Mar 27th, 2023
by John Donovan.
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NL TIMES
Shell: Gas field in Groningen must be completely closed this year, in light of earthquakes
SUNDAY, 26 MARCH 2023
The gas field in Groningen must be completely closed this year, said the CEO of Shell Netherlands, Marjan van Loon. Currently, the gas field is still supplying minimal amounts of gas to keep the wells usable, but she doesn’t think that’s necessary. “It can and must be done, so the field has to be closed,” Van Loon said on the TV program WNL Op Zondag.read more
Feb 25th, 2023
by John Donovan.
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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
Feb 25th, 2023
by John Donovan.
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“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
Action pics and video available here, with updates throughout the day.
Amsterdam, Netherlands –Shell has attempted to silence Greenpeace International’s peaceful occupation of its oil and gas platform at sea, by hitting the campaign group with an injunction late on Friday, February 3, threatening up to two years’ jail time and fines.[1]
But today, Shell’s heavy-handed legal tactics failed, as Greenpeace International successfully went ahead with plans to escalate its protest by adding two more climbers to occupy the company’s oil and gas platform – using other boats unaffected by the court order.
Protestors are demanding that the company stops expanding oil and gas production around the world, takes responsibility for fuelling the climate crisis, and pays up for the climate destruction it is causing everywhere.
At around 9am (CET) in the Channel, the Greenpeace France-chartered Merida trimaran and two small boats approached the White Marlin heavy-lift vessel, which is carrying Shell’s 34,000 tonne oil and gas platform to the North Sea.read more
The Dutch government plans to close the Groningen gas field this year despite Europe’s precarious supply position. Groningen is the largest gas field in Europe.
The field is dangerous, a government official from the Hague told the Financial Times, and the government has no plans to boost production from it.
“We won’t open up more because of the safety issues,” Hans Vijbrief told the FT. “It is politically totally unviable. But apart from that, I’m not going to do it because it means that you increase the chances of earthquakes, which I don’t want to be responsible for.”read more
Jan 18th, 2023
by John Donovan.
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RIGZONE
Prelude FLNG Loads Out First Cargo Since Fire
by Bojan Lepic| Rigzone Staff| Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Even though Shell has not confirmed any restart on its massive Prelude FLNG, Reuters reported that the Methane Becki Anne LNG tanker has begun loading.
The Methane Becki Anne was the first LNG tanker to berth at Shell’s Prelude floating LNG site off Western Australia since it was shut down after a fire.
According to Reuters, the LNG carrier vessel berthed at the Prelude plant on January 17, Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed. Refinitiv’s data also showed that LNG has already begun loading.read more
Jan 6th, 2023
by John Donovan.
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cnbc
Shell to take $2 billion fourth-quarter tax hit after new EU, UK levies
KEY POINTS
Shell expects a fourth-quarter tax hit of $2 billion, following additional levies in the U.K. and European Union.
The company expects “significantly higher” results from its liquefied natural gas trading performance in the fourth quarter, compared with July-September.
Shell will release its final fourth-quarter results on Feb. 2.
Oil and gas major Shell said Friday it expects to take a $2 billion hit for the fourth quarter as a result of new taxes in the European Union and U.K.
“The Q4′22 earnings impact of recently announced additional taxes in the EU (the solidarity contribution) and the deferred tax impact from the increased UK Energy Profits Levy is expected to be around $2 billion,” the company said in a trading update.
The EU agreed in September that oil and gas companies will pay a levy on surplus profits made in 2022 or 2023. The “solidarity contribution” will see firms pay 33% of profits above their average taxable profits.read more
Dec 22nd, 2022
by John Donovan.
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Report: Output from Shell’s Prelude FLNG Shut Again
BY Bartolomej Tomic, managing editor of Offshore Engineer.
December 22, 2022
Shell has stopped production at its Prelude floating LNG plant off Western Australia after a fire.
A Shell spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the fire at the giant FLNG unit “was rapidly extinguished.”
The 488-meter-long, Shell-operated, Prelude FLNG unit forms part of an offshore development that produces natural gas from the remote namesake field, located approximately 475 km north-northeast of Broome in Western Australia. The Prelude is the world’s largest FLNG unit.read more
Nov 29th, 2022
by John Donovan.
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Shell Buys Nature Energy in $2 Billion Push Into Biogas
Shell Plc will buy Nature Energy Biogas A/S from hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management for nearly $2 billion as the oil major expands its transition from fossil fuels.
