The big question facing Mr van Beurden, is whether he can pull off such an ambitious move. If not, his time at the helm will be shortlived.

By Ben Marlow: 31 Oct 2015

Ben van Beurden must be sick of answering the same question but unless there is an unlikely sudden surge in the oil price – and therefore the fortunes of the world’s energy giants –the boss of Shell is likely to be quizzed on the same issue many more times in the coming months.

What people want to know is, will the UK oil major press ahead with its mammoth £43bn takeover bid for BG Group despite the dramatic slump in the oil price?

• BG Group profits drop as it nears merger with Shell

The fall from highs of more than $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to as low as $43 has unleashed havoc across the energy industry, forcing the majors to rein in costs at lightning speed as they desperately try to prop up profits and keep paying dividends to investors. read more

By Senator Iroegbu: 29 October 2015

The Amnesty International (AI) and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) will launch a new report exposing what it described as Shell’s blatantly false statements about its efforts to clean up oil spills in the Niger Delta next week.

The Press Officer, AI Nigeria, Mr. Eulette Ewart, said in a statement on Thursday, that despite promising to act on a 2011 United Nations Environmental Programme report exposing shocking levels of pollution caused by oil spills, ‘Clean it up: Shell’s failure to tackle oil spills in Nigeria’ documents that Shell has either not cleaned up or has done it so badly that oil still pollutes the land. read more

By Andy Critchlow October 30, 2015

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Liquefied natural gas is taking the shine off Shell’s $70 billion takeover of BG Group. When the Anglo-Dutch major launched its deal in April, LNG was one of the main ways it justified the deal to investors. That line of argument doesn’t look so convincing now.

BG’s third-quarter results, released on Oct. 30, showed marketing and shipping of LNG taking a big hit. Despite the company revising higher its earnings expectations for the segment in 2015, revenue slumped 65 percent year-on-year, against a 9 percent top-line fall for the overall group. read more

By Rakteem Katakey Bloomberg News: Oct 29 2015

Royal Dutch Shell’s worst loss in at least 16 years has further stoked concerns about the wisdom of buying BG Group. For now at least, investors are still giving Chief Executive Ben Van Beurden the benefit of the doubt.

Europe’s biggest oil company said it will press ahead with its largest-ever acquisition even as the worsening outlook for energy prices contributed to asset writedowns of almost $8 billion.

Van Beurden said in July that BG Group’s assets including Australian natural gas plants and Brazilian oil fields would add to Shell’s cash flow with crude at $67 a barrel in 2016, a position he declined to repeat Thursday. read more

Asjylyn Loder: 29 Oct 2015: Bloomberg.com

• Shell leads writedowns with $8.2 billion in impairments

• Predictions of future cash flow have fallen along with prices

More than $19 billion in oil and gas writedowns have been reported in a single week as producers acknowledge what investors already knew.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc leads the pack in recognizing that drilling prospects are worth a lot less than they used to. The producer announced its worst loss in 16 years on Thursday, including $8.2 billion in impairments. Southwestern Energy Co., Whiting Petroleum Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. have likewise written off acreage value.

For investors, those charges aren’t much of a surprise after oil tumbled 44 percent in the past year, dragging stock prices along with it. Shell has declined 15 percent in the past 12 months, Whiting is down 73 percent and Anadarko fell 26 percent. read more

By SELINA WILLIAMS: 30 Oct 2015

Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said Thursday that the BG deal, which remains on track for completion in early 2016, was a springboard for the Anglo-Dutch energy giant to focus on fewer and more profitable areas, such as deep water and integrated gas.

Shell’s comments came as BG reported a fall in its underlying earnings…

FULL ARTICLE

By Jon Yeomans: 30 Oct 2015

BG Group, which is due to be taken over by Shell early next year, has reported a slump in profits as the low oil price continues to take a toll on producers.

Net income at the Reading-based company fell 63pc to $280m (£182m) in the third quarter from $759m a year earlier. Nonetheless, this beat expectations, with some analysts pencilling in a result closer to $200.5m.

Including impairments, disposals and foreign exchange movements caused by the falling value of the dollar, BG recorded a loss of £101m. read more

Angela Macdonald-Smith: 30 October 2015

Royal Dutch Shell’s global chief executive Ben van Beurden says there is “massive support” from Australian federal and state governments for the oil giant’s $US70 billion ($98.6 billion) takeover of BG Group and is confident the national competition regulator will wave the deal through.

