Article by Paddy Briggs in response to a recent story in “The Times” – “Wind farms are back on Shell’s horizon.” Taken with his permission from Paddy’s Blog.

My 40 years in Shell taught me one thing – it is a Corporation that’s very good at oil and gas, but hopeless at anything else! In my time here’s a partial list of things we tried but couldn’t make work:

• Nuclear
• Metals
• Coal
• Forestry
• Solar
• Wind
• Agrochemicals
• Electricity Generation
• Convenience Stores
• Biofuels
• Fast food
• Home insulation
• Natural Gas retailing…

The way to the top in Shell is based on the skills of finding and extracting of hydrocarbons occasionally augmented by those who can refine, market or trade and transport them. If in doubt the top management always retreats to its oily comfort zones. We dipped a toe in many waters but diversification was not really what we did. read more

Spreadsheet-analysing investors in control of trillion-dollar funds are forcing polluters to change

Anjli Raval and Attracta Mooney in London: 27 December 2018

When an activist shareholder group last year launched a campaign to force Royal Dutch Shell to set hard targets for cutting carbon emissions, just 6 per cent of those eligible to vote backed the plan. Yet within months Shell had announced an “ambition” to halve its carbon footprint by 2050… This December it pledged to set firm short-term emissions targets from 2020 that will be tied to executive pay. “If we don’t meet them there will be consequences to my salary and others,” said Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive. FULL FT ARTICLE read more

Jessica Jaganathan: December 26, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it has begun output at its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility in Australia, the world’s largest floating production structure and the last of a wave of eight LNG projects built in the country over the last decade.

Though the project started up later and cost more than originally estimated, it is expected to further cement Australia’s lead as the world’s biggest LNG exporter, after the country took the crown in November. read more

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

Shell links concrete climate targets to the top reward

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden

Bert van Dijk: 3 December 2018

Oil and gas multinational ShellRDSA € 26.71 – will set concrete medium and short-term climate goals. The remuneration of the top of the company is partly made dependent on the achievement of those goals. With this, Shell is meeting pressure from large shareholders who asked for it.

Shell announces the changes in a joint statement with shareholders. The changes must go into effect in 2020.

Climate agreement of Paris

In 2017, Shell formulated the ambition for the first time to reduce its CO₂ footprint (a measure to measure CO₂ emissions, ed.) Of its energy products by 2050. Although CEO Ben van Beurden then indicated that he wanted to be settled, the company did not give concrete medium and short-term goals. Shell did not want that, because the company was afraid, among other things, to lose too much flexibility when making business decisions. read more

Royal Dutch Shell will set carbon emissions targets next year and link these to executive pay, reversing its chief executive’s opposition and following intense pressure from shareholders who want fossil fuel companies to take greater responsibility for their contribution to global warming. FULL FT ARTICLE

The deal resulted in Shell taking a sizeable financial hit as a consequence…

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Shell thinks that the likelihood of Shell having the same fate as photo company Kodak is small. “We are thinking a lot about Kodak moments.” Kodak, a long-time powerhouse in photography, proved unable to adequately respond to the rapid development of digital photography and went bankrupt.

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

‘I have to make sure that Shell does not become a dodo’

‘We are also a marketing company that serves customers from 45,000 branches. These are more branches than McDonald’s. “Photo: Peter Boer

Bert van Dijk

Shell invests $ 1 billion a year to $ 2 billion in clean energy, but still more than ten times in oil and gas. Does not the mega-concern cope with the same fate as Kodak, the photo company that went bankrupt because it reacted too late to changes in the environment?

A conversation with Jeremy Bentham, head of Shells scenario department.

Bentham (60) is the proud owner of the Dodo. A drawing of the extinct bird is framed in the room of the Shell driver. The internal ‘award’ has been passed on to Shell drivers since 1976 as ‘a warning to us all’, as is shown in the drawing.

