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January, 2020:

Guardian to ban advertising from fossil fuel firms

The Guardian will no longer accept advertising from oil and gas companies, becoming the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels.

The move, which follows efforts to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and increase reporting on the climate emergency, was announced on Wednesday and will be implemented with immediate effect. The ban will apply to any business primarily involved in extracting fossil fuels, including many of the world’s largest polluters. read more

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

Bloomberg: Witness in Shell-Eni Trial Fails to Back Nigerian Bribe Charges

By Alberto Brambilla and Laura Hurst: 29 January 2020, 11:31 GMT

*Isaac Eke gave no evidence to support corruption allegations

*Companies are on trial in Milan over 2011 Nigeria oil deal

A key witness failed to corroborate corruption allegations at the heart of the trial of Eni SpA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc over a Nigerian oil deal, potentially bolstering the companies’ defense in one of the industry’s biggest graft cases.

Testimony from Isaac Eke, a high-ranking retired Nigerian police officer, at a court in Milan offered no evidence to back up claims from former Eni manager Vincenzo Armanna that the proceeds from the 2011 transaction were distributed as cash bribes. The failure of what could have been a key prosecution witness helps Shell and Eni, whose Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi is among the accused. read more

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

S&P Global: Despite talk of cleaner strategy, Big Oil sticks to business as usual

Yannic Rack: 27 Jan 2020: S&P Global Market Intelligence

During the annual Oil & Money conference in London in October 2019, Ben van Beurden, who has been CEO of Royal Dutch Shell PLC since 2014, urged the oil and gas industry to step up and tackle climate change head-on. Shell and other oil and gas companies, van Beurden said, would need to help the transition to a lower-carbon world both to stay profitable and maintain their societal license to operate in the long run.

“We can, and must, evolve,” van Beurden said. At the same time, however, he emphasized another point dear to his heart — and one frequently echoed by executives at BP PLC, Total SA and other integrated majors. read more

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

Fears there could be a loss of hydrocarbons from the Shell Prelude facility

Shell issued direction from regulator over Prelude processes

SHELL Australia has been issued a direction from the national regulator over health and safety concerns at the Prelude floating LNG facility offshore northern Western Australia.

Paul Hunt: Senior Journalist: Oil & Gas, Policy. 29 Jan 2020

The Prelude FLNG facility produces natural gas from an offshore field approximately 475km north-north east of Broome and last weekend shipped its 15th cargo of LNG.

This morning the National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority (NOSPEMA) ordered Shell not to conduct “intrusive activities” to certain parts of the plant and equipment aboard the Prelude over fears there could be a loss of hydrocarbons from the facility.

There is no immediate threat or risk to workers or the environment. read more

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

Bloomberg: The Big Dirty Secret of the World’s Biggest Companies

By Chris Bryant | Bloomberg Jan. 29, 2020 at 8:36 a.m. GMT

Lots of companies talk a good game about cutting planet-heating greenhouse emissions but their disclosures and targets have tended to focus on the emissions over which they have direct control and which are easiest to measure. That’s fine in an industry such as cement, where the bulk of carbon pollution occurs during the production process. From an environmental perspective these direct, or “Scope 1,” emissions are the main problem caused by these particular companies.

But the approach falls down in companies working in oil, mining, carmaking, finance, and even fashion, because oftentimes most of their carbon footprint is contained in the products they sell or help finance — not their own operations. read more

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

Fossil fuel industry’s coercive and even violent nature

KROLL | Our Hand in the Resource Curse

Nigeria is home to a similar iteration of the resource curse. Although oil and gas monies currently account for roughly 65 percent of Nigeria’s gross government revenue, the World Bank has reported that 80 percent of these earnings are held by 1 percent of the nation’s population. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the story of Nigeria’s economic and political misdoings features Royal Dutch Shell, the British-Dutch oil and gas company, rather prominently. read more

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

Customer comments about Shell Energy: Scum, Parasites and Fraudsters

The featured extracts are from negative customer reviews about Shell Energy posted during the last day or so on Trustpilot.  Visit the Shell Energy page on Trustpilot to view all reviews in their entirety, positive and negative (and Shell Energy responses). Watch out for any fake reviews. Note the reoccurring theme in negative reviews; the difficulty in communicating with the company. Some typos and punctuation amended for ease of reading. Posted 28 Jan 2020.

Can’t get an email response

Can’t get an email response. The automated chat was useless. Calling a waste of time as still could not speak to an agent. Was then directed to live chat only to find I was number 25 in the queue. What waste of an hour. read more

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

Shell Oil Company accused of breach of fiduciary duties involving $10.5 billion in assets

Extracts from a legal complaint filed 24 Jan 2020 in the US courts

Shell Oil Company accused of breach of fiduciary duties in respect of Shell Provident Fund 401(k) Plan with $10.5 billion in assets and 36,898 participants. It is one of the largest defined contribution plans in the United States. Plans of such great size are commonly referred to as “jumbo plans” or “mega plans”.

