Royal Dutch Shell: Energy Transition Woes

• Poor messaging from management, as well as an ill-prepared balance sheet caused in part by buybacks, has caused the European major a lot of pain.
• Arguably, senior executives deserve to be shown the door. But even if that happens, expect the pivot away from fossil fuels to continue.
• Is the move into Power and other “Green Energy” assets the right move? Maybe, maybe not.
• This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my private investing community, Energy Income Authority. Get started today »

I often get asked why I don’t cover the supermajors all that often on Seeking Alpha. The answer comes down to a rather simple reality: time invested versus potential gain. Anyone that has followed my long / short book knows that whatever I take a stake in, I know inside out. Quite frankly, the sprawling operations of most majors coupled with competing against institutionals that have enough research analysts on the payroll to pack a local gymnasium makes it a losing proposition – or at least in my view. read more

The international oil giant will cut about 40pc of overheads including staff…

Shell cuts back on fracking to fund renewable energy drive

The oil giant is seeking to free up investment for early-stage carbon capture and hydrogen projects

Falling oil and gas prices due to the pandemic have taken the shine off many assets and triggered heavy write-downs.

By Rachel Millard: 19 September 2020 • 9:30pm

Shell is making deep cuts in its fracking business as it tries to free up cash to cope with the pandemic and invest in renewable energy. read more

Malabu Oil Deal: Canadian judge dismisses suit challenging Nigeria’s grounding of Etete’s jet

September 4, 2020: Oladeinde Olawoyin

A Canadian judge on Thursday dismissed an application seeking leave to appeal the judgement that confirmed the grounding of a luxury private jet purchased by a former Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete, with some of the alleged proceeds of the controversial $1.3 billion Malabu OPL245 oil deal.

The suit was filed before the court by Tibit Limited, an anonymously owned company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), claiming ownership of the jet. read more

Shell Explores Sale of a Norwegian Natural Gas Business

Its shares are down 48% this year, giving the company a market value of around $115 billion.

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it’s considering a sale of a Norwegian natural gas supplier, as the energy major continues to selectively dispose of assets.

The company is exploring a disposal of its Gasnor unit, a spokesperson confirmed in response to Bloomberg queries. Shell has approached infrastructure funds and private equity firms about a deal, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified as discussions are private. 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

Aust 11, 2020

Employee fired for discussions with subordinate on conflict of interest and investigation, but conduct didn’t breach policies: Alberta court

A former Shell executive has won $800,000 after the oil company wrongfully dismissed her on trumped-up charges of breaching its conflict-of-interest policy and investigation processes.

SOURCE (PAYWALL)

EXCLUSIVE: Malabu Scandal: Nigeria grounds Dan Etete’s $57million jet in Canada

Nigeria has tracked down and grounded the luxury private jet purchased by its former oil minister, Dan Etete, with some of the alleged proceeds of the notorious $1.3 billion Malabu OPL245 oil deal.

Asset recovery lawyers acting for the Nigerian government swooped last week after the Bombardier 6000 jet, tail number M-MYNA, touched down at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport in Canada on Friday evening (29 May). 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

According to Shell Canada, free beverages and sandwiches are being offered to every healthcare professional that visits any of the 450 participating Shell service stations across Canada.

Locally, the Shell service stations in Fort St. John, on 100 Street and 96A Street, and in Dawson Creek, on 8th Street, will be taking part in the offer.

Shell says healthcare professionals include EMT staff, nurses and doctors, and can be identified by a uniform or badge, and each personnel will be limited to one offer per visit. read more

There’s a ton of awesome food and beverage promotions happening across the country for our local superheroes (AKA frontline medical staff).

One more recent deal comes to us from Shell, as the company announced it’s currently offering free sandwiches and drinks to healthcare professionals at participating gas stations across Canada.

All the frontline medical staff need to do is show their healthcare ID at participating stores, and the deal is done.

