News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
IRISH TIMES: Monday, August 17, 2009: THE DEPARTMENT of Transport and Shell EP Ireland have initiated separate investigations into the grounding of a Corrib gas project support vessel off Erris Head in Co Mayo early yesterday.
Click to continue reading “Marine inquiry launched as Corrib gas vessel hits rocks”
By Claudia Carpenter
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc made an A$3 billion ($2.5 billion) bid for Arrow Energy Ltd., and the talks ended “in stalemate,” the Sunday Telegraph reported, without saying where it got the information.
Shell may return with a “revised approach,” according to the newspaper.
Shell spokeswoman Catherine Aitkin in The Hague declined to comment on the report to Bloomberg News. Calls made outside business hours to the office of Gareth Quinn, a Brisbane-based spokesman for Arrow, weren’t answered. E-mailed requests for comment weren’t responded to.
To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 16, 2009 07:03 EDT
Shell had the best record of the major companies for declaring the sources of its biofuel. It said that it did not use any palm oil last year because it could not find any from a sustainable source. Luis Scoffone, vice-president for biofuels, said that Shell could have met its biofuel obligation more cheaply if it had bought palm oil.
Click to continue reading “Oil giants destroy rainforests to make palm oil diesel for motorists”
Royal Dutch Shell has made a A$3bn (£1.5bn) approach for Australian coal-seam gas producer Arrow Energy.
Click to continue reading “Royal Dutch Shell tables £1.5bn bid for Australia’s Arrow Energy”
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the US oil industry, has written to member companies asking them to “move aggressively” to stage up to 22 public meetings, similar to the recent protests against President Barack Obama’s healthcare plans.
Click to continue reading “US oil industry split as leaked memo reveals lobbying plan”
By John Donovan
The Financial Times reports today that the US oil industry is split on the question of climate change.
The split has been revealed from a leaked memo issued to its members by the American Petroleum Institute, which represents the US oil industry, including core members ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell.
According to the FT article, the memo leaked to Greenpeace outlined a plan to “deploy thousands of workers in so-called “Energy Citizen” rallies protesting against imminent climate change legislation” with members asked to “move aggressively to stage up to 22 public meetings, similar to the recent protests against President Barack Obama’s healthcare plans.”
However, some API members, including Shell, which has multiple greenwash convictions, have hedged their bets by cynically also becoming members of the US Climate Change Partnership “which supports many of Mr Obama’s environmental policies.”
Simultaneous membership of both lobbying groups, with such totally incompatible objectives on a fundamentally important subject, is a PR balancing trick which Shell and other oil giants, with a duplicitous foot in each camp, may find it difficult to sustain.
The American public is unlikely to be fooled by the two-faced approach from a company notorious for deceptive PR and misleading advertising, e.g. the spectacular example above of colorful flower petals emerging from smokestacks at a Shell refinery. So much more attractive than the deadly cocktail of toxic chemicals normally associated with such emissions.
LAGOS, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said on Friday it had halted its Utorogu gas plant in Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta after an incident on the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System.
Click to continue reading “Shell shuts Utorogu gas plant in Nigeria”
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Aug. 14 (UPI) — A new facility in the Netherlands will contribute to an increase in the production of cleaner-burning fuels, says supermajor Royal Dutch Shell.
Royal Dutch Shell announced it would construct a $500 million hydrodesulphurization plant at the Pernis refinery in the Netherlands.
The plant will increase the production of cleaner-burning, low-sulphur fuels at the 400,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery when it comes on stream in the second half of 2011, the energy giant says.
Fuel production from the Pernis facility, Shell’s largest in Europe, will be sold to customers in Germany as domestic heating oil, which the company says must meet new sulphur content regulations.
Energy consumption and emissions for the Pernis facility will meet higher standards in anticipation of stricter regulations in Europe.
The furnace at the plant employs new technology that features a multi-burner system meant to reduce total emissions of nitrogen oxide.
“The investment is part of Shell’s strategy of selective Downstream growth and focus on larger, integrated refining and chemical sites,” says Tom Botts, Shell’s downstream executive vice president for global manufacturing.
LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup on Friday. “We believe growing visibility around project delivery over the next 12-24 months should finally provide the impetus to unlock material upside in the most deeply discounted value case in the sector,” the broker said. Shares rose 1.5%.
Copyright © 2009 MarketWatch, Inc.
Steve Lesher, a spokesman for the refinery, declined to comment on the claim and deferred to the Oakland-based law firm handling the case. The firm declined to comment.
Click to continue reading “Shell worker’s death not a suicide, widow asserts”
: It appears that Voser finally got fed up with Mr Overpromise/Underdelivery. Despite all the nice words about him, he is clearly kicked out. Plenty of sycophants around him are now fearing for their jobs and positioning themselves whom to kow-tow now. This bearded fellow wasted his great brain on very small details and he was unable to delegate. I think his only real good project was the SLIM project. This was many moons ago and launched him to the top jobs. And there he failed as frequently and eloquently pointed out on the Donovan site. Big brain, a micromanager on par with the pointy haired boss in Dilbert, a vicious and vindictive attitude to those that were of no use to him or that might talk back. In summary: Good riddance and now the legal system of Scotland can go after him. But I doubt they will.
: What goes around comes around.... The announcement of Brinded has long been anticipated. We now wait for the next much smaller announcement.... Tom Purves to retire..... This will make our day when that moment happens. Shell never deals with the issue of bad leadership until it is too late and the havoc has been wreaked.... However, as we say in the US, Every dog has its day..... and today that was Malcolm.
