2020 Was One of the Worst-Ever Years for Oil Write-Downs

Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude floating facility has struggled to deliver income. PHOTO: ROYAL DUTCH SHELL AUSTRALIA/REUTERS

By Collin Eaton and Sarah McFarlane: Dec. 27, 2020 9:00 am ET

The pandemic has triggered the largest revision to the value of the oil industry’s assets in at least a decade, as companies sour on costly projects amid the prospect of low prices for years.

Oil-and-gas companies in North America and Europe wrote down roughly $145 billion combined in the first three quarters of 2020, the most for that nine-month period since at least 2010, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. That total significantly surpassed write-downs taken over the same periods in 2015 and 2016, during the last oil bust, and is equivalent to roughly 10% of the companies’ collective market value. read more

Shell Nigeria oil site seized over unpaid damages

Shell warns of flaring at Dutch Pernis oil refinery due to ‘malfunctioning’ unit

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell warned on Twitter on Monday of increased flaring at its 400,000 barrel per day Dutch Pernis oil refinery, Europe’s largest, due to a “malfunctioning” unit which it did not name.

Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Shadia Nasralla; editing by David Evans

SOURCE

Shell fourth quarter 2020 update note

The Hague, December 21, 2020 − This is an update to the fourth quarter 2020 outlook provided in the third quarter results announcement on October 29, 2020. The impacts presented here may vary from the actual results and are subject to finalisation of the fourth quarter 2020 results.

This update note is presented based on prevailing commodity prices and forward curves, further movements and volatility till the end of the year are likely to impact earnings and CFFO. read more

Layoffs at shuttered Shell Convent, Louisiana, refinery to begin in late Feb -sources

By Reuters Staff: DECEMBER 18, 2020

HOUSTON (Reuters) -Layoffs of hourly workers at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s shuttered Convent, Louisiana, refinery are scheduled to begin on the last day of February, said sources familiar with plant operations.

The next round of layoffs is scheduled for March 31, the sources said.

A Shell spokesman did not reply to a request for comment.

About 350 hourly workers will leave jobs they have performed for years at the 211,146 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery located 46 miles (74 km) west of New Orleans. read more

Shell climate lawsuit: Dutch activists push courts for steeper emissions cuts

Companies that make money selling coal, oil and gas could be held more accountable if judges in the Hague order fossil fuel giant Shell to cut its emissions.

Backed by 17,000 Dutch citizens, climate activists are wrestling fossil fuel giant Royal Dutch Shell in court over its responsibility to cut emissions to levels that comply with global treaties.

On the last of four days of hearings in the District Court of the Hague, seven environmental groups led by Friends of the Earth Netherlands pressed the court to force the oil major to commit to the Paris Agreement target of keeping warming to 1.5C. This would mean cutting net carbon emissions by 45% from today’s levels in a decade, the campaigners say, at a time where Shell is still investing heavily in fossil fuels. read more

Shell and Equinor team up on digital collaboration project

Shell and Equinor have announced plans to team up to further the use of advanced analytics on historical data to improve operational spare part inventories.

by Hamish Penman: 16/12/2020, 11:15 am

The two energy giants will develop the next generation of the Shell Inventory Optimiser, with the goal of gaining better control over available equipment and stock levels.

Microsoft will support Shell and Equinor with the co-development of the tool, which uses the tech giant’s Azure platform. read more

TIMELINE-Nord Stream 2: Russia to Germany gas pipeline’s difficult birth

Maarten Wetselaar, Klaus Schaefer, Mario Mehren, Alexey Miller, Gerhard Schroeder, Isabelle Kocher, Gerard Mestrallet, Rainer Seele, and Matthias Warnig after signing of financing agreements for Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project on April 24, 2017

Reuters Staff: DECEMBER 11, 2020

Dec 11 (Reuters) – Russia has resumed construction of the politically-charged Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, laying pipes after a one-year hiatus prompted by U.S. sanctions, the pipeline operator said on Friday. read more

New York Becomes The First State To Divest From Oil And Gas

09/12/2020 13:10 GMT | Updated 09/12/2020 14:54 GMT

The Empire State’s pension fund is the largest to dump fossil fuel investments ― ever, in the entire world.

New York state announced plans on Wednesday to eject oil and gas stocks from its $226 billion financial portfolio, becoming the first U.S. state and the biggest pension fund anywhere to divest from fossil fuels.

