MESSAGE FROM GLOBAL WITNESS REGARDING SHELL/ENI OPL 245 CORRUPTION CASE

An online event this Friday

On Friday, Global Witness is hosting a virtual event, The Oil Heist of the Century: Journey around the world in search for truth and accountability, as part of the Skoll World Forum alongside our partners Olanrewaju Suraju the Chair of the Nigerian NGO Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) and Antonio Tricarico a Director of Italian NGO Re:Common.

The event will take place on Friday 3^rd April at 4pm BST, 5pm CET, 4pm WAT.

We will tell the story of infamous Shell and Eni corruption case that Global Witness and partners has been investigating and exposing for many years. It will take you on a journey around the world from an oil field in Nigeria via London and Abuja to a courthouse in Milan. read more

Ron Bousso: MARCH 31, 2020

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) slowed refining output and will write down up to $800 million (649.46 million pounds) in the first quarter of 2020 after a dramatic drop in oil demand due to the coronavirus.

In an update ahead of first-quarter results, Shell said it expects “significant uncertainty” over oil and gas prices and demand as a result of falling consumption.

With the global lockdown of 3 billion people – roughly 40% of the world’s population – demand for fuel has been in free fall, forcing Shell to lower its refining output by around 13%. read more

By Marcelo Teixeira and Roberto Samora: MARCH 30, 2020

NEW YORK/SAO PAULO, March 30 (Reuters) – Two of Brazil’s largest fuel distributors said on Monday they are cutting the amount of ethanol they will buy from local suppliers to adjust to a slump in demand amid the coronavirus lockdown in Latin America’s largest economy.

Brazil’s number 1 fuel distributor, BR Distribuidora , said it will reduce the amount of ethanol it buys from Brazilian mills to levels that are below the minimum defined in contracts, due to an “atypical situation” created by the COVID-19 pandemic. read more

UPDATE 2-Shell pulls out of U.S. Lake Charles LNG project, Energy Transfer delays FID

* Energy Transfer delays FID from late 2020 to early 2021

* Shell relinquishes 50% stake amid spending cuts

* Decision comes after collapse in oil prices 

By Ron Bousso and Shradha Singh

March 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc pulled out of a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant under development in Louisiana following the recent crash in oil and natural gas prices that has forced the company to make deep spending cuts.

Energy Transfer LP, which was developing the project with Shell, said it remains focused on the commercial development of Lake Charles and is working toward making an early 2021 final investment decision (FID) to build the plant. read more

Oil pollution in Kegbara-Dere (K-Dere) community in Ogoniland, Rivers State, Niger Delta, Nigeria. This community has experienced multiple oil spills since Shell started operations there in the 1960s. September 2015. © Michael Uwemedimo/cmapping.net

Shell’s pipelines in Ogoniland are old and poorly maintained. There have been several spills and in 2009 there was a huge fire, at the Bomu Manifold, at K. Dere, Rivers state. September 2015. © Michael Uwemedimo/cmapping.net

Dead periwinkles covered in oily mud from Bodo creek, Nigeria, May 2011. There were two massives spills in August 2009 from a poorly maintained Shell pipeline. © Amnesty International

Signboard warning people not to enter stream that has been contaminated by oil spills, Ogale, Rivers State, Nigeria. Every year there are hundreds of spills in the Niger Delta, and clean-up is often slow and ineffective. © Amnesty International

3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CASES (Pages 16, 17, 18 & 10)

There are three separate legal proceedings taking place against Shell in Dutch and British courts relating to oil pollution. This has devastated the Niger Delta.

Data from Shell’s own spill incident reports reveal that from 2011-18 the company reported a huge number of spills – 1,010 – along the network of pipelines and wells that it operates.25 Spills have a variety of causes – from third-party tampering, to operational faults and corrosion of aged facilities. Shell blames most spills on theft and pipeline sabotage, and are not due to its own negligence.26 read more

The Ogoni Case is a Simple Demand for Basic Rights and Justice – MOSOP

Call for the Exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Others

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says all the Ogoni people want in Nigeria is respect for the rights of the people and justice. President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke made this known yesterday in Port Harcourt in a speech to mark the 24th anniversary of the U.N Secretary General’s fact-finding mission to Ogoni which noted that the Special Tribunal which ordered the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa had no jurisdiction to try Saro-Wiwa and the others.