3. The marketplace for retirement plan services is established and competitive. Multi-billion-dollar-defined contribution plans, like the Plan, have tremendous bargaining power to obtain high-quality, low-cost administrative, managed account, and investment management services. But instead of using the Plan’s bargaining power to benefit participants and beneficiaries, Shell Defendants allowed unreasonable expenses to be charged to participants for administration of the Plan and managed account services, failed to even monitor numerous funds in the Plan at all, and retained poorly performing investments that similarly situated fiduciaries removed from their plans. read more

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

Negative Media Coverage Extremely Likely to Affect Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA) Share Price

Posted by on Jan 27th, 2020

Media stories about Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA) have trended negative recently, according to InfoTrie Sentiment. The research firm ranks the sentiment of press coverage by reviewing more than six thousand news and blog sources in real time.

The firm ranks coverage of publicly-traded companies on a scale of negative five to positive five, with scores closest to five being the most favorable. Royal Dutch Shell earned a media sentiment score of -2.00 on their scale. read more

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

Bloomberg: Oil Traders Made Billions in 2019 as Conflict Shook the Market

(Bloomberg) — The world’s largest energy traders enjoyed one of their best ever years in 2019 as pipeline outages, dramatic changes in ship fuel regulations and Middle East conflicts shook up the global oil market.

The bonanza extended beyond the independent traders like Vitol Group and Trafigura Group Ltd. to the in-house units of oil giants Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc, which made billions of dollars in profits.

“By all accounts, 2019 was among the best years ever for the energy trading industry,” said Marco Dunand, the chief executive of Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., one of the five largest independent oil traders. read more

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

The Telegraph: Why pensioners can’t afford to stop investing in oil

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH:

: 26 JANUARY 2020 • 5:00AM From page 9 of the Money Section

Why pension savers cannot afford to be ethical

There’s a climate crisis, but investors are increasingly relying on oil and sin stocks to survive, finds Harry Brennan

The world is currently on fire, according to the teenage climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, the green activist demanded world leaders and money managers halt investment in fossil fuels and immediately, and completely, divest from “carbon assets” to avert a climate apocalypse and save the planet.

But can savers truly afford to put their money into exclusively ethical investments? read more

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

THE SUNDAY TIMES: You can be sure of Shell, if you dare

Thanks to Greta Thunberg — who last week took her campaign to business leaders gathered in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum — the climate-change debate should have reached every boardroom.

The implications are greatest in the oil and gas sector, which is wrangling with the imminent shift to low-carbon businesses.

“There are some investors who would be concerned that the capital being deployed in low-carbon businesses will not earn returns that would be as good as in the base businesses of these companies,” says Jason Gammel at Jefferies. read more

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

Reuters: ENI CEO says he may step down if found guilty in Nigeria case-WSJ

MILAN, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Italian oil group ENI’s Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi could step down if he is found guilty by an Italian court of corruption in Nigeria, he told the Wall Street Journal.

Descalzi is one of the defendants in a case over the alleged payment of bribes to facilitate a $1.3 billion oil deal for Nigeria’s OPL 245 offshore oilfield in 2011.

In a long interview published on the Wall Street Journal website on Saturday, Descalzi denied taking part in any illegal activity and said his work at ENI, where he rose through the ranks over the course of 39 years, was not done.

However, Descalzi told the WSJ that he would likely step down if found guilty in the Nigeria case rather than wait for the outcome of lengthy appeals. read more

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

WSJ: Italy’s Oil King Fights to Preserve His Legacy

Chief of country’s second-largest company faces accusations that he approved bribery payments to Nigerian officials

By Sarah McFarlane and Eric Sylvers:

By some measures, Claudio Descalzi is one of the most influential chief executives to lead Italian oil giant Eni E -0.93% SpA. But after 39 years with the company—the last six as CEO—he is on trial, facing charges that he orchestrated the company’s payment of $1.3 billion for drilling rights in Nigeria with the understanding that most of the money would be paid out in bribes.

As Mr. Descalzi fights the charges in a Milan court, he is vying for a third three-year term as Eni’s CEO. He defends his tenure leading Italy’s second-largest company and denies taking part in any illegal activity. He wants another term, he said, to continue transforming Eni and grooming its future leadership. read more

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

Forbes: Energy Stocks Are This Generation’s Big Tobacco, Says Economist Peter Sainsbury

Jan 24, 2020

The fossil fuel industry faces a dilemma similar to what confounded big tobacco a generation ago, according to economist and energy specialist Peter Sainsbury.

Speaking on the Contrarian Investor Podcast, Sainsbury says oil companies in particular are starting to be seen as “sin stocks,” with institutions divesting themselves on ethical grounds. But therein lies the opportunity. Much like tobacco companies reinvented themselves in the 1990s, energy companies can undergo a similar renaissance. Indeed the process of oil companies divesting harmful assets is already underway. This causes opportunities for investors. But first, headwinds can be expected. read more

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

REUTERS:Nigeria charges ex-attorney general in court over $1.3 billion oil deal

JANUARY 23, 2020

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s financial crime watchdog charged former attorney general Mohammed Adoke in court on Thursday for allegedly receiving bribes to facilitate a $1.3 billion oil deal, the agency said in a statement.

It is the latest development in one of the oil industry’s biggest corruption scandals, over the 2011 sale of the offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas.

A resulting investigation has entangled two of the sectors biggest players, Shell and Eni, as well as an array of powerful figures from the previous Nigerian government. read more

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