Royal Dutch Shell PLC shows much that is wrong with environmental, social and governance investing. The Anglo-Dutch company was the first to target reduced carbon emissions from customers, has gone further than any of the other oil supermajors to shift its direction away from fossil fuels and is closest of any of them to meeting the Paris carbon target. It even has a better ESG score than electric-car leader Tesla or hydrogen wonder stock Plug Power.read more
The demand by the activist hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb that the oil giant Shell split itself into its fossil fuel and green energy units this week certainly came with plenty of grandiose promises. Loeb, and his Third Point fund, want to save the planet, and make themselves a bundle of money at the same time. Smart.read more
Within days I seem to have lost both titles to a billionaire upstart, Daniel Loeb, who seems intent on breaking up Shell.
From my unique perspective on Shell senior management over recent decades, he is right to question competence and direction.
How has Shell ended up with a foe (me) operating a website using the top-level domain name royaldutchshellplc.com and as a consequence dealing on Shell’s behalf with job applications and all manner of other email correspondence meant for Shell? This is the humiliating situation Shell has been in since 2005. Evidently, no one at Shell has had the gumption to do anything to put an end to such a farce.read more
Oct 31st, 2021
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
FROM A MAJOR ARTICLE ON TWO-THIRDS OF PAGE 8 OF THE SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS SECTION OCT 31, 2021
How should Shell, Glencore and British American Tobacco deal with their “toxic” legacy businesses?
Robert Watts: Sunday October 31 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
Ben Van Beurden knew last weekend that he was facing one of the more trying weeks of his 38 years at Shell. But he still had no clue of the impending ambush being prepared by an American billionaire activist investor.
Shell’s chief executive knew the quarterly figures for the oil and gas giant he would unveil on Thursday would be bad. Profits between July and September came in at $4.1 billion (£3 billion) — well below the $5.4 billion expected and 25 per cent down on the previous quarter.read more
Oct 31st, 2021
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
The Washington Post
Big Oil’s Friday Feeling Will Pass
By Liam Denning | Bloomberg: 30 Oct 2021
Extracts
The inverse of the world’s anxiety about winter energy shortages is higher prices, portending a good fourth quarter to follow. As an added bonus, it provides a schadenfreude-inflected counterargument on days like Thursday. Exxon CEO Darren Woods mentioned it in his opening remarks to the House Oversight Committee to emphasize the difficulty of moving away from fossil fuels.
As an added added bonus, one of those oil majors moving a bit more quickly than most, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, has attracted the attention of an activist, Third Point LLC’s Dan Loeb, calling for it to split its green operations (plus gas) from its old oil business.read more
Oct 30th, 2021
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
The Observer: Shell and BP paid zero tax on North Sea gas and oil for three years
Jon Ungoed-Thomas: Sat 30 Oct 2021 20.15 BST
Shell and BP, which together produce more than 1.7bn tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, have not paid any corporation tax on oil and gas production in the North Sea for the last three years, company filings reveal.
The oil giants, which have an annual global footprint of greenhouse gases more than five times bigger than Britain’s, are benefiting from billions of pounds of tax breaks and reliefs for oil and gas production.read more
Activist investor Dan Loeb made headlines this week with his move (through his Third Point LLP) to take a stake in Royal Dutch Shell and then argue that it should be broken up into two entities.
His proposal is to spin out what he calls the “legacy business” and an “energy transition business” (the latter to include LNG, renewables, and energy marketing). His argument is that the company is currently satisfying few stakeholders (shareholders, ESG advocates, etc) by trying to do everything under one roof.read more
Oct 29th, 2021
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
REUTERS
Third Point set to play long game in pressuring Shell
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss:
Oct 29 (Reuters) – When investors saw Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC unveil a stake in Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), some were quick to make the comparison to Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), whose board was challenged this year by another hedge fund, Engine No. 1.
Yet Third Point plans to follow a different tack, according to people familiar with its plans. It has not put forward any board nominees or threatened the chief executive’s job and there are no immediate plans to do so, the sources said.
