News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
OSLO, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and its partners may be forced to cut their reserve estimates for Norway’s giant Ormen Lange gas field, the Norwegian Oil Directorate said on Friday.
Click to continue reading “Shell may be forced to downgrade reserves again”
HOUSTON — An American whose secret recordings have placed him at the center of a $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador is a convicted drug trafficker, records show, throwing another complication into a case already tainted by accusations of bribery and espionage.
Click to continue reading “Shell not the only sleazy oil company”
Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:12am EDT
OSLO, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has made a gas discovery at Norway’s Ormen Lange field, but there is renewed uncertainty about the field’s overall potential, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Friday.
“The result of this appraisal well will be incorporated into a major interpretation task aimed at providing a better resource estimate for the Ormen Lange field. It is uncertain whether the original upside potential can be realised,” the directorate said in a statement. Shell is the operator of production licence 209 with a 15 percent interest, with Norway’s StatoilHydro (STL.OL) holding a 40 percent interest, state-owned Petoro 35 percent and ExxonMobil (XOM.N) 10 percent.
(Reporting by Oslo newsroom)
Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:15am EDT
LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) (RDSb.L) is to delay investments in information technology systems at its downstream oil refining and fuel marketing unit to cut costs, a Shell protestors’ website said on Friday, citing a leaked internal email.
The Royaldutchshellplc.com website said U.S., Brazil, Argentina and Chile units would be affected.
No one at Shell was immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
Mark Williamson
Published on 30 Oct 2009
Royal Dutch Shell is set to shed up to 250 jobs in Aberdeen as part of a global cull of 5000 posts which it unveiled after announcing a big drop in third quarter profits on the back of falling oil prices.
Warning that global demand for oil would not recover quickly, the oil and gas giant said it would make the job cuts as the next stage of a drive initiated by new chief executive Peter Voser to boost profitability by simplifying the giant business.
This has already resulted in 150 out of 750 senior managers losing their jobs.
The next stage will affect staff in other grades.
Shell did not confirm where the axe will fall under the programme of cuts, which Voser said would be equivalent to 10% of the workforce in the areas affected.
However, in a statement the company indicated that Aberdeen would be hit hard, saying: “The next stages of the global re-organisation will take place between now and the end of the year and it is expected that 5000 people will leave Shell worldwide – mostly in management and non-operational positions.
“Work on the organisational design and consultation is continuing in the UK but it is now anticipated that between 200 and 250 people will be impacted by this process, mostly in management and non-operational positions, in Upstream International in the UK, which includes Aberdeen.”
The UK upstream business is run from Aberdeen. Shell employs around 1800 people directly working in the city or offshore.
While Shell chiefs insist that the company remains committed to the North Sea, the company has made big cuts in the numbers employed in Aberdeen in recent years. Last April the company announced plans to make 180 jobs onshore redundant.
The cost-cutting measures have helped Shell save $1bn (£606m) in the first nine months of this year. They are intended to reshape the company for the long term but could help deal with the challenging economic conditions that oil and gas firms are facing.
Oil prices plunged from a record $147 a barrel last August to less than half that level in the third quarter this year.
Morale is at an all time low, managers and supervisors are more focused on the fear of job stability than effective leadership. Many who have not been affected by the current staff reduction exercises are scared, and some are looking for a way out of Shell.
CURRENT SHELL INTERNAL EMAIL FROM ANDREW MANLEY, DOWNSTREAM-ONE PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
Re-phasing the Downstream-One Programme
This email has been sent to the Downstream Leadership Team, Programme Management Team, Programme staff including country Programme teams, Downstream-One IT, Implementation Council, Process Owners, Process Design Council, Operational Excellence teams, lead Process Focal Points, and Local Senior Downstream Representatives in countries live or to go live.
Dear Colleagues,
In the current environment it has been made clear to all of us that we have to manage our cash-flow very carefully and make tough decisions about allocation of resources. Indeed, Peter Voser has asked all the businesses to deliver tough top-down stretch targets on cost.
Against this backdrop, the Downstream Leadership Team has decided to re-phase implementation of the Downstream-One Programme so it can be delivered at a reduced rate of spend.
§ Because their existing systems can be maintained for another few years, implementation in US Fuels, Brazil, Argentina and Chile will be deferred indefinitely.
In the meantime, expenditure on GSAP in these countries will cease, including design work on Release 2.4 (the version of GSAP to be deployed in the US). Work to streamline business models and processes in US Fuels, Brazil, Argentina and Chile will however continue within normal business budgets.