By 2025, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which disburses some $1 billion in benefits to retirees each year, will sell off its “riskiest” oil and gas stocks, following a review. The state aims to completely eliminate carbon polluters from its portfolio by 2040. read more

Shell Nigeria Employees Vandalize Oil Pipelines

By Charles Kennedy – Dec 10, 2020, 9:30 AM CST

Employees of Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary SPDC ordered the deliberate vandalization of oil pipelines to profit from them, according to a Dutch TV documentary, done in partnership with environmentalist organization Milieudefensie.

Aljazeera reports that the program, to be aired today, cites witnesses who said pipeline leaks were caused by SPDC employees.

“According to sources, Shell employees profit from these intentional oil leaks by pocketing money from clean up budgets,” the program, Zembla, said. read more

World’s top oil trader retiring from Shell

Javier Blas and Laura Hurst, Bloomberg News: 9 Dec 2020

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is shaking up its mighty in-house trading unit, with the retirement of Mark Quartermain as head of crude — a job widely seen as the most powerful in the global oil-trading industry.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major used the reshuffle to promote at least three women to top positions in trading, a rarity for an industry still dominated by men.

Quartermain will retire in the summer of 2021, less than four years after taking the job, having led the team through one of the most turbulent and profitable periods in history. He will be replaced by Stacie Pitts, who becomes the most influential woman in the oil-trading business. read more

Malabu: Eni gets green light to subpoena companies over Nigerian litigation arrangement

The Malabu scandal involves the transfer of about $1.1 billion by oil multinationals, Shell and ENI, through the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete.

Italian oil giant, Eni S.P.A, has been granted approval to subpoena asset recovery and litigation finance companies that it accused of being involved in a shady deal to fund litigation relating to Nigeria’s OPL 245 scandal in Italy. read more

Shell in talks on Post Office broadband

Royal Dutch Shell is said to be in exclusive talks to acquire the Post Office’s broadband business for up to £100 million.

The Anglo-Dutch oil group has emerged as the preferred bidder in the sale of the division, Sky News reported yesterday. The Post Office has about 500,000 broadband customers.

Shell emerged as a surprise bidder in October, alongside Talktalk Telecom Group and Sky.

Shell acquired the household energy supplier First Utility in 2018, later rebranding it as Shell Energy Retail. At the time First Utility had about 20,000 broadband customers, having recently entered the telecoms market to cross-sell services to customers. read more

Shell to double LNG bunkering fleet by 2025

Published date: 03 December 2020

Shell plans to “more than double” its LNG bunkering vessel fleet by 2025, the firm’s executive vice-president Steve Hill said at the virtual CWC World LNG summit.

The firm has six LNG bunkering vessels already in operation or about to start service, Hill said.

LNG is set to sharply increase its share of the bunkering market in the coming years, also thanks to its global availability, he added. LNG is already available “in all major ports”, and a widespread use as a marine fuel only requires “those last mile investments” to make it available for bunkering operations, he said. read more

Communities in oil-rich Niger Delta pin hopes on Shell climate case

By Nellie Peyton, Thomson Reuters Foundation: DECEMBER 1, 2020

DAKAR, Dec 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As a legal case over energy giant Shell’s planet-heating emissions kicked off in the Netherlands, activists said the health and livelihoods of people in Nigeria’s oil-producing region would hinge on its outcome.

Royal Dutch Shell faced its first court hearing on Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by environmental and human rights groups in The Hague, the company’s headquarters. read more

Oil majors wipe $80 billion off books as epidemic, energy transition bite

By Ron Bousso: Tue, 1 December 2020, 12:43 pm GMT

By Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s top energy companies have slashed the value of their oil and gas assets by around $80 billion (60.05 billion pounds) in recent months after revising lower the long-term outlook for fuel prices in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic and the energy transition.

Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company, announced on Monday it would write down the value of natural gas properties by $17 billion to $20 billion, its biggest ever impairment following the sharp drop in energy prices this year. read more

SSE, Equinor sign PPA for UK Dogger Bank offshore wind farm first phases

By Reuters Staff: NOVEMBER 24, 2020

LONDON (Reuters) – SSE and Equinor have agreed 15-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the first two phases of the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm they are developing off the coast of Britain, the companies said on Tuesday.

