Matthew Stevens Columnist: 23 August 2019

Shell Australia’s $617 million pitch for electricity trader and generator ERM Powerstands as the most tangible expression yet of the transition mission that the local outpost of the petroleum super major set for itself more than three years ago.

Back in June 2017, in a move that foreshadowed co-ordinated global ambitions in electricity only recently fully enunciated by the legendary mother ship, Shell Australia revealed its strategic hand by establishing an energy trading business in Melbourne. read more

By Nick Toscano: August 22, 2019 

Global oil and gas giant Shell has launched a $617 million takeover offer for Australian energy retailer ERM Power as the multinational seeks to make a foray into the country’s energy retailing market.

Shell is proposing to buy ERM – Australia’s second-largest power retailer to commercial and industrial customers – for $2.465 a share, the two companies announced on Thursday morning.

The offer represents a 43 per cent premium to ERM’s last closing price of $1.72.

Shell’s proposal has gained the backing of ERM’s founder, Trevor St Baker, who holds 27 per cent of the company. Mr St Baker said he intended to vote in favour of the takeover bid “in the absence of a superior proposal”. read more

Shell debuts electric vehicle chargers in Singapore, first in Southeast Asia

By Reuters• last updated: 19/08/2019 – 08:13

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> is launching electric vehicle chargers at petrol stations in Singapore, its first such foray in Southeast Asia, the company said on Monday.

The electric vehicle charging service, ‘Shell Recharge’, will be available at 10 Shell petrol stations in Singapore by October, this year or about 20% of its retail network in the city-state, the company said in a statement.

It added that the chargers typically provide from 0% to 80% charge in about 30 minutes, and are compatible with most electric vehicles in Singapore. read more

By Maggie Haberman: Aug. 17, 2019

Thousands of union workers at a multibillion-dollar petrochemical plant being built outside Pittsburgh were given the choice of attending a speech by President Trump on Tuesday or staying away — and losing some of their pay for the week.

“Your attendance is not mandatory,” one of the construction site’s contractors wrote in rules for the speech that were shared with its employees, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which first reported on the matter. But the rules said that only those who arrived at 7 a.m., had their work IDs scanned and then stood waiting for the president for several hours would get paid for the time. read more

Nigeria: Govt Declines Renewal of Shell’s OML 11 Over National Security

By Alex Enumah: 16 August 2019

Abuja — The Federal Government Thursday told an Abuja Division of the Federal High Court that its decision not to renew the operating license of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) was in the interest of the nation’s security.

The oil giant in the legal action is seeking an order of the court to compel the Federal Government to grant or renew its Oil Mining Lease (OML)11.

At the resumed hearing on Thursday, counsel to Federal Government, Mohammed Diri, while objecting to the suit said the primary objective of any responsible government is to guarantee the safety of lives and properties, adding that the refusal to renew OML 11 was a pre-emptive measure to prevent the occurrence or escalation of security breach in Ogoni area. read more

Royal Dutch Shell’s New Plastic Plant Stirs Debate

AUGUST 13, 2019

Royal Dutch Shell has announced plans to open a huge new plastic plant in Pittsburgh’s Beaver County. Not everyone is pleased with this development. Plastic Passion As reported by The New York Times, oil company Royal Dutch Shell is building a $6 billion plastic factory near Pittsburgh that will create 3.5 billion “tiny pellets that can be turned into items like phone cases, auto parts and food packaging.” While the factory would be a boost for the local economy, environmental activists argue that there is already far too much plastic in the world as it is, as many towns in America struggle with recycling. Re: Recycling Shell argues that the problem is not plastic, but plastic that is not properly disposed of. It donated to extend the hours of a local recycling center near the plant, but like in much of the country, Pennsylvania’s Beaver County has to limit the type of plastic it can accept, because there aren’t many buyers who want to repurpose it. Gas It Up This investment in plastic is seen as a move by both Shell and Pennsylvania to diversify, as the prices have fallen for the natural gas the area was known for, and the energy industry is looking for ways to get ahead of the demand for clean energy, low fuel prices and the increasing popularity of fuel-efficient automobiles. Petrochemical giants like Exxon Mobil and Dow have also made similar moves in recent years. Still, investors and analysts continue to see plastic as a risky investment, as shareholders are increasingly voicing concerns about plastic waste. -Michael Tedder Photo: Arnd Wiegmann / REUTERS read more

AUGUST 12, 2019

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc is restarting the Gas Olefins Unit 1 (GO 1) at its Norco, Louisiana, chemical plant on Monday, sources familiar with plant operations said.

