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Victoria faces another blow to its economy after Royal Dutch Shell reportedly sold Geelong refinery, putting 500 jobs at risk. The oil major sold the asset and its Australian petrol stations to Dutch-owned oil trader Vitol and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council for about $2.4bn, Fairfax Media reports. It is believed that Vitol, the world’s largest oil trader, has earmarked the 60-year-old refinery for closure…
By Athena Yenko | February 3, 2014 2:57 PM EST As a result of the massive decline in its annual profit announced Thursday, Shell today confirmed that it is putting its 900 Australian petrol stations for sale to recover from the 39 per cent slump of its profit. Shell also announced its plan to sell its 32 Australian fuel terminals, including the Geelong refinery which had been in the market since the early quarter of 2013. Company Chief Executive Ben Van Beurden says he will not reveal the details.
Royal Dutch Shell’s Arrow Energy coal seam gas venture in Queensland is set to cut potentially hundreds of jobs as speculation mounts that the proposed LNG project will be a casualty of reined-in spending by the oil major. One source said up to 600 jobs would go, representing half of the workforce.
Royal Dutch Shell’s Arrow Energy coal seam gas venture in Queensland is set to cut potentially hundreds of jobs as speculation mounts that the proposed LNG project will be a casualty of reined-in spending by the oil major.
One source said up to 600 jobs would go, representing half of the workforce. Another put the figure at 400 jobs out of the 1200 employed at the venture, which is half-owned by PetroChina.
The statement comes amid media reports that managers in Arrow were travelling to regional centres in Moranbah and Dalby to kick off the job reductions.
Shane Fowles: Herald Sun: September 11, 2013
SHELL has confirmed it is in talks with potential buyers for its Geelong refinery.
In encouraging signs for the 600 employees and contractors left in limbo by Shell’s decision to sell the 59-year-old refinery, the company has revealed it has held initial discussions with prospective suitors.
“We have received good interest from prospective buyers and will continue to make every effort to achieve a successful sale,” a Shell representative said.
Shell’s Geelong workers and senior management were told the news yesterday morning, just moments before a public announcement that the company was putting the refinery up for sale.
While workers were told not to talk to the media, union boss Ben Davis said the 450 Shell employees and 150 plus contractors were sickened by the announcement.
Shell has given itself 12 months to find a buyer for the Geelong refinery or face possible conversion to a fuel terminal with a greatly reduced workforce.
ABOUT 450 fearful Shell refinery workers in Geelong face a long wait for a lifeline that analysts and unions doubt will ever come. The petroleum giant has announced plans to sell its last remaining Australian refinery, but if it can’t find a buyer by the end of 2014 to keep it open, it may convert the site to a fuel import terminal.
If that happens, the Australian Workers Union (AWU) says hundreds of jobs will go, with only 50 to 100 workers needed to staff a terminal.
Financial data firm Morningstar’s head of equities, Peter Warnes, says Shell will struggle to sell the 60-year-old refinery.
“Shell have got no chance of finding a buyer,” Mr Warnes told AAP.
ROYAL Dutch Shell is putting its Geelong refinery up for sale, threatening the jobs of more than 500 workers in a city unions say is “already on its knees”.
The oil giant says if it can’t sell the refinery, it will consider turning it into a fuel import terminal to supply its local marketing and distribution business.
The move is another blow to Australia’s struggling refining industry, which cannot compete with giant refineries in Asia.
In 2011, Shell said it would close its only other refinery, at Clyde in Sydney, and convert it into an import terminal – a move that meant the loss of about 350 jobs.
An executive of Shell has said the future of the oil company’s Geelong refinery is ‘borderline’.
Shell global downstream director Mark Williams said the operation of the refinery at Geelong was ‘questionable’ given the challenges faced.
‘It’s borderline,’ Mr Williams told the Australian Financial Review.
‘It depends a lot on how it performs over the next few years whether or not it will ultimately be a survivor.
‘I think you can see the rest of the industry struggling with the same dynamics.’
