Shell signs up to green deal

Royal Dutch Shell has bought a company that helps Australian farmers to use their land differently to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

The purchase of Select Carbon is the first acquisition by Shell’s “nature-based solutions” business, which was established as part of its push to cut its carbon footprint. The division is focused on investing in projects in forestry, grasslands and other habitats to reduce emissions or capture more carbon from the atmosphere. read more

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Discusses Getting to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050; the Importance of Being “In Step” with Society; the “Knock” on Future Demand and on Maintaining “Financial Resilience” in a Crisis

Ben van Beurden speaks with IHS Markit Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin for the latest CERAWeek Conversations – available at www.ceraweek.com/conversations

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden talks about the company’s pending announcement on an up to $22 billion asset write down; the historic decision to cut what had been the world’s largest dividend for the first time since World War II; getting to net-zero emissions in 2050 and the future makeup of the company in latest edition of CERAWeek Conversations. read more

Shell loyalty scheme ad deemed misleading

Ben Sillitoe News Writer , Essential Retail: Email Ben | Follow @BSillitoe

A radio advert heard in January 2020 relating to the Shell Go+ loyalty scheme must not appear again in the same form, and Shell UK was told it must make it clear claims of carbon offsetting were contingent on membership of a loyalty scheme. Some 17 complainants challenged the ad commentary, “Drive carbon-neutral by filling up and using Shell Go+ today. Make the change. Drive carbon-neutral”.

Shell Go+ is a loyalty scheme to which consumers are required to sign-up and then show their membership card when they make a purchase. In those circumstances the carbon emissions related to that fuel purchase are offset by Shell, but the ASA said there was nothing in the ad suggesting the commentary was related to a loyalty scheme. read more

Coronavirus has dealt the fossil-fuel industry the biggest single blow in its history, and it is clear that 2020’s plummeting demand for oil and gas is no mere flesh wound. The global Covid-19 crisis may have already triggered a terminal decline for big oil.

BP’s decision last week to reset its oil price forecasts for the next three decades was the latest tremor in a seismic shift for the industry. Its forecasts of a $75-a-barrel oil price over the next 30 years were scrapped in favour of an average price of $55. The watershed decision wiped more than $17bn from the value of its business at a stroke… 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

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

Shell, Eni lead oil majors’ climate ambitions but still fall short -investors

* TPI prefers Eni for including third-party fuels, setting absolute carbon reduction target

* TPI says sector’s “net zero” carbon future not substantiated

* More details needed on offsetting, renewables plans

* OMV currently laggard among integrated energy groups

By Shadia Nasralla

LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) – None of the big oil companies currently meet U.N. targets to limit global warming despite the most ambitious targets set by Royal Dutch Shell and Eni , investors managing $19 trillion said on Tuesday. read more

English translation of an article published by the Dutch FT.

Shell surprises investors with a historic decrease in dividend

Bert van Dijk and Saskia Jonker

• Shell is reducing the dividend due to challenging macroeconomic conditions.
• Shell’s dividend has been under pressure for some time.
• Due to sharply declining oil and gas prices and the drop in demand for oil products, net profit decreased 46% to $ 2.9 billion in the past quarter.

It took four board meetings, but then the time had come: oil and gas multinational Shell RDSA cut € 15.48-10.43% for the first time in 80 years in its dividend. “A difficult day for the company,” said Shell CEO Ben van Beurden. ‘No chairman of the board wants this on his track record, but it is wise to do’.

Shell reduces its quarterly dividend by 66% to $ 0.16 per share. It is the first time since World War II that Shell, one of the largest dividend payers in the world, is reducing the dividend. Shell paid $ 15 billion to shareholders last year. read more

Shell sets oil sector’s broadest carbon reduction plans

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday deepened its ambition to battle climate change, setting the oil and gas sector’s broadest plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The new climate goals put the Anglo-Dutch company – at least on paper – ahead of the most progressive of its rivals, including BP and Italy’s Eni.

“Society’s expectations have shifted quickly in the debate around climate change,” Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said in a statement. read more

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 Sarah McFarlane: Updated Feb. 24, 2020 10:33 am ET

Major oil companies are working hard to articulate a vision for their future, but the energy sector’s poor performance shows that many investors aren’t buying it.

Companies including Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC and Total SA have launched plans to turn themselves into lower-carbon businesses. But with low oil prices pressuring the industry’s economics and many investors saying it is too early to know whether the intended transformations will generate significant returns, there is growing skepticism on Wall Street over the… read more

Shell doesn’t intend to “get into an arms race” with peer supermajor BP over goals to reduce its carbon footprint, Maarten Wetselaar, Shell’s Integrated Gas & New Energies Director, told The Times a week after BP joined the pack of oil majors that have set carbon-reducing goals.

In December 2018, in an industry first, Shell said that it plans to set short-term targets for reducing the net carbon footprint of the energy products it sells, and to link those targets with executive remuneration. read more

Friday February 21, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell will not “get into an arms race” with BP over carbon targets, a senior executive has said, in a sign that Europe’s biggest oil group will not rush to match its rival’s “net zero” pledge.

The Anglo-Dutch group was the first oil major to set long-term ambitions related to emissions from customers using its products, pledging in 2017 to halve the intensity of its carbon footprint by 2050.

BP had been seen as a laggard on climate targets but last week Bernard Looney, its new chief executive, leapfrogged rivals with an ambition to eliminate the carbon footprint of all the oil and gas it produces by 2050. read more

By Sam Morgan | EURACTIV.com

Oil and gas giant Shell has plans for a 100-megawatt grid storage battery in the west of England. It is slated to be the biggest battery in Europe once it is completed later this year and will be crucial to the UK’s quest to remain the continent’s top wind power player.

The battery project in the county of Wiltshire aims to store renewable power in two 50MW cells and then sell it to consumers when demand and prices are high.

“Projects like this will be vital for balancing the UK’s electricity demand and supply as wind and solar power play bigger roles in powering our lives,” said Shell Energy Europe vice president David Wells. read more

BP’s new boss set out the boldest climate goal of any major oil company, pledging Wednesday to eliminate almost all of the carbon emissions from BP operations and the fuel it sells to customers.

Bernard Looney, who has been the company’s chief executive for just a week, set an ambitious agenda for what’s becoming an existential challenge for the oil industry. While peers such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Equinor have responded to investor pressure by adopting targets for emissions curbs, none has promised to zero out all emissions from the fossil fuels they pump from the ground. read more