Nsuke said it was shameful that Nigeria’s response to a simple and justifiable demand for basic rights and justice by the Ogoni people in Nigeria was repression by state security forces and the hounding by Shell through its agents which led to the death of thousands of innocent Ogonis. read more

The Prelude first received gas from its subsea wells in December 2018 and by the end of June 2019 had produced 2.32 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, according to emissions data released by the Clean Energy Regulator today.

Conservation Council of WA director Piers Verstegen said the emissions data was absolutely shocking and suggested that Shell was making no effort to reduce Prelude’s emissions. read more

Energy companies slash another $19 billion as oil price remain near 20-year lows

Eleven energy companies over the past several days said they would cut a combined $18.6 billion dollars from their budgets as oil prices remain near 20-year lows, setting the stage for tens of thousands additional layoffs.

West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $23.36 per barrel Monday, a price not seen since March 2002 as Russia and Saudi Arabia flood global markets and the coronavirus pandemic crushes demand.

Energy companies big and small — including Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil, Hess and Halliburton — have responded by slashing spending for new projects and operations, halting stock buy back programs, putting deals on hold and selling assets. read more

PUBLISHED WED, MAR 25 20205:14 AM EDT

• The world’s biggest oil and gas firms should break an industry taboo and consider cutting dividends as they weather the fallout from the pandemic, investors say.
• Investors prefer the dividend cut to companies taking on any more debt to maintain payouts.
• The top five so-called oil majors have avoided reducing dividends for years to keep investors sweet and added a combined $25 billion to debt levels in 2019 to maintain capital spending, while giving back billions to shareholders.

The world’s biggest oil and gas firms should break an industry taboo and consider cutting dividends, rather than taking on any more debt to maintain payouts as they weather the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, investors say.

The top five so-called oil majors have avoided reducing dividends for years to keep investors sweet and added a combined $25 billion to debt levels in 2019 to maintain capital spending, while giving back billions to shareholders. read more

Jillian Ambrose: Tue 24 Mar 2020 07.00 GMT

Parliament’s pension fund has made record investments in renewable energy and cut its exposure to fossil fuel companies to bring MPs’ pensions in line with the government’s climate action targets.

The move is a victory for the 360 serving and former MPs who have been pushing for the pension fund’s investments to fall in line with the government’s climate agenda.

The annual report showed that the fund has decreased its investment in BP by almost two-thirds in the past year, to £4.4m, and cut its holdings in Shell by a quarter, to £8m. read more

Royal Dutch Shell has announced it is planning to save at least $8billion in the coming year following the huge fall in oil prices.

The world’s ninth-largest company by revenue says capital expenditures are to be scaled back by $5billion. At the same time, underlying operating costs will be cut by at least $3billion to help cope with the impact of the coronavirus.

It still plans to go ahead with their $10billion divestment programme but have cancelled the next tranche of their share buyback programme. read more

Rule 19.6(b) update to stated post-offer intention statement with regard to the combination with BG Group plc

March 23, 2020 03:15 ET | Source: Royal Dutch Shell

The Hague, March 23, 2020 – The following announcement is being made pursuant to the requirements of Rule 19.6(b) of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), which, inter alia, require a party to an offer, save with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, to promptly make an announcement should it decide to take a course of action different from its stated intentions during the period of 12 months or such longer stated period from the end of the offer period explaining its reasons for doing so. read more

Esther Kiobel and Victoria Bera sit with their lawyer as a Dutch court hears the first arguments in an historic case against Shell, in which the oil giant stands accused of instigating a raft of horrifying human rights violations committed by the Nigerian government against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, on February 12, 2019 in The Hague, Netherlands. © Pierre Crom/Getty Images

 KIOBEL AND OTHERS V SHELL

Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta were first, and most effectively, put under the spotlight in the 1990s by Ken Saro-Wiwa, an acclaimed Nigerian writer. Saro-Wiwa led a community organisation in his home area, Ogoniland, called the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). MOSOP said that while outsiders had grown rich on the oil that was pumped from under their soil, pollution from oil spills and gas flaring had, “led to the complete degradation of the Ogoni environment, turning our homeland into an ecological disaster.”10 read more

REUTERS: Ron Bousso: MARCH 23, 2020

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will lower spending by $5 billion and suspended its vast $25 billion share buyback plan in an effort to weather the recent collapse in oil prices, it said on Monday.

The Anlgo-Dutch oil major said it would reduce capital expenditure to $20 billion or below from a planned level of about $25 billion while seeking to reduce operating costs by an additional $3 billion to $4 billion over the next 12 months.

The cuts are expected to boost Shell’s cash generation by between $8 billion and $9 billion on a pre-tax basis. read more