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

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Says the decriminalization of the Ogoni martyrs has become a key demand of the Ogonis

Calls for an End to Ogoni Killings

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has hinted of a roadmap to Ogoni development. MOSOP leader, Fegalo Nsuke gave the hint on Sunday at a commemorative church service at the Methodist Church, Wesley Cathedral in Bori, the traditional headquarters of the Ogoni people, to mark the 24th anniversary of Ogoni martyrs day, a day set aside to honor the fallen heroes of the Ogoni struggle including renowned author and environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa..

Nsuke did not give details of the roadmap but while addressing the church service hinted that “if we can have a Niger Delta Development Commission, a Niger Delta Basic Development Authority, then we can also have an Ogoni Development Authority” read more

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Esther Kiobel expresses her sincere thanks to Amnesty International and other parties supporting her Dutch lawsuit against Shell

A heartfelt message of thanks from Esther Kiobel

It has been a very hard road and long, long journey in the fight for fundamental rights of my late husband, Honorable Dr. Barinem Nubari Kiobel and other distinguished Ogonis who have suffered the most horrific abuses or murdered by the former Nigerian junta to help their exclusive collaborators. Shell Oil Corporation continue the exploitation of Nigerian crude oil resources under the most reckless human rights abuses ever imagined. read more

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SHELL RELATED EXTRACTS FROM AN ARTICLE BY JACOBIN PUBLISHED UNDER THE HEADLINE “THE NIGERIAN ACTIVIST WHOSE DEATH SHAMED SHELL”

AN INTERVIEW WITH ROY DORON / TOYIN FALOLA: 10 NOV 2019

Twenty-four years ago today, environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian state. His death brought international attention to the rapacious behavior of oil companies like Shell — and their complicity in the most violent forms of repression.

Born in 1941, Ken Saro-Wiwa came of age as Nigeria gained independence and became a lifelong advocate for the importance of minority rights within a unified national identity. A member of the Ogoni ethnic group, who at only half a million hold little sway in a country of two hundred million, Saro-Wiwa was central to mobilizing a popular movement that demanded accountability for companies like Shell that were extracting oil in the creeks of the Niger Delta. read more

9 Nov 2019

A raft of measures have been put in place to reduce the amount of ethane Shell is being forced to flare while the Mossmorran plant in Fife is shut.

Shell has been left with a surplus of ethane since its customer Exxonmobil temporarily closed the plant in August.

Now Shell said it had switched from powering its furnaces with propane to using ethane and reduced the amount of North Sea gas it receives.

Residents said they had not noticed much change in flaring.

However, Shell said it had managed to reduce flaring of ethane “significantly” as a result of the new measures, which also include adding ethane into household’s supply of methane. read more

Below is a translation of a news brief issued today 7 Nov 2019 – by NAM, the Shell/Exxon Joint Venture company responsible for the earthquake blighted Groningen Gas Field. And also for the consequential potential bill for untold billions to deal with damaged residences like the example in the photograph. Someone forget to mention in the news brief the shocking reason why the Dutch government ordered the closure. The word “earthquake” does not appear anywhere.

TRANSLATION

Close gas field Groningen started in Ten Post

It seems only a signature, but it marks the start of the closure of the Groningen field. At the end of October, NAM transferred the Ten Post gas extraction site to Meuva.  This company will start cleaning up the location around 11 November. read more

Reading uni cuts fossil fuel investments by more than half

By Alex Seabrook Local Democracy Reporter: 6th November 2019

THE University of Reading (UoR) has cut its investment in fossil fuels by more than half in the past year – after pressure from students.

The university’s £63million endowment fund now has £729,575 invested in Royal Dutch Shell.

That’s according to financial statements recently published, which show what the fund is invested in as of July 31.

Last year, the university had £2,628,305 in fossil fuels, as of July 31, 2018, according to the previous statements. read more

Court blocks use of pub chat and leaked email in Shell unfair dismissal claim

 by Allister Thomas: 06/11/2019, 7:30 am

A former senior lawyer at Shell cannot use a leaked email or an overheard pub conversation in his discrimination claim, a court has ruled.

Michael Curless was senior legal counsel for the energy giant from 1990 until his termination in 2017, which Shell said was by reason of redundancy.

However Mr Curless, who suffers from obstructive sleep apnoea and type 2 diabetes, made an employment tribunal claim that he was the subject of “disability discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal” which Shell denies.

He also alleged that Shell used the planned reorganisation of its in-house legal department following its 2016 takeover of BG Group as a pretext for terminating his employment. read more

“Cambridge University should not welcome Shell to do research, buy influence, and greenwash their reputation. Shell should be in the International Court of Justice, pledging to rectify the human and environmental damage that they have brought to Ogoniland. They should not be on campus at the University of Cambridge”.

by Zac Ntim: Tuesday November 5 2019, 3:09pm

The donation, which was not mentioned in Cambridge’s annual disclosures of its financial sources, will fund research into oil and gas extraction

Cambridge University has accepted a £6m donation from multinational oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell in March, The Guardian has revealed today.

