Royal Dutch Shell Consortium To Receive $2.4B For Carbon Capture Project – Report

[email protected] (Ben Mahaney): Mon, May 10, 2021, 1:39 PM

According to Dutch broadcaster NOS, the Dutch government will grant Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and its group about $2.4 billion in subsidies for a climate change project.

In January, Shell, Exxon (XOM), Air Liquide, and Air Products sought the government’s support for their project to reduce the Netherlands’ carbon footprint. The project encompasses capturing and storing carbon dioxide from industrial operations in the Rotterdam port area instead of letting it go into the atmosphere. The government has granted their request. read more

Big Oil Is In Desperate Need Of New Discoveries

By Alex Kimani – May 10, 2021, 2:00 PM CDT

The year 2020 was a watershed moment for the fossil fuel sector. Faced with a global pandemic, severe demand shocks and a shift towards renewable energy, experts warned that nearly $900 billion worth of reserves–or about one-third of the value of big oil and gas companies–were at risk of becoming worthless.

Even Big Oil mostly appeared resigned to its fate, with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) CEO Ben van Beurden declaring that we had already hit peak oil demand while BP Plc. (NYSE:BP)—a company that doubled down on its aggressive drilling right after the historic 2015 UN Climate Change Agreement--finally gave in saying “..concerns about carbon emissions and climate change mean that it is increasingly unlikely that the world’s reserves of oil will ever be exhausted.” BP went on to announce one of the largest asset writedowns of any oil major after slashing up to $17.5 billion off the value of its assets and conceded that it “expects the pandemic to hasten the shift away from fossil fuels.” read more

Methodist Church dumps Shell over ‘inadequate’ climate plans

Attracta Mooney and Anjli Raval

The Methodist Church has sold out of Royal Dutch Shell over the oil major’s “inadequate” response to climate change, weeks before a shareholder vote on the company’s energy transition plans.

Epworth Investment Management, which is owned by the Methodist Church and oversees its investments, told the Financial Times it had sold almost £21m in shares because Shell’s plans were not aligned with the 2015 Paris accord. “The patience of the Church has run out… read more

New York city sues Exxon, Shell, BP for false advertising on pollution

Issued on: 22/04/2021 – 22:04

New York (AFP)

New York city filed suit on Thursday against major oil corporations Exxon, Shell and BP for misleading consumers about the role their products play in climate change.

The lawsuit alleges the companies were “systematically and intentionally deceiving New Yorkers” about the “disastrous impacts” of fossil fuels.

The city seeks to stop the companies and the American Petroleum Institute from this “greenwashing” and to seek financial penalties. read more

Oil supermajors’ mega-bet on natural gas

Is the least grubby hydrocarbon a bridge fuel to a greener future, or a trap?

Energy companies have no seat at the climate high table convened by President Joe Biden on April 22nd and 23rd, to which he has invited 40 other world leaders to discuss how to speed up the shift from dirty energy. From the sidelines, coal firms will scowl at efforts to curb demand in Asia and oil drillers will wince at support for electric cars. Watching particularly closely will be those companies which have bet big on natural gas. As the energy transition gathers momentum, no fuel’s future is hazier than that of the least grubby hydrocarbon. read more

City argues deceptive trade practices and greenwashing violate City’s Consumer Protection Law 

NEW YORK —Today, on Earth Day, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Corporation Counsel James E. Johnson announced the filing of a lawsuit against Exxon, Shell, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute for violating New York City’s Consumer Protection Law through false advertising and deceptive trade practices.

“Our children deserve to live in a world free from climate change, and we must do everything in our power to give them hope and stop climate change in its tracks,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “That means taking on some of the biggest polluting corporations for false advertising and greenwashing, in direct violation of our Consumer Protection Laws. My Earth Day message to Big Oil: See you in court.” read more

Oil And Coal Firms Guilty Of ‘Great Deception’ Through Greenwashing, Say Climate Lawyers

A team of U.K. lawyers today released what they say is new evidence showing that the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies are systematically “greenwashing” their image to make the public believe they are taking concrete steps to combat climate change. In reality, the lawyers say, the firms are committed to increasing the sale of fossil fuels, which will inevitably generate more greenhouse gas emissions. read more

Shell, Exxon Look to Profit From Capturing Customers’ Carbon Emissions

Big oil companies are exploring charging for carbon storage, hoping to benefit from the drive to reduce emissions

By Sarah McFarlane: April 19, 2021 5:30 am ET

Oil companies have for decades made money by extracting carbon from the ground. Now they are trying to make money putting it back.

