“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

…problems included repeated outages at its Prelude liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility off the western coast of Australia…

REUTERS

Shell CEO creates chief of staff role in management overhaul

By Ron Bousso: February 23, 2023: 4:15 PM GMT

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Shell (SHEL.L) Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan has created a senior role of chief of staff as part of a management overhaul to improve performance after technical problems and other disruption, three company sources said. read more

REUTERS

Shell CEO in first changes combines LNG, upstream operations

Ron Bousso: Mon, 30 January 2023 at 7:11 am GMT

LONDON (Reuters) -Shell will combine its oil and gas production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) divisions as part of CEO Wael Sawan’s first changes since taking charge of the energy giant earlier this month.

The new division, which combines Shell’s most profitable operations, will be headed by current upstream director Zoe Yujnovich, Shell said in a statement on Monday.

Sawan took office on Jan. 1 after heading Shell’s integrated gas division, which included Shell’s LNG and renewables businesses, with a vow to simplify and improve the company’s operations.

Under the internal restructure, renewables operations will be combined with Shell’s oil refining and marketing operations led by current downstream director Huibert Vigeveno, the company said. read more

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

cnbc

Shell to take $2 billion fourth-quarter tax hit after new EU, UK levies

PUBLISHED FRI, JAN 6 2023 2:43 AM EST UPDATED FRI, JAN 6 20238:01 AM EST

Ruxandra Iordache

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

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

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

Bloomberg

Shell Walks Away From Major Russian LNG Project With Nothing

By Will Mathis: 1 September 2022 at 17:30 BST

Shell Plc will walk away from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas project with nothing after President Vladimir Putin transferred the major facility to a new operating company.

The London-based firm’s decision is the latest indication that Putin won’t allow international energy companies to realize big financial gains as they exit Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

Shell had already written off the $1.6 billion value of its 27.5% stake in Sakhalin-2 earlier this year. T read more

THE TIMES

Shell strike extension to compound energy crisis

Emily Gosden: Energy Editor

Shell Postpones Prelude LNG Turnaround Until Next Year

Shell plc SHEL recently stated that it is deferring the planned maintenance work at the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility, which was due to begin in September. The postponement came following the continued industrial action at the site situated off northwest Australia.

A Shell spokesperson mentioned in emailed comments, “As a result of the ongoing Protected Industrial Action and inability to complete preparation work, we are not able to proceed with the planned turnaround at this time.” read more

COMMENT SENT TO JOHN DONOVAN ABOUT THE  ILL-FATED SHELL PRELUDE PROJECT BY BILL CAMPBELL, RETIRED HSE GROUP AUDITOR, SHELL INTERNATIONAL

Seems such a long time ago since we watched the Hollywood quality videos of a happy bunch of comrades in arms assembled in a circle on the helideck. Halcyon days indeed.

The future then was so  hopefull, and filled with promise.

Almost hidden in the article re the industrial dispute was the report of a loss of LNG during transfer operations, I have stressed and explained many times why this simply cannot be allowed to happen and as you publish repeatedly, in your Prelude banner against my name, I predicted many moons ago that loss of hydrocarbons from Prelude was almost inevitable. read more

The Sydney Morning Herald

Shell Prelude’s two-month $500m strike delays major maintenance

By Peter Milne: August 9, 2022

Shell has delayed major maintenance on its troubled Prelude floating gas facility after negotiations over the weekend failed to end two months of industrial action.

The delay is another setback for Shell, which spent about $US17 billion ($24 billion) to build the world’s largest vessel that has suffered a multitude of production outages and serious safety issues since it arrived in West Australian waters five years ago. read more

Shell to enforce lockout on Prelude as industrial dispute escalates

Sean Smith: The West Australian: Wed, 20 July 2022 9:57AM

The dispute over a new pay deal on Shell’s Prelude floating LNG plant off north-west WA has escalated again, with the energy giant flagging it will lock out workers from Monday.

The decision means those workers who are not on Prelude but support the protected industrial action by the Offshore Alliance will not be paid.

Those still on Prelude will only be paid for the time they work outside industrial stoppages. read more

Shell (SHEL) to Shut Prelude FLNG Over Industrial Dispute

Shell plc SHEL announced that it would not be able to supply liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) cargoes from its Prelude facility to its customers as the company would completely shut down its Prelude FLNG vessel, offshore Western Australia, due to unions’ escalating industrial action, which has now been extended to Jul 21.

The Offshore Alliance, which is made up of 150 union members earning more than $200,000 a year, told Shell that the workers intended to ban mooring tankers, alongside the vessel, as part of their protected action this week. The ban will disallow SHEL from unloading LNG and LPG from its storage tanks, which are anticipated to reach full capacity going forward. read more

yahoo!finance

Shell to Take Part in Qatar’s LNG Expansion Project

Zacks Equity Research: Fri, July 8, 2022

Shell plc SHEL recently joined the Qatari state-owned energy company – QatarEnergy’s $29-billion North Field East expansion project to expand output at the world’s biggest natural gas field, becoming the latest international partner in this ambitious megaproject.

This development, which is considered to be the single-largest project in the history of the liquefied natural gas industry, is quite significant, considering the soaring energy demand and the supply crisis following Moscow’s military action in Ukraine.

The London-headquartered oil supermajor will hold a 6.25% interest in the expansion project, with TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil also owning a 6.25% stake each.

Per Shell, the company’s investment in this project will support the delivery of the much-needed supplies of natural gas to markets worldwide and will also be integrated with carbon capture and sequestration to cut down emissions.

The gulf state discovered one of the world’s largest gas reserves in the North Field in 1971. The development, however, is anticipated to augment Qatar’s output from the current 77 million tons a year to 110 million tons by 2027. read more

REUTERS

Shell ships LNG from Australia’s Prelude despite staff stoppages

MELBOURNE, July 8 (Reuters) – Shell SHEL.L said on Friday it had loaded and shipped a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) this week at its Prelude floating LNG facility after workers scaled down industrial action at the site off northwestern Australia.

The oil and gas giant slowed output at the 3.6-million tonne per year facility last week during a series of work stoppages by unions fighting for better pay and had warned that shipments would be disrupted for at least two weeks. read more