A COALITION of two heavyweight unions, the Offshore Alliance, has condemned Shell Australia’s alleged decision to outsource work from Australia to India.
According to the Australian Workers Union and the Maritime Union of Australia, work previously undertaken by Australian employees – including Permit Writing responsibilities – have been outsourced to India, a claim Shell has refuted.
The Offshore Alliance yesterday accused Shell of “training up Indian workers” instead of investing in the local workforce.
“Shell are (sic) on our coast and taking our gas resources – the least they can commit to is using Australian workers for all Prelude related tasks,” Offshore Alliance said.
Permit writing work is generally undertaken by employees familiar with the facility and who have ongoing interaction with project-based personnel.
The Offshore Alliance told Energy News permit writing requires detailed knowledge of work scope, hazards and controls, the isolations and temporary defeats, and that the work was most suitable to Australian workers aboard the Prelude or at the very least based in Australia.read more
Shell has opted to shake up its leadership ranks in Australia as it beds down the recent acquisition of ERM Power and faces key investment decisions on multibillion-dollar gas projects.
The shake-up will see Shell Australia chairman Zoe Yujnovich move to company headquarters at The Hague.
Ms Yujnovich said on Friday that Australia was central to Shell’s LNG business and for its plans to move into providing cleaner energy.
Her role in Australia will be filled by Tony Nunan, who currently heads up the oil and gas giant’s operations in eastern Australia.read more
Shell has warned Western Australia’s environmental watchdog that billions of dollars of investment are at risk if it contributes to mixed messages on tackling greenhouse gas emissions.
Rob Jager cannot be as naive as this, he has a distinguished career in Shell and also been appointed by the New Zealand Government to lead investigations into the tragic Mining accident some years ago. Clearly not a numpty so why is he making such statements claiming the Prelude is such a magnificent project it will operate perfectly and become boring.
Hydrocarbon Production Operations that I have experienced over many years have never been boring ever. Every day brings something different to be addressed and Prelude is and will be no different. Prelude is not receiving a semi-processed feed stack to refine or reform or blend but raw reservoir hydrocarbons. Even in the case of a rich gas hydrocarbon reservoir, the well effluent will contain a full range of hydrocarbon gas mixtures, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide water vapour and a whole host of trace gasses and other undesirable soluble and insoluble salts. Notwithstanding during initial production or subsequent well work-over, residual drilling fluids and completion debris some of which will have found its way into the umbilicals and hydraulic well control and safety shut down systems and cause untold havoc.read more
The British-Australian newspaper The Guardian discovered that Shell Energy Holdings Australia is trying to “get under” *(evade/dodge/escape/deflect?) the bill through the courts.
Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad
Pedestrians walk past a Shell station in Melbourne. Photo: Carla Gottgens / Bloomberg
Shell has appealed against a decision by the Australian tax authorities. The ATO believes that Shell should pay back a tax benefit of A $ 755 million, converted to € 460 million. The Anglo-Dutch oil company wants to get rid of this tax assessment through the courts.
Shell received the tax assessment from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for its share in Australia’s largest gas field, the Browse project. That field is off the coast of Western Australia and has an estimated value of A $ 30 bln. Shell has a 27% share in the gas field, which has been developing for fifteen years. However, production has never started due to the low global gas prices. Since 2016, the work has stopped completely.read more
PUBLISHED: 21:48, 25 August 2019 | UPDATED: 22:10, 25 August 2019
Royal Dutch Shell is in talks with the Australian government after it was hit with a £415m tax bill.
The Australian Taxation Office claims the Anglo-Dutch oil major avoided paying tax on its 27 per cent stake in the £16.5 billion Browse gas project in seas off the coast of Western Australia.
Court documents show Shell’s primary company in the country, Shell Energy Holdings Australia, has been in a dispute with the tax body for six years over the issue, the Guardian reported.read more
Matthew Burgess and Franz Wild: Bloomberg: August 25, 2019
(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc has been sued by Australia’s tax authority as the agency pursues multinational companies over tax avoidance, the Guardian reported.
The Australian Taxation Office has been battling with Shell’s local subsidiary for six years regarding the tax treatment of its stake in the Browse gas project off the country’s northwest coast, the newspaper reported, citing court documents. The bill, estimated at A$755 million ($510 million), relates to a dispute over A$2.2 billion in tax deductions for the project, the newspaper said.read more
The Australian Taxation Office has hit the British-Dutch oil giant Shell with a bill estimated at $755m as it continues to pursue multinational resources giants over claims they have avoided paying tax on offshore gas projects.
Court documents reveal Shell’s main Australian company, Shell Energy Holdings Australia, has been fighting the ATO for six years over tax on the company’s stake in the $30bn Browse gas project off the coast of north-west Western Australia.