The donation will fund research into oil extraction technology by a Cambridge University research group. This comes amid continued protests by students and staff calling on Cambridge to cut all investment and sponsorship relationships with fossil fuels companies.

Shell’s donation was approved by the University in March, however details were not included among other financial disclosures in July, when donations are typically announced. read more

Shell floating wind deal ‘sensible’ but won’t herald investment revolution, analyst says

by David McPhee: 06/11/2019, 7:15 am Updated: 06/11/2019, 7:35 am

The timing of oil giant Shell’s decision to acquire French floating wind firm Eolfi is “very sensible”, but isn’t likely to herald a revolution in how it invests its money, according to a top energy expert.

Adam Forsyth, head analyst at Longspur Research, said that while he considers the move to be a wise investment for Shell, he’s not entirely convinced that a great number of super-majors will follow.

He said: “It seems very sensible for Shell to be making this acquisition. read more

Hakluyt is known as a retirement home for ex-MI6 officers…

Hakluyt (now Holdingham Group Ltd) a private MI6 outfit, that met with …

Hakluyt, a UK-US corporate intelligence arm and offshoot to MI6

Created by former MI6 British Secret Service agents, Hakluyt is an ultra secretive firm whose client list reads like a who’s who of the business world…

The ensuing scandal catapulted Hakluyt to mainstream notoriety, and led several MPs to accuse MI6 of using the firm as a front for its own operations. read more

Shell has given £6m to fund the work of the university’s magnetic resonance research group amid a concerted campaign by students and staff to persuade the university to sever its links with extractive industries.

Cambridge University has accepted a multimillion-pound donation from Shell to fund a team researching oil extraction technology, even as it publicly positions itself as part of the transition to a sustainable future.

Shell has given £6m to fund the work of the university’s magnetic resonance research group amid a concerted campaign by students and staff to persuade the university to sever its links with extractive industries.

Sinead Lynch, the chair of Shell UK, has been invited to join the panel at a policy-making workshop on Monday. Environmental campaigners at Cambridge have raised questions about potential links between the donation and the invitation. read more

The Hague, Netherlands — The Dutch Advertising Code Commission reprimanded Shell on appeal for its misleading advertising at Shell’s Generation Discover 2018 children’s festival.

The Board of Appeals ruled that Shell misled children between the ages of 8 and 14 by suggesting its Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) technology would contribute to a better environment and to attaining UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Board strongly recommended that Shell “no longer make advertisement campaigns in this manner.” read more

Just 20 energy companies account for one-third of greenhouse emissions since 1965, according to a new study.

The Climate Accountability Institute’s Richard Heede tallied up all the fossil fuels extracted by every company through 2017 and calculated the emissions. The data is public, the math is straightforward and the emissions are indisputable.

The top 10 companies, in order, are, predictably, Saudi Aramco, Chevron, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil, National Iranian Oil Co., BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Coal India and PEMEX. More details are available online at http://climateaccountability.org/carbonmajors.html. read more

By Nick Cunningham – Nov 02, 2019, 4:00 PM CDT

The carbon bubble “continues to inflate,” according to a new report from Carbon Tracker. And yet no major oil company has aligned its operations with the goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

This is not just a matter of bad corporate behavior. The oil industry is charging ahead with oil and gas projects that completely defy climate targets, which means that they are taking on serious financial risk. “Companies who continue to sanction higher-cost projects which do not fit with a lower demand scenario risk destroying significant shareholder value through the creation of stranded assets,” Carbon Tracker warned. The more companies delay, the greater risk they take on. read more

Communities give oil firm quit notice

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa: 3 Nov 2019

Hundreds of indigenes from 14 communities in Nembe and Brass local government areas in Bayelsa State at the weekend barricaded the offshore facilities belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to protest their neglect by the oil firm.

The angry stakeholders led by their chiefs, traditional rulers, youth leaders, women and community leaders, took their protest to the facilities of Oil Mining Licence (OML) 77-3D located in their territorial waters.

The protesters, who hail from the communities of Odioma, Ibidi, Ewoma, Okpoma, Twon Brass, Beletiama, Liama, Diema, Okumbiribeleu, Opu-Okumbiri, Oginibiri and Sangana, said the company should stop its operation and address their grievances to avoid breakdown of law and order. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden made an unplanned intervention midway through his company’s earnings conference call in an attempt to lessen the damage from its warning it may fall short of a share buyback target. The move only invited confusion and the shares slid.

Shell positioned itself as the sector’s cash king over the past two years after major projects came on stream and commodity prices rebounded from the crash.

But with weaker economic growth threatening oil demand and crude supplies surging, Europe’s biggest oil company warned that it may not finish a $25 billion buyback program by the end of next year as planned. read more