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February, 2016:

Bulgaria signs deal with Shell for deepwater oil and gas exploration

Feb 23rd, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2016-02-17 at 08.47.47Markets | Tuesday Feb 23, 2016 

Bulgaria sealed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday to explore for oil and gas in an offshore block in the Black Sea in a bid to end its almost total dependence on Russian natural gas.

Shell won a tender for a five-year permit for deepwater exploration at the 1-14 Silistar block that covers 7,000 square km in September and pledged to invest 18.6 million euros ($20.5 million) in seismic surveys.

“The licence that we have been awarded today allows us to evaluate the potential for oil and gas in offshore Bulgaria. This process can be quite a long process and with much uncertainty,” said Eileen Wilkinson, regional director at Shell International Exploration and Production, after the signing. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Oil and gas investment ‘collapsing’ despite cost-cutting

Feb 23rd, 2016
by John Donovan.
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23 FEB 2016

Investment in new offshore oil and gas projects is collapsing despite cost-cutting efforts, according to a report.

Industry Body Oil and Gas UK said that less than £1bn was expected to be spent on new projects this year, compared to a typical £8bn per year in the last five years.

Its new 2016 activity survey said this was despite costs dropping.

Oil and Gas UK said exploration remained at an all-time low with no sign of improving.

The survey said the industry’s drive to improve efficiency, reduce operating costs and increase production has had “marked success”. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Begins Probe Of $2b Malabu Oil Scandal

Feb 22nd, 2016
by John Donovan.
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BY THE NATION: FEB 22, 2016

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has initiated a discreet probe into the $2 billion Malabu Oil deal to ascertain whether the country was short-changed.

The agency may interact with those who were parties to the agreement including five former ministers, an ex-Group Managing Director of NNPC and top officials of the Department of Petroleum Resources.

Already, a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello (SAN), has written to the EFCC on how the deal was struck with Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD). read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Bayelsa communities vow to shut down Shell’s operations

Feb 22nd, 2016
by John Donovan.
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By Samuel Oyadongha: 22 FEB 2016

YENAGOA—TWELVE aggrieved oil producing communities in Bayelsa State have threatened to shut down operations of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, over the company’s handling of its relationship with the host communities.

In a communique after a meeting attended by all the Community Development Committee, CDC, Chairmen and other stakeholders of the EA field host communities, the communities accused SPDC of defaulting on the implementation of General Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU, entered into with the communities.

The host communities also threatened to stage a protest against the oil company, alleging that the company failed to sign surveillance contracts and reduce the contracts duration period from 12 months to nine. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Job cuts put Shell’s Perth HQ move in shade

Feb 21st, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Insiders expect a couple of hundred positions to be cut once Shell merges its Australian corporate function with BG’s presence, which is centred on the QGC division in Queensland.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden, who will attend the LNG18 conference in Perth in April, has flagged 2800 post-takeover job cuts worldwide.

“Today we will see the birth of what will be undoubtedly the best company in our industry,” Mr van Beurden said on Monday, when the takeover was completed.

Shell spokesman Paul Zennaro yesterday declined to comment on the number and timing of cuts in Australia, where the enlarged Anglo-Dutch giant has a workforce of 2500 to 3000. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Concern over increasing frequency of Corrib Gas Flaring

Feb 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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By John Donovan

A gas flaring event is the burning off of flammable gas released by pressure relief valves as a protection and safety measure during unplanned over-pressuring of plant equipment.

The attached authentic Shell document lists over 260 gas flaring events that have already taken place at the new Bellanaboy Bridge Gas Terminal.

It is noticeable that the unplanned events appear to be increasing, rather than declining e.g. 58 gas flaring events were recorded in just 9 days in January 2016.  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Dividends On A Knife-Edge: Royal Dutch Shell And BG Group

Feb 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Extracts from an article by Nigel Kelly: 19 FEB 2016

Summary

RDS acquired BG Group on February 15, 2016.

The BG shares have been delisted.

RDS/BG now yields over 7.5%.

$60B is required Annually to cover Capex, Debt, Dividend and other Cash Commitments.

Its Cashflow from Operations is only $30B.

Background

Royal Dutch Shell completed its acquisition of BG Group on Feb 15th 2016. The full year 2015 results for both companies have been released in recent weeks. I wanted to review the full years earnings reports and assess the dividend safety for the combined entity. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s credit rating cut from AA to AA- following £36bn takeover of gas giant BG Group

Feb 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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By RUPERT STEINER FOR THE DAILY MAIL: 19 February 2016

Royal Dutch Shell has seen its credit rating slashed following its £36billion takeover of gas giant BG Group.

The credit score of the FTSE 100 oil company – a barometer of its financial strength – was lowered by Fitch from AA to AA-.

Ratings agency Fitch said its outlook on Shell was ‘negative’ in a sign a further cut could follow.

Shell used some of its cash reserves to fund the takeover of BG. Following the completion of the mega-deal on Monday, Shell plans to sell £20billion of assets in the next three years.

