News and information on Shell Plc
Posted by John Donovan 31 July 2024
In a classic “What the Actual F**k” moment, Shell and ExxonMobil have decided to offload their UK North Sea assets to Viaro Energy. Yes, because when you’re done polluting the planet and making billions, why not pass the torch to someone else? Viaro Energy, through its subsidiary RockRose Energy, is all set to acquire these precious assets, pending regulatory approval. Because why wouldn’t the regulators approve another round of fossil fuel profiteering?
Posted by John Donovan: 26 July 2024
So, Shell might be bailing on its North Sea wind farm plans, and it’s a potential disaster for Labour’s shiny new energy ambitions. Yep, the oil behemoth that made over £22 billion in profit last year is apparently not too keen on sticking with two floating wind leases it grabbed from the ScotWind auction. If they decide to ditch these projects, it could send a clear message that Shell doesn’t think renewable energy is worth the trouble, despite all the greenwashing rhetoric.
Posted by John Donovan: 25 July 2024
In a move that can only be described as Shell saying, “Green energy? Never heard of her,” the oil giant has flatly denied ditching the green energy revolution. This denial comes hot on the heels of Labour’s ambitious £8 billion plan to launch a public energy company in Scotland, aimed at setting the country on a path to renewable glory.
Shell, fresh from raking in a casual £22.3 billion profit last year, is reportedly looking to offload its two floating wind projects, MarramWind and CampionWind, won through the ScotWind auction alongside Scottish Power. This, despite just receiving funding from SNP ministers for the Acorn carbon capture scheme. Because why invest in clean energy when you can just pay lip service and move on?
Posted by John Donovan: 25 July 2024
In a move that’s probably more about headlines than heart, Shell announced on Thursday it’s building a 100-megawatt renewable hydrogen electro
lyser in Germany. Yes, that’s right, the same Shell that adores oil spills and carbon emissions is now pretending to care about the environment. The new unit at the Rheinland refinery is scheduled to start in 2027 and will pump out up to 44,000 kg of renewable hydrogen daily to “partially” decarbonize site operations. Because who needs full decarbonization when partial will do?
Bunch brags about managing Shell’s global mobility footprint, which includes a staggering 47,000 retail fuel sites and c-stores. Posted by John Donovan: 24 July 2024
In the latest episode of “Shell’s Boardroom Shuffle,” David Bunch, a two-decade veteran of the company, has taken the reins of Shell’s convenience and mobility business. Bunch, now the executive vice president of Shell Mobility, replaces Istvan Kapitany, who decided to call it quits back in April after a decade of trying to make selling chips and soda somehow glamorous.
Officially on the throne, Bunch’s priorities are, brace yourself, “performance, discipline, and simplification.” Because nothing screams customer satisfaction like a ruthlessly efficient, joyless convenience store experience. “We will continue to focus on our unique customer, brand, trading and optimization strengths to get the most out of our investments while also working to help our customers across the transport and industry sectors decarbonize,” a Shell spokesperson claimed with a straight face to C-Store Dive.
Posted by John Donovan: 24 July 2024
In a move that can only be described as a middle finger to Mother Earth, Shell Plc has decided to sell its Scottish offshore wind leases to, you guessed it, refocus on good ol’ oil and gas. Yes, the same company that flirted with the idea of renewable energy is now ditching those dreams faster than you can say “global warming.”
According to unnamed sources (because even they know this is absurd), Shell is looking to offload its share of a joint venture with Iberdrola SA’s Scottish Power. This venture was supposed to create up to 5 gigawatts of floating offshore wind power. But who needs renewable energy when you can keep raking in profits from fossil fuels, right?
Posted by John Donovan: 18 July 2024
Havas Media snagged Shell’s media business last September after a three-month review and began handling B2C strategic media buying from GroupM in January. Shell, ever the environmental saint, spent about $240 million on measured media in 2022, according to COMvergence.