Separate PPA’s totalling 2.4 gigawatts of capacity for power from Dogger Bank A and B have been reached with Orsted, Shell Energy Europe Ltd, Danske Commodities and SSE’s energy supply business, SSE and Equinor said in a statement. read more

Royal Dutch Shell paid no corporation tax in Britain

“Fossil fuel companies, like tobacco companies before them, have allowed governments to pay for the harms caused by their products“…

5 legal tactics environmentalists are using to fight climate change

Activists are increasingly using litigation as a tool to influence climate action worldwide. Here’s a look at some of the main tactics they’re wielding to force change on fossil fuel firms and weak government policies.

More than 700 climate lawsuits have been filed around the world since 2015, according to the Climate Change Litigation Databases. That’s a huge increase, considering there have only been about 1,700 of these types of cases since the late 1980s, most of them in the US. read more

Shell Cracker Plant Has 39 Cases Of Coronavirus

CBS Pittsburgh KDKA TV•November 13, 2020

Thirty-nine workers at the Shell Cracker Plant in Beaver County have tested positive for the coronavirus.

SOURCE

Shell Canada gives customers option to offset their carbon emissions for two cents per litre

Bloomberg: Shell Wants Biden to Reverse Methane Emissions Rollback

David Wethe: Tue, November 10, 2020, 9:08 PM GMT

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc will push for the reversal of President Donald Trump’s rollback of methane emissions rules and the introduction of carbon pricing when Joe Biden moves into the White House next year.

“Some of the regulatory rollbacks that we’ve seen under the current administration haven’t actually benefited our industry,” Shell U.S. President Gretchen Watkins said Tuesday on a webcast hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership. read more

Shell: Regaining Dividend Respectability And Shifting Toward Green Hydrogen

The Daily Drilling Report: 10 November 2020

• Shell is taking a healthy approach toward energy transition and balancing capital projects in terms of energy source.
• It’s also forging a leadership position in two key fuels that have been identified as being crucial to meeting Paris Climate goals – natural gas and hydrogen.
• Shell is back in our good grades with its recent dividend raise and strong earnings prospects going forward.
• At its recent price in the mid-$20s it represents a nice risk reward profile.

The question is, is the dividend safe? The answer here is yes, as it has just been raised. It seems Uncle Ben has heard the hue and cry of outraged shareholders, and is restoring some of what he took away just last quarter.

Ben Van Beurden, CEO Shell:

So we are announcing an increase of 4% in our dividends this quarter. But we’re also announcing a target milestone for our net debt of $65 billion for the near term. And once we have achieved this milestone, we target to further increase shareholder distribution. So we are not offering the promise of future growth, but also increasing shareholder distributions for the near term. read more

Shell Singapore to cut 500 jobs in next three years as it downsizes Pulau Bukom operations

Ovais Subhani: NOVEMBER 10, 2020

The transition at Bukom has been planned in consultation with all the stakeholders including the Government and the trade union.

SINGAPORE – Royal Dutch Shell’s pivot away from crude oil towards a low-carbon slate of fuels will cost Singapore 500 jobs and half of the processing capacity on Pulau Bukom in the next three years. read more

Environmental groups want Shell air permit denied

Environmental groups are urging the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to deny Shell Pennsylvania Chemical’s air quality permits on the basis of what they say will be too much pollution into the Pittsburgh region.

Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community’s letter is the latest volley in environmentalists’ battle against the Potter Township project, costing in excess of $6 billion, that has remade a portion of the Ohio River coastline and brought thousands of construction jobs into the region. They’ve asked for a 30-day extension for more information about the permits as well. read more

Twitter Roasts Shell for “Gaslighting” Consumers With Emissions Poll

BY SOPHIE HIRSH

Sometimes, you just need to take a good, hard look at yourself in the mirror. We’re talking to you, Shell.

This week, oil and gas corporation, Shell, took a break from polluting the planet to ask people on Twitter how they were willing to change their individual habits to help reduce emissions. As one might expect, Shell’s Twitter poll regarding emission reduction did not go over well. read more

BP And Shell’s Renewables Plans – Go Woke Go Broke

Summary

• No, I’m not suggesting that BP and Shell are about to go broke as a result of their plans in to renewables – that’s rhetorical use of a current trope.
• The move does though entirely change the way we should be viewing those stocks. They become as with other companies, things to evaluate on single year horizons.
• They used to be known as “widows and orphans” stocks, regular dividend payers safe to be held for decades – this is what has changed.

