DutchNews.nl

Damning report slams state, oil companies for Groningen gas failures

February 24, 2023 – By Robin Pascoe

The interests of the people of Groningen were systematically ignored by both the government and oil companies, and making money remained the dominant concern when natural gas extraction started causing earthquakes, according to the parliamentary commission set up to investigate.

The worlds of those making the decisions and the locals were ‘miles apart’, commission chief Tom van der Lee said at the presentation of the report into the problems, which has taken two years and hundreds of interviews to complete.

Gas extraction has become an ‘unprecedented system failure’ and both the public and private sector have failed in their duties, Van der Lee said.

Ministers were not properly informed and that meant that MPs could not fulfill their role as guardians of the public interest. The damage, both material and mental, suffered by locals was consistently underestimated and the maximalisation of profit was the guiding force. read more

“Gas extraction in Groningen was so successful and lucrative for the Dutch government, Shell and Exxon Mobil that they hardly took any notion of the long-term risks and the ever-clearer signs of the detrimental effects for the people in Groningen…” 

REUTERS

Dutch gov’t, Shell and Exxon ignored Groningen risks for years, inquiry finds

AMSTERDAM, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The Dutch government and energy companies Shell (SHEL.L) and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) ignored the risks of gas production in Groningen for years, to the detriment of people living in the province, a parliamentary inquiry concluded on Friday.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte and others involved “gravely underestimated” the urgency of the problems in Groningen, said the committee set up to investigate the decades of lucrative gas extraction that caused tremors damaging thousands of houses and buildings in the region.

The massive Groningen field is operated by Shell and Exxon joint venture NAM and was one of Europe’s major suppliers of natural gas for decades.

“These are hard and painful conclusions,” Rutte told a news conference. “They make clear there is a lot to do to help the region and to hopefully restore trust.”

The government will take time provide a full response to the report, he said without indicating how long that would take.

A statement from NAM director Johan Atema said: “It is clear that we need to have a better eye for the society in which we work. It is up to us to show that we as a company have learned from this.” read more

NL TIMES

After winning lawsuit against Shell: Milieudefensie announces new climate case

Sunday 29 Jan 2023

After the case against Shell in 2021, Dutch climate organization Milieudefensie will start a new climate case against a company that emits a lot of greenhouse gasses at the end of this year, without naming the company involved. This was announced by the director of Milieudefensie, Donald Pols, on Sunday morning in the NPO Radio 1 program Vroege Vogels. Which company it is, he could not yet say. read more

Climate activists across world raise funds for the court case against Shell

Friends of the Earth Netherlands: 20/01/2023 | 16:25 PM

In 2021, thousands of Dutch citizens took one of the largest carbon emitters in the world to court and won. Together with Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie) they won a historic court case against Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company of Shell Group, forcing the company to take climate action.

The judge ruled that Shell’s current climate policy would contribute to a level of climate change that would be so dangerous that it would impose a threat to human rights. read more

REUTERS

Nigerian widows end their case in the Netherlands against Shell

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A group of four widows who had sought to hold Shell liable for damages in the Netherlands after their anti-oil activist husbands were executed by the Nigerian government in 1995 have cancelled further legal proceedings, their lawyer said on Monday.

“Obviously this is not without disappointment and frustration,” said lawyer Channa Samkalden in statement announcing that the widows have cancelled an appeal launched after the Hague District Court rejected their case earlier this year. read more

Dutch prosecutors to pursue pollution case against Shell-Exxon gas venture

By Syndicated Content Oct 12, 2022 | 7:53 AM

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch prosecutors said on Wednesday they will pursue a pollution case against NAM, a joint venture of Shell and ExxonMobil that operates gas fields in the Netherlands.

The prosecutors “(suspect) NAM of injecting waste streams from natural gas extraction into the deep subsurface without a permit”, a statement from their office said.

Prosecutors say they believe the company took waste products from natural gas extraction in the North Sea, then processed and injected them into empty gas fields in the province of Groningen.

A spokesperson for NAM said the company would respond later on Wednesday.

Reuters reported last month that Shell And ExxonMobil have put their 50-50 venture up for sale, with expected proceeds of over $1 billion.

NAM started producing natural gas in 1963 following the discovery of the giant Groningen field, which was a major source of gas for the Netherlands and Europe for decades.

But extraction has been almost completely wound down in the past 10 years as tremors blamed on drilling damaged buildings and prompted protests by residents and campaigners. read more

REUTERS

Shell should have quit Groningen gas project in Netherlands earlier -CEO

AMSTERDAM, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told a Dutch parliamentary panel investigating problems relating to natural gas production at the large Groningen gas field in the Netherlands that the company should have pulled out of the project earlier.

Production at Groningen was scaled back sharply over a period of years in the 2010s after the Dutch government and producer NAM, a Shell-Exxon joint venture, realized the earthquakes it caused posed too great a threat to life and property.

“We had to continually ask what makes sense,” as production was dialled back to levels at which NAM made little to no profit, Van Beurden told lawmakers.

“What made sense for Shell was to quit. In any other country we would have stopped this operation. But in the Netherlands that was impossible because the Netherlands was dependent on Groningen gas.”

