The Washington Post

Shell CEO to step down as oil giant looks to climate goals

By Associated Press: September 15, 2022 at 3:14 p.m. EDT

LONDON — Shell CEO Ben van Beurden is stepping down at the end of 2022 after nine years in charge, the energy giant said Thursday, a change that comes as oil and natural gas companies are under pressure to shift away from fossil fuels even as they see soaring profits from energy prices driven up by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Taking over Jan. 1 is Wael Sawan, a Lebanese-Canadian who has worked for Shell for 25 years and is now director of integrated gas, renewables and energy solutions. The choice signals the focus of the London-based company to take what it calls a leading role in the energy transition despite facing criticism that it’s been slow to reduce climate-changing emissions. read more

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

‘Victory for our planet’: Royal Dutch Shell must cut emissions

The Hague District Court has ruled Royal Dutch Shell must cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. The landmark case will likely set a global precedent for holding polluting multinational organizations accountable for curbing emissions.

May 27, 2021

By Mike Corder Associated Press

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS

A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions by net 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels in a landmark case brought by climate activism groups, which hailed the decision as a victory for the planet. read more

Shell, Eni acquitted in Nigeria oil corruption case

Three year trial revolved around the 2011 purchase of offshore oil field, report says

MILAN – A court in Milan on Wednesday acquitted oil giants Shell and Italy’s Eni of corruption charges in a $1.1 billion bribery case involving control of a lucrative Nigerian oil block.

In addition to the companies, Eni’s current CEO, his predecessor and a former Nigerian oil minister were among 13 defendants acquitted after a three-year trial involving the 2011 purchase of the OPL 245 offshore oil field. read more

Dutch court orders Shell Nigeria to compensate farmers

Jan. 29, 2021 at 12:16 am Updated Jan. 29, 2021 at 4:03 am: By MIKE CORDER: The Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — In a victory for environmentalists and Nigerians whose land was polluted by oil leaks, a Dutch appeals court ordered energy giant Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary Friday to compensate two farmers for damage to their land caused by leaks in 2004 and 2005.

“Tears of joy here. After 13 years, we’ve won,” the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth tweeted. read more

Shell seeks Alaska lease extension, but no plans to return

Extension seen as way to make the leases more attractive to a potential buyer

The Associated Press · Posted: Sep 25, 2020 5:59 PM CT | Last Updated: September 26

Oil company Shell is seeking an extension of leases it holds in Alaska as a way to make the leases more attractive to a potential buyer and does not itself plan a return to operations in the state, spokesperson Curtis Smith said Friday.

Smith said the leases for which the company is seeking an extension represent the bulk of leases Shell still holds in Alaska. read more

In an Italian case, prosecutors accuse former and current executives of Eni and Shell of paying bribes to secure the licence, and allege roughly $1.1 billion of the total was siphoned to agents and middlemen.

UPDATE 1 – Nigeria’s ex-attorney general arrested in Dubai over $1.3 bln oil deal

Chijioke Ohuocha: NOVEMBER 20, 2019

ABUJA, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s former attorney general Mohammed Adoke has been arrested in Dubai, his lawyer said, seven months after Nigeria’s anti-graft agency issued a warrant for his arrest as part of an investigation into one of the oil industry’s biggest suspected corruption scandals.

Adoke’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, said Adoke was arrested by Interpol on Monday 11 Nov., after travelling to Dubai for a medical appointment.

The investigation by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency relates to the $1.3 billion sale of a Nigerian offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011. read more

SHELL TO BE A BIG PLAYER IN MICROPLASTICS

By John Donovan

The timing of President Trump’s delayed visit to Shell’s new Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, which will produce more than a million tons of plastic in the form of tiny pellets, turned out to be unfortunate.

It happened to coincide with the release of scientific research and evidence about the unknown consequences of airborne microplastics on the heath of “birds, fish, whales and people”.

Please read the extracts below from various news organisations covering the Trump visit, which inevitably was surrounded by controversy and scandal. read more

Associated Press: June 17 at 12:02 PM

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court has fined oil giant Shell 2.5 million euros ($2.8 million) for breaching Dutch labor and environmental laws in a case linked to two explosions and a gas leak at a chemical plant south of Rotterdam.