Instead, the $19 billion fund outlined its suggestions to Shell in a letter to its own investors, making for a low-key introduction of its hopes for the $190 billion oil company.
Third Point’s founder, billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, wants the Anglo-Dutch company to separate its oil and gas business from its renewable-energy and liquefied-natural-gas operations.read more
Oct 29th, 2021
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
Bloomberg
Shell Breakup Would Get It Out of ‘Strategic Jail,’ Analyst Says
Royal Dutch Shell Plc should use an activist investor’s push to break up the company as an opportunity rather than a threat, according to analyst Paul Sankey.
“We put it to Shell management: This is your chance to get out of strategic jail!” Sankey wrote in a note Thursday. “Blame the mean N.Y. Hedge Fund for forcing your hand, and use this opportunity for radical change.”
He added that Shell could be split four ways: LNG-to-power, refining and chemicals, a Shell-branded gas station business, and a conventional oil and gas producer…read more
On the eve of a pivotal global climate summit, the world’s oil giants have been swamped by calls from activists, investors and lawmakers to move faster to transform their businesses, cut down greenhouse gas emissions and take responsibility for their role in the climate crisis.read more
Gretchen Watkins, president of Shell Oil, would not concede under questioning that climate change poses an “existential threat” to the nation and the world, even as the oil company rolled out a new pledge to cut planet-warming emissions early Thursday.
“I agree climate change is one of the biggest challenges in the world today, which is why at Shell, we’re in action,” Watkins said.read more
Oct 29th, 2021
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
CNBC
Shell vs. Dan Loeb: It’s open season for the market on Big Oil’s future
PUBLISHED THU, OCT 28 20213:00 PM EDT UPDATED THU, OCT 28 202111:07 PM EDT
Eric Rosenbaum@ERPROSEKEY POINTS
Dan Loeb’s Third Point Management has begun another high-profile activist campaign this time against Big Oil, calling for the breakup of Royal Dutch Shell into a legacy oil and gas company and separate business for renewable energy, among other units.
The Shell battle is at the heart of how an energy giant of the future shapes its business model during the energy transition and balances higher return fossil fuel projects with clean energy investment.
Former BP CEO John Browne said at the CNBC ESG Impact summit on Thursday that oil companies are now speaking the right language about carbon reduction, but the plans have no real meaning yet.
The surprise win earlier this year by activist firm Engine No. 1 of board seats at Exxon Mobil was a watershed event in Big Oil’s ability to control the climate narrative as investors push for change. But the stake revealed this week in Royal Dutch Shell by Dan Loeb’s Third Point Management activist investor firm may say more about how energy giants balance business models in the future to hang on to higher return, cash-generating legacy fossil fuel projects while investing in renewable energy.read more
“We were told that we were not welcome, so we will not be there,” Ben van Beurden, the company’s chief executive, said yesterday in comments that provoked debate about whether such companies should have a seat at the table in climate talks.read more
Corporate raider Dan Loeb’s plot to break up Shell risks harming its efforts to tackle climate change, top investors have warned, in a sign he may face a struggle to win over the City.
The pugnacious Third Point founder, 59, has argued the FTSE 100 company should split its oil and renewable assets into separate businesses to both drive better returns and greater investment, and stop trying to be “all things to all people”.read more
Oct 29th, 2021
by John Donovan.
Comments are off for this post
Ben van Beurden… “It’s disappointing that long-term investors run away from a company leading in its field and trying to do the best for society, but we understand the symbolism.”
London Evening Standard
Shell fires back at investor attack branding Dan Loeb’s break-up calls “symbolism
By Simon Freeman: 28 Oct 2021
SHELL boss Ben Van Beurden today mounted a forthright defence against calls to split up his company, saying profits from its oil and gas operations will be vital in funding the transition to a low-carbon future.read more
ROYAL Dutch Shell boss Ben van Beurden has defended plans for the controversial Cambo oil field development off Shetland as he declared the UK North Sea is a global leader in terms of the energy transition.