Going green is just fine

The idea of the world going green is just fine. Climate change is a real problem, we’re causing it, we need to do something about it. I’m one of the few on that free market right who has been saying this for the past decade or so and don’t I get stick for it too.

The idea of companies investing in doing that going green is just fine too. As someone on that free market right I would insist that this is the only way we will go green too. The capitalist way, people making a buck out of what people desire to be done. read more

Shell Explores Plans for North Slope Development

01 November 2020

Dutch oil major Shell is looking to further develop its North Slope oil position in Alaska. The company’s offshore unit applied to form the West Harrison Bay Unit offshore from the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska with plans for drilling and exploration.

The proposed West Harrison Bay Unit comprises 18 leases in West ­Harrison Bay approximately 34 miles northwest of the Colville River Unit. Shell holds 100% working interest in those 18 leases, covering more than 78,000 acres in the proposed unit. read more

Shell to axe refining plants and focus on dividends and debt reduction

Philip Whiterow: 07:31 Thu 29 Oct 2020

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSB) has unveiled a huge restructuring of its refining and chemical operations as part of a strategic overhaul that places dividends at its centre.

The Anglo-Dutch giant said its fourteen refining sites will be reduced to six integrated chemical parks, with a switch in focus to performance chemicals and recycled feedstocks.

Shell’s marketing arm will also be strengthened with the development of the integrated power business and hydrogen and biofuels. read more

Published on: Sunday, October 25, 2020

SHELL announced on Oct 15, 2020 that the Plaza Shell Office in Kota Kinabalu will be closed with a relocation of all Sabah staff to Miri new Headquarters in 2021.

The Kota Kinabalu office was set up in November 2015 with promises of Shell’s significance presence, strategic partnership and offer of measurable progress for Sabah. This change of commitments, a sad truth on change of event draws much reservation, suspicion and unveils unprecedented break of promises from Shell to Sabah, its people and communities. read more

OPL 245: Nigeria hires London-based firm to lead dispute with Eni

Nigeria has hired the services of Franklin Wyatt, a London-based consultancy company, to provide legal advice in a dispute with Eni, an Italian oil and gas company.

Franklin Wyatt, according to information on its website, specialises in dispute consultancy by providing advise beyond legal perspectives.

There is an age-long dispute between Eni and Nigeria over oil prospecting licence (OPL) 245 deal.

The oil deal dates back to 2011, when Shell and Eni acquired the massively rich OPL 245 for over $1.3 billion — paying $1.1 billion to take over 100 percent of Malabu’s interest and $210 million to the federal government as signature bonus. read more

Surprise package Shell eyes Post Office broadband deal

By Mark Kleinman, City editor: Thursday 22 October 2020 15:48, UK

Shell is vying with Sky and TalkTalk to buy the Post Office’s broadband and telecoms customer base, Sky News learns.

Shell, the FTSE-100 oil behemoth, is among the bidders vying to gain control of the Post Office’s telecoms arm in a deal that would transform the size of its broadband customer base.

Sky News has learnt that Shell, which took control of the retail energy and broadband supplier First Utility in 2018, is one of three remaining bidders for the Post Office business. read more

Shell hires Orsted’s Brostrom to lead global renewables unit

By Reuters Staff: October 23, 2020 read more

The Big Oil Side Hustle: Where ‘Renewable’ Money Is Really Going

By Alex Kimani – Oct 20, 2020, 6:00 PM CDT

In 2016, Shell set an ambitious goal to invest $4bn to $6bn in clean energy projects by 2020, though the Guardian recently reported that it was unlikely to meet that target. So, why is Big Oil still dragging its feet…

Every time an oil and gas major announces a major foray into renewable energy, the skeptics come out like clockwork and lambast the sector for merely trying to burnish its green credentials. read more

Nigeria Repays Dues To Oil Majors

By Tsvetana Paraskova – Oct 20, 2020, 12:30 PM CDT

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has repaid most of the arrears it owes to international oil companies for joint venture operating expenses, recently repaying US$3 billion to Exxon and Shell, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing a statement from the Nigerian state oil firm.

