Posts from ‘September, 2011’

By Ann Koh and Yee Kai Pin – Sep 30, 2011 4:52 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) extinguished a fire that raged for two days at its largest oil refinery and said it’s shutting processing units at the Singapore plant as a precaution.

“The fire has been extinguished at Shell refinery at Pulau Bukom,” Europe’s biggest oil company said in a statement late yesterday. “However, there are traces of fuel vapor. We are prepared to shut down all refinery units if this is considered necessary from a safety perspective, with the exception of utilities.” read more

By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Sep 29, 2011 7:01 PM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s U.S. approval for oil exploration in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea will be contested by groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and an Inupiat village worried about the risk of spills.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, based in New York, and Point Hope, a settlement on Alaska’s North Slope, will sue the Obama administration for a decision allowing drilling in the Beaufort Sea, according to an e-mailed statement today from the groups. read more

EXTRACT FROM RELATED ARTICLE: Now that it is out in the open, the story in The Sunday Chronicle is actually very damaging for Shell…

(Is Shell Trying To Muscle Into InterOil’s LNG Project?)

Sunday September 25, 2011

THE O’Neill-Namah government has moved into damage control mode for the second LNG project development in Gulf Province.

Meetings are to be scheduled over the next seven days to avert sending out a potentially damaging sovereign risk signal to the foreign investment community. The move will also distance the government from the stigma of a potentially corrupt inducement money totalling $US100 million promised by a multi-national company to shaft the second LNG developer. read more

We hear from our sources…

“Strong rumours here in Erris, Co Mayo (beside Corrib gas development) that the project will grind to a halt following an up-and-coming court case involving a local contractor, Shell and the local police force (Garda). The word is that the CEO and others are heading for the exit over this matter.”

WARNING: These are rumors…

Attention Royal Dutch Shell Plc: If you confirm by email that any information printed under this headline is categorically untrue, it will be removed immediately. read more

SINGAPORE | Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:22am EDT

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc is shutting down its entire Singapore refinery, the company’s largest, to get the fire that broke out on Wednesday under control, a senior company official told reporters.

Shell is shutting more units in the vicinity of the area where the incident happened, Martijn van Koten, vice president for manufacturing operations told reporters on Thursday, and it may take two days to complete the shutdown. read more

By Luke Pachymuthu

SINGAPORE | Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:45pm EDT

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc halted tanker loading at its largest refinery, a half-a-million barrels-per-day plant in Singapore, as the company struggles to put out a fire burning since Wednesday afternoon.

The blaze has forced Shell to shut down a diesel-making unit, although the company said it could continue to supply the market from storage and other refineries.

“Fire-fighting operations are still underway,” the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said in a statement early on Thursday. read more

By Yaw Yan Chong and Alejandro Barbajosa

SINGAPORE | Wed Sep 28, 2011 8:57am EDT

(Reuters) – A fire has intensified at Royal Dutch Shell’s largest refinery, its half-a-million barrel per day Singapore plant, sending a plume of black smoke over the city-state.

Shell has evacuated non-essential staff from the refining complex, Singapore’s Civil Defense Force said.

“There is a fire and it grew significantly, but I am not aware of an explosion,” said Lee Tzu Yang, chairman for Shell Companies in Singapore told Reuters. read more

From pages 41, 42, 43 & 44 of “Royal Dutch Shell and its sustainability troubles” – Background report to the Erratum of Shell’s Annual Report 2010

The report is made on behalf of Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Author: Albert ten Kate: May 2011.

Interfering with politics

Improper involvement?

Oil and politics have a lot to do with each other. The home states of Royal Dutch Shell are the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. These countries might want to secure their oil/gas imports and the economic benefits of having an international oil company based within their territory. These interests might overpower ethical interests, such as the protection of human rights in countries hosting the oil company. Home states often might have the same business interest than “their” oil companies. read more

Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:31am EDT

By Yaw Yan Chong and Francis Kan

(Reuters) – A fire at Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) petroleum complex offshore Singapore is still burning but has been contained, although it was not clear what impact the blaze was having on operations.

“We confirm that a fire in the Pulau Bukom Manufacturing Site occurred today at approximately 1.15pm. Emergency responders are on the scene and the fire is contained. No injuries have been reported and the rest of the site’s operations are unaffected,” a Shell spokesman said. read more

By PHIL TAYLOR of Greenwire Published: September 27, 2011

A U.S. Geological Survey report last summer on the nation’s capacity to assess impacts from oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean was credible and unbiased but failed to identify which scientific gaps are most important to fill, according to a new report commissioned by a pair of conservation groups.