GEELONG’S mayor is prepared to ask for federal and Victorian government assistance to prop up the local Shell refinery, with an oil company executive saying its future is “borderline”.
Shell says its Geelong refinery is facing challenges, including more competition from new mega-refineries in Asia, after its global downstream director Mark Williams said the operation of the refinery was “questionable” given the challenges.
“It’s borderline,” Mr Williams told the Australian Financial Review.
Mathew Dunckley and Angela MacDonald-Smith
The Chinese economy could be in worse shape than official figures suggest, threatening demand for Australia’s resources at the same time as increasing international competition and rising costs spell trouble for this nation’s fledgling gas boom, says one of Royal Dutch Shell’s top global executives.
Shell global downstream director Mark Williams said the energy giant was experiencing the equivalent of recession-level demand for key products such as diesel at the same time as China, one of the single largest markets, was posting official reports of strong growth.
“Shell Australia has been accused of withholding data showing that high levels of potentially cancer-causing benzene have been released from the oil giant’s Geelong refinery.”Thursday 18 August 2005
By Ewin Hannan
Geelong Grammar in the foreground with the Shell Geelong oil refinery in the background.
Photo: Craig Abraham
Shell Australia has been accused of withholding data showing that high levels of potentially cancer-causing benzene have been released from the oil giant’s Geelong refinery.
Former CSIRO scientist Chris Mardon, who analysed benzene data recorded by Shell’s air-monitoring equipment, claims record levels of benzene emissions came from the refinery, which is near Geelong Grammar and primary schools, over 13 days in April.
SHELL has brought forward the closure of its Clyde refinery in Sydney by up to nine months, cutting about 350 jobs as tough operating conditions plaguing the shrinking sector worsen.
Shell said it would close the 90-year-old refinery on September 30, which is earlier than indicated last year when the company said Clyde would close some time before the middle of next year.
Like most Australian manufacturers, refineries are straining under the weight of a high dollar, high-skilled labour costs and expensive raw materials – in the case of refineries, crude oil.
By John Donovan: 2 June 2012
It appears that the intervention of Royal Dutch Shell Company Secretary Michiel Brandjes, initiating an investigation of allegations we brought to his attention as a result of information given to us by a whistleblower at the Shell Geelong Refinery in Australia, may have resolved the matter.
Shell investigates alleged IP theft at Geelong Refinery
Stirring up a Hornets’ Nest at Shell’s Geelong Refinery
Printed below is the latest information from the insider source.
ROYAL Dutch Shell has reported a $495 million full-year loss on its Australian refining and marketing business after being hit by higher costs, a higher Australian dollar and a $638m writedown of its Geelong refinery.
But the oil major’s petroleum exploration and production division, centred on its stake in the Woodside-operated North West Shelf LNG project in Western Australia, offset the loss with a $US845m profit.
The writedown and earnings results were revealed in the 2011 reports of Shell’s two main Australian subsidiaries, which were filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in recent weeks.
Photograph of Shell’s Geelong refinery in Australia
By John Donovan
Shell investigates alleged IP theft at Geelong Refinery
Alleged IP theft from employee of Shell Geelong Refinery
Stirring up a Hornets’ Nest at Shell’s Geelong Refinery
Hi John,
It was good to see Diana’s friend from the old Mobil refinery reinforce the fact that she is a nice person, as well as being clever.
Our refinery production manager Mr Guy Hackwell has been visiting lunch rooms around the refinery removing copies of the original email, referring to Shells reliability Manager, Mr Rod Mayes , as “a blood sucker who realized the potential and ran off and presented this work to Vice President Downstream Australia, Mr Andrew Smith.”
According to an insider source, the information that appeared on this website regarding alleged Intellectual Property theft has stirred up a hornet’s nest at Shell’s Geelong Refinery. It would also appear that an investigation is under way to find the person responsible for sending it to me, which has the objective of subjecting that person to Disciplinary Action.
By John Donovan
I have permission from the sender, Mr Warwick Williams, to publish an email he sent to me concerning the alleged theft by Shell of intellectual property owned by an employee at Geelong Refinery in Australia, Diana Newman.
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