Posts from ‘January, 2018’

Adriana Barrera, Marianna Parraga JANUARY 31, 2018 / 3:31 PM

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) won five of the first eight oil and gas blocks awarded in Mexico’s prized deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico, making the early running in the country’s biggest auction since the energy sector was opened to international oil firms. The stakes are high for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his ruling party, which is keen to showcase the results of the liberalization ahead of a presidential election in July. Shell, in a consortium with Qatar Petroleum, won four of the first nine blocks on offer in the Perdido basin, which is close to U.S. waters where oil firms already operate and have infrastructure. READ FULL ARTICLE read more

News Release – Issued by Shell to Sea – Jan 31st, 2018 – For immediate release

Shell to Sea has today made its submission on Policing Reform to the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.[1]

To help in the quest on policing reform, Shell to Sea have come up with a list of don’ts, that if followed would improve policing in Ireland.

The Corrib Gas protests are the single largest source of Garda complaints that GSOC have had to deal with although no Garda has ever been held to account for their law-breaking and abuse of powers. read more

…Brian Anderson had another meeting with General Abacha. Despite being aware that Ken Saro-Wiwa and scores of others were now in detention and that many Ogonis had been killed in raids by the ISTF, Anderson’s own notes of the meeting do not refer to these issues at all.

Extract from pages 9, 10 & 11 of an Amnesty International document headed: “A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE? SHELL’S INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NIGERIA IN THE 1990s”

Under Executive Summary.

BEGINS

SHELL SOLICITED AND ENCOURAGED INTERVENTION BY THE NIGERIAN SECURITY FORCES AND MILITARY AUTHORITIES

Despite knowing that serious human rights violations were almost inevitable, Shell encouraged and solicited the intervention of the Nigerian security forces and the military authorities. In 1993, Shell repeatedly asked the Nigerian government to deploy the army to Ogoniland to prevent protests from disrupting the laying of the pipeline. This resulted in the shooting and injuring of eleven people at Biara on 30 April and the shooting to death of a man at Nonwa on 4 May. According to an internal Shell document, Shell executives even advised the Nigerian military not to release protestors it had detained unless the military received commitments from their community to stop protests, thereby directly soliciting a violation of the human rights of the detainees. read more

HOUSTON, Jan. 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore Inc. (“Shell”) today announced one of its largest U.S. Gulf of Mexico exploration finds in the past decade from the Whale deep-water well. The well encountered more than 1,400 net feet (427 meters) of oil bearing pay. Evaluation of the discovery is ongoing, and appraisal drilling is underway to further delineate the discovery and define development options. 

“Deep water is an important growth priority as we reshape Shell into a world-class investment case,” said Andy Brown, Upstream Director for Royal Dutch Shell. “Today’s announcement shows how, through exploration, we are sustaining a strong pipeline of discoveries and future projects to sustain this deep-water growth.” read more

Extract from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally)

(BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT SHELL’S EPIC 25 YEAR FEUD WITH JOHN DONOVAN – which puts the extracts below in overall context.)

Extract from page 55

The main Smart litigation was so long drawn out and intensely reported that it was said to have scuppered a merger deal between Shell and Texaco.

Extracts from a related magazine article dated July/August 1999 (the linked file also contains a salient letter circulated by Shell to Shell retailers):

One ex-Shell employee said, “This has been an on-going saga for so long now, one could reasonably assume that the action had become a fly in the ointment for any potential deal. From the language of the statements it does seem that Shell has wanted to draw a line under this action and secure the future of Smart. This could now pave the way for a merger, and Texaco would be the likely candidate.” The recent fluctuations in the oil price and the need to rationalise and cut costs across major markets has led oil giants into increasingly ambitious partnerships. read more

By Janene Pieters on January 31, 2018 – 13:40

Dutch gas firm NAM will for the time being not pay profits to its two shareholders – Shell and ExxonMobil, Shell announced in a press release. NAM has 18 billion euros available to compensate for damaged caused by gas extraction related earthquakes in Groningen for the next five years, the Dutch gas firm also announced in a press release.

These two press releases were an attempt to calm unrest caused by the revelation that Shell withdrew its so-called 403 declaration from NAM last year, as Trouw reported on Saturday. This 403 declaration held Shell liable for NAM’s debts. The withdrawal of this declaration, which happened in June last year, raised concerns that Shell is trying to escape its liability for damages caused by fracking earthquakes in Groningen. read more

Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle: Updated 7:01 am, Wednesday, January 31, 2018

BP said it made two successful discoveries in the North Sea – one of which is with fellow Big Oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron. BP said it struck oil in its Capercaillie prospect in the central North Sea east of Scotland, as well as the northwestern corner of the North Sea in the Achmelvich well, the latter of which is the partnership with Shell and Chevron. The discoveries lend optimism to a slowly rebounding offshore energy sector, especially in the North Sea that’s so critical for Europe’s oil supplies. FULL ARTICLE read more