Shell plans to begin restarting the 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) coker in the adjoining 225,300 bpd Norco refinery this week, the sources said.

Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Tom Brown

SOURCE

NEW YORK — A 40 billion Canadian dollar ($30 billion) project in British Columbia led by Royal Dutch Shell is on track to start exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia as early as 2024, having received a significant financial boost from Canada’s federal government.

Ottawa will provide C$275 million in subsidies to help finance the LNG Canada export project, whose partners include Malaysian state-owned oil company Petronas, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and two other Asian energy companies. read more

AUG 8, 2019

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] plans to shut the big crude distillation unit (CDU) at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest, by Sept. 5 for a 60-day overhaul, said sources familiar with plant operations.

In addition to the 325,000-bpd VPS-5 CDU, Motiva plans to shut the naphtha processing complex, which includes the 115,000-bpd naphtha hydrotreating unit 2 (NHTU2), 85,000-bpd catalytic reformer 5 (CRU 5) and 50,000-bpd isomerization unit for the work, scheduled to finish by Nov. 5, the sources said. read more

An aerial view of the Shell ethylene cracker plant being built in Potter in June. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)

JONAH S. BERGER: AUG 8, 2019

President Donald Trump has rescheduled a visit to a cracker plant in Beaver County to Tuesday after  postponing the trip — originally scheduled for this week — in the wake of two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

Mr. Trump will tour Royal Dutch Shell’s petrochemical complex in Potter Township and is expected to tout his efforts to boost employment in the manufacturing and energy sectors. read more

Pittsburg Post-Gazette: Trump to tour cracker plant in Beaver County next week

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: AUG 3, 2019

President Donald Trump next week will travel to Beaver County where he will tour the Shell Chemicals ethane cracker plant and tout his administration’s economic agenda for expanding the country’s domestic manufacturing and energy production.

Mr. Trump is scheduled to visit the $6 billion plant, which remains under construction in Potter Township, on Thursday. It will be his first trip to Pennsylvania since May. 

The president’s “economic policies, including tax cuts and aggressive deregulatory agenda, has enabled America to expand manufacturing, energy production, new capital and technology investments, and create jobs,” the White House said in a news release. “The policies make it possible for multibillion-dollar investments such as the Shell complex, which highlights the potential for the Appalachian region to become a second center of U.S. petrochemical manufacturing.” read more

Shell shares plunge after worst results since oil price crash

By Brian Donnelly @BrianDonnellyHT Business Correspondent: 2 Aug 2019

SHARES in Royal Dutch Shell were down five per cent after it posted its worst financial results since the 2016 oil price crash.

The energy giant said the figures were influenced by lower oil and gas prices while analysts said wider global factors including the US and China trade stand-off played a part, and the firm said it would not take any British-flagged tankers to the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions in the region. read more

Shell Announces the Next Tranche of the Share Buyback Programme

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Royal Dutch Shell plc

Aug 01, 2019, 02:17 E

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Aug. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc (the ‘company’) (NYSE: RDS A) (NYSE: RDS B) today announces the commencement of trading in the next tranche of its share buyback programme previously announced on July 26, 2018. In the next tranche, the company has entered into an irrevocable, non-discretionary arrangement with a broker to enable the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares for a period up to and including October 28, 2019. The aggregate maximum consideration for the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares under the next tranche is $2.75 billion. The company’s intention is to buy back at least $25 billion of its shares by the end of 2020, subject to further progress with debt reduction and oil price conditions. read more

Bloomberg: Shell Profit Misses as Slowing Economy Hurts Gas, Chemicals

By Kelly Gilblom: 1 August 2019, 07:15 BST Updated on 1 August 2019, 08:14 BST

Cash flow rises, but integrated gas adjusted profit falls 25%

Shell CEO says macroeconomic conditions were challenging

Royal Dutch Shell Plc got caught into the same earnings trap as many of its peers, reporting second-quarter earnings that fell well short of expectations as the slowing global economy hit everything from natural gas to chemicals.