: So early retirement then after all that ....... REPLY BY JOHN D. You are still playing a point scoring game. You seem to forget that the avoidable deaths of Shell offshore workers on Brent Bravo is at the heart of this matter. The deaths occurred after a safety audit led by Bill Campbell exposed a shambolic, illegal and shameful safety regime on Brent Bravo. They occurred after Shell senior Expro management had promised Bill that Shell would bring an end to the "Touch F*** All" culture and the falsification of safety records. The explosion and record breaking fine provide proof that the promises were not kept. There is NO commercial aspect to this matter as far as Mr Campbell is concerned. He is driven solely by a fear of an even worse event due to the same policy by Shell of putting production and profits before the safety of offshore workers. Please give Bill some credit for his integrity and for his long campaign, which has rightly received cross-party support from many MP's.
: Agent provocateur indeed!! Never been called that before, and I am most certainly not in league with Shell in any way! I again reiterate my point : was Campbell fired or given early retirement from Shell and thereby lies his grudge or did he reach full retirement age in the company? An honest answer might convince many that his continuous aggressiveness against Shell is genuine or just an ongoing grudge. This is not a "slanging match" merely a point of clarification. REPLY BY JOHN DONOVAN: Mr Campbell has made it clear that he does not wish to get into discussion with someone making insulting comments while hiding behind an alias. With regards to his comment that you may be an agent provocateur, perhaps he gained that impression from checking your history of postings. Just so there is no misunderstanding, we welcome contributors who provide a counter-balance to negative postings about Shell. I have provided some links to further information about the Brent Bravo scandal. Despite all of the promises by Shell senior management about safety, which including appointing a safety Czar, its track record remains atrocious. Years after the Brent Bravo debacle, it was revealed that the lifeboats for a Shell North Sea platform were not seaworthy. You could not make it up. “Lifeboats trouble at Brent field” published on 14 March 2008, UpstreamOnline revealed “SHELL’s safety record on its Brent Bravo platform in the UK Northern North Sea is once again under scrutiny after the discovery of technical problems with two lifeboats on the installation that resulted in both of them being removed from service.” Jake Molloy, general secretary of the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee was quoted in the article by Christopher Hopson as claiming “If they had loaded up this particular lifeboat, the chances are it could have been launched into the sea in an uncontrolled fashion which would have caused death or injury as it was held in place by corrosion and not by the designed system”. The article said that problems had been found with a second lifeboat on the Brent Bravo platform. It also reported that a lifeboat had launched itself into the sea from Shell’s Tern platform because the brakes and clutches were “dysfunctional” and had damaged the launch mechanism off the platform. Shell confirmed problems had been discovered with two lifeboats on Brent Bravo during “routine maintenance”. Shell was quoted as stating that it viewed the matter seriously and had “mobilised an investigation team on the platform”. BILL CAMPBELL EMAIL SENT TO MEMBERS OF THE UK HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL SAFETY CONCERNS
: LondonLad: In many cases "Reaching Retirement age" in Shell simply means being unable to find a position outside Shell -nowadays the most competent people generally move on long before reaching retirement age and pursue a second career elsewhere.
: To : an observer of Shell, you state "It is commonly known that a great many employees of Shell Expro are freemasons". Where did you get this "fact" from - smoking whacky backy?? I doubt very much that a great many are indeed freemasons. Even if they are (wich I seriously doubt), so what? Let's face it they are a society that provide one of the largest contributions to charities in the UK. I think you very clearly have an axe to grind against Shell. In that context why does Campbell have such a chip on his shoulder over Shell? Was he sacked for some reason? Did he actually reach his retirement age in Shell? Would be nice to know so that we can believe more that his rants are genuine problems he has with Shell rather than caused by some hidden grudge.
: GTW, I know you are right, TP and others will get their due. What is painful is that those whose lives have been changed and whose spirits have been destroyed because of his actions, will not be compensated. Tom is not the only one taking credit for this new cruel process of forced ranking, by claiming credit for what market demand has meant for profits. There are promotions taking place right now because credit is claimed by those executing Tom's plan for performance 'refirings'. I worked in manufacturing sites where management and performance was a joke, and profits were above forecast. It's always been market demand and the hard work of the folks on the ground that make manufacturing successful, Tom is not a pioneer in taking undue credit for local successes, but he has certainly been the cruelest!
: I have no proof nor will I ever find that proof, but this reprehensible conduct of the legal authorities smells to high heaven of masonic lodges. It is commonly known that a great many employees of Shell Expro are freemasons. The police forces all over the world are well presented in the various lodges. I would not be surprised if Brinded himself is a member. Bill Campbell is a very courageous man taking on these evil forces. We in Shell all knew him to be a completely honest and competent Maintenance manager and HSE auditor. But he loses against all the parasites and sycophants whose sole job is to protect the directors. And then live well on the spoils of their abhorrent activities. Top marks for the Donovans who keep this festering sore in the spotlight. To some it maybe a lot of repeating old stories, but those that want to hide and bury their bad actions know that time is on their side. And Shell has deep pockets and knows how to procrastinate.
: John, there is no issue with my post. This is the same GTW that has been providing updates for some time on the ill fated project CEP and the ill fated Tom Purves, both of which should be going fading into the background this year as old worn out news.
: I retract my previous statement. COMMENT BY JOHN DONOVAN: WE HAVE REASON TO SUSPECT THAT THIS POSTING IS NOT IN FACT FROM THE PARTY WHO USES THE ALIAS "GOLDENTRIANGLE WATCHMAN ON THIS BLOG, BUT IS FROM AN IMPOSTER.
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