A damning report in 2015 from the independent Dutch Safety Board had accused the government and the field’s operators of ignoring the threat of earthquakes linked to the field for years. As vast amounts of gas were removed from under the province since 1963, the ground sank and settled above empty pockets, triggering quakes. read more

THE TIMES

Netherlands ruling links climate change, human rights — and corporations

There is debate over whether the arguments apply in this country, but the UK Supreme Court has recently been indulgent of novel negligence claims

A judge in The Netherlands ruled last year that Royal Dutch Shell owed Dutch residents a duty of care to reduce its carbon emissions — and the international energy company was ordered to reduce CO₂ emissions by 45 per cent, relative to 2019 levels, by the end of 2030. read more

Company Secretary Change at Shell plc

June 30, 2022 11:37 ET | Source: Shell plc

SHELL PLC

COMPANY SECRETARY CHANGE

Shell plc announces the appointment of Caroline Omloo as Company Secretary with effect from August 1, 2022. Ms Omloo succeeds Linda Coulter who stands down from her role at the end of July 2022 and retires from Shell in February 2023 after 28 years of service with the Shell Group.

NOTE

Caroline Omloo is a Dutch national. Before joining Shell in 1999, she worked in private practice with law firm Nauta Dutilh.  She has held various positions in Shell, including Secretary to the Audit Committee, Associate General Counsel Corporate Finance NL, Chief Privacy Officer and Head of Legal and management team member of the Downstream Operating Company in the Netherlands.  She has also been a member of the board of Stichting Shell Pensioenfonds, one of Shell’s Dutch pension funds. Caroline took up her previous role as Head of Legal and Compliance of Shell Asset Management Company in 2017 and was a board member of this company from 2018 to 2022.   From 2009- 2019, Caroline sat on the board of Stichting Beroepsopleiding Bedrijfsjuristen, the foundation providing education for in-house lawyers in the Netherlands.  She also served as a board member of Missie Verkeersmiddelen Actie, a Dutch charitable organization, from 2007 to 2017. read more

euronews.com

Ads by Shell and Land Rover banned over deceptive planet-saving claims

By Rebecca Ann Hughes  •  Updated: 30/06/2022 – 16:07

Two advertising campaigns that falsely suggested car drivers could lessen their impact on the environment have been removed after complaints.

The adverts from multinational energy company Shell and vehicle manufacturer Land Rover were found to be misleading by watchdogs.

Advertising standards authorities in the Netherlands and Ireland concluded that the companies were unable to back up their claims. read more

DutchNews.nl

Carbon dioxide compensation? Shell again criticised for misleading advert

June 30, 2022

The Dutch advertising standards authority has again criticised an advert by oil giant Shell, following complaints by anti-fossil fuel campaigners and Greenpeace Nederland.

The company cannot claim that compensating for carbon dioxide emissions nullifies the damage to the climate caused by a car trip, the commission said on Wednesday.

Last year, the RCC ordered the term CO2-neutral be removed from the same ad. Shell complied, and replaced it with the CO2 compensation claim. read more

Breaking News: Security Fiasco at Shell AGM. 

11.15 am 24 May 2022

Shell Plc Chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie announced to assembled shareholders that the AGM meeting is halted because protestors have superglued themselves to seats. 

Does the question, therefore, arise of how the activists managed to smuggle superglue into the AGM? The possibility must have been considered bearing in mind that the same superglue tactics have been used previously on a number of occasions by protestors at the Shell Centre building and reported extensively by the news media? read more

FT

Odey urges Shell to drop appeal against order to slash emissions

Clifford Chance to handle Shell’s appeal against sensational defeat in the Milieudefensie case

The following are translated extracts from an article published on 19 May 2022 by the Dutch financial newspaper, the fd.

By Martijn Pols and Joris Polman.

Oil company Shell has set aside house lawyer De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek after the sensational defeat against Milieudefensie. Exactly one year ago, the judge forced Shell to tighten up its climate policy.

Shell appealed but had no confidence in a good outcome with De Brauw by its side. Lawyers for British Clifford Chance can now make another attempt. read more

CITYA.M. 

Activist investor prepares to take on Shell over climate targets

NICHOLAS EARL: THURSDAY 12 MAY 2022

Shell is preparing for a shareholder showdown at its upcoming general meeting later this month, with activist group Follow This pushing the energy giant to commit to more stringent environmental targets.

It has warned shareholders that Shell’s current transition plans are not aligned with the Paris Agreement, and has filed a motion – resolution 21 – calling for the oil and gas major to publish targets that cover short, medium and long term emissions in both its operations and the use of its energy products. read more

DutchNews.nl

Shell board ‘could be liable’ for failing to tackle CO2: Milieudefensie

April 25, 2022

Environmental campaign group Milieudefensie has written to the members of the board at Shell warning them they could be held liable for failing to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite being ordered by judges to do so last year.

Last May, a court in The Hague said that Shell must play its part in the fight against dangerous climate change and ‘reduce the carbon dioxide emitted by the Shell group and its customers by 45% net by the end of 2030, compared with the level in 2019.’ read more