Supreme Court questions Big Oil effort to duck liability

During oral arguments in BP PLC v. Baltimore, justices posited that industry lawyers might be leveraging a dispute over a narrow technical question to quash lawsuits by state and local governments contending that energy companies should be on the hook for flooding, wildfires and other disasters fueled by rising global temperatures.

“It seems as though we are smuggling into appellate review other issues that are not necessarily the issues that are front and center of the federal law concerned,” Justice Clarence Thomas said to a government attorney arguing alongside lawyers for BP, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and other companies in the lawsuit. read more

Conclusion: I Regard Shell As Uninvestable

Shell: What It Will Take To Be Investible Again

Summary

• Shell’s dividend cut and unpredictability last year cost it a lot of shareholder confidence.
• I outline three metrics I think show whether it’s investable again.
• On all three metrics, I continue to see it as uninvestable with confidence.

U.K.-based oil major Shell (RDS.A, OTCPK:RYDAF) didn’t have a great time of it last year when it came to shareholder relations. With its mammoth dividend cut and poor signaling thereof before it was made, a lot of shareholders ditched the holding. I sold my entire stake and reinvested the proceeds in more Exxon Mobil (XOM).

Below, I outline what I think are the key challenges to Shell being investable at this point. read more

Justice Amy Coney Barrett to hear climate lawsuit against Shell – despite accusations of conflict of interest

Despite her father’s long career at Shell, Justice Barrett is due to hear arguments in a case brought against the oil giant by the city of Baltimore next week, writes senior climate correspondent Louise Boyle: 16 JAN 2021

Trump’s Supreme Court appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is set to hear legal arguments in a climate lawsuit against Shell next week amid conflict-of-interest accusations due to her father’s 30-year legal career at the oil giant. read more

Oil giant Shell to axe 330 UK jobs due to covid restrictions – with thousands more to follow

The move forms part of 9,000 jobs set to be axed across the business over the next two years following a collapse in demand for oil due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic

• 13:31, 12 JAN 2021
• UPDATED14:45, 12 JAN 2021

As well as cutting costs, Shell says it wants to be a net-zero emissions energy company by 2050

Shell is preparing to cut 330 UK jobs over the next two years as coronavirus continues to hit profits.

The oil giant said it plans to shed a quarter of its workforce in Aberdeen by December 2022. read more

2020 Was One of the Worst-Ever Years for Oil Write-Downs

Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude floating facility has struggled to deliver income. PHOTO: ROYAL DUTCH SHELL AUSTRALIA/REUTERS

By Collin Eaton and Sarah McFarlane: Dec. 27, 2020 9:00 am ET

The pandemic has triggered the largest revision to the value of the oil industry’s assets in at least a decade, as companies sour on costly projects amid the prospect of low prices for years.

Oil-and-gas companies in North America and Europe wrote down roughly $145 billion combined in the first three quarters of 2020, the most for that nine-month period since at least 2010, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. That total significantly surpassed write-downs taken over the same periods in 2015 and 2016, during the last oil bust, and is equivalent to roughly 10% of the companies’ collective market value. read more

New York Becomes The First State To Divest From Oil And Gas

09/12/2020 13:10 GMT | Updated 09/12/2020 14:54 GMT

The Empire State’s pension fund is the largest to dump fossil fuel investments ― ever, in the entire world.

New York state announced plans on Wednesday to eject oil and gas stocks from its $226 billion financial portfolio, becoming the first U.S. state and the biggest pension fund anywhere to divest from fossil fuels.

By 2025, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which disburses some $1 billion in benefits to retirees each year, will sell off its “riskiest” oil and gas stocks, following a review. The state aims to completely eliminate carbon polluters from its portfolio by 2040. read more

Special Report: How oil majors shift billions in profits to island tax havens

Shell and other oil majors are avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes in countries where they drill by shifting profits to thinly staffed insurance and finance affiliates based in tax havens… Shell denied that its arrangements constituted tax avoidance… Shell booked $1.3 billion in 2018 and 2019 profits through Bermuda-based banking and insurance subsidiaries that together employed three people… read more

Javier Ferrandis: Follow: Researcher: Published December 8, 2020

Extracts from an extensive article by former Shell Petroleum Economist Javier Ferrandis:

The CARLYLE-MUBADALA ALLIANCE: A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR OIL AND GAS BRIBERY

Information about the nine-year period Javier Ferrandis spent at Shell can be found at the foot of this article.