Bloomberg News: William Mathis:
Publishing date: Nov 28, 2022
(Bloomberg) — Shell Plc will buy Nature Energy Biogas A/S from hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management for nearly $2 billion as the oil major expands its transition from fossil fuels.
Biogas is chemically the same as conventional natural gas, but is made from decomposing organic material like agricultural waste. It’s a platform primed for growth, with the US, through the Inflation Reduction Act, and the European Union both identifying the renewable fuel as a way to boost energy supplies and cut emissions in the coming years.read more
Oct 16th, 2022
by John Donovan.
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Another departing Shell leader seeking redemption?
By John Donovan
Departing Shell Plc CEO Ben van Beurden seems to be seeking redemption in his closing period with the energy giant.
THE GRONINGEN SCANDAL
BvB now admits that Shell should have pulled out of the controversial earthquake-blighted Groningen project operated by NAM – a Shell-Exxon joint venture company.
According to Reuters:“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.”
Oct 13th, 2022
by John Donovan.
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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
Oct 13th, 2022
by John Donovan.
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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
Sep 19th, 2022
by John Donovan.
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argusmedia.com
Shell restarts Australian Prelude LNG loadings
Published date: 19 September 2022
Shell has resumed LNG loadings at its 3.6mn t/yr Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) facility in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia following a shutdown of more than six weeks because of industrial action.
The resumption comes more than three weeks since the strike, which began on 10 June, stopped on 25 August.
The shipments follow the cancellation of protected industrial action after an in-principle enterprise agreement was reached with the Australian Workers’ Union and Electrical Trades Union in relation to the Prelude facility on 23 August, Shell said on 19 September.read more
Criticism in the US of the oil industry’s obfuscation over the climate crisis is intensifying after internal documents showed companies attempted to distance themselves from agreed climate goals, admitted “gaslighting” the public over purported efforts to go green, and even wished critical activists be infested by bedbugs.
The communications were unveiled as part of a congressional hearing held in Washington DC, where an investigation into the role of fossil fuels in driving the climate crisis produced documents obtained from the oil giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they wish bedbugs on you, then you win,” said Varshini Prakash, executive director of Sunrise. The organization accused Shell of a “legacy of violence and of ignoring the wellbeing of communities across the globe”.read more
Sep 8th, 2022
by John Donovan.
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NL TIMES
Dutch state earned €363.7 billion through Groningen gas extraction
TUESDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2022 – 08:44
After almost 60 years of gas extraction in Groningen, the involved parties finally announced how much money they made from it. Adjusted for inflation, the Groningen gas field yielded a total profit of 428 billion euros, of which the Dutch state received 363.7 billion euros, Het Financieele Dagblad reports based on calculations from shareholder Shell.
The remaining 64.7 billion euros in profit went to the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), the operator of the Groningen gas field. NAM paid the amount out as dividends to its shareholders – Shell and ExxonMobil.
Shell released the figures for the ongoing parliamentary inquiry into gas extraction in Groningen. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate confirmed the profit division to FD.
The figures show that the government received 85 percent of the profit from the Groningen field – quite a bit higher than the about 70% income paid for other concessions. Aad Correlje, associate professor and energy expert at the Delft University of Technology, called that remarkable. “We knew that the government took a large part of the profit, but not that the difference with the gas companies’ profit was that big,” he said to the newspaper.read more
Sep 8th, 2022
by John Donovan.
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NL TIMES
Tens of thousands to get compensation for Groningen earthquakes
TUESDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2022
Tens of thousands of Groningen residents are still eligible for compensation for earthquake damage. This is reported by the Groningen Institute for Mining Damage (IMG), which will offer a one-time fixed payment of 5,000 euros as compensation to people who, in the past, received little or no restitution. In total, the institute estimates that it will cost an additional 100 million euros more than the hundreds of millions already spent on compensation for physical damage.read more
Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. The instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan
JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW
SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE
SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS
SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL
INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL
DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON
SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA
ESTHER KIOBEL: EVIL OIL GIANT SHELL COLLUDED IN THE EXECUTION OF MY INNOCENT HUSBAND
ESTHER KIOBEL SUES SHELL FOR COMPLICITY IN HUSBANDS MURDER
SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA
SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO
SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS
SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO
ABANDONED BY SHELL: KEITH MACDONALD & FAMILY, VICTIMS OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION AT WORK
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER
JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
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