Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. Instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan

Anna Gross and Owen Walker in London: 25 April 2019

Eumedion, a Dutch corporate governance group backed by 60 institutional investors, will push Shell to use what influence it has with the Brunei government to press for the improvement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

Eumedion counts large Shell shareholders including BlackRock, Standard Life Aberdeen and Capital Group among its members.

Talks with Shell could take place as early as next week… read more

By Mark Dummett, Amnesty International Business and Human Rights Researcher

On 1 May, a court in The Hague, the oil multinational’s home town, will deliver a ruling on whether a case brought by Esther and three other Nigerian women over Shell’s role in their husband’s deaths can proceed.

The four widows accuse Shell of instigating a brutal crackdown by the-then military regime against peaceful protesters in Ogoniland, in Africa’s most valuable oil-producing region, the Niger Delta, in the 1990s. The protests were over pollution, the chronic lack of development, and the unfair distribution of oil wealth. read more

April 25, 2019: An analysis by oil consultancy firm, Resources for Development, says oil giants Shell/Eni’s deal for the controversial OPL 245 included “unprecedented terms” which funded an alleged bribery scheme.

The analysis was commissioned by four non-governmental groups — Global Witness, HEDA, Re:Common and The Corner House — based on publicly available documents.

This included Shell and Eni’s valuations of the oil block, according to a statement released by the NGOs on Thursday. read more

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Saudi Arabia’s state oil group has agreed to pay almost £500 million to Royal Dutch Shell to buy it out of an oil refinery joint venture on the Gulf.

Saudi Aramco will buy Shell’s 50 per cent stake in the plant, ending a 30-year joint venture, as it expands its refining and petrochemical operations in a drive to become the world’s largest energy company.

Saudi Aramco is the world’s biggest oil company, pumping more than 10 million barrels per day last year. The acquisition, for $631 million, is due to complete later this year. read more

The oversupplied gas market provides the logic for the company’s move downstream

NICK BUTLER

Since Maarten Wetselaar, Royal Dutch Shell’s director of gas and new energies, suggested a few weeks ago that Shell could be “by far the biggest power company in the world” by 2035 as it moves into electricity, oil and gas rivals have been asking if they should be doing the same. Existing power suppliers have begun to worry about whether their business models are secure.

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New technology to cut emissions needs funding: oil major

The FTSE 100 oil giant Shell has called for taxpayer subsidies to help it cut pollution by trapping carbon dioxide emissions underground.

Carbon capture and storage is seen by many as vital to meeting global pollution reduction targets. It involves “scrubbing” pollutants from factory and power station emissions, transporting the gas to special locations and storing it to avoid damage to the atmosphere.

The government is ploughing millions of pounds into getting the technology up and running by the mid-2020s, but the question of who pays to help combat climate change has proved controversial, with complaints over increases to electricity bills to subsidise renewable energy and pay for smart meters. read more

Ian Bray of environmental group Extinction Rebellion arrested after staging demo at Shell oil’s UK headquarters

SOURCE ARTICLE

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden

CITY PEOPLE: APRIL 19 2019, 12:01 am

Patrick Hosking: The feuds,  the faces, the farcical

It’s not always much fun on a North Sea oil rig: shifts as long as three weeks with no grog allowed and restrictions on smoking. At least homesick platform workers can seek solace this Easter in roast lamb and apple crumble with cream. But for how much longer? Carys Bennett of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has written to Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Shell, urging him to ban meat and dairy products from its rigs to offset environmental damage by the oil company. “In addition to offsetting some of your gigantic carbon footprint, providing vegan meals would help workers eat with a clear conscience,” she wrote. No response yet from Shell. Too busy preparing the mint sauce perhaps.

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 RELATED ARTICLE

Aberdeen EveningExpress

Animal rights group calls for Shell to provide vegan-only meals on North Sea platforms

FRIDAY 19 APRIL 2019

Gazprom and Shell have signed a Memorandum to construct the third production train of the LNG plant (Sakhalin II), as well as the Agreement of Strategic Cooperation.

Royal Dutch Shell is a British-Dutch oil and gas holding company focused on hydrocarbon production, processing and marketing in more than 70 countries.

Gazprom and Shell are jointly engaged in the Sakhalin II project, which includes Russia’s first LNG plant. The project operator of Sakhalin II is Sakhalin Energy (Gazprom – 50 per cent plus one share, Shell – 27.5 per cent minus one share, Mitsui – 12.5 per cent, and Mitsubishi – 10 per cent). read more

So far, Shell does not want to meet the demands of employees, such as a 5% wage increase and concrete agreements on less work pressure. Shell has previously said that it will reduce the wages of striking employees.

