SOURCE MSN/Independent
I worked at Shell for 33 years – the government is wrong on North Sea oil
News and information on Shell Plc
SOURCE MSN/Independent
I worked at Shell for 33 years – the government is wrong on North Sea oil
We don’t own the oil and gas, which we give away to energy companies together with substantial subsidies. They sell the oil and gas to the highest bidder on international markets, keep all the revenue, and are currently making eye-watering profits on which they pay almost no tax. Almost 80 per cent of UK production of crude oil is exported and plays no part in our domestic energy security.
We don’t own the companies that exploit this oil and gas. According to one study, more than a third of the licence blocks in the North Sea now have a private or state-backed controlling interest, with fossil fuel firms from China, Russia and the Middle East playing an increasingly dominant role. As well as being unaccountable to UK shareholders, these businesses have no strategic interest in UK energy security or in keeping bills low for UK households.
Shell boss Ben van Beurden slammed for reaping more than £18m ahead of possible shareholder rebellion
Shell boss Ben van Beurden has been slammed for reaping more than £18million ahead of a possible shareholder rebellion this week.
Calculations by The Mail on Sunday show that the Dutch businessman – who has led Shell since 2014 – has seen the valuations of his shares and other payments soar.
Reuters
Climate-focused Dutch funds to take lead on Shell investor engagement
By Shadia Nasralla and Ron Bousso: MAY 19, 2022
LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) – Two climate-focused Dutch pension fund managers have been named to lead climate negotiations with Shell (SHEL.L) on behalf of a major group of investors that helped shape the energy company’s drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
MN and PGGM will officially take the role on behalf of the Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) investor group comprising $68 trillion in assets following Shell’s annual general meeting on May 24, MN said on Thursday.
The Guardian
Shell boss faces investor rebellion over £13.5m pay package
Pirc urges shareholders at AGM to vote against Ben van Beurden’s ‘excessive’ pay
Alex Lawson Energy correspondent: Wed 18 May 2022 15.16 BST
The chief executive of Shell is facing an investor revolt over his £13.5m pay packet, as oil and gas firms battle growing calls for a windfall tax on their profits.
The investment adviser Pirc has urged shareholders to vote against Ben van Beurden’s pay packet at next week’s annual general meeting, calling it “excessive”.
CITYA.M.
Shell suffers blow as investor group withholds approval for energy transition plan
Shell’s battle to gain approval for its energy transition plan has suffered a heavy setback, as a major investor announces its intention to abstain on a key resolution at the firm’s upcoming annual general meeting.
Royal London Asset Management (RLAM), which holds a £1.2bn stake in the energy giant, has criticised the oil and gas trader’s climate transition plans.
Mirror.co.uk
Oil giants’ profits for three months would be enough to give every household £450
Analysis by shadow Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband shows that Shell and BP made combined profits of £12.37billion in the first quarter of 2022.
By Mikey Smith: Whitehall Correspondent: !4 May 2022Profits made by oil giants in the first three months of this year were enough to give every household £450 towards soaring energy bills.
Analysis by shadow Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband shows that Shell and BP made combined profits of £12.37billion in the first quarter of 2022.
CITYA.M.
Activist investor prepares to take on Shell over climate targets
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.
The Telegraph
Energy bosses are provoking Sunak into another ruinous tax raid
BP chief executive may live to regret calling his company a ‘cash machine’: Shell unveiled a quadrupling of profits and a bumper payout for shareholders. Chief Ben van Beurden sounded cock-a-hoop. It had been “a momentous year”, he declared.
: CHIEF CITY COMMENTATOR:You’ve got to hand it to the bosses of Britain’s energy giants. The response of the industry’s top figures to growing calls from the Labour Party, trade unions, and eco-activists for a windfall tax has been so risible that a Conservative Government is now said to be warming to the idea, having repeatedly ruled it out.
Fortune
Shell CEO points out loopholes in Russian oil sanctions after announcing record profits
BY CHLOE TAYLOR: May 5, 2022 4:16 PM GMT+1Planned embargoes on Russian oil may be thwarted due to the way the global crude supply chain works, Shell’s CEO explained on Thursday.
Speaking after Shell reported record quarterly profits, Ben van Beurden, the oil giant boss, told reporters that the framework of the world’s crude network left loopholes open in Western government bans on Russian oil.
This is because imported fuels like gasoline, which might have been made from Russian oil but refined outside of Russia, cannot always be traced back to their natural source.
The Guardian
Shell profits soar to $9.1bn amid calls for windfall tax
Record quarter piles pressure on government to issue one-off levy to curb rising energy billsShell’s update comes after BP reported its highest quarterly profit in more than a decade on Tuesday. Its profits more than doubled to $6.2bn, and sparked a clamour for a windfall tax.