The upgrade of Luminon, the existing SAP system for Pipelines in the US, will proceed in the meantime and its replacement will no longer be part of any future implementation in the US.
§ The Go-Live date for China will be deferred by 12 months to 1 April 2012.
§ The Go-Live date for India will be deferred by 6 months to 1 October 2011.
§ The Go-Live date for UAE/Oman will be deferred by 3 months to 1 January 2012 (Oman subject to Board approval).
§ The Go-Live dates for Pakistan, France, Italy, Turkey, CEE, International Aviation Marine and Canada are unchanged.
§ The retrofit of all live countries to the same Release 2.3 platform will be on 1 July 2011.
I know this will disappoint all of you that have been working tirelessly to prepare the impacted countries to go live with Downstream-One on schedule. I’m also conscious it creates uncertainty about what happens in the immediate term to the people working to support the Programme in these countries.
As a matter of urgency, I have asked each Assurance Manager to work with the Country Programme Managers and country Downstream-One HR to look at what this decision means practically for our teams in the impacted countries. The Global GSAP Deploy Manager will work with the country GSAP Deploy Managers to look at the impacts on the Downstream-One IT teams. The Programme Management Team and Process Owners will look at the impact on their central teams. There may also be impacts on other teams in the businesses that will need to be worked through with the relevant stakeholders.
We will provide clarity on this as soon as possible, consulting with staff representatives as appropriate. If you have any immediate queries, please raise them with your line manager recognising that they may not be able to answer everything straight away.
We should remember that we are delivering the most ambitious transformation programme in the world, and one that is critical for better business performance and growth.
While these changes mean we have to change our schedule yet again, they do provide the opportunity to complete the roll out to a core of countries, embed the base system and increasingly focus on Operational Excellence and improvements before tackling our biggest and most complex implementations. They also allow the Downstream business to focus its short-term spending on opportunities for growth.
Thank you for your hard work and ongoing support.
Regards,
FAIRFAX, Va. — As part of the ongoing transition of Shell and Motiva gas stations from direct- to wholesaler-supplied operations, Shell subsidiary Motiva Enterprises LLC sold 52 Shell-branded sites to PMG Northern Virginia LLC, a newly formed entity created by Fairfax, Va.-based Petroleum Marketing Group Inc.
From The Times
October 30, 2009
Robin Pagnamenta Carl Mortished
More than 400 British managers in Royal Dutch Shell are facing the axe this Christmas as the oil giant intensifies a drastic restructuring drive.
Peter Voser, the new chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch group, announced yesterday that 5,000 jobs worldwide would be cut by the end of this year as the company reported a 73 per cent collapse in third-quarter profits from $10.9 billion (£6.6 billion) last year to $3 billion.
Shell, whose weak results contrasted with robust earnings reported by BP, its rival, on Tuesday, said that more than half the cuts in its Transition 2009 programme would fall in the UK, the US and the Netherlands.
It declined to offer further details. However, based on current projections of a 5 per cent reduction in its overall headcount of 100,000, Shell is on track to cut its 8,500-strong UK workforce by about 425.
Many of those job losses will be at its upstream operation in Aberdeen and its London corporate affairs office.
Shell said that up to 30 per cent of senior management roles had been cut from some business areas in the restructuring, which was launched by Mr Voser at the end of May.
Simon Henry, the chief financial officer, said: “We are moving very quickly and are at the period of maximum change and uncertainty.” He added that 15,000 staff were currently reapplying for new jobs at Shell.
Mr Henry said that by stripping out duplication and simplfying the business, the changes had already allowed Shell to chop $1 billion from its costs this year but he gave warning that the company would need to pay out “several hundred million dollars” in redundancy payments in the final three months of the year.
He said that the bulk of cuts were in the company’s “decision-making apparatus” and that the areas most heavily hit included Shell’s upstream Americas, contracting and procurement and business development units.
Shell blamed the recession, a weakening of oil prices and the company’s stagnating upstream oil and gas production for eating into its revenues and margins. Total sales fell 43 per cent to $75 billion.
Richard Griffith, oil analyst for Evolution Securities, said that Shell’s results looked feeble in comparison with those of BP, which smashed analysts’ forecasts when it this week announced earnings that were 50 per cent higher than had been predicted.
While Shell’s output stayed almost static, at 2.93 million barrels per day, BP reported a 7 per cent surge in its production.
