Shell cuts 2015 capex, sees downstream downturn

London (Platts)–30 Apr 2015

* Capex reduced by more than $2 billion
* Decision on Majnoon development pushed back to 2017
* CFO says refining margins already worsening

Shell said Thursday it had reduced its expected 2015 capital expenditure to $33 billion from previous guidance of a little more than $35 billion as the company continues to adjust its business to the lower oil-price environment.

Shell, releasing its first-quarter results, also said it continued to reduce its operating costs and capital spending, with Q1 operating expenditure down by $1.1 billion year on year. read more

Earnings dropped steeply from $7.33billion last year to $3.25billion

Company hopes oil prices will rise to $90 a barrel by 2018 

By MARK SHAPLAND FOR THIS IS MONEY: 30 April 2015

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has reported a near 60 per cent slump in first quarter profits after it was hit by the fall in oil and gas prices.

Earnings dropped steeply from $7.33billion ($4.6billion) last year to $3.25billion – though the figure was better than City forecasts of about $2.5billion. 

The price of a barrel of Brent crude has fallen by half since last year after peaking at about $115 a barrel in the summer of 2014.

The company, which earlier this month announced a £55billion agreed offer for UK-based BG Group, said it expects oil prices to rise to $90 a barrel by 2018 – justifying the 50 per cent premium it bid to buy its rival.   read more

Business | Thursday Apr 30, 2015 

Shell pushes on with Arctic exploration as it awaits U.S. permit

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is pushing ahead with plans to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean near Alaska this summer despite opposition from environmental groups.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major is preparing “an armada of 25 vessels” to begin a two-year program to explore two to three wells in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska, Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said on Thursday.

“We are currently on track. Some of the permits are issued at the last moment,” he told reporters. read more

BY TIM BRADNER, ALASKA JOURNAL OF COMMERCE: PUBLISHED 29 APRIL 2015

Judge extends Temporary Restraining Order after hearing on Greenpeace injunction

Shell’s court battle to obtain a preliminary injunction against Greenpeace USA continued in U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason’s court in Anchorage April 28.

Gleason is considering whether to issue an order that would keep Greenpeace protestors at a certain distance from vessels Shell hopes to use for its 2015 Arctic offshore drilling.

After the hearing, Gleason extended the temporary restraining order against Greenpeace covering two drill rigs and a heavy lift vessel; that order issued April 11 expired April 28 and she extended it to May 9 or until she rules on Shell’s request for an injunction that would cover all 27 vessels being mobilized for its Arctic exploration this summer. read more

FT: Shell’s first-quarter profits plunge 56% to $3.2bn

30 April 2015

Christopher Adams, Energy Editor

Royal Dutch Shell suffered a near 60 per cent slide in first-quarter profits, hit by plunging crude prices, but beat expectations as a strong contribution from its refining and trading business prevented a steeper fall.

FULL FT ARTICLE

FAT CAT PAY

STATEMENT BY ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC CEO, BEN VAN BEURDEN: 30 April 2015

“Our results reflect the strength of our integrated business activities, against a backdrop of lower oil prices. Meanwhile, in what is clearly a difficult industry environment, we continue to take steps to further improve competitive performance by redoubling our efforts to drive a sharper focus on the bottom line in Shell.

Part of this sharper focus is the sale of non-strategic assets. Asset sales total over $2 billion so far this year, as we successfully reduced our onshore footprint in Nigeria. read more

The Wall Street Journal: Shell Posts Rise in Profit Despite Sharp Revenue Decline

Fall in revenue indicates impact of low oil prices

By IAN WALKER and SARAH KENT

April 30, 2015

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Thursday reported a 7% rise in first-quarter profit from a year earlier but also posted a steep fall in revenue, giving investors a glimpse of the impact weak oil prices are having on the business.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com and Sarah Kent at sarah.kent@wsj.com

SOURCE

Shell profits beat expectations on refining boost:

Business | Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:26am BST

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported a lower than expected 56 percent drop in first quarter net income at $3.2 billion (2 billion pounds), as refining and trading profits offset a decline in earnings from oil and gas output.

Shell maintained a dividend of 47 cents per share and said it would use its planned $70 billion acquisition of smaller British rival BG Group to further optimise its asset base.

Profits from refining and trading rose to $2.65 billion in the first quarter of 2015 from $1.575 billion a year earlier, offsetting a sharp drop in oil and gas production earnings to $675 million from $5.7 billion. read more

Shell’s Shocking Share of the Groningen Earthquake Costs

By a Regular Contributor

The Dutch government does not seem to be very pleased with Shell: it’s action to reverse the burden of proof in Groningen cases seems to imply that Shell cannot be trusted…

For each of the 250,000 potential claimants to take Shell to court individually and give Shell the opportunity to drag things out, produce dubious experts, and essentially bankrupt everyone before they can obtain redress would also create a legal nightmare (out of which Shell would probably emerge essentially unscathed)  read more

By Charles Kennedy: Wed, 29 April 2015

How can Shell possibly finance the purchase of BG?

Royal Dutch Shell is set to report its first quarter earnings, and by all accounts, it will be a doozy. Analysts predict a 60 percent decline in earnings from a year earlier, including a massive 7 percent fall in production.

