Forbes

What If Shell Followed Volkswagen’s Example In The Fight Against Climate Change?

Jeroen Kraaijenbrink: Jul 23, 2021,08:53am EDT

Volkswagen is not Shell and cars are not oil. But the similarities are striking. They are both giant corporations (#1 and #3 in Europe respectively), they are both high-tech firms, they are both capital intensive, they both still depend on oil, and both like to see themselves as leaders in their industries. In light of these similarities: what if Shell followed Volkswagen’s example in the fight for climate change? If Shell wants to do so, the time is now. Because the window of opportunity is short. If Shell doesn’t embrace renewable energy at full speed now, it may soon lose its chance to become one of the major energy players of the future. Sure, also in 2030, or 2050, they might still be a major player in the energy industry. But if they want to accept a role as the industry leader, now is the right moment. What if. read more

Forbes

Big Oil’s Bad Week

Robert Rapier: Senior Contributor: Energy: May 30, 2021

The world’s largest integrated oil and gas companies are the so-called supermajors or more commonly “Big Oil.” In order of descending market capitalization these companies are ExxonMobil XOM -0.3%, Chevron CVX +0.8%, Royal Dutch Shell, TOTAL SE, and BP.

Last week three members of the Big Oil club were each dealt blows regarding the status quo of their businesses.

The Shell Decision

The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by Milieudefensie, the Dutch arm of Friends of the Earth. More than 17,000 Dutch citizens and six environmental groups joined the lawsuit, which argued that Shell’s business practices violated the “unwritten standard of care” that required it to protect Dutch residents. read more

Shell’s $12 Billion Prelude LNG Barge Drifts Toward A Finale

Prelude’s future darkens as losses mount.

Tim Treadgold: Contributor: Asia: April 26, 2021

Prelude or finale, that’s a question some observers are starting to ask about a $12 billion ship called Prelude which was supposed to revolutionize the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

Built by Royal Dutch Shell, Prelude is designed to move from one offshore gasfield to another, avoiding the need for costly offshore structures and pipelines to shore-based gas processing facilities. read more

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

David Vetter: Senior Contributor Sustainability Climate research, renewables and circularity: 19 April 2021

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

Scott Carpenter Senior Contributor: Green Tech: Mar 29, 2021 I cover the energy industry, focusing on climate and green tech

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

Oil Giant Shell Victimized In December 2020 Hack

Lee Mathews: Senior Contributor Cybersecurity: March 23, 2021 Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company of U.S.-based Shell Oil Company, has announced a security incident on its corporate website. Dozens of other companies were impacted by the same attack.

In December of 2020 hackers targeted a specific piece of hardware, Accellion’s File Transfer Appliance, with previously-unreported vulnerabilities. Once they breached the vulnerable servers the hackers began exfiltrating data.

Shell’s breach notice states that some of the files stolen “contained personal data and others included data from Shell companies and some of their stakeholders.” That tracks with what other victims of the attack reported — victims that include law firm Jones Day, Bombardier, Qualys and grocery chain Kroger. read more

Why The Oil Industry’s $400 Billion Bet On Plastics Could Backfire

Scott Carpenter: Senior Contributor: Energy Sept 5, 2020Key takeaways:

• Oil companies plan to invest $400 billion into new petrochemical plants, betting that demand for plastic will keep growing.
• Authors of a new report say the industry and other forecasters fail to consider that large majorities favor legislation to curb plastic use and waste and that governments are acting.
• Plastics impose a cost of $1000 per tonne — through CO2 emissions, air pollution, and collection costs. Calls to shift those costs onto producers through taxes are growing.
• Outside experts said the long-term outlook for plastics demand remains uncertain and will depend on consumer preferences and government actions.

The COVID-19 pandemic and accelerating green growth around the world have eviscerated many of the oil industry’s dogmas: that renewables would suffer from high costs, that governments would slow-walk environmental commitments, that investors would continue to reward long-term bets on oil with generous market values.

But one nugget of wisdom has survived everything the market has thrown at it, and now oil companies like ExxonMobil and Shell are wagering billions on it: that the world’s demand for plastics is still growing, with no end in sight. read more

Big Oil Asset Write-Downs Are Not The End Of The Oil Age

Tilak Doshi: Contributor Energy: Aug 23, 2020

Climate change activists have long lobbied for divestment from fossil fuel-producing companies. They have largely failed in this quest. This year, the steep falls in the value of the large oil and gas companies, however, occurred with a rapidity that astonished market watchers. Within weeks, the coronavirus pandemic and the oil market-share battle between Saudi Arabia and Russia launched after the collapse of the OPEC+ talks in early March led to unprecedented falls in Big Oil equity. 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.