Shell has faced huge criticism from campaigners after it emerged that the company planned to develop the massive Cambo field with Siccar Point Energy.read more
Wrath: Subsurface Technical Staff at Shell who previously worked for BG Group would be well advised to remember that reserves should not be booked on subjective technical workflows and furthermore that both the technical workflows used in calculating reserves and their results should be reproducible by the Auditors. The BG philosophy of 'it's alright as long as the oil and/or gas is flowing out of the ground and we don't know where it is coming from' is irresponsible, short sighted and to the detriment of Shell's shareholders. This attitude should be dropped pronto!
Astudley: Internet down 3 times for a day at a time. Reported it never had any contact back or reason given. Useless company out at end of contract.
ANON: RE: Nigerian oil export terminal had theft line into sea for 9 years
Sometimes I think I have seen it all and then this comes along
Nigeria is simply doomed with all the corruption.
Take it from me, this is a major operation to fix. So the top brass must have been involved. Half or more of the population is scratching a living in miserable circumstances, there is no more rule of law and these gangsters lay a pipeline from a terminal and steal oil.
Simply beyond what I can imagine.
TERRIBLE: They cut off my 87 year old moms phone. This isn't just a phone for people of that age its and essential lifeline.
After spending an hour on hold I eventually got through to the customer service department. They said a bill hadn't been sent because of billing issues. That's why it wasn't paid.
So, I settled the bill over the phone.
The following day the service was resumed and a demand for the money paid over the phone was sent to her house.
How incompetent are these people.
I spent another hour on hold. No reply to the call at all this time.
No response to my emailed complaint.
Obviously I now have to find another provider.
But a lot of stress for my mother.
DO NOT DEAL WITH THESE PEOPLE.
They are the worst of the worst.
Date of experience: 10 September 2022
Zero Stars: Zero stars I have no written or verbal contract with shell energy . the same goes for the British government who cannot sell or pass a contract to any utility company that did not exist on my part , I will not be intimidated or threatened or money demanded by fraudulent acts , ie fraud by misrepresentation, fraud by misdirection, and fraud by abuse of position or power read the law shell even the government can't force me I have no contract remove your meters I will starve and freeze before I pay you a penny I paid them nearly 2, 200 quid to get rid they now say I owe them 2,518 they add on not take off I have no contract with you , you are breaking the law bye
on hold for over an hour!: Been on hold for over an hour now.
No idea what the customer service is like because I can't get through to anyone.
Why did you take over Post Office Broadband customers as you clearly don't have enough staff to cope?
Uncaring, horrible, hassling, profiteering bunch.: Uncaring, horrible, hassling, profiteering bunch.
I'm 80 with bipolar disorder
I am an 80 year old with multiple health issues and diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
These people at shell energy are disgusting.
I've been unable to log into my account for months. I live in a one bedroom flat and they are taking £250 per month from me, that's before the increases in October. Despite contacting them, I still can't log into my account. I've now been told my (not so) smart meter can't be reached and I have to provide monthly meter readings, when I can barely get down stairs from my flat to the meter because of mobility issues.
Worse than that, when I put my email address in to change my password and access the account, I was suddenly logged into an account in the name of Mr Knox, at an address I don't know, who they claim owes them £4,800 and hasn't made a payment in months. It's neither my name nor address.
This isn't my account, but it has my personal email address registered against it. Despite advising them of this, I received the standard 'we are receiving a high volume of messages' garbage. They have since emailed me another bill for the imaginary Mr Knox.
They are hassling me by sending me someone elses bills and bringing me to the verge of a mental breakdown. According to my son, £250, which they have taken from my bank EVERY month, is way too much for a one bedroom flat too, but I have no idea what I have used because my email logs me into another account in another area.
IF THEY DON'T SORT THIS OUT, I'M GOING TO HAVE A MENTAL BREAKDOWN. ASK MY DOCTOR.
Uncaring, horrible, hassling, profiteering bunch.
