A week ago, the Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan warned the corruption-ridden Irish police Force (the Gardaí) that he wants to see “all the skeletons out of all of the cupboards” in terms of Garda scandals and controversies. One such scandal is the “Strange tale of Shell’s pipeline battle, the Gardaí and £30,000 of booze.”

Shell has been a corporate sponsor of police corruption in Ireland aided and abetted by its ”Mr Fixit” company OSSL, who freely admit their involvement in distributing bribes on behalf of Shell to smooth the path of the controversial Corrib Gas Project. Despite the confession, Shell has thus far managed to escape due retribution. read more

Russian President Putin and his Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev 

By John Donovan

An Italian national daily business newspaper has today published an article revealing that it has a copy of a Shell internal document said to allegedly implicate Russian Prime Minster Dmitry Medvedev in large-scale oil deal corruption. Said to be his personal retirement plan. 

The document was hidden within thousands of documents and emails the Milan Public Prosecutor obtained following the seizure (from Shell’s Netherlands HQ?) of paper and electronic documentation relating to Shell’s involvement in the OPL 245 scandal. read more

Sep. 28, 2017 11:51 AM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

PITTSBURGH — Gas industry insiders got their first close look at the $6 billion Shell cracker plant beginning to take shape on the banks of the Ohio River during the second day of the Shale Insight conference.

While considering that pending economic bounty, they also got a look at parts of the world that lack basic, reliable electricity and pondered how natural gas might help those poor nations advance.

The $6 billion Shell plant in Beaver County, 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, will produce 6,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs, said Michael Marr, Shell’s business integration leader. read more

By Michael Bradwell: September 28, 2017

PITTSBURGH – Within the next two to three years, the region should start to see additional plastics manufacturers arriving in the region to take advantage of cheap polyethylene pellets being produced here, an economic development official said Thursday.

Pittsburgh Regional Alliance President David Ruppersberger made the comment while participating in a panel discussion during the second day of the annual Shale Insight conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. read more

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is opening the first Chinese office of its venture capital fund and recruiting three local investment staff there to tap a market where it sees “explosive” growth, the head of the business told Reuters on Thursday.

Shell Technology Ventures (STV), internally known as “Stevie”, is the oil major’s vehicle through which it seeks to stay on top of technological changes in the energy market that could threaten its business, and provide new areas for growth. read more

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) are working to remove unodourised gas that entered the network from the country’s Corrib gas field and has curbed output since last week, Shell said.

Due to a technical problem at the Shell-operated Bellanaboy Bridge gas terminal in Ireland, unodourised gas entered the network, forcing GNI to ask local customers to switch off their gas meters on Sept. 22-23, a Shell spokesperson said.

Unodourised gas cannot be easily detected as it cannot be smelt. Normally odourants are added before the gas reaches customers so people can detect gas leaks by scent. Undetected gas can lead to an explosion or fire. read more

Shell, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, is going electric. Photos uploaded this week show how the company’s new electric car chargers look in reality — and it looks like something out of a sci-fi film. 

The Shell Recharge stations, as they are branded, are 50 kWh direct current chargers that can recharge a car’s battery to around 80 percent in 30 minutes. The stations will initially be available at 10 service stations this year in the United Kingdom, around the London, Reading and Derby areas. They support Chademo, CCS and AC Type 2 charging connectors, and the company plans to provide Tesla adaptors in the future. read more

Puerto Rico plunged into darkness last week after the second major hurricane in a month crippled its aging, debt-laden electric utility. The island is projected to be without power for six months or more, as people swelter and lifesaving medical equipment saps generators in what House Speaker Paul Ryan declared “a humanitarian crisis” on Tuesday.

But it’s not just old, storm-vulnerable transmission lines that need to be replaced.

The utility’s dependence on imported fossil fuels has devoured funding that could have been spent on upgrading the island’s grid and building cleaner infrastructure, a sign of years of mismanagement and incompetence. But it also stems from a colonial history in which Puerto Rico’s development was put in the hands of a few mainland corporate interests seeking tax breaks. read more

South Africa’s government said in May it might award its first shale gas exploration licences by the end of September, after environmental objections delayed the process. Royal Dutch Shell, Falcon Oil and Gas and Bundu Gas & Oil are among five firms whose applications were being reviewed by the regulator. FULL ARTICLE

Many people shared sightings of the explosion on social media. The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office has stated that a transformer exploded, causing an electrical fire at an Entergy substation near the plant. The substation is the main electrical source for the plant, commonly called Motiva. Entergy has reached out to clarify that the transformer is owned by the Shell Convent Refinery. “We will be working with them to conduct a root cause analysis,” reads a statement from Michael Burns of Entergy. read more

The team at the Shell-run Afam IVgas-fired plant (Photo credit: Shell)

September 28th, 2017

The Shell-run Afam VI power plant was being run at one quarter of its capacity due to debts owed to power distribution companies by ministries, departments, and agencies that are all part of the Nigerian government. Shell says that security issues are also a “formidable obstacle to ensuring gas to power transmission”. 

FULL STORY – SEE NATURAL GAS WORLD ARTICLE

The Guardian newspaper has published an article today by Chris Garrard highlighting a controversy arising from Shell and BAE Systems sponsorship of this weekend’s New Scientist Live festival.

At New Scientist Live, arms and oil companies are buying credibility from science

Extracts

By associating itself with the New Scientist’s brand, Shell can propagate an image of itself that is centred on ideas of progress, scientific research and social responsibility. This “shiny” version of Shell is carefully constructed, deflecting attention from its human rights and environmental impacts around the world. read more

Summary

• Royal Dutch Shell bought into the Permian back in 2012.
• An overview of its JV with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.
• Where its acreage is located.
• Operatorship controversy and probable split from Anadarko.
• What to expect going forward.

Back in 2012, Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) teamed up with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) to develop the Permian Basin. Royal Dutch Shell plc purchased all of Chesapeake Energy Corporation’s (NYSE:CHK) 50% stake in the joint venture for just under $2 billion, a steal compared to where prices are today. Centered in the prolific Delaware Basin, this part of the Permian is home to some of the most economical unconventional horizons in the world, including the Leonard/Avalon, Bone Spring, and Wolfcamp plays. Let’s dig in. FULL ARTICLE read more

Cheang Ming | Christine Tan: 27 Sept 2017

It’s “not unreasonable” to expect oil prices at $60 a barrel by the end of the decade, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told CNBC’s “Managing Asia.”

To be sure, that’s not a large rise from current levels.

Brent crude rose 0.38 percent to trade at $58.66 a barrel in Wednesday Asia trade, after hitting a 26-month high on Tuesday, while U.S. crudewas higher by 0.5 percent at $52.14 at 12:00 p.m. HK/SIN.

Van Beurden said forecasting oil prices in the short term was “very difficult,” but he still expected gains. read more

Corrib flaring ‘frightening’

CLOSE ENCOUNTER RIGHT: A still of the flare from a video by Rossport resident, Mary Corduff.

By Áine Ryan: 26 Sept 2017

COMPANIES selling ‘potentially dangerous energy products’ are obliged ‘to ensure that there is no risk to the customer’. That was according to Minister Michael Ring in the aftermath of news breaking last Thursday night about the fact that odourless gas from the Corrib refinery had entered the network for Galway and Mayo. The crisis, which involved a 36-hour flaring operation at the Bellanaboy refinery in order to push the odourless gas back out of the network, has since been resolved as two State inquiries continue into the potentially dangerous situation. read more