Latest news roundup for Royal Dutch Shell Plc. News reports from the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other news media organisations.

Shell CEO Considers New Natural-Gas Bet

Dow, Shell Accused Of Polluting Drinking Water With TCP

In Nigeria, Shell’s onshore roots still run deep

Oil and gas output at Russia’s Pacific Sakhalin island seen down in 2019

Shell Is in Talks to Sell $1.3 Billion in Gulf Coast Assets

Exclusive – Shell wins LNG deal to supply Chinese firm’s power plant in Panama

Shell and Exxon’s secret 1980s climate change warnings read more

By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor: 12 July 2018

Shell Subsidiary to Pay $3.8 Million for 2016 Gulf Spill

A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $3.8 million to the U.S. government to settle a lawsuit over a 2016 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The May 11, 2016, spill of nearly 2,000 barrels (317974.6 liters) occurred about 97 miles (156 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast.

The New Orleans Advocate, citing court documents, reports that an investigation pointed to a leak in a piping system that is used to transport oil from a production well on the sea floor.

The settlement isn’t final. It must first be published in the Federal Register and have a 30-day public comment period before it can get final approval from a federal judge. read more

Jun. 30, 2018 12:54 AM ET

Summary

• Renewal of assets with great focus on the future.
• Natural gas as energy source will continue to grow.
• Share buybacks and generous dividends.

Background

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) has been actively focusing on what kind of business it wants to be involved in. Part of this activity is to change the composition of its assets. It has been selling plants and oil licenses, and invested where it wants to position the company.

Disposals have also been done to reduce the total debt level. Much of the debt came from the $35 billion acquisition of BG Group back in March of 2016.

Disposals

Early this year, Shell communicated that its plans were to leave oil and gas operations in as many as 10 countries and instead focus more heavily on gas-rich Australia and shale opportunities in the United States. read more

Kaikias, an economically resilient, subsea development in the US Gulf of Mexico

HOUSTON, May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore, Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, announces today the early start of production – around one-year ahead of schedule – at the first phase of Kaikias, an economically resilient, subsea development in the US Gulf of Mexico with estimated peak production of 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). Shell has reduced costs by around 30% at this deep-water project since taking the investment decision in early 2017, lowering the forward-looking, break-even price to less than $30 per barrel of oil. FULL ARTICLE read more

Map showing the location of Shell’s Dover discovery and its proximity to Shell’s new Appomattox host in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico 

HOUSTON, May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore, Inc. (“Shell”) today announced a large, deep-water, exploration discovery in the Norphlet geologic play in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with its Dover well (100% Shell). The Dover discovery is Shell’s sixth in the Norphlet and encountered more than 800 net feet of pay (244 meters). The discovery is located approximately 13 miles from the Appomattox host and is considered an attractive potential tieback. Shell’s Appomattox host has now arrived on location in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and is expected to start production before the end of 2019. read more

Workers at a project in Malaysia. Shell has operations in more than 70 countries: FLICKR

Emily Gosden: April 2018

Royal Dutch Shell reported its best quarterly profits in five years but disappointed investors yesterday by generating less cash than expected and failing to start promised share buybacks.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant said that resurgent oil and gas prices helped deliver a 69 per cent surge in profits to $5.7 billion in the first quarter — the highest since the first quarter of 2013.

Underlying profits of $5.3 billion were fractionally ahead of market forecasts but cashflow was below expectations and Shell’s shares fell 0.73 per cent. read more

Shell rendering of its Vito deep-water development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Vito will feature a new, simplified host design and associated infrastructure.

