Shell outlines tighter upstream, refining footprint in post-COVID transition plans

• Author Robert Perkins 
• Editor Debiprasad Nayak 
• Commodity Coal,  Natural Gas,  Oil

London — Shell plans to focus its future upstream operations on nine core areas and transform its refining portfolio into six integrated sites which are part of moves to grow its low-carbon businesses and support its cash flows, the major said Oct. 29.

Reporting stronger than expected third-quarter earnings, Shell said it wants to pursue more “value over volume” by simplifying its upstream assets to nine significant core positions; Brazil, Brunei, Gulf of Mexico, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Permian and UK North Sea. It said combined the areas will generate more than 80% of its upstream cash flow from operations. read more

By Alex Kimani – Aug 17, 2020, 7:00 PM CDT

Booms and bust cycles are very much a part of investing in the fossil fuel sector. In previous energy downturns, prices frequently experienced serious slumps, but oil and gas companies mostly kept faith in their biggest asset: Oil and gas reserves buried deep in the ground. But things are markedly different this time around.

Faced with pandemic-driven demand destruction and a relentless call for climate-conscious and ethical investing, oil executives are resigning themselves to the uncomfortable fact that a significant amount of their vast oil and gas reserves will end up totally worthless. read more

POSTING SAT 13 JUNE 2020 ON OUR SHELL BLOG

Money in the pockets?:

“And 8% to 12% currently we don’t even make in our upstream business” BvB… That performance includes the huge over runs on Corrib, Penn Chem, Prelude, multiple other LNG projects, Alaska Fiasco, and many other (not to mention OPL 245).

It is such an embarrassing comparison to ExxonMobil in projects like Liza, which is highly likely to exceed returns Shell is chasing as a utility. Brasil (or Mexico) have the capacity to deliver similar returns to Liza, if there was leadership and strategy for a long term development. read more

By Marcelo Teixeira and Roberto Samora: MARCH 30, 2020

NEW YORK/SAO PAULO, March 30 (Reuters) – Two of Brazil’s largest fuel distributors said on Monday they are cutting the amount of ethanol they will buy from local suppliers to adjust to a slump in demand amid the coronavirus lockdown in Latin America’s largest economy.

Brazil’s number 1 fuel distributor, BR Distribuidora , said it will reduce the amount of ethanol it buys from Brazilian mills to levels that are below the minimum defined in contracts, due to an “atypical situation” created by the COVID-19 pandemic. read more

WHISTLEBLOWER COMMENT POSTED ON OUR SHELL BLOG ON 4 MARCH 2020.  ABOUT A PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 21 OCTOBER 2019

Shell Brasil Announces Agreement with Ecopetrol
Source Press Release
Company Royal Dutch Shell, Ecopetrol
Tags Asset Deals, Deals, Upstream Activities
Story Focus Deals
Date October 21, 2019

Negotiation involves sale of 30% interest in the the Gato do Mato project

Shell Brasil Petroleo Ltda. (“Shell Brasil”) announces it has entered into an agreement with Ecopetrol for the sale of 30% interest in the the Gato do Mato project, a pre-salt gas-condensate discovery that covers two contiguous blocks: BM-S-54 and Sul de Gato do Mato. read more

Nov 14, 2019

Consortium announces oil and gas production start at P-68 FPSO located at BM-S-11-A concession in Berbigão, Sururu, and West Atapu; unit can process up to 150,000 barrels per day.

New, deep-water production has come online from the Brazilian pre-salt Santos Basin. Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. (Shell Brasil) and its consortium partners today announced the start of oil and natural gas production at the P-68 floating production, storage, and offloading unit (FPSO), located in BM-S-11-A Concession in Berbigão, Sururu and West Atapu. read more

NEWS PROVIDED BY Shell: Nov 14, 2019, 16:11 ET

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — New, deep-water production has come online from the Brazilian pre-salt Santos Basin.  Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. (Shell Brasil) and its consortium partners today announced the start of oil and natural gas production at the P-68 floating production, storage, and offloading unit (FPSO), located in BM-S-11A Concession in Berbigão, Sururu and West Atapu.

The FPSO can process up to 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 million cubic meters of natural gas daily. Operated by Petrobras, P-68 features ten producing wells and seven injection wells. read more

Angry Dutch citizens on Thursday will ask their country’s highest court to put an immediate end to gas production in the Groningen region due to the risk of life-endangering earthquakes. read more

Shell’s confirmation that it is expanding the Shearwater hub could lead to further North Sea investment, according to an analyst. The Shearwater platform will serve newly-sanctioned projects like Fram and Arran, as well as the nearby Columbus field. FULL ARTICLE

While it is true that Royal Dutch Shell gave shareholder activists on climate an early Christmas present, agreeing to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 per cent by 2035 and 50 per cent by 2050 ( FT View, December 7), a closer look reveals that the commitment is a cynical game. read more

Worker dies and two more injured at Shell Buenos Aires refinery fire

(SCREENSHOT – NOT A WORKING VIDEO)

16 November 2018

Passing this on from Argentinian colleagues: one worker has died and two more were hospitalised with injuries after a fire at Shell’s Dock Sud refinery near Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Sunday. (Video of fire here.) 

