By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and Paul Burkhardt: August 31, 2016 

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Forcados pipeline in Nigeria will resume deliveries in September, according to an oil company that uses the line.

“We are hearing Forcados is due to return at the middle of next month,” Kola Karim, chief executive officer of Shoreline Group, said Wednesday by phone from London. “It has been a tough situation for us these past couple of months.”

The Forcados pipeline system is among oil infrastructure targeted by Nigerian militants this year. In February, Shell declared force majeure — a legal clause that allows it to stop shipments without breaching contracts — after militants blew up a line feeding the Forcados terminal, which typically exports about 200,000 barrels a day. Of that, Shoreline sends about 52,000 barrels a day. read more

Two renowned oil industry experts from Scotland have vigorously criticized Shell’s plans to leave major parts of four platforms in the Brent field standing when it decommissions the aged field that gave the name to the most widely used international price benchmark.

Professors Alex Russell and Peter Strachan, respectively chairman of the Scottish Oil Association and researcher at the Robert Gordon University, noted in a paper that the concrete structures will take hundreds of years to disintegrate and represent a potential hazard that local people will have to pay for, rather than the field operator. read more

Sarfaraz A. Khan: Aug. 31, 2016 3:20 PM ET

Summary

• Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its Brutus/Glider assets in the U.S. GoM to EnVen Energy for $425 million in cash.
• The asset sale is a small step in the right direction which will improve Shell’s cash reserves.
• The company, however, has made little progress toward achieving its target of selling $6Bn to $8Bn assets this year and $30Bn by 2018.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has recently agreed to sell its Brutus/Glider assets in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to Houston-based EnVen Energy for $425 million in cash. Shell was pumping 25,000 barrels of oil per day from these offshore properties, which was equivalent to 5.8% of the oil giant’s Gulf of Mexico production or less than 1% of its total production.

The asset sale is a small step in the right direction which will improve Shell’s cash reserves which stood at $15.2 billion at the end of June. Shell intends to sell $6 billion to $8 billion of assets this year. Overall, the company aims to dispose $30 billion of assets, spread in 5 to 10 countries and representing 10% of its production, by 2018. That will allow the company to reduce its debt which has ballooned following the $53 billion takeover of BG Group. read more

Wed Aug 31, 2016 1:31pm EDT

Royal Dutch Shell announced on Wednesday new natural gas discoveries in a concession area of north Alam El-Shawish in Egypt’s western desert.

The initial quantities discovered were estimated at about half a trillion cubic feet of gas with more possible reserves, Eden Murphy, chairman and CEO of Shell said in a statement.

The discovery could produce from 10 to 15 percent of the total production of Badr el-Din Petroleum company, which is a joint venture acting on behalf of the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Shell in production operations, Murphy added. read more

* Shell lines up large North Sea asset sale

* In talks to sell out of Gabon, NZealand, Thailand, Tunisia

* Gulf of Mexico deal sets deal value at $60/bbl

* Shell seeks to sell $6-$8 bln of assets in 2016

By Ron Bousso: Wed Aug 31, 2016

LONDON, Royal Dutch Shell’s first oil field sale after its $54 billion BG Group acquisition bodes well for its disposal talks in the North Sea, Gabon and New Zealand, according to sources, signalling buyers will meet its expectations on value.

The $425 million deal in the Gulf of Mexico is welcome news for the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas giant which has struggled to kick off its plan to dispose of $30 billion of assets by 2018 or so in order to pay for the February deal and maintain a generous dividend policy amid soaring debt. read more

By Erwin Seba | HOUSTON: Wed Aug 31, 2016

Motiva Enterprises LLC [MOTIV.UL] said on Tuesday the division of its U.S. refining assets between Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) and Saudi Aramco IPO-ARMO.SE would take place on April 1, 2017, months later than originally expected.

The two Motiva partners announced last March they would divide their 20-year-old joint venture. The split, according to sources, had been expected to take place this October after completion of negotiations between Shell and Saudi Aramco over the division of assets and compensation due the partners. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 30/08/2016 2:02 pm

An Aberdeen-based oil and gas industry expert has called on the UK Government to take an “ethical lead” on offshore decommissioning.

Alex Russell, professor of petroleum accounting at Robert Gordon University, said Shell’s plans to leave large amounts of infrastructure from its Brent field in the North Sea set a bad example for developing countries.

