Posts from ‘September, 2014’

By John Donovan

A selection of current news articles about Royal Dutch Shell from around the globe:

Oil price fixing

According to a Bloomberg article published by energyvoice.com, the UK is considering whether to criminalize manipulation of the world’s most-traded crude-futures market.

Extract

The UK is toughening the rules after the rigging of Libor and related gauges resulted in $6.5 billion in fines for at least 10 companies. European Union antitrust authorities raided the offices of companies including BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil ASA in May 2013 amid allegations of collusion and price manipulation in crude, refined products and biofuels markets. read more

By John Donovan 

After all the Royal Dutch Shell senior management promises to improve safety on Shell North Sea platforms, serious incidents continue to occur. 

EnergyVoice.com is reporting that Shell workers have today been evacuated from the Brent Alpha and Bravo platforms after a crane dropped a large container into the North Sea. 

Extracts

The container, which was in the process of being winched onto a support vessel when the incident unfolded, initially rested dangerously close to a mass of subsea pipelines which connect into the Far North Liquids & Associated Gas System (Flags) pipeline. read more

By John Donovan

I have received a comment about the most recent Bill Campbell Prelude article from another expert, a former Shell executive. 

I refer to Hans Bouman, the retired Groningen Gas Field Asset Manager for NAM, a joint Royal Dutch Shell/ExxonMobil operation.

Mr Bouman is the expert who in 2002 warned Shell/Sakhalin Energy internally of his concerns over the Sakhalin2 project, including an unforgiving schedule, a theme he returned to a number of times. 

Extract from a May 2002 internal email from Hans Bouman to Engel van Spronsen, Technical Director, Sakhalin Energy: read more

By John Donovan

Ed Crooks of the Financial Times has written a wide-ranging and informative article about oil company spending on R&D.

Oil majors’ R&D into conventional and renewable energy at risk

Royal Dutch Shell spent $1.32bn on R&D last year.

The FT article quotes Gerald Schotman, Shell’s executive VP of R&D, as saying its key research is in its “upstream” oil and gas production business.

Schotman also claims that Shell’s innovations in imaging technology will enable the company to “see what others cannot see.” read more

Final article in a series of five articles by Bill Campbell, retired HSE Group Auditor, Shell International, about risks relating to the Shell Prelude FLNG project.

Prelude FLNG risks are on par with modern offshore oil and gas facilities say Shell – but are they? Let’s discuss 

With the implementation of the recommendations post Piper A, turned quickly into legislation, the potential consequences of hydrocarbon releases have been markedly reduced, but Floating FLNG facilities cannot comply, other than that front end gas feed from the reservoir will be shut in and the process gas flared, huge amounts of volatile hydrocarbon liquids remain stored in the hull, which is also the primary structure supporting the process, utilities and the living quarters.

Prelude for example has in its hull, tanks with a capacity to hold 220,000 m³ of LNG, when the cryogenic liquid is returned to gas this equates to 132 million m³ of methane. It also has capacity for 90,000 m³ of LPG and 126,000 m³ of Condensate, with an overall capacity Shell states equivalent to 175 Olympic swimming pools. read more

By John Donovan

Nigeria

FROM THE DAILY MAIL

Shell has overhauled its security procedures in Nigeria to prevent oil theft that is costing it hundreds of millions of pounds. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant said it had stopped paying private security contractors to monitor its pipelines and oil facilities. 

Carbon Pricing

Forbes.com has published an article purportedly authored by Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Why This ‘Big Oil’ CEO Believes In Applying A Price To Carbon

Extract read more

By John Donovan

Tesco admits a £250m mistake in half-year profit calculations

Tesco share value has plummeted after the supermarket giant announced this morning that it had overstated its half-year profit guidance by £250m.

Four senior Tesco executives, including a managing director, have been suspended.

In view of what happened to Shell when it overstated its hydrocarbon reserves, can we expect law suits, investigations, fines, credit rating downgrades and resignations?

Royal Dutch Shell Group Chairman, Sir Philip Watts (right), was forced to resign and turned to religion. He is now a priest. read more

By John Donovan

We now have official confirmation that the Garda cops accused of brutality towards Corrib Gas Project protestors were working for Shell.

According to an article published today by The Irish Times, Shell has paid the Garda €158,746 for policing in Ireland, mainly arising from the force’s operation guarding the controversial Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo.

The article says:

Details of the fees charged by the Garda for what it terms “non-public duty”, carried out by Garda members working overtime, have never been released before. read more

The article printed below was supplied to the Company Secretary & General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc., Mr Michiel Brandjes, on Monday 15 Sept 2014. I asked Mr Brandjes to also bring the article to the attention of Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden and the Shell-Motiva Security Supervisor named in the working headline. The parties were given the opportunity to take issue with the stated facts, comment and/or take legal action to prevent publication. No response has been received. It follows that Shell has also not disputed the authenticity of quoted internal email correspondence. Readers are free to draw their own conclusions.

