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October, 2014:

Shell running out of steam

Oct 7th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 16.29.29By John Donovan

Styrene prices have shot up following a steam leak at Shell’s steam crackers at Moerdijk in the Netherlands. 

Shell has declared force majeure on ethylene and propylene at the unit. 

A Shell spokesman admitted that the steam leak resulted in flaring activity. 

News of the incident was posted on our Shell Blog early on 7 October by an anonymous source.

Extracts from related Wikipedia Styrene Article

“Styrene is regarded as a “hazardous chemical”, especially in case of eye contact, but also in case of skin contact, of ingestion and of inhalation, according to several sources. The International Agency for Research on Cancer considers styrene to be “possibly carcinogenic to humans”. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell, Eni and Nigerian Corruption

Oct 6th, 2014
by John Donovan.
1 comment

Malabu Oil Deal: prosecutors say that a senior official of Shell had a face-to-face meeting with Etete over expensive “lunch and lots of iced champagne”: Italian prosecutors said some of the $533 million slush money was used to buy private jets…

By John Donovan

The litigation involving former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete, who has already been convicted for money laundering in France, continues.

Etete tried to hide his link with the now notorious company, Malabu Oil and Gas, which he registered using a fictitious director, Kweku Amafegha, and a fake address.

According to a Reuters report, more than half of the $1.1 billion paid to Malabu Oil and Gas for the procurement of one of Nigeria’s richest oil fields, OPL 245 by Shell and Eni, was used to bribe Nigerian politicians and intermediaries who helped to secure the controversial deal. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell backs out of Russian oil projects

Oct 5th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2014-06-10 at 08.08.45

In April 2014, following the Russian Annexation of Crimea, Shell COE, Ben van Beurden, was still bowing to Putin and full of ambition for Russian oil and gas projects. 

By John Donovan

In April 2014, Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben Van Beurden claimed that the company had no plans to change its work with its Russian partners, despite the conflict in Ukraine.

His resolve seems to have crumbled following the imposition of further sanctions by the USA and Europe against the Putin regime.

A number of news articles are reporting that Shell has followed Exxon in suspending tight oil projects in Russia.

According to Reuters, “Oil major Shell has suspended development of hard-to-recover oil in Russia’s Bazhenov formation with Gazprom Neft, Interfax cited Gazprom Neft’s head as saying on Friday, after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Ideas360 Global Search for Game Changing Ideas

Oct 5th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2014-10-05 at 08.48.48

Screen Shot 2014-06-10 at 19.24.02The question arises of whether Ideas360 is a devious predatory operation by Shell, trawling for brain waves from bright but naive students unlikely to have the funds or wherewithal to sue if ideas are misappropriated.

By John Donovan

The Shell Ideas360 contest has been launched in Qatar, directed at university students.  This is first time the scheme has been introduced into the Middle East.

According to an article published in the Gulf Times: The competition allows participants to develop their ideas into a “potentially investment-worthy” business case with the support of mentors and subject matter experts.

A Shell spokesperson says: “The Shell Ideas360 is a great platform that will enable Qatar’s university students to collaborate with students from all around the world and develop game-changing ideas.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Corrib Gas Project Ireland: The Good News and the Bad News

Oct 4th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2014-10-04 at 13.47.39By Nick Gill

The Irish Independent has published an article providing an update on the delayed progress of the Shell led Corrib Gas Project in Ireland, which has been surrounded by controversy, including alleged corruption and persistent environmental protests from the outset. 

Basically, the good news is that the volume of gas at peak production is projected to be 8pc greater than originally forecast. 

The bad news is that the project is likely to end up 12 years behind the original schedule with the total outlay now expected to be four times the original estimate of €800m.  read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Eni payments ‘used to bribe Nigeria officials’

Oct 2nd, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2014-09-11 at 23.20.44The article notes the involvement of the metropolitan police, but surely this is beyond the remit of the police involved? Where are the Dutch police, Interpol and Europol in this affair? Where is the SEC, and the authority that enforces the FCPA? It is simply not enough to say that Shell is “not under investigation”.

FROM A REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR

John

I don’t know if you saw yesterday’s article (below) in Upstream about the Nigerian OPL245 case, but it seems that a large number of the Malabu payments have been traced.

If the article is to be believed (and Upstream is usually quite good) it appears that Shell was unaware of the payments being made on behalf of their joint venture with ENI. If they really did not know that these payments were being made, Shell were not acting in the interests of their shareholders – it is hard to believe that Shell really agreed to pay their share of $600 million out of a total of $1.2 billion without investigating where the funds were going. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

New earthquake in Groningen, city buildings shaken

Oct 1st, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Screen Shot 2014-10-01 at 20.37.24NAM, a 50:50 joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil, is currently assessing claims from hundreds of people who say their homes have been damaged by the quakes.

Tuesday 30 September 2014

DutchNews.nl

An earthquake measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale was felt in Groningen province on Tuesday – considered a significant quake in the Netherlands.

Social media channels were buzzing with news from people who felt the quake, some of whom were in Groningen city itself. ‘I have never felt such a strong one,’ local councillor Paul de Rook said on Twitter. There have not yet been any reports of damage, news agency ANP said.

The quakes are caused by the ground settling following the extraction of natural gas from under the province. Gas extraction company NAM has not yet commented on the strength of Tuesday’s quake but the tremors are thought to have been strongest in the villages of Ten Boer and Bedum. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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