However, Fitch warned it downgraded its view on the company because Shell (down 26.5p to 1560.5p) had ‘materially missed the targeted level’ of sell-offs so far.  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Fitch downgrades Shell on BG takeover

Feb 19th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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by Veselin Valchev: Friday, 19 Feb 2016

Credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LON:RDSA) by one notch to “AA-“, with a negative outlook, in response to the successful completion of the costly BG Group merger. The agency considers that adding BG’s business to the group has “deteriorated” Shell’s financial profile.

The £36bn takeover included a £13bn cash component, which Shell covered with resources at hand. The Anglo-Dutch oil major said in its Q4 results earlier this month that it had $31.75bn in cash or cash equivalents in reserve at the end of 2015.

Shell plans to restore its balance sheet strength with an ambitious $30bn disposals programme, in addition to cutting billions in capex and opex from the combined group’s spending, while further synergies from the merger are projected to save up to $3bn per year. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Russia Saudi pact

Feb 19th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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By Ed Crooks: February 19, 2016

This week the story of the oil price crash took a genuinely unexpected turn with the conditional agreement from Saudi Arabia and Russia that they would not increase their production, provided other countries made the same commitment. It was the first real co-operation between Opec and non-Opec countries for 15 years, and although its true significance is probably rather less than that makes it sound, the pact nevertheless provided grist for extensive interpretation. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Members of Congress call for investigation of Shell over climate change

Feb 19th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Ivan Penn: 18 FEB 2016

A Southern California congressman and two other representatives are calling for an investigation of Shell Oil over whether it deceived the public on climate change at the same time it was preparing its business operations for rising sea levels. 

In a Feb. 17 letter to U.S. Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch, the three members of Congress said growing evidence suggests there may have been “a conspiracy between Shell, Exxon Mobil and potentially other companies in the fossil fuel industry.”

U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) sent the letter along with Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont and Rep. Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania, both Democrats.

Their letter cites an investigation published by the Los Angeles Times that reported that in 1989 Shell Oil announced it was redesigning a long-term, $3-billion natural gas platform in the North Sea to deal with rising sea levels from global warming. Despite this and other incidents, the congressmen noted, “Shell apparently decided to fund climate deniers.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Prisoners draw corporate evil-doers who should be in jail but aren’t

Feb 19th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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By Katie Herzog on 18 Feb 2016

Jeff Greenspan and Andrew Tider created Captured, a project that commissions illustrated portraits of CEOs who aren’t in prison but should be — drawn by actual prisoners.

“Corporations frequently commit crimes any average person would be imprisoned for,” write Greenspan and Tider. “These corporate crimes devastate our environment, economy, and society, yet the companies committing them often get away with only paying a settlement. These payouts do little damage to a corporation’s bottom line and are practically baked into their budgets.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Corrib Gas: local residents query intense flaring at Ballinaboy

Feb 19th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Lorna Siggins: 18 FEB 2016

The Government is seeking tenders to monitor the Corrib gas pipeline on behalf of the Department of Energy.

The monitoring will require spot checks of the high pressure pipeline carrying gas from the Corrib field to an inland refinery and its shore valve, according to details published this week on the eTenders website.

The contract is initially for two years only, and will involve weekly reports to the department and answering any queries that the public may have about the project. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Nigeria’s revenue woes worsen as major trouble hit Forcados, oil lifting suspended

Feb 18th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Emmanuel Mayah: 18 FEB 2016

Nigeria’s crude oil export operation has suffered a serious setback following a major crack-up of a giant underwater pipeline at the Forcados export terminal.

Following the incident, crude oil lifting h‎as now been suspended at that platform, officials said.

The pipeline, described as a big artery in the nation’s oil production was said to have suffered a huge rupture under circumstances that are at the moment still hazy.

Nigeria is already bleeding from the impact of low oil prices, with revenue dipping month after month. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

NAM, the Dutch Gas joint venture by Shell and Exxon investigate impact of earthquakes triggered by Groningen Gas Field activity

Feb 18th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2016-02-18 at 16.31.41By John Donovan

Rough translation of a Dutch article published 18 February 2015 by NAMplatform

NAM asks your opinion on safety and damage in Groningen

What are the social impacts of earthquakes in the region over the Groningen gas field? NAM commissioned a survey by Royal Haskoning DHV, who recorded their findings in a report.

NAM would like to present these findings to residents in the region to better connect with the wishes and needs of residents.

The inventory of the social impact of earthquakes with eight different themes addressed, including the themes of loss and safety. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Dubious Corporate Legacy of Sir Mark Moody-Stuart

Feb 18th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2016-02-18 at 14.41.35By John Donovan

Interesting to read that seven years after the departure of Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (right) as chairman of the mining giant Anglo American, the company is in difficulties.

See Dow Jones news article: Anglo American to Downsize Further After Steep Loss.

Apparently the troubled company is in the throes of “an aggressive restructuring.”

Reminiscent in some respects of the state of affairs at Shell during and after the tenure of Sir Mark as Group Chairman.

The Wall Street Journal reported in November 2004 “How Shell’s Move To Revamp Culture Ended in Scandal.“ read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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