Profit in Shell’s integrated gas division was down by 25%, but earnings were lower across all of its businesses, including upstream oil and gas production, and refining and chemicals.

“We’ve seen some very severe macroeconomic headwinds — probably most pronounced in our downstream business where we saw some weaker refining margins — but especially a much weaker trading environment for petrochemicals,” Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Thursday. “In our upstream, we’ve seen headwinds particularly in North American gas.” read more

Shell completes sale of interest in the US Gulf of Mexico asset

by Mark Lammey 31/07/2019, 10:26 am

Shell has completed the sale of a 22.45% non-operated interest in the Caesar-Tonga asset in the US Gulf of Mexico to Equinor.

The total cash consideration was $965 million.

The transaction represents Shell’s focus on strategically positioning the deep-water business for growth and is consistent with its strategy to pursue competitive projects that deliver value in the 2020s and beyond.

The sale contributes to Shell’s ongoing divestment programme.

Shell currently is the largest leaseholder and one of the leading offshore producers of oil and natural gas in the US Gulf of Mexico. read more

by David McPhee and James Wyllie: 26 July 2019

Oil giant Shell has confirmed all decommissioning work on the Curlew floating production vessel (FPSO) has been suspended due to an “incident” involving a worker.

The occurrence is understood to have been a “confined space incident” during tank cleaning work two weeks ago.

It has been claimed that the situation resulted in a male worker running out of oxygen while in the tank.

Shell said no one was injured.

Augean North Sea Services is carrying out cleaning and waste disposal on the FPSO at the Port of Dundee. read more

According to Shell’s records, the community has been impacted by at least 40 oil spills from Shell’s pipelines and equipment since 1989, including 23 spills in the past 4 years. Shell’s pipelines and infrastructure in Ogale are several decades old and in a poor state of repair making the area vulnerable to oil spills which have caused, and continue to cause, long-term contamination of the land, swamps, groundwater and waterways in the Community.

The Supreme Court hearing will appeal a judgment from February 2018, from the Court of Appeal in London, which upheld an earlier High Court judgment, that the English Court does not have jurisdiction over the claims.

Lawyers representing 40,000 Nigerian farmers and fisherman from two communities in the Niger Delta have been permitted to take their legal claim against the oil giant Shell to the UK Supreme Court.

The decision will allow the two communities from Bille and Ogale in the Niger Delta to appeal to the UK’s highest court, having suffered from decades of pollution from Shell’s pipelines.

They have taken their case to the English Courts on the basis that Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), which is headquartered in London, is legally responsible for the environmental failures of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), a subsidiary of RDS. read more

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell company, in Moscow, Russia June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo

JULY 18, 2019

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden in St Petersburg later on Thursday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Ushakov did not say what the two men would talk about. read more

Bloomberg: Oil Giants Note — Nigeria Now Has a Chance to Open Its Fields

By Dulue Mbachu and Tope Alake: 16 July 2019, 05:00 BST

*Buhari’s parliamentary control could speed passage of reforms

*Oil majors want favorable fiscal terms to explore deep waters

Investors’ 11-year wait for the Nigerian government to open up Africa’s biggest crude industry may be over.

An overhaul of oil policy that’s been in the works for more than a decade is among a raft of laws President Muhammadu Buhari could steer through parliament in his second term to help drive investment in the oil-dependent economy. The delays cost an estimated $15 billion a year in lost funding for the industry over the past decade, according to the Petroleum Ministry. read more

AMSTERDAM, July 12 (Reuters) – Dutch prosecutors said on Friday they were investigating whether producers at some of the country’s small gas fields had exceeded the amount they were licensed to produce.

Gas production limits have become a sensitive issue in the Netherlands as the country tries to reduce production at its large Groningen gas field that has caused damaging earthquakes.

Prosecution spokeswoman Marieke van der Moolen confirmed a report by regional broadcaster RTV Drente that investigations in several locations were ongoing and were taking place in collaboration with the country’s State Supervisor of Mines. read more

By Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa 12 July 2019: — Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has said security remains a major challenge occasioned by continuing crude oil theft and vandalism of oil and gas facilities in parts of the Niger Delta.

