Shell unveils green strategy after oil output peak

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell declared Thursday that its oil output is locked in decline after peaking in 2019 as it outlined green plans to switch away from fossil fuels.

Shell said in a statement that it will invest up to $6.0 billion (4.9 billion euros) per year in green energy projects developing and promoting biofuels, electric car charging and renewables.

More than half the amount could end up being spent on marketing, Shell said.

In addition, Shell plans to still invest $8 billion annually on new oil and gas exploration. read more

Shell’s Strategy Is Satisfactory

Summary

• This article takes a close look at Shell’s Strategy Day 2021, which focused on a net-zero emissions target and the businesses that Shell plans to operate.
• Ultimately, Shell isn’t changing its strategy too much, sticking to its core oil and gas businesses.
• By focusing on oil and gas and value over volume, Shell is a safer bet than BP which is betting big on a risky corporate restructuring.

The purpose of this article is to analyze Shell’s recent and very important Strategy Day. Shell had promised to give a lot of detail on an organizational restructuring at this event and it had the potential to radically change Shell’s direction. This means the Strategy Day presentations had a possibility to change my bullish thesis on the company. In that article I also gave some of my expectations of what I expected to see in Shell’s Strategy Day, and here I review the key takeaways of the Strategy Day and what they mean for my bullish thesis. read more

Editorial: Big oil confronts climate change – not a minute too soon

The Editorial Board: Feb. 13, 2021Updated: Feb. 13, 2021 2:13 p.m.

On Thursday, one of the world’s largest oil companies — Royal Dutch Shell — confirmed it will never again produce as much oil as it did in 2019. Peak oil production at Shell, said CEO Ben van Beurden, has come and gone.

The week before, ExxonMobil had made a similarly telling announcement: It is spending billions on a subsidiary formed to advance technologies to reduce the company’s carbon emissions and develop new products to help its customers do the same. read more

Oil majors suffer massive losses in 2020

At the worst of the crisis the two US oil majors considered another solution according to the Wall Street Journal — a merger that would have created a massive oil firm.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden called 2020 an extraordinary year.

While much of the losses were accounting charges to record the drop in the value of their assets, the drop crude oil prices — which briefly turned negative in 2020 for the first time ever — caused real pain. read more

Massive losses should be a warning to big oil that its bonanza is over

Covid has battered the industry, and the race for renewables is speeding up. We are at a tipping point

Sun 7 Feb 2021 07.00 GMT

The final months of 2020 were a tough end to a tough year, according to BP’s chief executive. But Bernard Looney’s verdict on the worst financial year in the industry’s history is a devastating understatement. It was a period marked by thousands of job cuts, battered dividend policies and record multibillion-dollar losses. read more

Big Oil’s future could be smaller than its past

Paul Takahashi, Staff writer: Feb. 6, 2021

Oil companies have crisscrossed the world for more than a century, drilling on nearly every continent and in ever deeper oceans to prospect for fossil fuels that power the global economy.

While they did, the biggest six or seven companies collectively known as Big Oil reshaped international politics and economies, bending them to their will. Oil executives became statesmen in their own right, negotiating deals with foreign leaders to extract oil from the tar sands of Canada, the deserts of the Middle East, off the coasts of South America and Africa and in the shale formations of the U.S. read more

Debt-laden oil majors retreat amid rally

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday added itself to the growing list of supermajors to post disappointing fourth-quarter results. Like many of its peers, the Anglo-Dutch company reported weak cash flow and net income that fell short of expectations.

The earnings came as an unpleasant surprise to investors that had been expecting a tailwind after crude recovered from last year’s historic lows. But with Covid-19 lockdowns still depressing fuel sales and refining margins, the industry’s focus is on playing defense rather than on taking advantage of a rally that’s pushing Brent crude toward $60 a barrel. read more

BP, Exxon And Shell – Giants Or Dinosaurs In The Making?

IAM Newswire: Thu, February 4, 2021, 4:31 PM

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) kicked off the earnings season last Friday, disappointing Wall Street with its third straight quarterly loss and showing just how brutal the oil price war was.

This week, Exxon Mobile Corporation (NYSE: XOM) and BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP) this Tuesday. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A)(NYSE: RDS-B) took Thursday’s stage and Total (NYSE: TOT) will report on February 9th. read more

Royal Dutch Shell sees huge loss as pandemic hits oil demand

Shell announced that up to 9,000 jobs would go worldwide as the company responded to the effects of the pandemic.