Mr van Beurden said even though the decision from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on the deal had been put back twice, he was “confident that they will come back with a good and prudent ruling”. read more

There is blood in the water at Royal Dutch Shell

By HELEN THOMAS: Oct. 29, 2015 

There is blood in the water at Royal Dutch Shell. The wound will take some time to heal. The U.K. oil and gas company Thursday posted a huge third-quarter loss, dragged down by impairments of $8.2 billion in its upstream business. Just less than half the charges owed to Shell reducing its view of longer-term oil and gas prices by an unspecified amount. The remainder was write-offs resulting from its decision to cease drilling in the Arctic and call a halt to a Canadian oil sands project. read more

By a regular contributor

Only one member of the EC is directly involved in North American activities, Marvin Odum. 

Perhaps worth noting is that investment decisions on the scale of the recent Shell write-offs would have required approval by the entire EC in the Hague long before BvB was around. Few of the EC members who made those decisions are still present. 

It seems strange that so many of the huge projects which have been abandoned are in North America, and serious questions need to be asked about why approval was given by the EC for these huge projects. Only one member of the EC is directly involved in North American activities, Marvin Odum.  read more

Posted on October 29, 2015 | By Jennifer A. Dlouhy

WASHINGTON — Shell is walking away from oil exploration in Arctic waters north of Alaska, but it isn’t ready to close the door completely.

Disappointing results from a critical test well at the company’s Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, combined with the high costs of developing the region and an “unpredictable regulatory environment” have prompted Royal Dutch Shell “to cease further exploration activity offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future,” CEO Ben van Beurden told reporters Thursday. read more

by Catherine Neilan: 29 Oct 2015

Royal Dutch Shell’s share price tumbled this morning after it revealed a third quarter loss of $7.4bn (£4.8bn) as the company gets to grips with the falling oil price. 

The figures

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant posted its dramatic loss on the back of nearly $8bn-worth of exceptional items. Adjusted net income fell to $1.77bn, missing expectations that had put the figure at $2.92bn. 

Shell posted a CCS earnings loss of $6.12bn, 216 per cent lower than the same time last year. 

Cash flow from operating activities for the third quarter 2015 was $11.2bn, down from $12.8bn for the same quarter last year.  Meanwhile gearing has increased to 12.7 per cent, up from 11.7 per cent at the same point in 2014.    read more

By STANLEY REED: OCT. 29, 2015

LONDON — Lower petroleum prices took a big toll on Royal Dutch Shell in the third quarter.

The company reported a loss of $7.4 billion, compared with a profit of $4.5 billion in the quarter a year earlier. Adjusted for inventory changes and one-time items — a more closely watched measurement — earnings fell 70 percent to $1.8 billion.

The company took about $7.9 billion in write-offs for its recently halted exploration venture off Alaska, a canceled heavy-oil project in Canada and other operations. read more

Business News | Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:18am GMT

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) on Thursday reported a sharp drop in third-quarter profits on the back of low oil prices and a hefty $8.2 billion (5.4 billion pounds) charge which included write-offs in Alaska and Canada.

Shell’s current cost of supplies (CCS) earnings excluding identified items, the company’s definition of net income, fell to $1.8 billion from $5.85 billion a year earlier and from $3.835 billion in the previous quarter. read more

Rakteem Katakey: 29 October 2015

• Company reports net loss after taking $7.9 billion charge
• Third-quarter adjusted profit drops 70% to $1.8 billion

Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported its biggest net loss in at least a decade as it wrote down the value of assets and lowered its oil-price expectations.

The company, which is buying BG Group Plc in the industry’s largest deal this year, reported a third-quarter net loss of $7.42 billion, compared with a profit of $4.46 billion a year earlier. It took charges totaling $7.89 billion following its withdrawal from Alaskan offshore exploration and a Canadian oil-sands project.

Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes dropped 70 percent to $1.8 billion, The Hague-based Shell said Thursday in a statement. That missed the $2.92 billion average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. read more

CALGARY, ALBERTA: Tue Oct 27, 2015

Royal Dutch Shell Plc will not continue construction of its 80,000 barrel per day Carmon Creek thermal oil sands project in northern Alberta because of the lack of infrastructure to move Canadian crude to market, the company said on Tuesday.

Shell said the decision to halt the project was also the result of “current uncertainties” and chief executive Ben van Beurden said the company was having to manage costs in today’s low oil price environment. read more