Himler Contributor: Media, tech & marketing through the eyes of a seasoned PR strategist. : 31 July 2015

It was the early nineties and I was headed down to Houston with a video crew in tow. Our task: to capture generic footage of motorists filling up at Shell gas stations for use as part of a satellite news feed for an imminent company news announcement.

During the planning and prep session with Shell Oil Company’s CEO, its head of refining and others, I was informed that this would be the company’s first-ever news conference(!). Shell planned to introduce the nation’s first “environmentally enhanced” gasoline*, SU2000E, and we were retained to mount the presser and feed the footage to the dozen cities in which would be available. read more

By John Donovan

Because of our domain name, many people wrongly gain the impression that this is a Shell website.  

I can only guess they have not studied the site very carefully.

This misunderstanding generates emails meant for Shell every day (including job applications).

Yesterday we received an email from an irate American microbiologist (name and address supplied)

I am done purchasing gasoline from Shell Oil.

I will not support a company that drills in the Arctic, placing a fragile ecosystem at risk for monetary gain.

Instead of investing in Arctic drilling, invest in renewable energy sources. read more

By a Regular Contributor

Hopefully, Shell will soon accept that in the US Arctic their position is now untenable…

If RDS wants to cut capex (and exposure), FLNG is a good place to start, as Simon Henry suggested yesterday. The Arctic should be next. 

The Arctic is rapidly acquiring a similar profile to the Brent Spar fiasco. The issue is not whether Greenpeace is right or wrong, it is whether Shell can win the hearts and minds of the public to support their efforts. So far, Shell’s own incompetence has been the most significant issue in eliminating any public support they once enjoyed. 

The destruction of drilling vessels and criminal convictions for polluting the environment and failing to keep the required records support the view that Shell do not know what they are doing. Neither Shell’s army of lawyers nor the judges on whom they rely have ever worked offshore and have no idea of what it entails. However, the first time that there is any illegal discharge into the sea or the air (and it will happen), or a fatality, injury or  well control incident, the lawyers who are supporting Shell’s current efforts will have nothing constructive to say.  read more

CBS/AP July 31, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. — Authorities used boats, personal watercraft, poles and their bare hands to remove protesters in kayaks and hanging from bridges who had tried to block a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker bound for an Arctic drilling operation.

The Fennica left dry dock Thursday afternoon and made its way down the Willamette River toward the Pacific Ocean soon after authorities forced the demonstrators from the river and the St. Johns Bridge.

Several protesters in kayaks moved toward the center of the river as the ship began its trip, but authorities in boats and personal watercraft cleared a narrow pathway for the Fennica. read more

Environmental activists have been removed from a bridge in Portland, Oregon, allowing an icebreaker to join a US Arctic oil-drilling operation.

Police lowered the Greenpeace campaigners dangling on ropes from St John’s Bridge into boats, while the Coast Guard cleared dozens of kayaks.

The icebreaker, chartered by Royal Dutch Shell, had been prevented from leaving port for hours.

A judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay $2,500 (£1,600) per hour of blockage.

The Fennica icebreaker was in Portland for repairs. At one point it had to retreat before the activists refused to move. read more

By STEVEN DuBOIS and DAN JOLING

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Alaska on Thursday ordered Greenpeace USA to pay a fine of $2,500 for every hour that protesters dangle from a bridge in Oregon and block a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker from leaving for oil drilling in the Arctic.

There was no sign that the protesters were going to abandon the blockade in Portland after the ruling in Anchorage by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason that Greenpeace is in civil contempt.

Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard said the activists will stay in place for now. read more

by Jes Burns and Cassandra Profita OPB | July 29, 2015 2:34 p.m. | Updated: July 30, 2015 8:58 a.m. | Portland, Oregon

A Shell icebreaking vessel being protested by activist groups has turned around and is headed back toward the dry dock after a morning showdown with protesters. The St. Johns Bridge was reopened after being temporarily closed.

The U.S. Coast Guard was escorting the icebreaker on the Willamette River and warned the activists that they are breaking the law.

Georgia Faye Hirsty was one of the 13 hanging protestors. Speaking from her mobile phone while hanging from the bridge on Wednesday, she said she was glad to know the Arctic-bound icebreaker would remain in Portland for another day. But she said she and her fellow demonstrators weren’t about to declare victory and go home. read more

BY ELWOOD BREHMER, ALASKA JOURNAL OF COMMERCE: 30 July 2015

Shell and Greenpeace USA will go back to court Thursday to determine if Greenpeace protesters are violating a court injunction after a Wednesday teleconference hearing before Alaska U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason yielded little.