But the price tag for BG will be $70 billion, a colossal sum in a period of low oil prices. Shell has already said that it would undertake a major divestment campaign to rid itself of assets it does not see as integral to its future. Purchasing BG is a sign that Shell sees itself as a company that will be increasingly a producer of LNG and offshore oil. read more

BY ELISE SHULMAN — GUEST CONTRIBUTOR POSTED 29 APRIL 2015 on thinkprogress.org

Shell Accused Of Misleading Its Shareholders About The Risks Of Arctic Drilling

If Royal Dutch Shell’s Arctic drilling program leads to a major spill, it could cost the oil company — and therefore its shareholders — an entire year’s worth of profit, according to a Tuesday legal filing by the conservation group Oceana and a University of Chicago law clinic.

But the company’s investors are not aware of that risk, the two groups alleged. Because of that, the groups filed a petition to the Securities and Exchange Commission, requesting that the agency launch a formal investigation into Shell’s risk disclosures to shareholders relating to its activities in the Arctic Ocean. read more

Article from BreakingNews.ie published Wed 29 April 2015

Mayo men sue Irish Cops over alleged brutality at Shell to Sea protest *(were the cops tipsy?)

Three Mayo men are suing for damages over alleged garda brutality at a Shell to Sea protest eight years ago.

Patrick Coyle, and brothers Patrick and Martin O’Donnell, claim they were assaulted at Bellanaboy bridge on January 19, 2007.

It is the men’s case that gardaí displayed brutality and indiscipline during a protest outside the Shell oil refinery at Bellanaboy.

They claim Patrick Coyle was punched in the face and struck on the back of the head while trying to stop another demonstrator being pulled from the line of protesters by gardaí. read more

LONDON | BY DMITRY ZHDANNIKOV, SINEAD CRUISE AND RON BOUSSO: Wed, 29 April 2015

“…its not inconceivable that BG shareholders could start to agitate for a higher bid or indeed a competing bid..”

(Reuters) – Rising oil prices are putting Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) under pressure to execute its landmark $70 billion deal to buy rival BG (BG.L) as soon as possible before investors in BG start to take a more critical look at the terms.

Announced three weeks ago, the deal was seen as a bold bet by Shell on the oil price recovering to $80-$90 per barrel within three years, justifying a 50 percent premium the Anglo-Dutch giant agreed to pay for BG in the biggest oil merger of the decade. read more

(NOW UPDATED WITH 98 PAGE DOCUMENT FILED 24 APRIL 2015 WITH THE U.S. COURTS)

A 194 page Complaint filed in the US Courts two months ago confirms that investigations are underway by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the EU Commission and the UK Serious Fraud Office into an alleged oil price-fixing conspiracy involving Shell, BP, Statoil and others. 

The plaintiffs provide what they describe as “concrete evidence” within the Complaint of oil price manipulation.

A link to the entire 194 page document is provided.

Extracts from 194 page Court document dated 27 Feb 2015

SECOND AMENDED CONSOLIDATED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT FILED 27 FEBRUARY 2015

Case 1:13-md-02475-ALC Document 308 Filed 02/27/15

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

I. NATURE OF THE ACTION

1. This action arises from manipulations of North Sea Brent Crude Oil Market  (defined herein) by Defendants Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (“STASCO”), Shell Trading US Company, BP pic (“BP”), BP America, Inc., BP Corporation North America Inc., Statoil ASA (“Statoil”), Statoil US Holdings Inc. (“Statoil US”), Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. (“MSCGI”), Trafigura Beheer B.V., Trafigura AG, Phibro Trading LLC (“Phibro”), Phibro Commodities Limited, Vitol, S.A. (“Vitol”), Vitol, Inc., Hess Energy Trading Company, LLC (“HETCO”), Mercuria Energy Trading S.A., Mercuria Energy Trading, Inc., (collectively, “Defendants”) since at least 2002 through the present (the “Class Period”). read more

Associated Press article published Wed 29 April 2015

Shell, Greenpeace spar over Arctic drilling safety zones

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Attorneys for Royal Dutch Shell PLC presented testimony to a federal court judge Tuesday that the company needs safety zones around its Arctic drill fleet to prevent Greenpeace USA activists from endangering company workers and themselves.

An attorney for Greenpeace told U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason that Shell’s request would usurp the maritime authority Congress gave to the Coast Guard and harm free speech rights of Greenpeace activists, who have the right to approach Shell vessels to draw attention to harmful drilling in the Arctic. read more

AMSTERDAM | BY TOBY STERLING:Tuesday 28 April 2015

Dutch parliament reverses burden of proof in gas damage claims

(Reuters) – The Dutch parliament on Tuesday voted to reverse the burden of proof in disputes over damages to buildings caused by the production of gas at Groningen, Europe’s largest natural gas field, a potentially expensive decision.

Estimates of damage to buildings in Groningen by earthquakes caused by gas production range from 6.5 billion euros ($7.1 billion) to 30 billion in the coming 30 years.

Under the motion approved by parliament, the company that operates the Groningen field, a joint venture including Shell, Exxon and the Dutch government, would have to provide evidence that disputed damage claims are bogus, rather than claimants having to show evidence they are legitimate. read more