SPDC’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, who spoke in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the media launch of the 2019 edition of the Shell in Nigeria Briefing Notes, an annual publication detailing the activities of the business interests of the global energy giant, noted that the illegal activities result in the loss of 11,000 Barrels Per Day of crude oil. read more

By Irina Slav– Jul 11, 2019, 3:00 PM CDT

Shell has furthered its stated commitment to cleaner electricity by investing in a U.S startup that has developed a blockchain-based platform for energy sharing.

The startup, LOW3 Energy, saidin a press release earlier this week that Shell Ventures and Japanese Sumitomo had made “major investments” in its platform, which “represents a landmark moment for LO3 Energy as we begin to scale our blockchain-based energy networks around the world,” according to chief executive Lawrence Orsini. read more

JULY 9, 2019 / 10:58 PM

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Major U.S. oil producers on Tuesday began evacuating and shutting in production at their deepwater Gulf of Mexico platforms in advance of a tropical disturbance expected to become a storm this week.

A tropical depression is expected to form late on Wednesday or Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center, and move westward across the northern Gulf of Mexico, home to dozens of oil and gas producing facilities.

Chevron Corp (CVX.N), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L), BP Plc (BP.L) and BHP (BHP.AX) are removing staff from 15 offshore energy platforms, according to company statements. read more

JULY 5, 2019

TOKYO (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell started selling electricity to business customers in Japan in March, relying on its experiences in North America and Europe to expand its market presence, a spokeswoman for its Japan unit said on Friday.

The Nikkei business daily reported earlier on Friday that Shell is considering residential electricity sales in the future, but the spokeswoman said such a decision has not been made.

“The Japanese electricity market is attractive for Shell as the market’s liberalization is progressing,” she said, but declined to give any numerical business targets. read more

Just days after Russia said it had fully resumed oil flows to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline after a major disruption in supplies due to crude contamination in April, a Shell oil refinery in Germany halted imports via the pipeline because, again, slightly higher concentration of organic chlorine was found in the crude, a Shell spokesman told Germany business daily Handelsblatt on Friday.

At the end of April, Russia halted supplies via the Druzhba oil pipeline to several European countries due to a contamination issue, which the Russians said was deliberate. read more

Electrive

UK: Shell installs its first ultra-rapid charger in London

Jul 4, 2019

Shell has installed a 150 kW ultra-rapid EV charger at a petrol station in Battersea, south London. The charger is now available for public use alongside the already existing 50 kW rapid chargers from Allego.

The charger is part of the Shell Recharge service. The 150kW charger has been installed alongside the station’s existing 50kW rapid chargers. Maker and operator Allego will continue to maintain and service the chargers which make up Shell Recharge.

Allego’s chief executive Anja van Niersen welcomed the installation, stressing that “electric vehicle drivers want the right charging solution at the right place, to be always available and combined with excellent services. Shell Recharge shows how these wishes can be met.” read more

PR NewswireJuly 1, 2019

AUDIT COMMITTEE

Ann Godbehere, a Non-executive director, has been appointed Chair of the Audit Committee with effect from July 1, 2019. Ann succeeds Euleen Goh in this role following confirmation from Euleen that she will stand down from this committee, on June 30, having served as a Committee member since September 2014, and Chair of this committee since January 2016.

NOMINATION AND SUCCESSION COMMITTEE

Euleen Goh, a Non-executive Director, has been appointed a member of the Nomination and Succession Committee, with effect July 1, 2019. read more

JUNE 28, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) are looking to re-enter the market in Somalia ahead of an oil block bid round taking place later this year, the country’s oil ministry said in a statement.

Shell and Exxon Mobil had a joint venture there prior to the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in the early 1990s.

Somalia has been mired in insecurity since Barre left and is battling Islamist group al Shabaab that frequently carries out bombings in the capital Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country. read more

By Nia Williams: JUNE 26, 2019 / 10:37 PM

CALGARY, Alberta, June 26 (Reuters) – Canada’s Pieridae Energy will buy gas assets in Alberta from Royal Dutch Shell for C$190 million ($144.77 million), Pieridae said on Wednesday, securing supply for its planned liquefied natural gas plant in eastern Canada.