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad.

Shell employees may refuse to work overtime in the context of collective labor agreements

Van onze redacteur

Shell employees may continue to take action at a refinery of the energy group in Moerdijk. The staff does not have to work overtime for major maintenance at this location, a court in Breda ruled on Friday afternoon.

Refusing to work overtime is part of trade union actions for a better collective labor agreement. Shell wanted to force the court to force the unions to stop part of their actions at Moerdijk. CLA protests make it impossible to carry out maintenance on a petrochemical installation, as a result of which safety is at stake, according to Shell. That is why it wants the unions to cooperate fully in the maintenance stop. But in a tight summary proceedings, Shell was blunt, the trade unions and the Brabant media reported. read more

INTERPOL and any other law enforcement agencies would have the authority to arrest the men.

By Reuters: April 17, 2019

ABUJA/LONDON — A Nigerian judge issued arrest warrants for two former ministers and an Eni manager over the sale of offshore oilfield OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said on Twitter on Wednesday.

Dan Etete, former petroleum minister, ex-attorney general Mohammed Adoke and Eni manager Roberto Casula “are to be arrested anywhere they are found”, the EFCC said in a statement. It said it followed a ruling by a judge in the capital, Abuja. read more

By Dulue Mbachu: 17 April 2019, 16:25 BST

A court in Nigeria ordered the arrest of two former ministers and others allegedly connected with illegal payments leading to the 2011 acquisition of what is considered one of the biggest oil fields in the West African country.

Former Justice Minister and Attorney General Mohammed Adoke, ex-Oil Minister Dan Etete and five foreign nationals linked to the acquisition of Malabu’s Oil Prospecting License 245 were declared wanted Wednesday by Justice Danlami Senchi of the Federal High Court, Abuja. read more

By Janene Pieters on April 16, 2019 – 11:50

The left-wing opposition parties GroenLinks, SP and PvdA want multinationals like Shell to pay profit tax in the Netherlands. They are submitting a bill to achieve this to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, later this week, NOS reports.

Currently large Dutch companies can still deduct losses they suffer abroad from the profit they made in the Netherlands. Newspaper Trouw previously reported that by doing so, Shell does not pay any profit tax at all in the Netherlands. read more

Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2011 over an alleged $1.1 billion paid in bribes to Nigerian government officials,  related to the acquisition of new off-shore drilling rights. Nigeria is now counter-suing for $1.14 billion (868 million British pounds) in a London court…

Ariel Cohen: Contributor, Energy: April 15. 2019

With the reelection of Muhammadu Buhari to the Nigerian presidency, Africa’s leading oil exporter faces a challenge as old as Nigeria itself: political corruption. This scourge shortchanges ordinary Nigerians and undermines the country’s development.

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A) and Italy’s Eni (NYSE:E) have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2011 over an alleged $1.1 billion paid in bribes to Nigerian government officials,  related to the acquisition of new off-shore drilling rights. Nigeria is now counter-suing for $1.14 billion (868 million British pounds) in a London court, claiming that Shell and Eni assisted “corrupt Nigerian government officials to breach fiduciary duties” in the deal. This scandal comes after a leaked 2013 report, which details how Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owed the government $20 billion in revenue due to its failure to report its earnings. It seems there is no shortage of legal quagmires for Africa’s most populous nation. read more

We are going to investigate Shell’s entanglement with the Dutch government.

APRIL 15, 2019: THE NETHERLANDS

A group of journalists have launched a mass freedom of information campaign in an attempt to chart Shell’s political influence in the Netherlands.

Requests have been submitted to 17 government institutions – nine ministries, three provincial administrations and five municipalities – asking for all documents originating form or relating to the oil company.

The Platform Authentieke Journalistiek (PAJ) submitted the requests in association with investigative website Follow The Money (FTM), which will publish the results on its website as the Shell Papers.

It has set up a dashboard where the documents will be uploaded in full as they come in and which allows readers to track the progress of all requests for information made under the freedom of information law or wet openbaarheid van bestuur (WOB).

On its website, FTM said it wanted to establish ‘the influence of Shell on Dutch public administration regarding, for example, economic, financial, international, environment and even education policy’.

DutchNews.nl:

TRANSLATED INFORMATION AND LINKS PROVIDED BY  THE INVESTIGATIVE GROUP – PAJ & FTM

FTM and PAJ launch new research file: the Shell Papers

We are going to investigate Shell’s entanglement with the Dutch government.

The significance of Shell for the Dutch economy and society is hard to overestimate.

Since its foundation at the end of the 19th century, the company has had close ties with the Dutch government. Both the Netherlands and Shell shareholders have benefited from this. read more