans by refusing to supply gas until the second phase of the LNG project, which is not expected to start until 2031.  read more

David Hone, chief climate advisor for Shell International

Scott Condon: November 12, 2018

A key figure in Shell Oil Co.’s surprising emergence as a world leader in demonstrating how to reduce fossil fuel use and prevent global warming from reaching catastrophic levels will outline his company’s work in Aspen this week.

David Hone, Shell International’s chief climate adviser, is attending a workshop on industrial de-carbonization at the Aspen Global Change Institute and will give a public presentation Tuesday night at the Limelight Hotel in Aspen. It’s titled, “How Society Can Meet the Goals of the Paris Agreement.” read more

Aramco this year signed a memorandum of understanding with Royal Dutch Shell to jointly pursue global gas business opportunities…

LONDON: Saudi Aramco has outlined to Arab News how it plans to massively ramp up its multibillion-dollar natural gas business, both in the Kingdom and overseas, as gas gradually replaces coal and oil in global power generation.

Gas is viewed as a cleaner energy source than coal or oil in power stations, and there is soaring demand in Asia.

“Gas is already a large global business and is expected to be among the fastest-growing fuels (60 percent growth) over the next quarter-century. And LNG (liquefied natural gas) is expected to make up almost half of global gas trade over the same period,” Aramco said in a statement. 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

Julie Gordon, Rod Nickel: NOVEMBER 1, 2018

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – An expansion of LNG Canada has a cost advantage over its rivals in the race to build more liquefied natural gas export capacity, but a go-ahead decision on phase two is likely still a few years away, Shell Canada’s president said on Thursday.

The first phase of the C$41 billion ($31.3 billion) Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.AS)-led project was given the go-ahead last month, firing up a race among companies eager to be the next to tap into booming Asian demand for the gas that is supercooled into liquid form for export by tanker. read more

Kelly Gilblom, Bloomberg: November 1, 2018

Oil is trading well below its price of a decade ago, but you’d have no idea looking at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s giant pile of cash.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major generated the most cash from operations in 10 years last quarter — almost $15 billion. The last time Shell pumped out that much money was the year crude soared to $140 a barrel, compared with about $75 today.

As a result, the company is showing greater confidence. It increased the pace of a $25 billion buyback program, rewarding shareholders who stuck with it through crude’s collapse. The cash surge is a feather in the cap of Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden, who splashed more than $50 billion on buying BG Group Plc in 2016 during the depths of the downturn. 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

A billion-euro acquisition deal struck last year by a giant Canadian pension fund for Shell’s holds in the Corrib gas field still has not been fully completed. (stock picture)

Fearghal O’Connor: October 28 2018 4:00 PM

Pre-tax losses at Shell’s Corrib gas field operation fell substantially last year, from €187m to €89m, according to newly-filed financial results.

A massive billion-euro acquisition deal struck last year by a giant Canadian pension fund for Shell’s 45pc holding in the controversial gas field off the Mayo coast still has not been fully completed. read more

First in network of chargers three times faster than current models installed near Paris read more

• PETROCHEMICALS
• 25 Oct 2018 | 06:46 UTC
• Singapore

• AuthorFumiko Dobashi
• EditorNorazlina Juma’at
• CommodityPetrochemicals

Singapore — China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC, and Shell International Petroleum Company Limited signed a memorandum of understanding to build an integrated petrochemical site at the Nanhai site in Huizhou, Guangdong, Shell said in a statement late Wednesday.

In May this year, the two companies started up the second steam cracker at Nanhai, which has an ethylene production capacity of 1.2 million mt/year. The complex’s downstream units include styrene monomer and propylene oxide. This MOU will expand their current collaboration, Shell said in the statement. read more

Dan Murtaugh and Stephen Stapczynski, Bloomberg Oct. 23, 2018

And then there was one.

Australia’s nine-year, $200 billion boom in liquefied natural gas still has a final debut in the works: Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Prelude, floating 200 kilometers (124 miles) off its northwest coast. It’s the last project in that investment cycle to start production after Japan’s Inpex Corp. shipped its maiden cargo from Ichthys LNG on Monday.

Shell’s Prelude is among seven export projects in gas-rich Australia sanctioned since 2009 by global energy giants including Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., as well as regional big hitters such as Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Malaysia’s Petroleum Nasional Bhd. The Pacific nation now rivals Qatar as the world’s biggest seller of LNG, a form of natural gas super-chilled into a liquid that can be shipped on tankers. read more

By Zheng Xin | China Daily | Updated: 2018-10-23

Global energy giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC plans to set up 10,000 new gas stations worldwide by 2025, with 5,000 in the five high-growth markets of China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Russia.

The company is also looking to introduce more electric vehicle charging stations, and increase sales of fluid process oils and grease to support electric-powered trains and vehicles in China.

The move comes after its first electric-vehicle charging station entered service in Tianjin in September. 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