The government has resisted calls for such a levy. Boris Johnson has said it would discourage oil and gas producers from making investments into domestic energy.
But BP’s chief executive, Bernard Looney, has admitted none of the £18bn UK investments the company is planning would be dropped if a windfall tax were imposed.
| Source: Shell plc
London, May 5, 2022
“The war in Ukraine is first and foremost a human tragedy, but it has also caused significant disruption to global energy markets and has shown that secure, reliable and affordable energy simply cannot be taken for granted. The impacts of this uncertainty and the higher cost that comes with it are being felt far and wide. We have been engaging with governments, our customers and suppliers to work through the challenging implications and provide support and solutions where we can.
EXPRESS
BP and Shell record mega-profits as firms exploit soaring energy prices
RECORD gas and oil prices since the Ukraine conflict have helped deliver bumper dividends for shareholders in energy companies.
13:56, Wed, Apr 27, 2022 | UPDATED: 13:57, Wed, Apr 27, 2022 Both gas and oil prices had already been pushed up over winter as supply failed to keep pace with demand bouncing back from the pandemic. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prices have been squeezed even further with oil soaring past $100 (£79.64) a barrel to heights of up to $130 (£103.52). The increased revenue from energy has helped deliver soaring returns for investors with the oil sector seeing dividends rise 29 percent in the first quarter of 2022 according to data firm Link Group. Link points to an “astonishing rebound in oil prices” which it says has “delivered a dramatic turnaround” for energy firms. The contribution of energy firms helped drive up UK dividends by an average 12.2 percent on an adjusted basis.Among the top 10 dividend payers for 2022 are Shell, BP and National Grid.
The growing profits for energy firms has attracted criticism given the UK’s current cost of living crisis with some calling for a windfall tax on the gains.
So far though the Government has dismissed the idea with Justice Secretary Dominic Raab calling the idea “disastrous”.
REUTERS
Shell CEO sells $5.2 million of shares
Ron Bousso: FEB 10, 2022LONDON — Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden on Feb. 7 sold 3.9 million pounds ($5.2 million) worth of the energy company’s shares, a company filing showed.
The 190,000 shares were sold at an average prices of 20.40 pounds per share, a day before they hit their highest level since January 2020 at 20.80 pounds. The sale totalled 3.876 million pounds, according to the filing.
Shell shares traded at around 20.25 pounds at 1035 GMT on Thursday. Shell’s market capitalisation is around 155 billion pounds ($210 billion).
CNN
Huge profits at BP and Shell revive calls for windfall tax to tackle fuel poverty
London (CNN Business) – News that Britain’s biggest oil companies made $32 billion in profit last year is stoking calls for the UK government to impose a temporary tax on their earnings to help households pay soaring energy bills.
Reporting earnings on Tuesday, BP (BP) posted an annual profit of almost $12.9 billion. Shell (RDSA) reported a profit of $19.3 billion last week after what it described as a “momentous” year. Profits at both companies have been boosted by a huge rebound in oil and natural gas prices after they collapsed at the start of the pandemic. The bumper earnings have allowed them to accelerate investments in lower carbon and renewable energy projects while also handing billions of dollars to investors in the form of dividends and share buybacks. Between them, BP and Shell spent $7.7 billion buying back shares last year, and the windfall for investors looks set to continue. BP said it expected to be able to deliver share buybacks of $4 billion per year, while Shell announced plans to hand back $8.5 billion to shareholders in the first half of 2022, including proceeds from last year’s sale of its assets in the Permian Basin in the United States. The huge profits coincide with the announcement that energy bills for most UK households will rise by 54% in April, fueling a cost-of-living crisis that the Bank of England has forecast will mean the biggest drop in disposable incomes in decades. FULL ARTICLEDaily Mail: MailOnline
Shell boss rakes in £7million in shares thanks to the cost of living crisis after the oil and gas giant recorded £12billion profits
“He described Mr van Beurden as ‘yet another greedy oil corporation boss profiteering from the misery inflicted by rocketing energy costs’.”
The chief executive of Shell has been criticised after his firm cashed in on the cost of living crisis – leaving him with a lucrative windfall.
Phillip Inman: Sat 5 Feb 2022 17.05 GMT
Oil giants BP and Shell are on course to make a combined profit of almost £40bn this year from the rocketing price of petrol and gas, fuelling calls for a windfall tax on energy firms to ease the cost of living crisis.
Before BP’s annual results this week, anti-poverty campaigners described the profits of oil producers as “obscene” and demanded the government take action to tax their surplus cash to support poorer families hit by rising energy bills.