B Lab, the global nonprofit that hands out B Corp certifications to companies that supposedly balance profit with a commitment to people and the planet, decided this partnership was a bit too toxic. After a months-long investigation prompted by Clean Creatives and a coalition of 26 B Corp-certified firms, B Lab found Havas’ actions violated their core values. Surprise, surprise.
Posted by John Donovan: 18 July 2024
In a move that’s as surprising as rain in the Netherlands, Shell and ExxonMobil, the environmental knights in shining armor, have decided to pawn off their offshore assets in the Dutch North Sea to Canada’s Tenaz Energy. For the low, low price of €165 million ($180.33 million), Tenaz Energy gets to inherit all the shiny shares of NAM Offshore B.V., a joint venture that also involves the Dutch government.
NAM operates the infamous Groningen gas field in the Netherlands. But wait, there’s more! This sweetheart deal, expected to close by mid-2025, includes all of NAM’s offshore exploration and production businesses, the pipeline infrastructure, and the onshore processing facilities—just not the assets in the Ameland area. Apparently, even Shell has to hold onto something.
John Donovan is a notable figure associated with Royal Dutch Shell in the context of being a long-time critic of the company. He operates the website royaldutchshellplc.com, which serves as a platform for disaffected Shell employees to share information, company news, and gossip—often critical of Shell’s practices and policies. His relationship with Shell is deeply rooted, tracing back to the 1990s when he and his father, Alfred Donovan, became vocal critics following a business dispute with Shell, which was a client of their marketing promotion company.
Posted by John Donovan 17 July 2024
In the latest chapter of Shell’s never-ending saga of environmental hypocrisy, the oil giant has decided to backtrack on its grandiose promise to save the planet by recycling plastic waste. Back in 2022, Shell boldly claimed it would convert a whopping 1 million tonnes of plastic waste into oil every year through “advanced recycling.” Now, it turns out this pledge was about as solid as a politician’s promise.
“Advanced” or “chemical” recycling—just fancy terms for breaking down plastic with heat—was Shell’s supposed answer to the plastics pollution crisis. The company started investing in this pyrolysis process back in 2019, even using the resultant oil in a Louisiana plant and declaring its ambition to recycle 1 million tonnes of plastic by 2025. But as of their 2023 sustainability report, Shell quietly confessed: “[I]n 2023 we concluded that the scale of our ambition to turn 1m tonnes of plastic waste a year into pyrolysis oil by 2025 is unfeasible.”
Shell’s New Puppet Master in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay: Another Greedy Exec to Oversee the Pollution ParadePosted by John Donovan: 16 July 2024
In yet another move that proves Shell’s undying dedication to environmental devastation and corporate greed, the oil behemoth has appointed Germán Burmeister as the senior vice president and country chair for Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Effective August 1, Burmeister will be the latest in a long line of executives tasked with ensuring Shell’s relentless pursuit of profits at the expense of our planet.
$3.5 billion over a decade wasn’t enough for Shell’s appetite in Argentina. So, they’re throwing another $500 million into the mix for 2024 to “sustain and expand” their operations in Vaca Muerta. Because, of course, nothing says sustainable like drilling deeper and more aggressively into one of the largest shale oil reserves.
Posted by John Donovan: 15 July 2024
In a high-stakes legal drama, a High Court judge just told Leigh Day, the law firm accused of playing fast and loose with £6 million from a Shell pollution settlement, to suck it up and get on with the show. The Nigerian claimants, reeling from Shell’s eco-destruction in the Niger Delta, argued they hadn’t received a formal heads-up about the trial date. But the judge wasn’t buying it.
Leigh Day, the firm representing the Bodo community against the oil behemoth Shell, settled for a cool £55 million in 2014 after the delightful oil spills of 2008 and 2009. £25 million was for individual claims, while £20 million was set aside for the community. The firm is accused of sneaky disbursements, diverting £6 million to an NGO and four Nigerian legal practices without a green light.