Chayut Setboonsarng, Florence Tan: 31 JAN 2018

BANGKOK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday that it will sell its stake in the Bongkot gas field and adjoining acreage offshore Thailand to PTT Exploration & Production PCL for $750 million before tax. The deal with PTTEP comes after Shell in October canceled a $900 million agreement to sell the same gas field stakes to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC). “The two deal values are not comparable and we will not comment further on any commercial terms,” a Shell spokeswoman said in an e-mail when asked about the discrepancy between the price tags in the two sale accords. In a statement, Shell said, “This sale takes Shell a step closer to its divestment target of $30 billion” of non-core assets. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter, both companies said. FULL ARTICLE read more

Reuters Staff: JANUARY 30, 2018 / 3:58 PM

* The Netherlands is most gas-reliant EU nation

* Groningen gas output already 60 pct below 2013 peak

* Government to cut production as much as possible 

* Falling export obligations ease demand pressure

By Bart H. Meijer

AMSTERDAM, Jan 30 (Reuters) – The Netherlands can cut gas output from the Groningen field by roughly a fifth after this month’s tremors but it will need to fill some of the gap with increased imports to meet domestic needs and honour its export contracts, analysts say. read more

January 30th, 2018

Shell Ireland is one of eight industrial sites listed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest list of industrial sites under its radar for breaches of environmental regulations.

The sites are included on the environmental watchdog’s National Priority Site (NPS) list, which is updated on a quarterly basis. Six of the sites account for more than half of all complaints received in 2017, the majority of which concerned odour, noise or dust. read more

By withdrawing this statement, Shell would no longer be liable for the damage caused by the drilling of gas by NAM, a subsidiary of Shell, in Groningen.

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad

From our editor • Economics & Politics

Shell may have to give explanations to the House of Representatives on Thursday about their decision to no longer be liable for NAM. A proposal by GroenLinks was adopted by a large majority of the House. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 29/01/2018 7:53 am

Shell is performing “extremely well” at a time when Brent crude is at its highest price for three years, the oil giant’s upcoming fourth quarter results will show. The Anglo-Dutch major is in its strongest position for many years in terms of its cash generation thanks to its upstream and LNG businesses, analysts said. RBC Capital Markets anticipates Shell’s fourth-quarter adjusted net income will more than double year-on-year. The company recorded adjusted earnings of £1.3billion in Q4 2016. read more

By Victor Edozie: 29 JAN 2018

Port Harcourt — Five months after it shut down Shell flow station at Belema, hundreds of indigenes of Kula are still occupying Shell flow at Belema in Akuku-Torlu Local Government Area of Rivers State. The indigenes, drawn from Offoinama, Belema and Ngeje, occupied the flow station in August 2017 shortly after it was shut down by irate youths of the community. A visit by our reporter to the flow station at the weekend revealed that hundreds of nursing mothers, men and youths are still occupying the facility. FULL ARTICLE read more

There has been furious reaction after energy giant Shell distanced itself from possible claims for earthquake damages in Groningen province made against its subsidiary gas production company NAM.

MPs are calling for an emergency debate to discuss the issue, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Monday.

In addition, farmers in the earthquake-damaged province of Groningen are planning a demonstration Monday evening in Delfzijl, local paper Dagblad van het Noorden said. Farmers claim subsidence harms their crops and threatens their manure stores.

Moreover, many claim NAM does not have the money to settle the escalating claims which are certain to reach billions of euros.

The row was triggered on Saturday when Trouw said Shell was backing away from possible earthquake damages claims made again NAM, an assertion based on Shell Nederland’s annual report published in June 2017. read more

A pump jack in a Permian Basin oil field in West Texas. The area has been a focus of the shale drilling boom. Credit Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS: JAN. 28, 2018

HOUSTON — A substantial rise in oil prices in recent months has led to a resurgence in American oil production, enabling the country to challenge the dominance of Saudi Arabia and dampen price pressures at the pump. The success has come in the face of efforts by Saudi Arabia and its oil allies to undercut the shale drilling spree in the United States. Those strategies backfired and ultimately ended up benefiting the oil industry. Overcoming three years of slumping prices proved the resiliency of the shale boom. Energy companies and their financial backers were able to weather market turmoil — and the maneuvers of the global oil cartel — by adjusting exploration and extraction techniques. FULL ARTICLE read more

NAM had made provisions for € 495 million to compensate for earthquake damage, according to the annual report. That is a pittance compared to the final costs. Last week, NAM lost another lawsuit about the decline in value of houses. That damage is valued at at least € 1 billion. The ‘Groningen file’ will cost billions.

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad

Carel Grol • Entrepreneurship

Shell withdrew the so-called 403 statement for NAM, which concerns liability for subsidiaries, last June. This has been overtaken by newspaper Trouw. Does Shell, therefore, lose its responsibility for compensating for the damage caused by the damage? Shell Nederland states that NAM will meet all its obligations, but experts doubt that. Politics The Hague is furious. Five questions about this legal provision, which can have far-reaching consequences. read more