HOUSTON, April 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, today announces the final investment decision for Vito, a deep-water development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with a forward-looking, break-even price estimated to be less than $35 per barrel. This decision sets in motion the construction and fabrication of a new, simplified host design and subsea infrastructure. read more

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS: MARCH 21, 2018

HOUSTON — In a setback to Trump administration efforts to increase offshore oil production, the industry responded with only modest interest on Wednesday in a federal auction covering a record 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico. Companies bid on only 1 percent of the acreage, and the winning bids yielded a mere $125 million for the government. The results reflected broad uncertainty among oil executives that global oil prices can remain at current levels over $60 a barrel, as well as a general preference for drilling in onshore shale fields that require smaller investments and are less risky. FULL ARTICLE read more

Summary

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden speaks at the CERAWeek conference at the Hilton Americas, Wednesday, March 7, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle: Updated 12:01 pm, Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said Wednesday that climate change is the biggest issue facing the energy sector, encouraging the European oil major to invest more in cleaner-burning gas and renewable energy. Shell aims to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2050 while shifting its roughly 50-50 oil and gas balance to a portfolio that’s closer to 70 percent gas, van Beurden said at the CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference in Houston. Shell already is the world’s leader in liquefied natural gas. “There’s no other issue with the potential to disrupt our industry on such a deep and fundamental level,” van Beurden said of climate change and the need to help meet the Paris climate accord goals, even though the United States plans to split from the agreement under the Trump administration. FULL ARTICLE read more

FILE PHOTO – Wael Sawan, Executive Vice President for Shell’s deepwater division, poses for a picture before an interview for Reuters during an oil conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

Ron Bousso: 7 MARCH 2018

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A potential tariff on U.S. steel imports could affect Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) plans to go ahead with a major oil field development in the Gulf of Mexico, a company executive said on Wednesday. Wael Sawan, who heads Shell’s deepwater operations, said President Donald Trump’s intention to slap up to 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminium could materially impact the value of the Vito development off the Louisiana coast, one of a handful of projects Shell is planning to greenlight this year. FULL ARTICLE read more

Shell’s oil and gas reserve life – the number of years it can sustain production at its current levels – has steadily declined in recent years despite the acquisition of BG Group

LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) – The gasps in the audience were clearly audible at the auction of Mexico’s oil blocks a month ago as Royal Dutch Shell’s hefty bids were announced one by one. The size of Shell’s cash payments – $343 million out of the total of $525 million that Mexico earned in the sale – far outstripped its competitors’ offers, guaranteeing that the company swept up nine of the 19 offshore blocks. The Anglo-Dutch major knew something no one else did. FULL ARTICLE read more

Shell’s deepwater production in Brazil, Nigeria, the Gulf of Mexico is much bigger and more profitable, but the firm sees the nimble, fast-returns U.S. onshore shale as an engine for growth.

“We can see strong (shale) production growth, strong cash surpluses that gives us a balance in our portfolio where you can ramp investment up and down, you can moderate that, very unlike deepwater which is quite chunky,” Andy Brown told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the IP Week conference. read more

Source: Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

By Sara Sneath: NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune; 15 FEB 2018

For nearly 40 years, a 350-foot-tall metal frame in the Gulf of Mexico supported a platform that pumped oil and gas from the seafloor. The 3,000-ton structure was recently converted into an artificial reef off the coast of Louisiana, where it will serve as habitat for fish and other marine life. Shell’s Cougar platform was installed in 1981 and produced about 31 million barrels of oil and gas over its lifetime, said Shell external relations advisor, Theodore Rolfvondenbaumen. The platform was recently decommissioned and the deck and topside were brought back to shore. The metal frame of the structure was donated to Louisiana’s Artificial Reef Program. FULL ARTICLE read more

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad

Oil multinationals leave heavy years behind

Bert van Dijk • Entrepreneurship

Fossil fuel companies may be subject to fire from environmental organizations, ‘green’ shareholders, financial regulators and prosecuting climate lawyers, but financially speaking the big oil and gas multinationals are back on their feet after a number of difficult years.

That is the most important conclusion now that four of the ‘Big Five’ have published their annual results. Cost savings, higher oil prices and rising demand for oil and gas in the world led to a total of more than $ 115 billion in operating cash flow for Shell, ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron combined and more than $ 51 billion in profits last year. read more