Tim Treadgold Contributor: Asia: June 23, 2020

The world’s biggest ship is on the way to becoming one of the oil industry’s biggest bloopers.

Prelude, a 600,000-ton monster which is five-times the size of the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, is designed to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG), and other petroleum liquids.

Installed atop a remote gasfield 300 miles off the north-west Australian coast, the 535-yard long Prelude is a bold experiment by the oil major, Royal Dutch Shell. read more

Last week Royal Dutch Shell did something that would have been nearly unthinkable at the beginning of this year. The company cut its dividend for the first time in 75 years.

This is remarkable considering the ups and downs of the oil industry of the past few decades. Prices have collapsed many times since then, albeit we have never before seen a major benchmark turn negative.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has hit oil demand in an unprecedented way. A few days ago Bloomberg posted an article showing that energy demand has just dropped by the largest percentage since World War II (which was the last time Shell cut its dividend). read more

Jan 24, 2020

The fossil fuel industry faces a dilemma similar to what confounded big tobacco a generation ago, according to economist and energy specialist Peter Sainsbury.

Speaking on the Contrarian Investor Podcast, Sainsbury says oil companies in particular are starting to be seen as “sin stocks,” with institutions divesting themselves on ethical grounds. But therein lies the opportunity. Much like tobacco companies reinvented themselves in the 1990s, energy companies can undergo a similar renaissance. Indeed the process of oil companies divesting harmful assets is already underway. This causes opportunities for investors. But first, headwinds can be expected. read more

Shell India’s inclusive culture sustains a diverse and engaged workforce

BY RAJIV SINGH: PUBLISHED: Aug 13, 2019 

In managing human resources, what may sometimes get overlooked is the human element. But Nitin Prasad, chairman of Shell in India, is not one to miss the larger picture.

Sample this. When asked what makes Shell one of the best employers in India, he says it’s the company’s 8,700 employees. Shell believes in collectively shaping a work environment that prioritises diversity and inclusion; promotes a culture of open innovation; observes equality for all genders and prioritises focus on ethical behaviour. read more

Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden speaks at a full year results conference in London on January 31, 2019. – Royal Dutch Shell today said that net profit surged 80 percent to $23.4 billion in 2018, thanks to higher oil prices and cost: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Ellen R. Wald: Senior Contributor: Jun 7, 2019 In 2004, a mania grew in the financial and energy circles around the idea of peak oil. The notion that the world was running out of oil became a commonly held belief, which, in turn, helped push oil prices well above $100 per barrel.

Fifteen years later, peak oil is still talked about by some, but most industry insiders pay it no heed. Instead, over the last few years, the increasingly popular concept has been peak demand. Peak demand is the idea that the demand for oil will reach an apex and then start to decrease, especially as government regulations require more use of alternative energies and as battery-powered machines, like electric vehicles, will presumably become more popular.

Peak demand may or may come to pass—that is not the concern here. What we do know is that if the peak demand idea continues to gain popularity it will lead to a shortage of oil in the coming years and decades. The idea of peak demand threatens the global oil supply because it incentivizes and even excuses oil companies to stop exploring for and producing (E&P) more oil. read more

Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2011 over an alleged $1.1 billion paid in bribes to Nigerian government officials,  related to the acquisition of new off-shore drilling rights. Nigeria is now counter-suing for $1.14 billion (868 million British pounds) in a London court…

Ariel Cohen: Contributor, Energy: April 15. 2019

With the reelection of Muhammadu Buhari to the Nigerian presidency, Africa’s leading oil exporter faces a challenge as old as Nigeria itself: political corruption. This scourge shortchanges ordinary Nigerians and undermines the country’s development.

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A) and Italy’s Eni (NYSE:E) have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2011 over an alleged $1.1 billion paid in bribes to Nigerian government officials,  related to the acquisition of new off-shore drilling rights. Nigeria is now counter-suing for $1.14 billion (868 million British pounds) in a London court, claiming that Shell and Eni assisted “corrupt Nigerian government officials to breach fiduciary duties” in the deal. This scandal comes after a leaked 2013 report, which details how Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owed the government $20 billion in revenue due to its failure to report its earnings. It seems there is no shortage of legal quagmires for Africa’s most populous nation. read more

Angry Dutch citizens on Thursday will ask their country’s highest court to put an immediate end to gas production in the Groningen region due to the risk of life-endangering earthquakes. read more