“Shell extracts a lot of oil and gas from Nigerian soil, and that is associated with pollution, sabotage, tax lawsuits, protests from the local population and suspected corruption.”

English translation of a Dutch article by nrc.nl

Dutch ambassador leaked information to Shell

Nigeria Robert Petri, the Dutch ambassador to Nigeria, had been in post for less than a year and a half. He did not have a good relationship with his staff. And above all: wasn’t he too close to Shell?

Prime Minister Mark Rutte (l) and Shell chairman Ben van Beurden (r) visiting President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, autumn 2019. Photo Bart Maat / ANP read more

News provided by

Oil and Gas Climate Initiative

May 26, 2020, 08:03 ET

Focusing on what matters

LONDON, May 26, 2020 /CNW/ — The unprecedented challenges the world is facing force us all to sharpen our focus on what really matters. Our immediate priority, as CEOs, is to do everything we can so that our people and communities are safe and capable of confronting the pandemic effectively. We will work to help the world recover from the economic shock of this crisis that has undoubtedly hit some more than others yet impacts us all. read more

The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp relief the existential threat posed to the world’s biggest oil companies from policies aimed at combating climate change by offering a glimpse into a future with little demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

It has also brought to the fore a question with profound implications for the energy industry and Houston, where fortunes rise and fall with the price of oil. Has the virus — in two short but life-altering months — fundamentally changed society and consumer behavior, making it likely that global oil demand would peak earlier than expected, perhaps even during this decade? read more

Shell hoping voluntary severances will help weather oil crisis

Laura Hurst, Bloomberg May 21, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell will use measures including voluntary severance for staff to bolster its finances as the coronavirus pandemic batters profits, according to people with knowledge of the matter.In a note to staff, Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden wrote that the organization was being reshaped to make it leaner and more resilient, the people said. The company has already slashed spending and surprised investors with a two-thirds cut to its dividend.

Shell isn’t the only company making big changes to withstand the unprecedented oil-industry disruption caused by Covid-19. Most of its peers have made big spending reductions, while Norway’s Equinor ASA also cut its dividend.

BP Plc promised its employees their jobs were safe at least until the end of June, but companies including Chevron Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and Halliburton Corp. are laying off employees. read more

Shell policies on directors’ pay and carbon emissions in spotlight

By Mark Williamson Group Business Correspondent

INVESTORS have signalled unease about Royal Dutch Shell’s boardroom pay policy at the company’s annual general meeting.

Around seven per cent of votes cast opposed approval of the directors’ remuneration policy of the oil giant at the meeting.

Chief executive Ban van Beurden’s total remuneration dropped by around £9m last year, from £17.8m in 2018, following a fall in the value of his performance-related awards. read more

‘Big win’ as Shell urged by more shareholder activists to meet climate targets

by David McPhee: 19/05/2020, 3:15 pm

A shareholder activist group has claimed a ‘big win’ after an increase in the number of investor votes urging Shell to meet its climate targets.

Follow This, which has led a campaign to encourage oil firms such BP, Shell, Chevron and Equinor to align their targets with the Paris Climate Agreement, saw 14.4% of investors vote for its resolution at Shell’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) – an increase from 5.5% in 2019. read more

English translation of an article published this weekend by the Dutch Financial Times, the FD.

Shell, Total and Equinor give green light to major international CO₂ storage project

Bert van Dijk

Shell, together with the French oil and gas group Total and the Norwegian Equinor, has made a final investment decision for a large CO₂ storage project in Norway. The companies want to build infrastructure to transport captured CO₂ from industrial factories in Europe to Norway and store them there in a reservoir under the bottom of the North Sea.

Equinor will lead the project, which will store 1.5 million tons of CO₂ annually. The parties announced this on Friday. It is one of the largest CO₂ storage projects in the world. read more

  Peter Milne: 15 May 2020 • 10 min read

ANALYSIS

Shell’s Prelude floating LNG facility off the WA coast was to be the first of many that would open up stranded gas reserves around the world thanks to the technical and project management prowess of Anglo-Dutch oil and gas giant Shell.It has not turned out that way.When the 488m-long giant arrived in Australia almost three years ago, Shell expected to receive cashflow from the Prelude in 2018.

While the Prelude did export LNG at about half its capacity for the second half of 2019, it is now idle.

Moored far off the Kimberley coast it is plagued with technical problems, dwindling gas reserves and safety processes condemned by the regulator despite Shell and its partners spending about $US19.3 billion ($A30.0 billion) to the end of 2019.

Neither Shell and its partners nor Australia have gained anything near what they expected from the giant experiment. read more

Bloomberg: May 14, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell said it will be well placed to boost shareholder payouts once the oil market recovers as it sought to appease investors after last month’s surprise dividend cut.

