Posts under ‘Fossil Fuels’

Phasing out fossil fuel is a crucial step to address the climate emergency. But to do so will mean facing not only political and economic obstacles, but legal ones. Fossil fuel companies can use domestic and international laws to demand compensation for bans on fossil fuels or prohibitions on the extraction of oil or coal. The legal system can make our collective transition to a green economy easier, or more difficult; among other things, it can increase the bill we pay for a healthy environment. Like big tobacco, big oil can and will litigate. This legal question becomes especially serious because companies like Shell and Exxon-Mobil can bring cases to a jurisdiction that they contributed to creating in the first place – a forum specially fit for their purposes. 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

London museum under fire over climate exhibit sponsored by Shell

“It beggars belief that this iconic British institution has freely chosen to link up with Shell … at such a crucial time,” Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, said in a statement.

By Umberto Bacchi, Thomson Reuters Foundation: APRIL 16, 2021

April 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – London’s Science Museum came under fire on Friday for having oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell as a sponsor of an upcoming exhibition on climate change, a move described by environmental groups as “out-of-step”. read more

Shell says electric vehicles will be crucial in its efforts to lower carbon emissions

• Electric vehicles will play a critical role in Royal Dutch Shell’s decarbonizing efforts – opening up opportunities in this mobility sector, according to a senior executive at the oil giant.
• Huibert Vigeveno, downstream director at Shell, says the company intends to expand its global EV charging stations network worldwide, pledging to have 2.5 million charging points by 2030.

Electric vehicles will play a critical role in Royal Dutch Shell’s efforts to cut emissions, according to a senior executive at the oil giant.

“If you look at the decarbonization opportunities of this mobility sector, EV plays a crucial role,” said Huibert Vigeveno, downstream director at Shell, adding that the company intends to expand its global electric vehicle charging stations network worldwide. read more

Shell To Exhaust Dwindling Oil & Gas Reserves By 2040

By Tsvetana Paraskova – Apr 15, 2021, 3:00 PM CDT

Shell expects to have produced 75 percent of its current proved oil and gas reserves by 2030, and only around 3 percent after 2040, the supermajor said in its Energy Transition Strategy that it will put to a non-binding shareholder vote next month.

Discussing the risk of stranded assets in the energy transition, Shell said that every year it tests its oil and gas portfolio under different scenarios, including prolonged low oil prices, and cross-references assets with break-even prices to assess if they would still be viable in case of low oil and gas prices. read more

Shell plays down risk of stranded oil and gas reserves

The disclosure is a rare admission by a major oil and gas company that some of its reserves may be worthless in a world shifting to renewable energy from fossil fuels in an effort to stem global warming.

The Anglo-Dutch company said in a document to investors summarising its climate strategy that around 75% of its proved oil and gas reserves will be produced by 2030, with an additional 3% produced after 2040.

Since late 2019, Shell has wiped out over $20 billion from the value of its oil and gas reserves after lowering the outlook for commodity prices because of the energy transition and the impact on demand of the COVID-19 pandemic. read more

Shell flags shrinking oil, gas reserves life in energy transition document for shareholders

• author Robert Perkins 
• Editor Jonathan Fox 

HIGHLIGHTS

Two-thirds of proved reserves to be produced by 2040

Comes amid rising concerns over future asset write-offs

Shell expects oil production to slide by 1-2% in coming years

London — Shell expects to have produced about two-thirds of its existing oil and gas reserves over the next two decades, the company said April 15, highlighting its falling exposure to future oil prices as the major shifts focus to renewable energy and electricity supplies. read more

Fossil fuel multinational Shell does not believe it will ever pay the Australian government a cent in resource taxes for the gas it draws from the country’s biggest gas project, Gorgon.

The projection about taxes on the gas, which is likely to be sold for billions of dollars a year, is contained in the company’s latest annual report, released last month, and was first reported by energy news website Boilingcold.

It covers both Gorgon – a project off the West Australian coast that when fully operational is expected to provide 15.6m tonnes of gas a year – and Shell’s smaller Prelude project, a floating gas facility that also sits off WA. read more

Future of Brent Oil Platform’s Giant Legs Remains Uncertain

Laura Hurst: 09 April 2021

(Bloomberg) — The U.K. government is still undecided on whether it will allow Royal Dutch Shell Plc to leave in the sea the giant concrete legs that once supported the iconic Brent oil platforms.

Shell has asked for permission to leave the columns — each almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower and together weighing around 1 million tons — jutting from the water because it says removing them would pose a greater environmental risk. A government decision on the matter, which was last due in September, has dragged. read more

Shell threatens to leave US trade groups over climate disagreements

The Netherlands-based oil major took aim at the American Petroleum Institute, the Texas Oil & Gas Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pushing them to support and advocate for climate policies in line with the Paris climate agreement. The 2015 agreement aims to limit the rise in the average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Shell’s move reassessing its trade group memberships comes as the European oil giant moves from its longtime fossil fuels business to meet its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. 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

1 Mar 2021: Author: Channa Samkalden, Prakken d’Oliveira

Lawyers’ insights on corporate legal accountability: Channa Samkalden, Prakken d’Oliveira, Netherlands

Channa Samkalden reflects on the decision of the Hague Court of Appeals in the lawsuit against Shell in the Netherlands regarding oil pollution in Nigeria.

1.Why is this case important?

The case is important because it was one of the first cases to argue parent company liability – and (as far as I know) it became the first where a parent company duty of care for the activities of a subsidiary abroad was indeed established. Oil pollution in the Niger Delta has been an immense problem for decades – and Shell has never really been held accountable for it. A crucial first step was taken in 2015 when the Court of Appeal of The Hague confirmed the jurisdiction of the Dutch courts and opened the route to justice for the Nigerian farmers and Friends of the Earth. Five years later the court concluded that Shell Nigeria must pay compensation and that Royal Dutch Shell must see to it that a Leak Detection System is installed on the Nigerian pipeline. read more

Oil companies defeat New York City appeal over global warming

By Jonathan Stempel, Sebastien Malo: 3 MIN READ: APRIL 1, 2021/ 2:53 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected New York City’s effort to hold five major oil companies liable to help pay the costs of addressing harm caused by global warming.

Ruling in favor of BP Plc, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed under federal law and international treaties. read more

Shell to link executive pay more closely to group’s climate performance

By Reuters Staff: Mon, March 29, 2021, 10:33 AM

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has proposed linking its directors’ pay more closely to the group’s climate performance and severing the link between bonuses and liquefied natural gas (LNG) production volumes, it said on Monday.

The weighting of Shell’s energy transition performance on its targeted path to net zero emissions by 2050 would double to 20% of the directors’ long-term incentive plan calculation if shareholders vote for the plan at a meeting on May 18. 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