The East Brabant court ruled Monday that Shell did not take sufficient precautions to prevent two blasts and a subsequent fire that injured two workers when the company restarted two reactors at a chemical plant in the village of Moerdjik on June 3, 2014. read more

Mike Corder 12 Feb 2019

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The widow of a Nigerian activist executed by their country’s government more than two decades ago accused oil giant Shell of complicity in his death at a civil case in a Dutch court Tuesday.

“Shell came into my life to make me a poverty-stricken widow,” Esther Kiobel told judges at a one-day hearing.

“With this case I seek justice for my murdered husband so that he can be exonerated from a crime he never committed,” she added. read more

Shell Subsidiary to Pay $3.8 Million for 2016 Gulf Spill

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The May 11, 2016, spill of nearly 2,000 barrels (317974.6 liters) occurred about 97 miles (156 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast.

The New Orleans Advocate, citing court documents, reports that an investigation pointed to a leak in a piping system that is used to transport oil from a production well on the sea floor.

The settlement isn’t final. It must first be published in the Federal Register and have a 30-day public comment period before it can get final approval from a federal judge. read more

Originally published March 4, 2018 at 9:02 pm Updated March 5, 2018 at 2:13 am   By COLLEEN BARRY: The Associated Press

MILAN (AP) — A corporate bribery trial billed as the biggest in history opened Monday against the Shell and Eni oil companies as well as former and current executives, all charged in a $1.1 billion scandal to win control of one of Nigeria’s most lucrative oil blocks.

The size of the two oil companies makes the trial the biggest ever, according to anti-corruption campaigners, who also say it is unprecedented that Eni’s current CEO, Claudio Descalzi, remains in his post while he faces such serious charges.  read more

By Colleen Barry | AP December 20 at 12:28 PM MILAN — Shell and Eni as well as former and current executives will face trial over a $1.1 billion bribery scandal to take control of one of Africa’s most lucrative oil blocks in Nigeria, a judge in Milan ruled Wednesday.

Anti-corruption campaigners say the trial, which is set to open March 5, will be the biggest corporate bribery trial in history, citing the heft of the two major oil companies involved. In all, 15 individuals face charges, including Eni’s current and former CEOs.

According to Milan prosecutors, $520 million of the $1.1 billion paid into an escrow account was converted into cash and distributed as bribes, while several hundred-million more went to a former oil minister.

Both Anglo-Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni issued separate statements denying wrongdoing and expressing confidence that the court would exonerate the individuals charged and the companies themselves. Both companies are also under investigation in the case in the Netherlands and face charges in Nigeria. read more

FULL ARTICLE

The Associated Press: JULY 30, 2017 8:37 AM: THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS 

Royal Dutch Shell is shutting down most units at its refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands after a fire at a high-voltage electricity switch station. Shell spokesman Thijs van Velzen says the fire started late Saturday and was extinguished by Sunday morning. Nobody was injured. The Pernis refinery in Rotterdam’s sprawling port is Europe’s largest. It has the capacity to refine just over 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The shutdown led to Shell burning off excess gases at the plant, a process known as flaring. The move sent large flames into the sky on Sunday.Van Velzen says the cause of the fire is under investigation. He declined comment on the financial implications of the shutdown. SOURCE read more

By DANICA KIRKA Published July 27, 2017: Associated Press

LONDON –  Royal Dutch Shell is planning for the day when demand for oil starts fading as major economies move away from oil and increasingly turn to electric-powered cars, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said Thursday. Van Beurden welcomed recent proposals to phase out passenger vehicles powered by fossil fuels in Britain and France, saying they are needed to combat global warming. Shell is looking at “very aggressive scenarios” as it makes plans to remain competitive in a world that gets more of its energy from renewable sources and less from crude oil, or “liquids,” he said. “The most aggressive scenario – much more aggressive than what we are seeing at the moment, by the way – with maximum policy effect, with maximum innovation effect, can see us peaking in liquids consumption somewhere in the early thirties,” he said as Shell reported second-quarter earnings. FULL ARTICLE read more

By John Donovan

Following the raids earlier this year by Italian law officials on the headquarters of Eni in Milan and Royal Dutch Shell in The Hague, I was advised by a Shell insider that this subject, above all others, is the one of most concern to Shell senior management.

Now we have news that Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commision – has just filed fresh proceedings.

Investigations are already underway in a number of countries, including the UK and the United States. read more