Prof Russell said the UK Government should order a complete clearance of the seabed now, instead of leaving future generations to deal with “unknown consequences”. read more

At the moment, there is a global glut of natural gas…

By Kelly Gilblom and Rakteem Katakey: August 30, 2016

Natural gas is rapidly becoming one of the most traded global commodities, but that doesn’t mean it will have a global price, according to Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

While the fuel can be transported anywhere on liquefied natural gas carriers, it will probably remain regionally priced for the time being, with some contracts continuing to track oil, said Roger Bounds, senior vice president for global gas at Shell. Prices will depend on location, regulation and infrastructure, as some countries replace coal in electricity generation to cut carbon emissions. read more

Alex Russell and Peter Strachan: from Robert Gordon University

TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2016

Shell is preparing to start the decommissioning of its four gigantic oil platforms in the famous Brent field in the Scottish part of the North Sea – a huge undertaking. Unfortunately, write Professor Alex Russell of the Oil Industry Finance Association and Professor Peter Strachan of Robert Gordon University, the company plans to dismantle only the topsides of the platforms. It wants to leave the Eiffel-tower sized legs, including 64 giant storage cells at the base of these structures, in place. They will take hundreds of years to disintegrate. Russell and Strachan call on the UK government and other North Sea governments to call a halt to these plans. They also demand that the Scottish government will have a say in the project. read more

…analysts also say further deals may prove harder to clinch

Aug 30 2016, 11:47 ET | By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Analysts say Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) first oilfield sale after its BG Group acquisition bodes well for its sale talks in the North Sea, Gabon and New Zealand, signaling that buyers will meet the company’s expectations on value.

The $425M sale of the Brutus/Glider fields has an implied oil price of ~$60/bbl, more than $10/bbl above current prices, according to UBS analysts who say “we may now be entering a period where both buyer and seller can see acceptable relative value, unlocking the A&D [acquisition and divestiture] market.” read more

Anglo-Dutch oil major agrees to offload certain assets in Gulf of Mexico

by Tsveta Zikolova: Tuesday, 30 Aug 2016, 09:00 BST

Investment companies backed by some of the world’s biggest private equity groups have expressed interest in Royal Dutch Shell’s (LON:RDSA) North Sea assets, the Financial Times has reported. The Anglo-Dutch oil major has unveiled plans to sell some $30 billion worth of assets across its global portfolio over the next three years or so is it looks to shore up its balance sheet in the wake of its acquisition of BG Group which completed earlier this year. read more

By Daniel J. Graeber: Aug 30, 2016

HOUSTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) — In a deal that included $425 million in cash, Royal Dutch Shell said it sold off its entire stake in assets held in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell said the sale of the 100 percent stake of three blocks known collectively as the Brutus/Glider assets to EnVen Energy Corp. was in line with the company’s divestment strategy. In July, the company’s chief executive officer, Ben van Buerden, said “significant and lasting changes” were underway as lower crude oil prices continued to present problems for the industry. read more

John Dagge, Herald Sun: August 30, 2016 

SHELL Australia has blasted the Victorian government’s move to permanently ban fracking and extend a moratorium on conventional onshore gas development, saying it will result in higher energy bills.

Chairman Andrew Smith has also warned the decision will cost the state investment dollars and jobs and make it more difficult for manufacturers, already under pressure, to stay in business.

“Every Victorian household and business will now pay higher energy prices moving forward,” Mr Smith said. read more

Mon Aug 29, 2016 2:01pm EDT

By Karolin Schaps | STAVANGER, NORWAY

The huge global oil oversupply that has weighed on prices for the past two years may not clear until the second half of 2017, Shell’s chief energy adviser Wim Thomas told Reuters.

The potential return to the market of some 1.5 million barrels per day of supply from Libya and Nigeria and uncertainty about Iranian and Iraqi production levels could push a rebalancing further away than many in the oil industry are hoping. read more

AUG 29, 2016, 15:27 ET

HOUSTON, Aug. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its affiliate Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell), today announces it has an agreement to sell 100 percent of its record title interest in Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon Blocks 114, 158, 202 and 248, referred to as the Brutus/Glider assets, to EnVen Energy Corporation, through its affiliate EnVen Energy Ventures, LLC.  In line with Shell’s global divestment plans, this transaction includes $425 million in cash.  read more

Written by Rita Brown – 29/08/2016 12:27 pm

Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden called on the industry to be the “contrarian in the room” and speak the “undeniable truth” about energy’s future.

The company leader addressed the delegation at this year’s ONS, tackling climate change and the influence of the Paris climate agreement.

The chief executive opened by saying: “There is a classic story about one of the most famous Norwegians of all time, the playwright Henrik Ibsen. Lying on his sickbed, he overheard his nurse saying that he was a bit better that day. read more