Bentham is the eighth ‘custodian’ of the Dodo. ‘It is my responsibility to ensure that Shell does not become a dodo that reacts too late to changes in its environment.’ read more

Shell’s greener future is a matter of survival: The Telegraph 13 Oct 2018

Shell launching new retail fuel pilot programs in U.S.: Houston Chronicle 12 Oct 2018

Shell Makes a Comeback in the North Sea With New Gas Field Investment: OilVoice 12 Oct 2018

Exclusive: Shell seeks to sell Venezuela JV stake to France’s Maurel & Prom – sources: Reuters 12 Oct 2018

FREE TO READ HERE

References to the Kindle book by John Donovan “Sir Henri Deterding and the Nazi History of Royal Dutch Shell” are made on pages 110 & 636.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marc J. Rauch is a multi-award winning TV/film writer, producer and director and has been a broadcasting and marketing executive for more than 45 years. In 1987, he co-founded The Auto Channel television network, and TheAutoChannel.com a few years later. Marc serves as the company’s Executive Vice President and Co-Publisher. TheAutoChannel.com is the Internet’s largest and oldest automotive information resource, with more than 1.5 million pages of content. Marc is a leading advocate of alternative fuels and energy; writing, lecturing and making numerous broadcast appearances regarding these issues. read more

Adam Vaughan: Tue 9 Oct 2018: The boss of Shell has said a huge tree-planting project the size of the Amazon rainforest would be needed to meet a tougher global warming target, as he argued more renewable energy alone would not be enough. FULL ARTICLE

Jillian Ambrose, energy editor: 9 OCTOBER 2018 • 3:35PM: Royal Dutch Shell may be spending billions of dollars on renewable energy and electric cars, but the oil major is not straying far from its fossil fuel roots just yet. The energy giant’s chief executive Ben Van Beurden has warned the industry not to be swayed by the flurry of headlines marking Shell’s steps towards cleaner energy. FULL ARTICLE read more

Leakage from an oilfield operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at Aghoro community in Bayelsa has discharged some 1,114 barrels of crude oil into the environment. READ MORE

Jennifer Thompson: 7 October 2018

Shell’s largest UK pension fund is under pressure from a member who says it is failing to disclose how it deals with climate risk, in what is regarded as a test case for other UK pension funds. The £16bn Shell Contributory Pension Fund was contacted last week by Christoph Harwood and ClientEarth, the legal environmental campaign group. They requested proof of how it is dealing with the issue of climate change… read more

Shell boost for electric car owners: More petrol stations will be fitted with electric car charge points under a new nationwide plan.

Customers quit First Utility, the supplier Shell bought to take on the Big Six: The UK energy supplier acquired by Royal Dutch Shell as a vehicle for growth has lost tens of thousands of customers since agreeing the deal. read more

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

Maarten Wetselaar: ‘There has been a period of thirty years in which the industry and we also only talked about the largest oil platforms that were built and the deepest wells that were drilled.’ Photo: Michel de Groot

‘The energy transition gives power back to the customer’

Bert van Dijk: Energy: 12 Sept 2018

ShellRDSA € 27.85 + 1.05% is still an oil and gas multinational, but is sorting for a future in which it will become one of the largest electricity companies. ‘We are faced with a revolution’, says Maarten Wetselaar, member of the Executive Board of Shell in an interview with the FD. He is responsible, among other things, for the New Energies division that was established two years ago. read more

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

Shell is investing $ 200 million in The Hague campus

The headquarters of Shell in The Hague. Photo: Peter Hilz / HH

Bert van Dijk: 10 Sept 2018

Oil and gas multinational Shell RDSA € 27.20-0.44% will invest more than $ 200 million in a new Shell campus in The Hague in the coming years. It concerns the renovation and expansion of the current monumental headquarters of the company on the Carel van Bylandtlaan. The company also expects to create hundreds of new jobs in the New Energies division in the coming years, the global headquarters of which will be on the new campus. Shell announced this today.

The New Energies branch focuses, among other things, on forms of energy that emit less CO2, such as solar and wind energy and biofuels. The division investigates new commercial models that the company can apply in the global energy transition. read more