Thu, February 4, 2021, 10:20 AM

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell sank to a net loss of $21.7bn (£16bn) last year after the coronavirus pandemic caused demand to slump.

The announcement comes after two of its rivals, BP and Exxon, posted similar big losses.

Looking ahead, Shell said “significant uncertainty” would continue to have a negative impact on demand for oil and gas products. read more

Shell’s profit slumps in 2020 as the pandemic bites

By Ron Bousso, Shadia Nasralla: 5 MIN READ: FEBRUARY 4, 2021

The Anglo-Dutch oil major’s annual profit slumped 71% to $4.8 billion as its oil and gas production and profits from refining crude into fuels dropped sharply.

In a sign of confidence, however, Shell said it planned to raise its dividend in the first quarter of 2021, which would be the second slight increase since its slashed its payout by two-thirds at the start of last year due to the pandemic. read more

Aviva will use its ‘ultimate sanction’ to force action on global warming

Attracta Mooney: 31 Jan 2021

One of Britain’s top asset managers has warned it will use the “ultimate sanction” and ditch stakes in 30 of the world’s largest oil, gas, mining and utilities companies unless they do more to tackle climate change. Aviva declined to name the companies it is targeting. But it is a big shareholder in many of the world’s largest oil, gas and mining companies, with its holdings worth billions of pounds. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, it is a top 30 shareholder in oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell… read more

Exxon, Shell Face Rating Cuts on Greater Climate Risk, S&P Says

Javier Blas and Laura Hurst: Tue, January 26, 2021, 5:08 PM

(Bloomberg) — Big Oil suffered a fresh setback after one of the most influential rating companies warned it may cut the credit score of Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and a plethora of other major energy companies due to “greater industry risk” associated with climate change.

The move by S&P Global Ratings comes as the oil and gas industry is on the ropes, unloved by equity investors and facing pressure from multiple policy makers after U.S. President Joe Biden put climate change at the center of his agenda. read more

Big Oil hits brakes on search for new fossil fuels

By Ron Bousso: JANUARY 25, 2021

Acquisitions of new onshore and offshore exploration licences for the top five Western energy giants dropped to the lowest in at least five years, data from Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy showed.

The number of exploration licensing rounds dropped last year due to the epidemic while companies including Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and France’s Total also reduced spending, Rystad Energy analyst Palzor Shenga said. read more

Supreme Court questions Big Oil effort to duck liability

During oral arguments in BP PLC v. Baltimore, justices posited that industry lawyers might be leveraging a dispute over a narrow technical question to quash lawsuits by state and local governments contending that energy companies should be on the hook for flooding, wildfires and other disasters fueled by rising global temperatures.

“It seems as though we are smuggling into appellate review other issues that are not necessarily the issues that are front and center of the federal law concerned,” Justice Clarence Thomas said to a government attorney arguing alongside lawyers for BP, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and other companies in the lawsuit. read more

Conclusion: I Regard Shell As Uninvestable

Shell: What It Will Take To Be Investible Again

Summary

• Shell’s dividend cut and unpredictability last year cost it a lot of shareholder confidence.
• I outline three metrics I think show whether it’s investable again.
• On all three metrics, I continue to see it as uninvestable with confidence.

U.K.-based oil major Shell (RDS.A, OTCPK:RYDAF) didn’t have a great time of it last year when it came to shareholder relations. With its mammoth dividend cut and poor signaling thereof before it was made, a lot of shareholders ditched the holding. I sold my entire stake and reinvested the proceeds in more Exxon Mobil (XOM).

Below, I outline what I think are the key challenges to Shell being investable at this point. read more

Justice Amy Coney Barrett to hear climate lawsuit against Shell – despite accusations of conflict of interest

Despite her father’s long career at Shell, Justice Barrett is due to hear arguments in a case brought against the oil giant by the city of Baltimore next week, writes senior climate correspondent Louise Boyle: 16 JAN 2021

Trump’s Supreme Court appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is set to hear legal arguments in a climate lawsuit against Shell next week amid conflict-of-interest accusations due to her father’s 30-year legal career at the oil giant. read more