While oil grabs most of the headlines, Shell’s ambitions in Brazil extend far beyond offshore drilling rigs and deep-water crude.
This week, fresh news reports from Investing.com, Yahoo Finance and other financial outlets have highlighted renewed focus on Raízen, the giant Brazilian biofuels company jointly controlled by Shell and the Brazilian conglomerate Cosan.
The message from Shell appears clear: even as it expands oil production in Brazil’s offshore pre-salt fields, the company is also reinforcing its position in one of the world’s largest ethanol and bioenergy businesses.
In other words, Shell wants to sell you both the fossil fuel and the plant-based alternative.
While politicians talk endlessly about climate targets and energy transitions, the oil industry tends to operate on a much simpler principle: 
Shell’s Jungle Cat Pounces: 370 Million Barrels of Oil, and a Big Middle Finger to the Climate. 
Ah, Shell and ExxonMobil—the undisputed kings of environmental devastation—are back at it again! This time, they’re teaming up with Petrobras, Brazil’s state-run oil giant, to grace Africa with their toxic touch. Yes, because what Africa really needs right now is more foreign oil companies swooping in to exploit its natural resources. It’s like watching vultures circle a dying animal, except the animal is the entire planet.
Ah, Shell. The same company that has perfected the art of environmental destruction, employee exploitation, and moral bankruptcy now wants us all to get excited about its shiny new biofuels project in Brazil. Because, apparently, nothing says “we care about the planet” like an oil giant boasting about squeezing a few more drops of ethanol out of sugarcane while continuing to plunder the earth’s resources.
If you worked for Shell in the 1990s or early 2000s, and have any information to share on Todd Staheli and his career – in Brazil, Ukraine, London, Saudi Arabia, Houston and elsewhere – please contact me at 
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