The historic Dock Sud refinery was commissioned in 1931 and last year Shell passed on ownership to its 50% controlled Brazilian subsidiary Raizen. The fire started last Sunday in a sector of the refinery that was closed for repairs, where the three injured workers were soldering. Two were able to escape the fire themselves and the third was discovered by colleagues who began fighting the fire, according to trade union outlet Prensa Obrera. He died in hospital the day after. The story has been reported in a couple of small outlets in Argentina but not anywhere else.

Translated article

TRAGIC FIRE AT SHELL

On Sunday, 11 November, at about 11 am, a fire broke out in the CD3 sector of the Raízen refinery (acquired just a few months ago from the multinational Shell) in Dock sud, Avellaneda party with a tragic balance of a deceased worker and several injured.

During the course of the morning, in the sector HV2 (high vacuum 2) also occurred a fire, in smaller scale, but that seemed to be portent of what would come next.

The episode took place at the plant called CD3, a sector subject to “plant shutdown”, an exercise planned for the restructuring and commissioning of said complex. There they were working on different companies, including Raízen (Shell), Hidrocinetic S.A., Velo S.A. (last two, outsourced under the UOCRA agreement). The fire was caused by the absolute negligence of the employer, responsible for a large number of anomalies and deficiencies in the work processes. read more

Oct 24, 2018

New, deep-water production is underway today at Lula Extreme South in the Brazilian Santos Basin. Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its subsidiary Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. (Shell) and consortium partners, announces that the FPSO P-69 is now producing.

Operated by Petrobras, P-69 is a standardized vessel that can process up to 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 million cubic meters of natural gas daily. It will ramp up production through eight producing and seven injection wells. read more

Ben Marlow, executive business editor: 9 SEPTEMBER 2018 • 8:39PM

Like a pair of mysterious soothsayers, Maarten Wetselaar and John Abbott are peering into the future. The world they see is almost unrecognisable from the one we inhabit today, and yet it is only just around the corner. In the west, the petrol car has become obsolete. Lorries are powered by liquid natural gas. Freight liners criss-cross the oceans fuelled by hydrogen. Solar and wind provide the energy to our homes. And the petrol station has been reimagined as an unlikely retail hotspot where people routinely gather to do their food shopping, pick up parcels, and sip artisan coffee. A convoy of vehicles are being rebooted at one of many charging points on the forecourt. FULL ARTICLE read more

By Zheng Xin | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-23 09:12

Global energy giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc has announced plans to triple the number of gas stations it has in China to 3,500 by 2025, in response to the recent lifting of restrictions on foreign investment in the sector. FULL ARTICLE

REUTERS STAFF: AUGUST 22, 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.AS) Brazil chief said on Wednesday that the company is evaluating the assets of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA’s (ELET6.SA) that are being put up for sale as part of the state-owned utility’s debt reduction and privatization plans. Andre Araujo also told reporters that the company was considering participating in an upcoming Brazilian government auction for projects in the wind energy sector. FULL ARTICLE read more

Shell, Petrobras units probed for Brazil price-fixing

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil’s three largest fuel distribution companies are under investigation for fixing prices at the pump, police said on Tuesday…

Shell to make final investment call on Nigeria oilfield in 2019: official read more

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

Shell is hoisting arch-rival ExxonMobil in the neck

Bert van Dijk • Entrepreneurship: 

A few more weeks and the champagne bottles can be uncorked at Shell headquarters. Then the British-Dutch oil and gas multinational for the first time in decades again greater in terms of market value than arch-rival ExxonMobil. At least, if the current price development at both companies continues at the current rate.

Where Exxon has had to deal with setbacks that have affected production, results and returns in recent years, investors are actually charmed by Shell’s growing cash flow, his lucrative oil and gas projects in the deep sea near the US and Brazil, the big financial discipline and cost savings. Important also: an announced share repurchase of $ 25 billion in the period up to the end of 2020. read more

Shell said that it was selling its downstream business in ­Argentina, which includes 645 petrol stationsMARCOS BRINDICCI/REUTERS

Emily Gosden: April 25. 2018

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to offload its refining and marketing business in Argentina to its Brazilian joint venture for $950 million.

In the latest stage of a $30 billion divestment programme, the Anglo-Dutch energy group said that it was selling its downstream business in Argentina, which includes a refinery in Buenos Aires, 645 petrol stations and operations selling liquefied petroleum gas, marine and aviation fuels. read more