Posts from ‘December, 2017’

An agreement was struck under which Malabu would be paid to give up the licence, which would then be sold to Shell and the Italian oil company Eni.

17 Dec 2017

The Nigerian government is suing JP Morgan for $875m (£660m), alleging the Wall Street banking giant acted as the middleman in an illegal oil deal and made payments to a convicted money launderer.

Papers filed with the High Court in London claim that in 2011 the bank transferred money to a company controlled by Dan Etete, a former oil minister in the Nigerian government. He had previously been convicted of money laundering by French courts and is being pursued by Nigerian authorities. read more

NAM has also been in the news of late due to recent evidence implicating the company as the cause of small earthquakes impacting Groningen, a province just north of the former gas field.

December 29, 2017 by Bob Yirka, Phys.org

A team with members from several institutions in the Netherlands has found that the area around a site where a gas explosion occurred in 1965 is still emitting methane gas from the ground into the air. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of the area and the degree of hazard the gas leak poses.

Back in 1965 a team working for the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM-a venture between Exxon and Shell) accidentally caused a natural gas explosion at a gas field in Sleen, East Drenthe (in a northeastern part of the Netherlands). The blowout turned the sand in the area to quicksand, and a drilling rig sank and disappeared into the ground. After a period of time, the area was converted into a park. But now, the area is back in the news, because the researchers with this new effort have discovered that the site is still leaking methane. NAM has also been in the news of late due to recent evidence implicating the company as the cause of small earthquakes impacting Groningen, a province just north of the former gas field. read more

29 December 2017

Confidential internal documents of Royal Dutch Shell suggest that the oil giant capitalised on the 2011 presidential election to arm-twist the federal government into a “cheap” deal over the sale of the disputed OPL 245.

The international oil company also used an arbitration case it filed with the International Centre for the Settlement of International Disputes (ICSID), an organ of the World Bank, to railroad the government into brokering truce between it and Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, its estranged erstwhile partner and the original licensee. read more

Oil exploration in U.S. Arctic waters got underway this week with the spudding of a new oil well from the man-made Spy Island in the Beaufort Sea. Eni began drilling the new well off the north coast of Alaska, becoming the first company to do so since 2015.The well is expected to be over six miles (10 kilometers) long, and the project could result in oil production levels of 20,000 barrels a day. Eni is working with Royal Dutch Shell and plans to drill two exploration wells plus two potential sidetrack wells over the next two years. FULL ARTICLE read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s CEO Ben Van Beurden was creating a stir of his own by talking about “lower-forever” oil prices. 

God didn’t die in 2017, but he did throw his hands up. Andy Hall, the oil trader blessed with that nickname, caused a stir this summer by closing down his main hedge fund after long arguing for oil prices to rally and reportedly suffering big losses. Hall didn’t declare oil was dead; indeed, he warned his withdrawal could be a contrarian signal (which turned out to be prescient). Hall’s capitulation was a warning of a different kind. And while it may be mere coincidence, the appearance of something called OilCoin four months after God bowed out is a fitting coda. FULL ARTICLE read more

Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Julia Payne; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Mark Potter: December 28, 2017

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest and most important oil and gas pipeline Forties should resume normal flows around the new year, slightly earlier than previously flagged, its operator Ineos said on Thursday. Ineos had previously expected the pipeline, which suffered a rare unplanned shutdown because of a crack, to resume normal operations in early January. On Wednesday, Royal Dutch Shell said it had restarted fields that link up the Forties pipeline. FULL ARTICLE read more

GARY SHIPWAY, NT News: December 28, 2017 3:47am

THE Italian oil and gas firm that operates the Blacktip gas project, which supplies gas for Territory domestic power generation, has taken another significant step forward in its growth plans off Northern Australia. ENI has bought out Shell’s stake in the large undeveloped Evans Shoal gas field 300km northwest of Darwin in the Timor Sea’s Bonaparte Basin. FULL ARTICLE

DECEMBER 27, 2017

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Italian oil producer Eni this week began drilling a new well in U.S. waters off the north coast of Alaska, becoming the first company to do so since 2015, federal regulators said on Wednesday.

The oil and gas firm is working from an artificial island in the Beaufort Sea about three miles off Oliktok Point in the Arctic Ocean. The well is expected to run more than 6 miles (10 km) long.

The project could result in 20,000 barrels a day of oil production, according to regulator U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which said it sent employees to the site to ensure compliance with federal regulations and safety standards. read more

Alan Tovey, industry editor: 27 DECEMBER 2017 • 12:03PM

Two of Britain’s biggest companies have warned that tax reforms in the US will result in a multi-billion pound hit to their earnings.

Barclays and Shell used the first day of trading since the festive break to signal the likely impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in the US on Dec 22, as UK markets were shutting for the Christmas break.

The measure, enacted by President Donald Trump, will result in corporate tax rates falling from 35pc to 21pc, a move that the two FTSE 100 companies said they expected to be favourable in the long-term. read more

Two of Britain’s largest companies have warned that they will have to take nearly £2 billion in combined charges after the US government pushed through a radical overhaul that slashed tax rates for companies doing business in America. Royal Dutch Shell said in a statement to the stock market that the tax cut would lead it to take a hit to its earnings of between $2 billion and $2.5 billion. FULL ARTICLE

Martin Arnold in London and Ralph Atkins in Zurich

Shell announced on Wednesday that it expected to take a $2bn-$2.5bn charge against the value of its “deferred tax assets” in response to a sweeping overhaul of the US tax system that was signed into law by Mr Trump last week. FULL FT ARTICLE

In February 1965 there was a explosive blowout at a NAM gas field in Sleen, East Drenthe – an agricultural area of the Netherlands. A whole drilling rig was swallowed in a quicksand lake created by the explosion.

Afterwards, NAM, the company responsible for the explosion all those years ago and the earthquakes now plaguing Groningen, converted the area into a park.

Unfortunately, scientists have discovered to their consternation that methane leaks have contaminated the local groundwater and there is a risk of further explosions. read more

The group said it will provide details of the impact of the new US tax changes in its full-year results in February read more

NEWS PROVIDED BY Royal Dutch Shell plc

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, December 27, 2017/PRNewswire/ —

Royal Dutch Shell plc expects the potential economic impact of the recently enacted US tax reform legislation to be favourable to Shell and to its US operations, primarily due to the future reduction in the US corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. This change in US tax legislation (effective January 1, 2018) will impact Shell’s fourth quarter 2017 results but the analysis of the actual impact is not yet complete. Shell intends to determine and announce the actual impact including any fourth quarter movements, and balance sheet adjustments, as part of its fourth quarter 2017 results. FULL ARTICLE read more

Dec 27 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it expects recently enacted U.S. tax reform legislation to have a “favorable” impact on its operations. The change in U.S. tax legislation, which is a reduction to 21 percent from 35 percent, will affect Shell’s fourth-quarter 2017 results but added the “analysis of the actual impact is not yet complete.” The Anglo-Dutch company said it expects to provide details of the impact of the tax reform, which is effective from Jan. 1, in its fourth-quarter 2017 results. FULL ARTICLE read more

Companies like Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp.historically invested tens of billions of dollars over many years to develop huge reserves in isolated areas like northern Alberta, Kazakhstan or in the middle of the ocean. Shale is different. A tight-oil well could be drilled within a year for a few million dollars. As prices fell, more companies jumped in with more investment. Now, shale regions that were barely a blip on world markets a decade ago are expected to pump 7.5 million barrels a day in four years, and output probably won’t peak until after 2025… FULL ARTICLE read more