Useless broadband and company:
Useless broadband and company,40 minutes on hold on phone about my internet dropping all the time,told openreach would come on the Monday, NOTHING no call message or openreach. Sent email wanting to know how long I've left on contract as I want to leave them and get another provider NOTHING. I hate ringing up having to wait almost 40 minutes on hold only to talk to someone who don't have any idea what they talking about.
-By Zik Gbemre: SHELL'S NOTICE TO VACATE NIGERIA OVER UNENDING OIL THEFT: NOT GOOD FOR THE NATION
The rampant oil theft that is forcing Shell out of the Niger Delta, indeed out of Nigeria is one critical embarrassment that has overwhelmed a Federal Government that has failed in all sectors of the country.
The petroleum sector remains the only sector footing the entire bills of the country, yet attention is not being given to protecting it from ceaseless sabotage.
Against law-abiding citizens engaged in legitimate peaceful protests, trigger-happy security operatives will swing into action to crush any peaceful protest.
The common man is driving his car on the road, Police will act to intimidate him, with all manner of contorted allegations and threats, to extort him.
But then assign security operatives to check oil theft, they get so connected in no time and begin to aid and abet the oil theft they are mobilised at an outrageous cost to the nation. So, the Military and Nigeria Security & Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) are as much connected to oil theft as the oil theft is connected to the host communities' leaders, oil company workers and contractors responsible for welding/clamping/clean-up/remediation contracts induced by vandalism.
They vandalise pipes and valves to steal crude oil and condensate and the more these occur the more contracts are awarded for repairs/clamping of pipelines and clean-up/remediation activities. So, a lot of people are connected to oil theft beyond those who sell and buy the stolen condensate and crude oil.
The fight against oil theft has become a lost battle as they sabotage with a huge economic toll on the commonwealth will continue to thrive, hence Shell has decided to quit her Niger Delta operations to concentrate on the 'deep sea offshore' of the Niger Delta that illegal bunkering syndicates can't access easily.
In other shades of oil theft, you have DPR staff that are supposed to keep records of production and volume exported also involved in under declaration of figures. A lot is happening behind the scene at the points of exports, in the terminals.
Even among key stakeholders like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPC and Accountant General of the Federation, it's an annual drama of conflicting figures when they are subjected to probe and accountability on the revenue generated from oil, condensate and gas, given a particular time frame.
Again, the violent youths, also known as restive youths, created by Niger-Delta politicians are also there to disrupt the operations of Shell (SPDC) and other oil companies. Because politicians are not accessible immediately after they win elections and can only engage a few as personal aides thereafter, the rest are going about wreaking havoc on oil companies which they look up to as alternative governments.
What's more, politicians and Public officeholders in the Niger Delta are only interested in the monthly allocations from Abuja from which they allocate outrageous portions into security votes that are never accounted for, contracts are inflated to syphon kickbacks into private vaults.
All of these stakeholders' knaveries are making onshore operations so unattractive to Shell and other International Oil Companies(IOCs). And it's not a good one if they have to leave.
By Zik Gbemre
July 13, 2022
Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. The instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan
JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW
SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE
SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS
SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL
INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL
DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON
SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA
ESTHER KIOBEL SUES SHELL FOR COMPLICITY IN HUSBANDS MURDER
ESTHER KIOBEL: EVIL OIL GIANT SHELL COLLUDED IN THE EXECUTION OF MY INNOCENT HUSBAND
SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA
SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO
SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS
SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO
ABANDONED BY SHELL: KEITH MACDONALD & FAMILY, VICTIMS OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION AT WORK
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER
JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
Enter your ad code in the Widget Admin to display your ads here
DISCLAIMER
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found here on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.website republishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our non-profit websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner
Shell Is the Greenest Big Oil Company. Look What That Got It.
By John Donovan
FROM A MAJOR ARTICLE ON TWO-THIRDS OF PAGE 8 OF THE SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS SECTION OCT 31, 2021
Forbes
CUSTOMER COMMENTS ABOUT SHELL ENERGY RSS Feed
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