I would argue in this article that the overvalued and questionable purchase of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala owned CEPSA by the Carlyle group in 2019 was part of a USA government-sponsored bribery operation connected to the transfer of large Oil & Gas concessions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into the hands of Chinese National Oil Companies and other oil companies based in countries that collaborated with the 1MDB operation and that happen to be main recipients of UAE crude oil exports. The timing of the 1MDB operation and specifically the purchase of Coastal Energy by Abu-Dhabi owned CEPSA and the 1MDB Chinese middleman Jho Low was chosen to coincide exactly with the historic expiration of the 75 years old Abu-Dhabi oil concessions. read more

Big carbon? Oil majors turn to nature to help plug revenue gap

By Shadia Nasralla:DECEMBER 8, 20205:06 AM

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil companies such as BP and Shell are nurturing nature as a future revenue stream, betting on an expected rise in carbon credit prices as their fossil fuel profits ebb.

European oil majors say investing in projects to create more credits is simply good business, offering new revenue streams at a time when oil prices have collapsed and appetite for new exploration evaporates. read more

POSTING ON OUR SHELL BLOG: 2020/12/06 at 10:26 pm (UPDATED WITH RESPONSE FROM “LONDONLAD”)

Escaped from C16Atraz

There are many parallels to be drawn between Shell and the one unbeatable Manchester United. Both are now mid table. Weak manager, senior players who are arrogant and only play for money, and have got rid of their most hard working players. Shell better get used to mediocrity. It doesn’t care at all about climate change but Van Beurden will no doubt continue to sell more of the crown jewels to greenwash its reputation like the loony who heads BP. read more

The new black gold? Big Oil bets on retail networks in an electric era

Subway and McDonald’s, the world’s two biggest food chains, both have fewer outlets than Shell… Shell’s retail division, known as “marketing”… has the world’s biggest network of filling stations…45,000 retail sites over more than 80 countries…Shell plans to expand its retail network by more than 20% to 55,000 sites worldwide by 2025

Ron Bousso: 3 December 2020 read more

Shell is undergoing a major restructuring which will also result in thousands of job losses.

Green Is Good for Power Traders Chasing $430 Billion Market

Lars Paulsson, Rachel Morison, and Jesper Starn: Published: Nov 22 2020, 10:30 AM: Last Updated:  Nov 22 2020, 1:53 PM

Extracts

Stricter climate targets are spurring investments in wind turbines, solar panels and battery systems, with Bloomberg Intelligence estimating the market may almost double in size in the next 10 years. With the European Union, U.K. and other governments increasingly turning their backs on fossil fuels, companies steeped in that business are looking over the horizon and seeing a new age of electricity. read more

Oil Majors Are Paying The Price For Investing In Renewables

By Alex Kimani – Nov 19, 2020, 7:00 PM CST

Big Oil has been frequently lambasted for trying to burnish its green credentials through half-hearted investments in renewables. That might have been true for much of the past decade, but it appears to be changing as the oil and gas majors have started putting down big money into clean energy. For instance, European oil majors including BP Plc. (NYSE:BP), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A), Eni SpA (NYSE:E), Total SA (NYSE:TOT), and Norwegian national oil company Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) have already invested billions of dollars in renewable energy and made big clean energy commitments.Yet, Big Oil just can’t seem to catch a break, with stocks of oil and gas companies that are investing heavily in renewables being punished by the markets. read more

Will Shell’s share price ever recover?

Edward Sheldon, CFA: Tue, 10 November 2020, 7:22 am GMT·

It’s fair to say 2020 has been a challenging year for Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB) investors. As a result of Covid-19, and the subsequent drop in demand for oil, Shell’s share price has plummeted. Year to date, shares in the FTSE 100 oil major are down about 50%.

Can Shell’s share price recover? I think it’s possible. That said, there are a few things that need to happen for the FTSE 100 oil stock to rebound. read more

‘Greenwashing’ and ‘dirty tricks’: Shell sparks fierce backlash with emissions tweet

AOC and Greta Thunberg lead criticism of multinational fossil fuel firm

Her tweet refers to executives at Shell who have publicly admitted they knew decades ago that burning fossil fuels would cause the planet to warm. Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said in a Time magazine interview this year: “Yeah, we knew. Everybody knew.”

Harry Cockburn: 03 Oct 2020

Multinational oil and gas company Shell – the second-largest investor-owned company in the world – is no stranger to the criticisms and concerns of the environmental movement, but this week, the energy giant inspired fresh anger with a tweet asking how people were reducing their emissions. read more

Outlook darkens for North Sea oil and gas industry

TWO oil and gas majors provided votes of confidence in the North Sea last week but these may only provide cold comfort as the outlook for the sector gets ever bleaker.

On Tuesday BP underlined its belief in the exploration potential of the North Sea as it announced that it had returned to profit in the third quarter.

The giant included its successful bid for new North Sea exploration licences in a list of highlights for the three months to 30 September. read more