Posts under ‘Environment’

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

Big Oil’s Investment Risk Is Spiking

By David Messler – Jul 07, 2020, 5:00 PM CDT

The major integrated oil companies: Shell,(NYSE:RDS.A, RDS.B); ExxonMobil, (NYSE:XOM); BP, (NYSE:BP); Chevron, (NYSE:CVX), and a few others, so named for their vertical stewardship of the hydrocarbon molecule from initial extraction to final refining, have come under increasingly accurate fire from climate change advocates. In the past organizations like Greenpeace and a host of other conservation organizations, have used direct measures to interdict oil company operations. Measures that were flashy, as they drew a lot of attention from the global press, but over the long haul did little to achieve their goals of stopping oil and gas exploration. read more

Ron Bousso: JULY 7, 2020

LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s top oil and gas companies locked in cheap borrowing rates to raise a record amount of debt in the second quarter of 2020 and boost cash reserves as a buffer against a collapse in revenues because of COVID-19.

The dash for debt piles pressure on company balance sheets and the issue is particularly acute for BP (BP.L) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L). Already burdened by high levels of borrowing, they also face the disruption of a major shift towards renewables and low-carbon. read more

English translation of an article published today by the FD.

“I don’t want to survive this pandemic with a company that is no longer capable of anything”

Bert van Dijk

The corona crisis is forcing Shell to restructure the company. At the same time, CEO Ben van Beurden must chart the course for a low-carbon future. What choices does he make and why can’t things go a bit faster? “We cannot organize ourselves anti-economically. We don’t have that mandate.”

Ceo Ben van Beurden leads Shell from home during the corona crisis. ‘The good thing about this period is that you can help with homework.’ Photo: David van Dam for FD

In brief

• Shell CEO Ben van Beurden has to guide the oil and gas multinational through various storms.
• In a long conversation with the FD, he explains why he couldn’t help but decrease the dividend.
• He also outlines the dilemma of developing new revenue models, while the old revenue model cannot be immediately discarded.

Last week, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden reduced the value of Shell’s assets by nearly $ 20 billion last week. The massive write-off is necessary because the corona pandemic has hit the global demand for oil and gas heavily and uncertainty about the future has increased. read more

Reuters: Reporting by Matthew Green in London, Valerie Volcovici in Washington and Emma Farge in Geneva; Editing by Katy Daigle and Lisa Shumaker: JULY 3, 2020

LONDON/WASHINGTON/GENEVA (Reuters) – Climate change may be having its day in court.

With the slow pace of international climate negotiations, lawyers from Switzerland to San Francisco are increasingly filing lawsuits demanding action.

And they are getting creative — using new legal arguments to challenge companies and governments before a judge. read more

Bank supervisor Johnson Banigo avoids wearing light-colored shirts to his job because they’re ruined by the dark soot that falls from the heavens.

Banigo, 34, lives and works in Port Harcourt, the center of Nigeria’s petroleum industry where the evening sky literally glows with gas flares. Half a century of oil spills has left a 27,000 square-mile region of swamps, creeks and mangrove forests in southeastern Nigeria one of the most polluted places on earth. Life expectancy is just 41 years. read more

The pandemic has now forced both of the U.K.’s oil majors to slash the value of their assets by billions of dollars. This is more than just an accounting issue for BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. In the real world, it makes it even harder for them to meet targets for cutting leverage — targets they were already straining to hit.

Shell said on Tuesday it would take a $15 billion to $22 billion post-tax impairment charge after cutting its long-term view on oil and gas prices. BP warned earlier in June of potentially $18 billion in impairments. read more

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc will write down between $15 billion and $22 billion in the second quarter, as the company gave investors a wider glimpse of just how severely the coronavirus crisis has hit Big Oil.

The pandemic left no part of the energy giant’s sprawling business unscathed. Oil production slowed, fuel sales fell and shipments of everything from liquefied natural gas to petrochemicals suffered.

The dire second quarter also threatened to have a lasting legacy, as reductions in long-term price forecasts will force writedowns on the value of assets all over the world, with its integrated gas business taking the biggest hit. read more

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday it would write off assets worth up to $22 billion after the coronavirus crisis knocked oil and gas demand and weakened the energy price outlook.

The Anglo-Dutch company has already been preparing a major overhaul after CEO Ben van Beurden laid out plans in April to reduce Shell’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Global travel restrictions to prevent the virus spreading affected more than 4 billion people at one point, taking cars off the roads and grounding planes, driving down fuel demand. read more

James Osborne: JUNE 25, 2020

WASHINGTON – The District of Columbia sued Exxon Mobil and other large oil companies Thursday over their contribution to climate change, adding the nation’s capitol to a growing list of states seeking to punish the oil sector for its history of climate denial.

At a time large oil companies are increasingly vocal about the need to address climate change, the suit tackles a long period when despite warnings from their own scientists oil executives openly questioned claims greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels were warming the planet. read more

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Marguerita Choy: JUNE 25, 2020

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The attorney general for the District of Columbia on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp , BP Plc, Chevron Corp, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc for “systematically and intentionally misleading” consumers about the role their products play in causing climate change, the latest action by a U.S. attorney general against the oil and gas industry.

The lawsuit brought by Attorney General Karl Racine comes a day after Minnesota AG Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against the American Petroleum Institute, Exxon Mobil and Koch Industries for violating state laws barring consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false advertising. read more

Royal Dutch Shell is preparing to overhaul its structure in response to low oil prices and to position itself for a greener future.

Ben van Beurden, 62, chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch energy group, warned employees in an internal video that jobs would be lost in the restructuring, but declined to give any numbers.

A source told the Reuters news agency that Shell would “announce the new shape of the organisation by the end of the year”, with the changes not taking effect until 2021. read more

Oil supermajor Shell plans to announce by the end of the year a significant restructuring to reflect its net-zero emissions goal for 2050 and to align itself with a green recovery from the pandemic, a Shell source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden has told employees in an internal website video that there would be restructuring and job cuts, sources who saw the video told Reuters.

Shell’s official website has posted a video message from van Beurden, who says that “[S]ociety must remain focused on the longer-term challenge of climate change. Because it hasn’t gone away. It still needs urgent action. Shell has a big part to play.” read more

By John Donovan

Successive Royal Dutch Shell CEO’s cannot say that they were not warned time and again in chilling terms about the Prelude “experiment”, the description used in a Forbes article published today.

The links below are to a series of articles, initially triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell, the retired distinguished Shell Global Safety Consultant and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects. read more

A series of recent events highlight the challenge Shell has ahead of it with Prelude, and plans for sister vessels which are supposed to follow.

“Over the coming months we will go through a comprehensive review of the company. Where appropriate we will redesign our organization to adapt to a different future…”

LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell will announce a major restructuring by the end of the year as the energy company prepares to accelerate its shift towards low-carbon, CEO Ben van Beurden told employees according to a company source.

In a video interview published on Shell’s internal website, van Beurden said that the restructuring would involve job cuts as part of broad cost reductions, although no figures have been decided yet, according to sources who saw the interview. read more