Shell broke with industry convention playbook when oil’s collapse forced it to slash payouts. For decades, Big Oil had used its hefty balance sheet to borrow money when needed and keep investors sweet until the next upward cycle. But 2020’s unprecedented market rout has seen several major players – including Exxon Mobil and Equinor – freeze or reduce dividends. read more

By Laura Hurst: 13 May 2020, 14:10 BST: Updated on 13 May 2020, 16:42 BST

• Company should be in ‘strong position’ to raise distributions
• Finance chief cites potential to revive both dividend, buyback

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it will be well placed to boost shareholder payouts once the oil market recovers, as it sought to appease investors after last month’s surprise dividend cut.

The Anglo-Dutch major tore up the industry’s financial playbook when oil’s collapse forced it to slash payouts. For decades, Big Oil had used its hefty balance sheet to borrow money when needed and keep investors sweet until the next upward cycle. But 2020’s unprecedented market rout has seen several large players — Exxon Mobil Corp. and Equinor ASA as well as Shell — freeze or reduce dividends. read more

Shell wants to be net-zero emissions business by 2050

12 May 2020

Shell aims to be a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, or sooner if possible, as it focuses on its intention to “lead and thrive” through the transition to a low-carbon energy future.

In a recent Responsible Investment Annual Briefing, the company’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, revealed an ambition to be net zero on all the emissions from the manufacture of all Shell products by 2050 at the latest. read more

By Nick Cunningham – May 12, 2020, 7:00 PM CDT

Oil prices continue to rise on the prospect of a rebound in fuel demand as economies begin to reopen.  But there is a large difference between oil demand rising from recent lows and actually growing relative to pre-COVID-19 trends. In other words, demand destruction on the order of nearly 30 million barrels per day (mb/d) may have been brief, but we are a long way from a 100-mb/d oil market.

In fact, some are wondering whether the world will ever get back to 100 mb/d of oil demand. Even oil executives have their doubts. Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden recently suggested that a rebound is unlikely, even looking out beyond 2020. “We do not expect a recovery of oil prices or demand for our products in the medium term,” he said. read more

COVID-19 Resilience Fund: Shell donates $3 million to help communities on the frontlines of the pandemic

Edinburgh, UK – Energy company Royal Dutch Shell (Shell) has announced a gift of $3 million to the global organization Mercy Corps’ COVID-19 Resilience Fund. This critical funding will help Mercy Corps respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will have a disproportionate impact on people who live in the fragile and conflict-affected places around the world.

Mercy Corps’ COVID-19 Resilience Fund will help provide essential aid to people and communities in order to protect themselves against the virus and to meet their basic needs. This includes providing communities with clean water, personal protective equipment (PPE) and cash to buy food for their families. It will also help communities recover economically and build resilience against future shocks. read more

By David Fickling | Bloomberg: May 11, 2020 at 8:09 a.m. GMT+1 There’s one hope for oil market bulls facing into the abyss of the 9.3 million barrels-a-day demand slump from the spread of Covid-19: The aftermath will see a renaissance in car-driving.

“People will use public transport less” because of fears about picking up infection on crowded trains and buses, Cuneyt Kazokoglu, head of oil demand analysis at energy consultancy FGE, wrote in the Financial Times this month. “Increased reliance on cars once the lockdown measures ease will support petrol demand, potentially for years to come.”

There’s an intuitive logic to that proposition, and even signs that it might be backed up by data. Chinese cities are already seeing traffic jams on a par with pre-coronavirus times, according to data from TomTom International BV. With the pandemic still raging, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly petroleum status report has been showing a pick-up in gasoline consumption since its lows last month, though it’s still running 40% below where it was a year ago. read more

Comment posted our article Shell Sells U.S. Appalachia Assets to National Fuel for $541 million

World-class investment case?

Shell apparently paid 4.7 USD billion in 2010 for the Marcellus shale and sells it now for 0.541 USD billion. 

How does this fit in with Shell’s strategy to provide a “world class investment case”? Some investors reacted sheepishly to the dividend haircut as a “sensible choice made by the Board”. Other investors see perhaps deeper underlying issues with Shell’s management choices and delivery performance, triggering calls for a Van Beurden succession plan.

Perhaps they see a longer legacy of poor choices and dud projects. (Shale, drilling in the Arctic, lacklustre exploration success, Prelude, BG acquisition, ….) read more

The petroleum giant is adjusting to falling oil demand, cutting both its dividend and its capital budget

By Dana Blankenhorn, InvestorPlace Contributor May 4, 2020, 5:16 am EDT

The difference between Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) is that Shell knows it’s a zombie, something Exxon refuses to believe. Regardless of whether you trade the Dutch version of Shell stock (NYSE:RDS.A) or the British version (NYSE:RDS.B), you’re buying an fossil fuel company that is now promising to disappear.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden put it this way: “There is an energy transition underway which may even pick up speed in the recovery phase of this crisis and we want to be well positioned for it.” read more