The 4 p.m. hearing on Shell’s emergency motion, which was filed earlier Wednesday, resulted from the actions of 13 Greenpeace activists who lowered themselves from a bridge over the Willamette River in Portland, Ore., in an attempt to block the Shell-leased ice handling vessel Fennica when it leaves a shipyard upriver to return to Alaska. read more

By STANLEY REED: JULY 30, 2015

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that its profit fell sharply in the second quarter as a strong performance in marketing and refining failed to offset the brunt of lower oil and gas prices.

The oil giant also said it would cut its capital investment and eliminate 6,500 jobs as the drop in oil and gas prices squeezes its vast global exploration and production operations.

The company, based in The Hague, said earnings adjusted for inventory changes and excluding one-time items were $3.8 billion, compared with $6.1 billion in the same period in 2014. read more

By Angela Macdonald-Smith: Jul 30 2015

Royal Dutch Shell has signalled that a final go-ahead next year for the Browse floating liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia is far from a certainty given the cost challenges of the venture in the depressed oil price environment.

Chief financial officer Simon Henry listed Browse among several large international projects that would be subject to “the dynamic nature of decision making as we take both the oil price environment but also the supply chain and the cost level into account.” read more

by Tsuyoshi Inajima and Stephen Stapczynski: BLOOMBERG.COM: 30 JULY 2015

Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to sell a 33.24 percent stake in a Japanese refiner to Idemitsu Kosan Co. for about 169 billion yen ($1.4 billion).

The deal for 125.3 million shares in Showa Shell Sekiyu KK is almost 23 percent more than the closing price Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The transaction is scheduled to be completed in 2016, according to a statement from The Hague, Netherlands-based company. The energy major will retain a 1.8 percent holding in the Japanese refiner. read more

By Justin Wm. Moyer July 30, 2015

In the annals of extreme protesting, there are tree-sitters and there are sleeping dragons. Add to these the bridge-dangle — a technique craftily employed by 13 environmental activists in Portland, Ore., who wish to prevent a ship vital to Royal Dutch Shell Arctic drilling from leaving the Lower 48.

“They are creating a human barricade so that the Shell icebreaker cannot get through,” Annie Leonard, the executive director of Greenpeace USA, told KATU in Portland. “They are prepared to stay up there for days because that’s what it is going to take to save the Arctic.”

The protesters took to the St. Johns Bridge over the Willamette River early Wednesday to block the icebreaker, named the Fennica, from heading north to protect Shell’s fleet from ice and respond to an oil spill, should one occur. As the Associated Press reported, the ship is being repaired after its hull was gashed in the Aleutian Islands after a collision with an underwater object. read more

LONDON | BY RON BOUSSO AND KAROLIN SCHAPS: 30 July 2015

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported a 37 percent drop in second quarter profits and said it would cut 6,500 jobs this year and reduce spending further to deal with an extended period of lower oil prices.

The Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company also said it was planning more asset disposals alongside its proposed $70 billion acquisition of BG Group, bringing total asset sales between 2014 and 2018 to $50 billion.

“We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time, whilst keeping an eye on recovery,” Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden is set to tell investors later in the day, according to the company. read more

By Rakteem Katakey: July 30, 2015″ BLOOMBERG.COM

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the oil producer buying BG Group Plc for more than $70 billion, said it plans to cut 6,500 jobs this year and reduce capital investment by $7 billion.

Shell is planning for a “prolonged downturn,” the company said Thursday in a statement. Its dividend commitment will remain unchanged at $1.88 per share this year, with at least that amount paid in 2016, the company said.

Second-quarter profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes dropped to $3.8 billion from $6.1 billion a year earlier, The Hague-based Shell said. That beat the $3.4 billion average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. read more

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced it is to shed 6,500 jobs as part of cost cutting plans.

30 July 2015

The company said the cost cutting was to help “mitigate the impact” on profits amidst a drop in oil prices.

Its “prudent approach” included a reduction in operating costs of $4bn and reduced oil exploration operations.

The company announced profits of $3.4bn in the three months to 30 June, a 35% decrease compared with last year.

Shell also said that it was “planning for a prolonged downturn” in oil prices.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said: “We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time, whilst keeping an eye on recovery. read more

A polar bear dries off after taking a swim in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska. The U.S. Interior Department has said updated scientific models don’t bode well for polar bear populations across the world, especially in Alaska, the only state in the nation with the white bears. (Brian Battaile / Associated Press)

By THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD: 29 July 2015

The Obama administration is being at least somewhat more cautious this time around in allowing Royal Dutch Shell to drill in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea. The company must keep its drills from reaching the oil reserves until it has the equipment in place that can shut down a well in case of a spill. It may not drill in two places within 15 miles of each other because of the potential disruption to walrus habitat. The company has worked hard to convince Interior Department officials that it has overcome the sloppiness that led to a series of mishaps during its first attempt in 2012, including the grounding of its drilling rig. read more