The deal will consist of all of Shell’s midstream and upstream assets in the southern Alberta Foothills area, which produce 29,000 barrels of natural gas, natural gas liquids and condensate. Pieridae is also buying three sour gas plants. read more

Clara Denina, Stephen Jewkes, Toby Sterling: JUNE 24, 2019 / 4:43PM

LONDON (Reuters) – A domestic consortium set up by Royal Dutch Shell and pension fund manager PGGM has taken a bigger lead in the race for Dutch energy company Eneco as two other contenders have dropped out, sources close to the matter said.

French oil and gas company Total SA and Italy’s electricity giant Enel, which had teamed up with Dutch pension fund manager APG, have both withdrawn their non-binding offers, said the sources.

One of the sources added that APG was now looking for a new partner.

Infrastructure fund Macquarie and Japan’s biggest trading house Mitsubishi Corp are also still in the race for the company estimated by analysts to be worth about 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion), sources said. One said French nuclear energy utility EDF had also made a non-binding offer. read more

After Shell’s exit from the project, Gazprom reported that they were considering technologies of Shell and Germany’s Linde AG for the LNG integrated complex project in Ust-Luga

by David McPhee: 20/06/2019, 1:28 pm

Work on Shell’s first solar plant in the Netherlands is complete, according to engineering and construction firm Wood.

The Moerdijk Solar PV Plant is a 27 megawatt (MW) development near the city of Breda.

The new plant holds 76,000 solar PV panels and is one of the country’s largest facilities.

Wood, who acted as Shell’s engineering contractor throughout the project, provided Shell’s clean energy team with “technical procurement expertise” during the 16-month contract. read more

Published by David Rowlands, Editor LNG Industry, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 

Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd has announced that it has executed a master agreement with Shell Eastern Trading (Pte) Ltd for the supply of carbon-neutral LNG. This is a first for Japan.

Under this agreement, with regard to the supply of carbon-neutral LNG, Shell’s carbon credits will reportedly be used to compensate the full carbon dioxide emissions generated – from exploring for and producing the natural gas to use by the final consumer. Tokyo Gas claims that the carbon credits are bought by Shell from a global portfolio of nature-based projects, and each carbon credit is subject to a third-party verification process.

By receiving the supply of carbon-neutral LNG, Tokyo Gas claims that it will strengthen its effort towards a low carbon society, as well as providing a new low carbon product. read more

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

JUNE 14, 2019 / 2:01 AM

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s oil regulator on Thursday approved exploration plans for four deepwater areas operated by Royal Dutch Shell , after it gave the green light to five others earlier this week, committing the oil major to invest at least $791 million.

The plans stipulate that the Anglo-Dutch company could invest up to $1.06 billion in the four blocks, mostly dedicated to drilling at least six new wells.

One of the blocks is in the Perdido Fold Basin, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico maritime border in the Gulf of Mexico, while the other three are further south in the Salina Basin. read more

Parliamentarians voted on Tuesday to establish an expert commission to examine how to make taxing multinationals “more fair” after Netherlands-based Shell recently acknowledged it had paid virtually no Dutch corporation tax in 2018. Royal Dutch Shell refused to release details of its unique advance tax ruling with the Dutch government at a recent hearing of a parliamentary panel on taxation.

By Reuters• last updated: 12/06/2019 – 14:40: Dutch lawmakers step up tax demands on multinationals

By John O’Donnell and Toby Sterling

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Dutch lawmakers have launched an inquiry into how to make multinationals pay their fair share of tax, after public criticism that government reforms do not go far enough.

Scores of multinationals use the Netherlands to pare their tax bills but the Dutch, who bore tax hikes after the financial crisis, are growing increasingly hostile to minimising company tax, which is legal and has gone unchallenged for decades.

Parliamentarians voted on Tuesday to establish an expert commission to examine how to make taxing multinationals “more fair” after Netherlands-based Shell recently acknowledged it had paid virtually no Dutch corporation tax in 2018. Royal Dutch Shell refused to release details of its unique advance tax ruling with the Dutch government at a recent hearing of a parliamentary panel on taxation. read more

NEWS PROVIDED BY Shell: Jun 11, 2019, 16:15 ET

HOUSTON, June 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Equilon Enterprises LLC d/b/a Shell Oil Products US (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc announced it has reached an agreement for the sale of Shell’s Martinez Refinery in California to PBF Holding Company LLC, a subsidiary of PBF Energy, Inc., for $1.0 billion consideration plus the value of hydrocarbon inventory, crude oil supply and product offtake agreements, and other adjustments.  read more

JUNE 11, 2019 / 6:57 PM

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s independent oil regulator on Tuesday approved deepwater exploration plans for five areas operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc in Mexican waters near the U.S. maritime border.