By Carl Meyer | News, Energy, Politics | March 4th 2020

A disputed environmental claim publicized by the fossil fuel firms backing a $40-billion liquefied natural gas project in B.C. can be traced back to a lifelong industry insider, who cautioned in interviews that his underlying calculations are “theoretical.”

Rob Seeley has been held up as an independent consultant who has demonstrated the green bona fides of natural gas coming from the proposed B.C. project, LNG Canada. The Coastal GasLink pipeline being built through unceded Wet’suwet’en Nation territory is meant to transport fracked gas to this terminal, where it would be liquefied, loaded onto ships and exported to Asia. read more

By Nick Cunningham – Feb 15, 2020, 2:00 PM CST

Protests continue to swell over the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, a long-distance pipeline carrying natural gas from Alberta to the Pacific Coast.

The pipeline’s route would travel more than 400 miles to the coast at Kitimat, British Columbia, where it intends to deliver gas to a massive LNG export project, under construction by a joint venture led by Royal Dutch Shell.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) began arresting indigenous peoples on their territory earlier this month. “Forcing indigenous peoples off their own territory is in complete and disgusting violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs said in early February. read more

Shell must grapple with its own existential crisis: How should a company that generates most of its profits by serving the world’s enormous appetite for oil navigate a long-term future in which shifting political and economic tides threaten to make fossil fuels obsolete?

BY JUSTIN WORLAND

A peculiar theme park in the Hague celebrates the history of the Netherlands through a series of miniature models. The Madurodam features little canals, old-fashioned windmills, tiny tulips and, amid it all, an homage to Royal Dutch Shell, the oil giant that is the biggest company in the country and, by revenue, the second largest publicly traded oil-and-gas company in the world. There’s a Shell drilling platform, a Shell gas station and a Shell natural-gas field, complete with a drilling rig. The display is at once odd–energy infrastructure in a children’s theme park–and entirely fitting: Shell has been, for decades, one of the most powerful players both in Dutch politics and on the global economic stage. read more

LNG Canada, which is also under construction, is said to be the largest private sector investment in Canadian history, with a price tag of around $40 billion and is being developed by a Royal Dutch Shell-led consortium.

Canada’s multi-billion LNG Canada project is facing fresh trouble, as work on a key artery linking the export facility near Kitimat, B.C. to natural gas resources in Dawson Creek area is being halted by First Nations groups.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, representing all five clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, said over the weekend that they issued an eviction notice to the Coastal GasLink pipeline company, which is building the $6.6 billion project.

LNG Canada, which is also under construction, is said to be the largest private sector investment in Canadian history, with a price tag of around $40 billion and is being developed by a Royal Dutch Shell-led consortium. The project will export Canadian natural gas to Asian markets. read more

Shell pledges to stay in Canada, top exec says

Nov. 14, 2019 12:29 PM ET|About: Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A)| By Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A -0.4%) is staying in Canada even as others pull up stakes, Shell Canada head Michael Crothers tells Bloomberg.

Shell’s future in the country is largely as a natural gas producer and exporter focused on the US$30B LNG Canada project, though the company also is committed to its local chemicals and retail businesses, Crothers says.

Aside from LNG Canada – which is 40%-owned by Shell – and the Groundbirch gas production complex in British Columbia that will partly supply it, the company has some light oil production, the Scotford refinery, two chemicals plants and a carbon capture facility in Alberta, plus the Sarnia refinery and a lubricants plant in Ontario.

Shell also still owns a 10% stake in the Athabasca oil sands after selling most of its holdings in 2017; Crothers says the company has no plans to sell the rest because it is a core asset which provides feedstock for the Scotford complex. read more

Emily Gosden, Energy Editor

September 6 2019, 12:01am, The Times

About $50 billion of projects approved by oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell and BP within the past year will fail to deliver economic returns if the world meets the Paris climate goals, according to new analysis.

Shell’s huge Canadian liquefied natural gas project, approved last October, and BP’s latest Azerbaijan oil development, approved in April, are among projects that risk becoming “stranded assets”, according to Carbon Tracker, a not-for-profit think tank, which aims to “align capital markets with climate reality”. read more