Shell Sees Gas as Answer in Nigeria After Decades of Oil Strife

After decades of difficulties in Nigeria over crude theft, pollution and oil-related corruption, Royal Dutch Shell Plc still feels optimistic a fossil fuel can improve life in the country. The Anglo-Dutch oil major is seeking to develop Nigeria’s domestic energy market around natural gas. It’s plentiful, harder to steal, better for the environment and can underpin a robust industrial sector that could potentially employ thousands…

Royal Dutch Shell plc “Shell-shocked” over Tax Structure Criticism

… it is reported that 45 billion euros of dividends have been paid via this arrangement, saving 7 billion euros in Dutch withholding tax. The question arises whether those claiming the Dutch parliament and the European Commission should launch a formal investigation have a leg to stand on. read more

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad. 

Shell invests millions in Silicon Valley start-up for fast charging of electric cars

Charging post for electric cars at the first fast charging station of oil and gas multinational Shell along the A12. Gerard Til / Hollandse Hoogte

Bert van Dijk • Entrepreneurship: 8 August 2018

Shell is going to invest millions in start-up Ample in Silicon Valley. Ample has, in his own words, developed a technology to charge electric cars quickly. This has been announced by the company, which has not yet been officially launched. read more

Nigerian Government and Shell Should be Ashamed of Ogoni Pollution Rather Than Publicize It – MOSOP

7 AUGUST 2018

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says the Nigerian government and the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited aught to be ashamed of their conduct in Ogoniland rather than speaking of cleanup plans for Ogoni as an achievement.

Disclaimer

The views, information, allegations or opinions expressed above are those of the author of the article. They have not been substantiated by the publisher of this website and may not represent the publishers views. read more

Professor Richard Steiner (University of Alaska, ret.), a marine scientist and oil spill expert from Alaska who has worked on oil spills in the Niger Delta for many years, says the 2018 Aghoro spill is yet another tragic example of Shell’s reckless treatment of the Niger Delta environment and people. 

Scientists Call for Shell’s Immediate Response to Large Oil Spill from Trans-Ramos Pipeline in Niger Delta, Nigeria

Monday August 6, 2018

After more than 50 years of continuous oil spills into Nigeria’s Niger Delta, Shell oil recently caused yet another large oil spill, this time in and around the village of Aghoro, Bayelsa State (Niger Delta).  

On Thursday, May 17, 2018 (although some reports state the spill began much earlier, on April 24, 2018), the Aghoro community experienced a significant oil spill due to a mechanical failure in Shell’s 24” Trans-Ramos Pipeline across Bayelsa State.  

Dr. Ebikeme Festus Odubo, an Environmental Consultant and a Regulator in the United States, who also is from Aghoro Community, recently visited the spill site to examine the spill’s effects first hand.  “The impact of the ecological devastation from this oil spill on the community, its citizens, and our way of life is tremendous.  This tranquil community of fisherman, farmers and people who, for centuries, have relied upon our natural resources for life-sustaining purposes will be changed forever,” stated Dr. Odubo. read more

“It is a shameful thing that the people in Ogoni are dying by the day and Shell and the Nigerian government through HYPREP are busy calling press conferences and explaining their endless preparations”. read more

John Donovan in 1999

Extracts from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally)

Extracts from pages 155 to 164 inclusive

We receive insider information about Shell from a number of different sources.

The first is from Shell itself.

Shell has supplied Shell internal documents and internal emails directly to me in compliance with a series of SAR applications.

The internal documents revealed that Shell secretly set up a counter-measures team and mounted a global spying operation in a determined, but unsuccessful bid to stop the flow of Shell insider information to me.

Another source is from disgruntled Shell employees who have supplied insider information and Shell internal documents and internal emails. read more

Written by Allister Thomas and Chris Jaffray – 03/08/2018

Shell has been fined £60,000 after a technician was severely injured by a gas cylinder on a North Sea platform.

The incident in November 2014 took place on the Brent Delta installation when a gas cylinder unexpectedly discharged, causing projectiles to strike a worker.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard today that technicians were required to replace a gas cylinder within a system used to extinguish fires on November 9, 2014.

One technician rolled what he thought was an empty cylinder and took off a protective cap, however the cylinder was in fact fully charged which caused an uncontrolled release of gas and a loud bang –  resulting in the technician dropping the cylinder which caused the valve to shear, with projectiles severely injuring a second technician. read more

Seán McCárthaigh: August 2, 2018

The release of odourless gas into the national network last September, meaning 10,000 homes had to go without gas for days, was due to poor operating procedures at the Corrib gas refinery in Co Mayo. A report by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) concluded that the emergency on September 21, 2017, was due to a technical failure at the Shell E&P Ireland terminal at Bellanaboy. The CRU said it had followed up its findings with enforcement actions against both Shell and Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), which operates the national gas network. As gas has no smell, odourant is added by Shell at its Bellanaboy facility so that people can identify any leaks. The investigation found that the company’s operating procedures did not allow… Continue reading article read more

By John Donovan

The New York Law Journal has published an article about the recent outcome of an appeal heard by the U.S. Appeals Court regarding over 100,000 discovery documents assembled by Shell in the USA for an action brought against Shell by Esther Kiobel.

That litigation, which began some 22 years ago, ended with a U.S. Supreme Court decision on subject-matter jurisdiction grounds.

In June 2017, Esther Kiobel switched the same basic litigation to the Dutch Courts and tried to obtain the Shell discovery stored in a secure warehouse by Shell’s American law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore. read more

By John Donovan

Following a review, Royal Dutch Shell Plc has taken a gamble by retaining and expanding its relationship with advertising agency giant, WPP MediaCom. 

This is despite the fact that WPP founder Sir Martin Sorrell, the business genius who almost miraculously turned WPP into the worlds largest advertising and PR group, has departed from WPP and started a rival venture.

For decades, Sir Martin was the irreplaceable kingpin of the WPP group. 

Related: WPP Retains $200 Million Shell Media, Adds Additional Duties read more