The plans commit the Anglo-Dutch oil major to invest at least $397 million over the next four years, but if the drilling proves successful it could grow to some $1.3 billion, according to the regulator, known as the National Hydrocarbons Commission, or CNH. read more

Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: June 11, 2019

Royal Dutch Shell has issued a plea to companies across different sectors of the economy to work with it on plans to reduce their carbon emissions to “net zero”.

Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Europe’s biggest oil company, said that the airline and shipping industries were among the sectors being targeted initially for a “climate coalition”.

In a speech to The Times CEO Summit, Mr van Beurden, 61, also called for action to address unsustainable consumption patterns, citing “consumers who choose to eat strawberries in winter” and a throwaway culture in some industries where recycling could instead be the default. read more

JUNE 6, 2019 / 2:17 PM

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) – Russia’s Gazprom Neft said on Thursday it would set up a joint venture with Shell to develop an oil field in Yamal estimated to hold reserves of around 1.1 billion tonnes of oil.

Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of state gas company Gazprom, said it planned to close the deal late this year or early next and that both it and Shell would hold 50% stakes in the joint venture.

Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Jane Merriman

SOURCE

LATER VERSION JUNE 6, 2019 / 3:49 PM

Russia’s Gazprom Neft, on JV with Shell, says field not under sanctions

ST PETERSBURG, June 6 (Reuters) – Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s CEO Alexander Dyukov said reserves held in a field which it is looking at as part of a joint venture with Shell were not under Western sanctions.

Speaking on the sidelines of Russia’s flagship economic forum in the city of St Petersburg, Dyukov said that financing for the joint venture with Shell would be split evenly.

(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Maria Kiselyova) read more

A Shell North Sea boss has said he “agrees” with many of the climate campaigners who took to the streets of the UK’s major cities in April.

by David McPhee: 06/06/2019

Steve Phimister, Shell’s UK vice president for upstream, said yesterday during Oil and Gas UK’s (OGUK) industry conference that he thinks the country needs to take decisive action on the issue of climate change.

But he added that it did not include “abandoning” oil and gas.

Mr Phimister claimed he “agrees with the view from the climate protestors” of the need to move to a net zero carbon target “quickly”.

He added: “I understand why these activists were calling for this change, and it would be easy to assume that we all and those folk are on the opposite side of the conversation, but I don’t see it that way. read more

With generous dividends and buybacks—and talk of cleaner energy—Royal Dutch Shell looks to boost interest in its shares read more

Shell is to return $125bn over five years through dividends and share buybacks

That’s more than double the $52bn handed between 2011 and 2015

Energy group expects new projects will generate $35billion

By CAMILLA CANOCCHI FOR THISISMONEY.CO.UK

PUBLISHED: 15:03, 4 June 2019 | UPDATED: 16:15, 4 June 2019

Shares in Royal Dutch Shell fell despite the oil and gas giant revealing plans to return $125billion (£99billion) to shareholders over five years through dividends and share buybacks.

This is more than double the $52million (£41billion) handed to shareholders between 2011 and 2015.

Shell said it expects to pay for that with money from new projects, which it expects will generate $35billion, assuming oil remains priced at $60 per barrel. read more

Shell plans to boost returns and become a force in power

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell outlined plans on Tuesday to boost shareholder returns after 2020, while also increasing spending on oil, gas and power, as it capitalizes on years of cost cutting to prepare for a lower carbon future.

In a strategy update, the Anglo-Dutch energy company said it was on track to deliver on its commitment to sharply increase cash generation and carry out one of the world’s largest share buyback programs of $25 billion by the end of next year.

It then plans to increase payouts to investors through dividends and share buybacks to $125 billion between 2021 and 2025, roughly half of its current market value. That compares with payouts of around $90 billion between 2016 and 2020.