WORKING HEADLINE: SHOVE-OFF BY JO KERKHOFF – VICTIMIZATION OF EMPLOYEES RAMPANT AT SHELL-MOTIVA NORCO SITE

This is the true story of a former U.S. Secret Service Agent and former Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. He was hired by a contractor firm in June of this year to become Project Manager with responsibility for the security force at the Shell-Motiva Norco site in Louisiana. The site is spread over 700 acres, inclusive of a major refinery.

I have confirmed the remarkable background of this individual, who has worked in some of the most stressful operational settings. This includes his assignment as the Incident Commander for the rescue, relief, recovery and federal law enforcement activities in preparation for and in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, where he commanded vast personnel resources as well as small boats, aircraft and vehicles, for which he was granted seven high-level awards and commendations. read more

“Shale Fracking is a “Ponzi Scheme” … “This Decade’s Version of the Dotcom Bubble”

By John Donovan

A regular contributor has very kindly drawn my attention to an article published by GlobalResearch under the headline: “Shale Fracking is a “Ponzi Scheme” … “This Decade’s Version of the Dotcom Bubble”

In making the case to support the headline, the article contains a host of extracts from well known publications.

e.g.

A Losing Bet

In 2011, the New York Times wrote:

“Money is pouring in” from investors even though shale gas is “inherently unprofitable,” an analyst from PNC Wealth Management, an investment company, wrote to a contractor in a February e-mail. “Reminds you of dot-coms.” read more

By John Donovan

Shell’s Arctic Drilling Plans 

fuelfix.com has published an article about Shell’s latest plans for exploratory oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska. The detailed article contains links to a document Shell has filed with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a related federal court document and an exploration plan.  A lawyer for the conservation group Oceana, is quoted as saying: “Shell appears to have learned little from its past experiences and should be considering whether it wants to continue to invest huge sums continuing to try to drill in a place for which it is clearly unprepared.” Apparently “Shell executives have not made an official decision to plunge forward into those icy waters, but filing the exploratory plan is a necessary step in its quest for federal permits necessary to conduct the work next year.” read more

STATEMENT BY ROYAL DUTCH SHELL CEO BEN VAN BEURDEN

“Shell welcomes the decision by the people of Scotland to remain within the UK, which reduces the operating uncertainty for businesses based in Scotland,” van Beurden said in a statement. “Shell will continue to work closely with both the UK and Scottish governments to help the industry deliver vital energy supplies through investment in the UK’s oil and gas resources. We look forward to continuing our proud association with Scotland.” He also called for quick implementation of the recommendations in this year’s Wood Report, a review led by Aberdeen businessman Sir Ian Wood. read more

By John Donovan 

SHELL FUNDED CORRUPTION IN THE CORRIB GAS PROJECT IN IRELAND

According to an Irish Independent article, the former Irish Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, who corresponded with me in relation to the OSSL corruption allegations against Shell and the Irish Police, has launched a blistering attack on the bosses of the watchdog Garda Ombudsman service (GSOC).  

The GSOC is the hopelessly incompetent outfit responsible for a so-called “investigation” of the OSSL allegations. In fact, they never even approached a key witness, Mr Marc Fitzgibbon, a senior Dublin lawyer. He was personally present during a series of meetings with top people at Shell, when OSSL demanded and Shell agreed to pay OSSL for  goods and services used to bribe various parties on behalf of Shell, including senior Irish cops.  read more

Vanguard cartoon from allAfrica.com article: “Nigeria: U.S. Report Shows Corruption, Rights Abuses”

FROM A REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR 

Safe Sex and Corruption in Nigeria – OPL245

In the Economist article from last year – Safe sex in Nigeria – the numbers simply do not add up. The explanation given is that “others” had benefited from the proceeds of the OPL 245 sale to Shell and Eni.

The obvious conclusion is that these would have been people directly connected to the Nigerian government and Etete.

One possible conclusion that is not discussed is that people within ENI and/or Shell may also have benefited during the distribution of the funds. It would not be the first time that “conflicts of interest” had arisen in Shell and ENI. read more

By John Donovan

We plan to publish an article on Saturday relating to the Shell-Motiva Norco site.  It contains serious allegations from a highly credible source about a hostile working environment, employee victimisation and related sinister activity. The draft article was supplied to Shell on Monday so that Shell-Motiva and a senior named employee have had the opportunity to refute the allegations and/or obtain an injunction.

Shell-Motiva is to pay $4.5 million to over 2,500 former and current employees arising from violations of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.

By John Donovan

Shell-Motiva is to pay $4.5 million to over 2,500 former and current employees arising from violations of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.

The U.S. Labor Department said that Shell-Motiva made workers attend mandatory pre-shift meetings before the start of their 12-hour shifts.

“Employers are legally required to pay workers for all hours worked,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said in a written statement. “Whether in the international oil industry, as in this case, or a local family-run restaurant, the Labor Department is working to ensure that responsible employers do not experience a competitive disadvantage because they play by the rules.” read more