The ATO’s pursuit of Shell is part of a broader effort to shake money out of big oil and gas projects that one of the authority’s most senior officials says has brought forward tax revenue by a decade.read more
Upstream Online: Shell learns from Prelude challenges
Shell is currently in the process of ramping up its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas development off Western Australia, but the ambitious project …
Extract ends
Printed below are extracts from recent postings on our Shell Blog relating to the above Upstream Online article and its interview with Shell VP Prelude, Bob Jager.
Posting on 19 August 2019
I would be interested to know the content of the article just published by Upstream Online about the Prelude FLNG problems?
What I do know is that Prelude is still having difficulties in with the processed volumes of any of the three streams of product, LNG, LPG and condensate.
I have been monitoring the Marine Traffic web site with Prelude as the target. The offtake tankers, LNG or condensate, can be seen hanging around but at a greater distance from Prelude making it not as easy to keep track of as in previous occasions. The latest LNG tanker, Symphonic Breeze, has been nearby for nearly a week waiting for its nominated cargo. The demurrage costs must be quite high by now as the “notice of readiness” will have been tabled on arrival.read more
Shell has staked a claim in the Australian power sector by making a US$419-million (A$617 million) takeover offer for the country’s second-largest energy retailer to businesses, ERM Power.
“This acquisition aligns with Shell’s global ambition to expand our integrated power business and builds on Shell Energy Australia’s existing gas marketing and trading capability,” the head of Shell Australia, Zoe Yujnovich said in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.
If the deal goes through, it would give Shell ownership of four gas-fired power plants and a market share of almost 25 percent on the Australian commercial and industrial electricity retail market. As the company is already among the top gas producers in Australia, the deal would certainly complement its current operations.read more
MELBOURNE, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has made its first foray into Australia’s highly competitive power sector with a A$617 million ($419 million) takeover offer for ERM Power Ltd, the country’s no.2 energy retailer to businesses and industry.read more
Anjli Raval, Senior Energy Correspondent: 22 Aug 2019
Royal Dutch Shell has entered the Australian electricity market with a $418m deal for ERM Power, an energy supplier for businesses.
The Anglo-Dutch company has ambitions to tilt its business towards gas and become a major power player in the decades to come amid a global push towards cleaner fuels.
ERM is Australia’s second-largest energy retailer by load and provides electricity to commercial entities and industry. It also generates electricity from two gas-fired power plants in Oakey, Queensland, and Neerabup, Western Australia.read more
Shell’s global chief executive Ben van Beurden has declared a global carbon price of about $US250 a tonne and “tens of thousands” of carbon capture and storage plants would be needed for the world to keep within the 2 degree warming goal.
Nature-based carbon offsets “to the tune of the Amazon” and a “massive” electrification of energy supply would also be needed he said in Sydney, ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison where energy and climate policy – and the troubled east coast gas market – were set to be discussed.read more
Royal Dutch Shell confirmed that there was no impact to operations at the Prelude floating LNG facility as a result of the earthquake. The company had earlier declined to comment.
JULY 15, 2019
MELBOURNE, July 15 (Reuters) – Oil and gas operations onshore and offshore Western Australia were unaffected by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake that struck off the northern coast of the state on Sunday, the country’s offshore petroleum safety regulator and companies said.
“NOPSEMA has not received any reports of impacts to offshore oil and gas facilities following the earthquake,” a spokesman for the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) said.read more
Overnight intelligence information about Shell Prelude sent to retired Shell International HSE consultant, Bill Campbell
Bill,The second LNG off take looks like being imminent. It’s the Methane Julia Louise, the red shape under the yellow tracking trial. The blue dot below with a hello anchor sign is the Prelude The other blue dots are either standby boat, supply boat or tug.
It looks as though there is still “trouble at mill” as its almost 24 days since the first cargo which would suggest around running at 25% capacity. read more
MELBOURNE, June 19 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell sees more opportunities for floating liquefied natural gas projects, but not necessarily like its $17 billion Prelude operation off Australia, which shipped its first cargo last week, over two years behind schedule.
Shell Australia Chair Zoe Yujnovich said on Wednesday that it was too early to tell whether Prelude, one of two floating LNG (FLNG) projects in the world, would be replicated in future, as the company was still commissioning the project.read more
Bonus Group: For a further example of outstanding performance by BG Group Alumni, London Lad need look no further than Sound Energy where the share price has plummeted from £0.935 in February 2017 to £0.0335 December this year. This remarkable performance, however, does not detract from the Directors' and the Senior Managers' whopping salaries and bonuses. One can barely hear oneself think above the slurping and grunting at the trough.
Bogus Group: Interesting news article. “Network Rail are well into devolving and restructuring the organisation so that all activities and roles are closer to passengers in order to drive up train performance”. In 2018, many UK train commuters had a tough time with timetable schedules, journeys that didn’t leave or arrive on-time and delays due to major projects.
Could this revival be attributed to the previous chief executive and one of the former Shell and BG Group ‘chosen few’, stepping down from his role?