Shell also disappointed investors by pledging to freeze its dividend for the foreseeable future, whereas analysts now expect BP to consider raising its payout as soon as February.
Shell’s upstream earnings from producing crude oil and natural gas were hammered in the three months to the end of September, falling by 82 per cent to $1.5 billion, in large part because of the fall in crude oil and natural gas prices, compared with the third quarter of last year.
Downstream profits also suffered as a result of slim margins and a 4 per cent decline in sales because of weak demand from consumers and industry for oil products and chemicals.
Adding to the gloomy outlook for Shell, Mr Henry said that European oil demand could now be in permanent decline.
“We genuinely don’t see any signs of the market turning,” he said, although he added that there was room for greater optimism in China, India and the US.
Mr Henry said that the group was also seeking to drive down costs in its supply chain by striking new deals with suppliers of everything from pipes to steel and cement.
Shares in Shell fell by 56½p, or more than 3 per cent, to £18.13.
LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) will fight any possible efforts by the Nigerian government to hand control of its Nigerian fields to Chinese oil companies, the Anglo-Dutch oil major’s chief financial officer said on Thursday.
Click to continue reading “Shell says would fight Chinese grab in Nigeria”
: With all of this money spent on the CEP expansion, it has been built on an old electrical infrastructure. I guess no one is counting how many times you read about a "short" electrical outage at the plant. Tom Purves and the Motiva leadership know exactly why this is happening and how to fix it. They don't want to pay for it. They have been given the project and have turned it down at least twice. Meanwhile, we just keep having outages. Going ot be interesting when both refineries come down in the future.
: LondonLad: the lack of stories concerning Shell should be welcomed, if it implies that Shell are cleaning up their act, perhaps due in part to the efforts of the Donovans.
: US Observer, surely almost all (NOT all)contributors to this website have an axe to grind against Shell, particularly those who have a perception that they have been screwed by Shell in times gone by. As for Itchy Woman, she clearly has a femanistic / burn-the-bra approach to work in Shell. AND I would like to add that once again an old old article (from someone who has an axe to grind against Shell) has to be republished due to lack of news against Shell (I refer to Briggs 2009 article). COMMENT BY JOHN D. Would it not be fairer to say that everyone posting on this blog, including you, has an axe to grind. It is easy enough to look back over your contributions and reach a conclusion.
: It is easy to figure out who Witchy Woman is (LC). She has an "ax to grind" and is using this forum
: @uscitizen Voser is a competent and amicable chap. You claim Shell has delivered on its deliverables. Let me tell you everyone delivers on their deliverable.... But joking apart, look at the promises over the years and how well Shell has delivered on these promises. Their trackrecord is not very good over the last 15 years or so. They are a good money making machine. And sofar they have delivered on their constant or increasing dividend payments. Sometimes by increasing their debt but they have done it. A nice high oilprice has helped, don't you agree?? So my only observation was that his 'promise' to extend North Sea fields is quite opposite their activities in this area. And they have promised this before and done the opposite. It was a nice promise to build a new and expensive office in Aberdeen, more jobs for the UK and more activity and extending of production. Just check back what they have done. And predicting future productionlevels by Shell in general and Brinded in particular is nothing but a sick joke.
: To - an observer of Shell Shell has been delivering on its deliverables - why would you paint Voser as some one who is not??
: This was not a personal attack now was it Witchy one?? #133 Witchy woman on May 8th, 2011 at 1:42 pm Marvin Odum who probably has the worst safety record in Shell goes for a diversity vote and someone who has no safety experience to replace the VP of safety he just fired. Clear message where his priorities lie.
: Witchy Woman - you blase me for personal attacks???? That is so rich! I am defending people that are attacked if you had not noticed - and yes I do slam the folks who are throwing garbage out! Live with it!! Enjoy your retirement! Shell has a good retirement package in the US dont they??
: I feel the value of your posts is also minimal, just a complainer. PS - here is where you bash Denise - remember - or do we need to question your integrity the way folks question Shell leaders?? Witchy woman on Dec 7th, 2011 at 12:35 pm In GOM we thought that hurricane season was done. Why is Hurricane Denise causing so much damage then? Like all Hurricanes though they move on the professionals are left to pick up the pieces.
: According to the Independent article posted today the boss of Shell is telling us all not to get too emotional about fracking. Has he not seen the confirmation that fracking causes earthquakes? You have cited the Reuters article. There are others including coverage of a fracking earthquake in Blackpool England. I have to conclude that Voser is a fracking idiot.
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