Posted by John Donovan: 12 July 2024
In a rare turn of events, Shell has managed to pull its head out of the sand long enough to strike a deal with its workers in Alberta, Canada. The Unifor union announced on Wednesday that its members have ratified a new four-year agreement that includes a 16% wage increase. Because who knew that actually paying workers could prevent strikes?
Dodging a Bullet:
The agreement comes after Shell’s Scotford-based facility workers overwhelmingly voted in favor of a work stoppage in late June. It seems the threat of an actual strike was enough to get Shell to the negotiating table. Unifor also mentioned the possibility of further wage gains and improvements to time off for statutory holidays and various union-based leaves. Looks like Shell finally remembered that workers are people too.
Posted by John Donovan 12 July 2024
In another classic move from our favorite eco-villain, Shell has gone all-in on liquefied natural gas (LNG), trying to plug the gap left by its exit from Russia in 2022. With a series of deals, Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan is betting big on LNG, all while quietly stepping away from those pesky renewable energy projects.
Filling the Russian Void:
Shell’s new projects in the United Arab Emirates and Trinidad and Tobago, along with snapping up a hefty trading portfolio, are all part of Sawan’s master plan to boost LNG volumes by up to 20 million metric tons per year (mtpa) between 2023 and 2030. These moves help Shell recover from the 2.5 mtpa shortfall after ditching Russia’s Sakhalin LNG project, which led to a 5% dip in liquefaction volumes last year. Because nothing says resilience like swapping one geopolitical mess for another.
Posted by John Donovan 12 July 2024
In the latest installment of “Shell’s Quest for Global Domination,” the European energy behemoth has inked a deal to invest in Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais liquefied natural-gas (LNG) project. Alongside equally virtuous partners BP, TotalEnergies, and Japan’s Mitsui, Shell is securing its place in the race to expand the UAE’s LNG production capacity.
Shell’s Slice of the Pie:
Shell proudly announced it would grab a 10% stake in the Ruwais project, matching the stakes of BP, TotalEnergies, and Mitsui. Not to be outdone, Shell will also buy a cool 1 million metric tons of LNG annually, while Mitsui will settle for a mere 600,000 tons. Details of the financial arrangements? Oh, those remain as opaque as ever.
Posted by John Donovan 10 July 2024
Gas, Gas, and More Gas:
Shell announced on Tuesday that it’s moving forward with the Manatee gas field project in Trinidad, aiming to beef up its liquefied natural gas (LNG) empire. Nestled in the East Coast Marine Area, one of the Caribbean’s busiest gas-producing zones, the Manatee field is part of the cross-border Loran-Manatee discovery shared with Venezuela. This gem holds about 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, with Trinidad sitting on a modest 2.7 tcf of that stash.
In my opinion, their management of Sakhalin-2 stands out as a major misstep, costing them around £2 billion. Can...
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.
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 website etc. 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
This is not a Shell website. The nature of this platform should be evident from the content presented here and on our related Shell-focused websites, including shellnazihistory.com. For more details, please refer to the Disclaimer link at the top of this page. Shell does not endorse or approve of this website.
Our platform operates as a non-commercial, advert-free, and subscription-free space. We do not solicit or accept donations and aim to provide information to our readers free of charge. The Shell logo image with white text used on this website is in the public domain due to expired copyright and anonymous authorship. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
Our content, including images and features like the Sheldon chatbot, incorporates information generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and various other technological means. We may also draw from sources such as Wikipedia and other published materials. Please note that some content may include satirical adaptations or elements of gossip, rumors, or exaggeration to engage and entertain our audience.
We strive to maintain factual accuracy and encourage readers to notify us promptly if any factual inaccuracies are found, so we can address and rectify them swiftly. Readers are advised to verify all information independently for accuracy and completeness. Any actions taken based on the content provided on our platform are at your own risk.