Energy giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are pushing carbon capture and storage—where carbon is gathered and buried underground—as part of a drive to reduce both their own and their customers’ emissions. Executives say the service could become a new source of income when the industry is grappling with how to adapt to a lower-carbon economy. read more

Shell to Let Shareholders Vote on Shift to Cleaner Energy

By Sarah McFarlane: April 15, 2021 9:05 am ET

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC detailed a first-of-a-kind shareholder vote over its pivot away from oil, asking investors to endorse its energy transition strategy in a nonbinding vote next month.

While environmental groups have long put forward climate-related resolutions at annual shareholder meetings, Shell’s move is the first by an oil major to set up a regular review of its progress in moving away from oil. read more

By John Donovan

On 1st April 2021, I sent the email printed below to Royal Dutch Shell PLC Chief Executive Mr Ben van Beurden and to his legal director, Mr Donny Ching.

It contained serious allegations by a credible whistleblower about Shell’s alleged corrupt activities in Iraq in collusion with the Iranian regime.

I invited Shell to comment. Shell chose not to do so.

Shell also had time to obtain a legal injunction to prevent publication.

Shell chose not to do so.

Shell could have requested more time to investigate. read more

Zik Gbemre: ON HOW TO REVAMP NIGERIA’S UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM OIL & GAS SECTOR

3 APRIL 2021

With recent reports that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved a whopping $1.5 billion to rehabilitate the epileptic Port Harcourt refinery, I consider it a national tragedy and a shame of a nation that Nigeria, despite its over fifty decades of oil and gas exploration and production activities, has been exporting its hugely produced crude oil and natural gas at commercial quantity and then import ‘refined petroleum products’ at higher costs to satisfy domestic demands. The said move, according to the government, is to ensure that the obsolete Port-Harcourt refinery, which last benefitted from a Turn-Around Maintenance (TAM) work in 2000, comes back to life, while also supposedly contributing to the development of Nigeria’s oil sector. read more

Shell Plans To Double Down On Strengths As A Retailer In New Net-Zero World

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050, unveiled last month, focuses heavily on selling low-carbon electricity, biofuels and hydrogen directly to households and electric vehicle owners.

The strategy marks a contrast with that of other European oil majors, who in their own plans to reach net-zero emissions have vowed to accumulate vast amounts of renewable power generation capacity in the form of wind and solar assets. read more

Shell has written down the value of some of its gas assets, including its Queensland Curtis project in Australia.

As the Shift to Green Energy Speeds Up, Shell’s Big Natural-Gas Bet Is at Risk. The fuel faces growing environmental scrutiny and competition from cleaner energy sources

By Sarah McFarlane: March 27, 2021 5:30 am ET

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC bet big on natural gas as the energy source of the future when it bought BG Group for $54 billion. Five years later, it appears the gas era won’t last long. read more

No evidence of NAM criminal intent in Groningen gas scandal, public prosecutor says

MARCH 26, 2021

The public prosecution department said on Friday it had not found evidence that the lives of people living in parts of Groningen hit by subsidence-related earthquakes were actually at risk.

And despite an ‘intensive investigation’ there is no evidence that NAM, the company charged with extracting natural gas from under the province, had acted in a ‘deliberately criminal way’, the department said in a statement. read more

Oil titans vow climate collaboration with White House

Chief executives of some of the largest U.S. oil companies promised to collaborate with the Biden administration in its campaign against climate change during a meeting Monday with White House National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy.

The oil industry leaders pledged support for federal regulations explicitly limiting emissions of methane from wells and other oilfield equipment — a declaration that dovetails with President Joe Biden’s vow to clamp down on leaks of the potent greenhouse gas. read more

How the Oil Lobby Learned to Love Carbon Taxes

The American Petroleum Institute may come out in favor of a carbon price, a sign of Washington’s dramatic move toward climate-friendly policy.

By Jennifer A Dlouhy and Leslie Kaufman: 4 March 2021, 07:00 GMT

Few saw the surprise disclosure earlier this week that the American Petroleum Institute is considering endorsing a price on carbon dioxide emissions and thought the fierce fossil fuel lobby was suddenly becoming climate-friendly. Rather, seasoned industry-watchers say it’s the clearest sign yet that fossil fuel companies see Washington’s shift on climate policy as a real and significant threat. read more