While offering sweeteners to investors, Shell also outlined plans to increase spending in the next decade to grow its gas, oil, renewables and power output. 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

Benet Kolek: MAY 24 2019

TIRANA (Reuters) – Shell Upstream Albania B.V. said on Friday initial tests showed “a flow potential of several thousand barrels of oil per day” from its Shpirag 4 well in central Albania, and it needed more work to determine its commercial volume.

“We are pleased that these initial tests have confirmed the potential of this discovery and look forward to growing our business in Albania,” Marc Gerrits, Shell’s Executive Vice-President of Exploration, said.

The Shpirag 4 well west of Berat had confirmed the flow potential of a significant light oil discovery, it added. read more

By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor: 22 MAY 2019

A 3.4 magnitude earthquake has hit the northern Dutch region of Groningen in the latest in a series of tremors blamed on decades of gas extraction.

The Dutch government says it will decide in the coming weeks whether the quake should lead to a change in plans to end production from the Groningen field by 2030.

The government has pledged to end production from the field by 2030 and to lower it as quickly as possible in coming years; output is set to fall to 19.4B cm in the year through October 2019, down from a peak of 54B cm in 2013. read more

By Kevin Orland: 23 May 2019, 12:00 BST

*Canadian project has seen better-than-expected reliability

*Adviser sees more activity in carbon-utilization projects

A Royal Dutch Shell Plc-operated carbon capture and storage project in Canada has hit a milestone of sequestering 4 million tons of carbon dioxide about six months ahead of schedule and at a lower cost than estimated, helped by better-than-expected reliability.

The Quest facility, which sequesters emissions from the Scotford Upgrader near Edmonton, Alberta, started up in November 2015 and has since run ahead of its target of capturing 1 million tons of carbon a year, said Anne Halladay, a geophysicist who has been an adviser on the project since it was in construction in 2014. That performance has been driven by less unplanned maintenance than projected and more efficient performance, including less chemical usage, she said. read more

PR Newswire: May 23, 2019

HOUSTON, May 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its subsidiary Shell Offshore Inc (Shell) announces today that production has started at the Shell-operated Appomattox floating production system months ahead of schedule, opening a new frontier in the deep-water US Gulf of Mexico. Appomattox, which currently has an expected production of 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), is the first commercial discovery now brought into production in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico Norphlet formation.

“That Appomattox was safely brought online ahead of schedule and far under budget is a testament to our ongoing commitment to drive down costs through efficiency improvements during execution,” said Andy Brown, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. “Appomattox creates a core long-term hub for Shell in the Norphlet through which we can tie back several already discovered fields as well as future discoveries.”

Appomattox is a story of efficiency through innovation. By way of optimised development planning, better designs and fabrication, and expert drilling execution, Appomattox has realised cost reductions of more than 40% since taking final investment decision in 2015. The start of production at Appomattox is only just the beginning of further maximising the flow of resources in the prolific Norphlet surrounding Appomattox.

Shell’s global deep-water business has a strong funnel of development and exploration opportunities in Brazil, the US, Mexico, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mauritania, and the Western Black Sea.  Production worldwide is on track to reach more than 900,000 boe/d by 2020 from already discovered, established reservoirs. The company continues to be one of the largest leaseholders in the US deep water and remains one of the most prolific offshore producers of oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell designs and operates its deep-water projects to be competitive and, since 2014, has reduced its unit development costs and unit operating costs by about 45%.

Cautionary Note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc

directly and indirectly

owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release “Shell”, “Shell group” and “Royal Dutch Shell” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ”Subsidiaries”, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this release refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as “joint ventures” and “joint operations”, respectively.  Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control read more

HOUSTON — Shell Oil Co. debuted its latest premium gasoline, Shell V-Power NiTRO+, at forecourts across the United States on May 20.

The new formulation is engineered with four levels of defense against gunk, wear, corrosion and now friction to help keep engines running like new. According to the company, it is the brand’s most advanced fuel and the result of more than a century of Shell fuels innovation.

Shell V-Power NiTRO+ now includes the brand’s proprietary technology to help reduce friction in your engine and improve efficiency, furthering the brand’s competitive advantage. It can be found across the country at roughly 13,000 Shell-branded stations. read more