NNPC works in joint ventures with the major international oil producers in Nigeria, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Total, and Eni. However, the stretched finances of the Nigerian company has led to arrears in its payments for contributions to the operating expenses of those joint ventures. read more

Oil Majors Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place

By Andreas De Vries – Oct 18, 2020, 6:00 PM CDT

Extracts

The past few years have been historic for as far as crude oil forecasts are concerned. Back in 2015 the view that crude oil demand could peak during the 2020s or 2030s was still met with disbelief (and some ridicule…). Economic growth had been pushing crude oil demand up ever year for decades already, so why would things become different, so the reasoning went. Today, however, essentially all major energy forecasters, including BP, Shell, Total, DNV-GL, the IEA and even OPEC, have come round and acknowledge Peak Oil Demand as a realistic possibility. read more

Shell takes Sarnia Manufacturing Centre off the market

By Melanie Irwin October 15, 2020 1:44pm

Shell Canada is no longer actively pursuing the sale of its Sarnia Manufacturing Centre.

Media Relations Manager Tara Lemay made the announcement in a news release Thursday.

“We have decided to stop actively marketing the Sarnia Manufacturing Centre and its associated infrastructure which includes the refinery, chemicals plant, Sarnia and Hamilton Distribution terminals and Shell’s 45 per cent interest in Sun-Canadian Pipeline” said Lemay. “Shell will continue to operate these assets while maintaining our marketing presence in Ontario and continuing to honour branded supply and wholesale agreements.” read more

Gas company NAM to cut hundreds of jobs as prices drop and production is squeezed

October 15, 2020

Dutch gas company NAM is cutting its workforce by hundreds of jobs as gas prices fall and production is cut back.

Over the next six months, 200 to 300 of the permanent workforce of 1,300 will be able to take advantage of a voluntary redundancy scheme and a further 300 contract workers will be let go, regional paper Dagblad van het Noorden said.

Director Johan Atema told the paper that the company had been hit by falling gas prices. ‘We are supplying almost as much gas as last year, but our income has halved,’ he said. ‘Then you are talking about a crisis situation.’ read more

Workers removed from North Sea platform after colleague tests positive for Covid-19

by Hamish Penman:13/10/2020, 11:55 am

More than a dozen workers have been removed from a North Sea platform after a colleague tested positive for Covid-19.

Energy giant Shell confirmed that a crew member, who was demobilised from the Nelson platform on Friday, subsequently tested positive for the virus.

Contact tracing then found another 14 people had come into close contact with the individual, who were all removed from the installation on Sunday as a precaution. read more

Shell says Pennsylvania ethane cracker about 70% complete

By Reuters Staff: October 9, 2020

Oct 9 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Friday its multibillion-dollar petrochemical complex near Pittsburgh was about 70% complete and remains on track to enter service in the early 2020s.

After temporarily suspending construction activities on the ethane cracker in March to limit the spread of coronavirus, Shell said it has been re-introducing workers at a measured pace – bringing the total number of workers on site to about 6,500. read more

TIMELINE-Twists and turns in Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany

By Reuters Staff: OCTOBER 7, 2020

Oct 7 (Reuters) – Poland has fined Russia’s Gazprom more than $7.6 billion for building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline without Warsaw’s approval, its watchdog said on Wednesday.

Russia’s bid to double its gas export capacity across the Baltic Sea has prompted opposition, including U.S. sanctions, stalling completion of the $11 billion pipeline.

In addition to Europe’s increased reliance on Russian gas, opponents are wary of Moscow’s motives as the pipeline will allow it to curb gas transit via Ukraine, cutting off a source of revenue for Kiev. read more

Shell adopts new commercialisation and generation structure in Brazil

October 7 (Renewables Now) – Oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell Plc (AMS:RDSA) has adopted a new structure in Commercialisation and Electric Generation in Brazil.

Shell Brasil will follow a business strategy that focuses on the generation and storage of renewable energies and natural gas, as well as on the commercialisation and optimisation, and sales to end consumers of company-branded integrated energy solutions. The director of New Energies of Shell Brasil, Guilherme Perdigao Nascimento, will lead this business. read more

Shell backs hydrogen for shipping’s decarbonization

• Author Britt Russell-Webster     Jeffrey McDonald     Piers De Wilde 
• Editor Jonathan Loades-Carter 
• 02 Oct 2020

London — Energy group Shell has revealed plans to back hydrogen fuel cells on the road to shipping’s 2050 decarbonization goals, tagging LNG bunkers as the bridging fuel between that and conventional oil-based bunker fuels.