Bonus Group: To put London Lad's rather naive comments into context. In the final days before the Executive Chairman, Andrew Gould 'pulled the plug' on the whole shooting match, at a Town Hall Meeting, the Chief Operating Officer, Sami Iskander, stood up and announced, to anyone who could be bothered to listen, that the company had spent £200MM assuring work which later cost them £2Bn because it was wrong. An absolutely, stellar performance. The people responsible for this are now deeply embedded within Shell's matrix organisation. An excellent result for the shareholders. Perhaps, a Bridge too Far?
Bonus Group: London Lad, Good to hear from you. I hope that you enjoyed your recent trip to Aberdeen. Having also been employed by Shell, I consider myself fortunate that I was not one of the 'Chosen Few'. The 'Chosen Few' are the most corrupt of the corrupt and will fit in well with your ilk. In respect of the slur about my performance, BG were involved in what can only be described as a stupendous multi-billion dollar technical fraud against Petrobras based upon a corrupt workflow which was both Functionally Approved through their Assurance Team and signed-off by the relevant Discipline Functional Head. They refused to correct their workflow and that resulted in a technical fraud. They tried to make me complicit in this fraud, but I refused. That is called integrity, something which I have no doubt that you know little of. You clearly relish brushing shoulders with fraudsters and liars.
LondonLad: I can only assume from the continuous moaning from “Bonus Group” that he/she was not one of the “chosen few” from the BG group and hence the vindictiveness. Poor performance = limited or no job opportunities which applies to both Shell and ex-BG staff. As a share holder I wouldn’t want it differently.
Bonus Group: Further to Bogus Group's post of Thursday 21st November. BG Group the failed Internet Cafe, cappucino and Belgian chocolate lifestyle company had an established reputation for: constructive dismissal, lack of transparency and corrupt 'do as I say, not as I do' line management. The acceptance of the 'Chosen Few' from BG by Shell into its upper echelons can only lead to further corruption. After all what was on the BG Portal in terms of Company Policy was of course also law, or at least that is what they would have you believe. As employers they were a complete disgrace and the company a complete shambles from top to bottom. Visitors to this site can look forward to more revelations of incompetence in due course as they unfold.
Bogus Group: I was lured by the Michael Coates (Associate General Counsel at Shell) interview by Lawyer Monthly, and the question……. what is the most challenging aspect of your job and how do you overcome this? His response “There are a number of interesting challenges but I will share one internal challenge, the management of our in-house legal team”
The acquisition of BG Group and the infiltration of “the chosen few” from that company’s in-house legal team, may have bestowed a challenge he could never have imagined.
LondonLad: Well “Theo” when you say that “I know for sure the following” followed by a former director said “Black Gold we are digging up” then I think perhaps you are making this up. Most directors of an oil company (even including Shell) would not use the word “digging”! “Drilling” or “producing” yes but certainly not “digging” - exception being the muppets in the HR departments perhaps. In addition your last two sentences are irrelevant to the usual attacks on Shell and are somewhat waffle and insulting to most readers here. You clearly have a problem. I await the onslaught!!
Bogus Group: There are normally two sides to every story, but Mike Curless’ version of his termination employment under the pretext of the takeover of BG reorganisation could hold some credence. However, if there was a fair and transparent succession strategy, Sarah Franklin’s self-promotion, see previous post and article, https://www.accdocket.com/articles/tips-and-insights-a-world-class-combination.cfm must have made her a good candidate for one of the “vacant” roles within the Shell legal team. Time will tell if the relevant due diligence was done on Ms Franklin, considering her escapades with a previous company.
Theo Benschop: I know for sure the following. A former director of Royal Dutch Shell had said: it is a simple problem with the Black Gold that we are digging up and selling. All what the government has to do is fix the price of the Black Gold at a level nobody will notice. Maybe add something. But there you have the money to pay for the transition to a more sustainable energy. So actually what everybody wants in the agreements in Paris.
Also I know for sure that beloved sister Rep. Ilham Omar was perfectly right in her conclusion that a few guilty criminals did something to create the chaos of nine eleven, so not the rest of the world.
So that about 7 Billion simple descendants of the first human beings not being a monkey are supporting her for keep on being the one and only first president of all sovereign or not sovereign United Nations.
jaun carlos: Good day
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Bill Campbell: Caution needed over false almost hysterical claims about current Brent Structures
It was a long time ago but as London Lad highlights in his blog post the onshore disposal of Brent Spar Greenpeace apologised formally to Shell for its claims during that period of intense scrutiny and public interest that the Spar could not be disposed of at sea because it held over 5000 tons of crude oil when in fact it was found to have contained 100 tons of oily sludge much of which was inert silt.
We currently see the emergence again of false and highly emotive claims about what remains in the Brent structures despite Shell and independent published reports being available with assessments of what remains in the cells. These assessments indicate that the environmental impact of leaving these structures in situ is negligible compared to the safety risks to personnel involved in the attempted removal and disposal on land.
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