The report (pdf) by the Pew Environment Group and Ocean Conservancy also recommended that the Interior Department better monitor cumulative changes in Arctic waters, disseminate more research to the public, synthesize existing knowledge and identify biologically important areas that should be off-limits to development. read more

ABUJA, Nigeria, Sept. 27 (UPI) — The amount of crude oil stolen from Royal Dutch Shell’s pipelines in the oil-rich Niger Delta of Nigeria is “unprecedented,” the company said.

“The scale of crude theft is unprecedented,” the company was quoted by the Platts news service as stating.

Shell declared force majeure in Nigeria, releasing the company from contractual obligations because of circumstances out of its control, through October. The action came after the company said a series of spills in the area may have been the result of sabotage on a pipeline carrying crude oil through the Niger Delta. read more

The inspector general found an e-mail from some dork at Shell Pipeline to a woman in the federal royalty office, asking her to join him at a tailgate party before a Houston Texans football game: “Have you and the girls meet at my place at 6 a.m. for bubble baths…

baltimoresun.com

Viewpoint: Sex, drugs and natural gas royalties

By Carl Hiaasen
September 17, 2008

People always say the Bush administration is in bed with the oil companies, but it turns out to be literally true.

According to the Interior Department, some government officials in charge of collecting oil and gas royalties smoked pot, snorted cocaine and had sex with employees of big energy firms.

Meanwhile, the rest of us were getting screwed at the gas pump.

Three reports delivered last week to Congress portray “a culture of ethical failure” in which employees of the federal Minerals Management Service often accepted gifts from oil and gas interests, steered lucrative contracts to cronies and partied hard with those with whom they did business on behalf of the U.S. taxpayer. read more

Royal Dutch Shell evasion of royalties:

“(Shell Defendants) have agreed to pay the United States $2.2 million plus interest to resolve claims that the companies violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas…”

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–May 10, 2011. Shell Oil Company, Shell Offshore Inc., Shell Frontier Oil & Gas Inc., and Shell Western Exploration and Production (Shell Defendants) have agreed to pay the United States $2.2 million plus interest to resolve claims that the companies violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from Federal leases, the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.

The agreement was reached among the Shell Defendants, the Department of the Interior through its Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), and the Department of Justice. The total payment, including interest, is $2,287,145.74. read more

Royal Dutch Shell evasion of royalties: Plaintiffs win $66 million from Shell Oil after making the mistake of relying on Shell’s “honesty and integrity”:

“Shell told us [in 1995] that if we didn’t want to accept a nuisance value settlement, they would drag the case out and my clients would be dead before they ever got the money,” said Calvert. “They ended up being partly right.”

Sat May 17, 2008

NEWSOK.COM: Shell weighs appeal in royalty case

By Jack Money

Shell Oil Co. is weighing an appeal of a $66 million verdict this month by a Stephens County jury in a royalties payment case, company officials said Friday.

The verdict stems from a case where five women claimed they were owed royalties that had not been paid since the early 1970s.

Background to case

The royalties involved a well on a 20-acre lease in a 640-acre unit between Ardmore and Duncan. The area is one of old production, in which more than 100 wells have been drilled. read more

By Katarzyna Klimasinska – Sep 26, 2011 7:58 PM GMT+0100

President Barack Obama’s administration should add to protection for Arctic wildlife as the U.S. moves to allow oil-drilling off the Alaska coast next year, a study commissioned by environmental groups said.

The government should make special efforts to avoid harm in the most sensitive habitats and gather comprehensive data about seals, walruses and bowhead whales of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, where Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) has bought leases, and the research should be publicly accessible, according to a report released today by the Pew Environment Group and the Washington- based Ocean Conservancy. read more

Royal Dutch Shell evasion of royalties

Published: March 21, 2002

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group paid $33.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the State of Alabama claiming more royalties from natural gas Shell produced in state waters, a lawyer representing Alabama said.

Shell Oil, the United States unit of Royal Dutch/Shell, was sued in June 1999 for underpaying royalties as far back as 1991 for gas from Mobile Bay, said Richard Dorman of Cunningham, Bounds, Yance, Crowder & Brown.

Alabama got $27.1 million in the settlement. The remaining $6.4 million went for lawyers’ fees and expenses. read more