“We believe liquid hydrogen to be advantaged over other potential zero-emissions fuels for shipping, therefore giving a higher likelihood of success,” it said in its latest report, ‘Decarbonising Shipping: Setting Shell’s Course.’ read more

LNG Canada construction delay creates cost uncertainty, clouds world supply

Corey Paul: 2 Oct, 2020

Two years after a Royal Dutch Shell PLC-led consortium gave the commercial go-ahead for the massive LNG Canada export terminal in British Columbia — dubbed the single largest private sector investment in Canadian history — construction delays have clouded the LNG supply picture and raised the prospect of cost overruns.

The project was likely about four months behind schedule in February because of factors that included delays in engineering and making equipment for the terminal off-site, according to analysts at the investment research firm Webber Research & Advisory. Now the project is probably around six months behind, which is enough to suggest the potential for significant cost overruns and pressure on a planned expansion, the firm said. read more

Big Oil’s $110 billion asset sale target could prove big ask

By Ron Bousso: October 1, 2020

LONDON (Reuters) – Leading energy companies are hoping to sell dozens of oil and gas fields and refineries worth more than $110 billion to curb both their ballooning debt and their carbon footprints.

But with the outlook for oil and gas prices uncertain because of the coronavirus pandemic and a shift to cleaner energy, finding buyers and striking deals might prove tricky.

“This is not a very good time to sell assets,” Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said while presenting the French giant’s strategy to switch to renewables on Wednesday. read more

FINANCIAL TIMES

Shell slims down to shape up for the energy transition

Anjli Raval, Senior Energy Correspondent

…the Anglo-Dutch group has been forced into previously unthinkable moves, change and scrutiny of its capital allocation plans mount, is scrambling to come up with an updated plan. In the meantime, it is cutting costs and streamlining.

On Wednesday it offered a glimpse into Project Reshape, its organisational restructuring in which up to 9,000 jobs will be cut from its 83,000-strong workforce to save $2.5bn a year.

All Shell is thinking about is how do we maintain our position as a market leader in every sense — from climate action to staying competitive in the oil and gas space,”one company insider said. “The fear is that we go from being a leader to a laggard. read more

Australia trims 2020-21 LNG export forecasts on COVID-19, production issues

• AuthorNathan Richardson 
• EditorAastha Agnihotri 
• CommodityNatural Gas

Sydney — Australia has cut forecasts for the country’s LNG exports for 2020-2021 (July-June) by some 6% to 75.6 million mt, citing the expected impacts of both the COVID-19 pandemic and domestic technical issues.

If realized, the forecast for the current fiscal would see volumes fall by 3.7 million mt year on year. They are expected to recover in 2021-2022 to 80.1 million mt, the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources said Sept. 28 in a report. read more

Shell Plans to Divest Oil Drilling Rights off North Alaska Coast

Shell Oil is planning to divest — not drill — an oil prospect in shallow state waters off Alaska’s northern coast, despite a recent filing with regulators, spokesman Curtis Smith said.

Shell Offshore Inc. had asked state regulators to combine 18 shallow-water leases and create the West Harrison Bay Unit “in order to pursue a commercial agreement with an alternative operator,” Smith said by email

“Shell has no intention to operate these leases, which were originally purchased in 2012 and are due to expire in 2022” read more

U.S. and European Oil Giants Go Different Ways on Climate Change

While BP and other European companies invest billions in renewable energy, Exxon and Chevron are committed to fossil fuels and betting on moonshots.

HOUSTON — As oil prices plunge and concerns about climate change grow, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and other European energy companies are selling off oil fields, planning a sharp reduction in emissions and investing billions in renewable energy.

The American oil giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil are going in a far different direction. They are doubling down on oil and natural gas and investing what amounts to pocket change in innovative climate-oriented efforts like small nuclear power plants and devices that suck carbon out of the air. read more

Shell files offshore drilling plans for Alaska’s North Slope

17 Sept 2020

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Shell Offshore Inc. has submitted plans to plans to drill for oil in the waters along the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the coming years.

The Dutch oil industry giant applied to form the West Harrison Bay Unit to explore in state waters off the North Slope region, The Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday.

Documents submitted to the state Division of Oil and Gas said Shell has attempted to find a partner to work on the West Harrison Bay leases for at least a year. read more