Shell threatens to leave US trade groups over climate disagreements

Shell admits its oil production is now on the decline Paul Takahashi, Staff writer: Updated: April 8, 2021 European oil major Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday urged U.S. oil and gas trade groups to take stronger positions in the fight against climate change under the threat of leaving them.

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

Oil titans vow climate collaboration with White House

Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg: March 23, 2021Updated: March 23, 2021 8:24 a.m.

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

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

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

Laura Hurst and Kevin Crowley, Bloomberg Feb. 5, 2021Updated: Feb. 5, 2021 7:57 a.m. The wreckage of 2020 still looms large in the boardrooms of Big Oil as executives last week laid out deep spending cuts and plans to repay stubbornly-high debt even as crude rallies to the highest in more than a year.

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

Shell to lay off nearly 700 workers in Louisiana after refinery closes

Paul TakahashiJan. 4, 2021 Updated: Jan. 4, 2021 8:46 a.m. Royal Dutch Shell will lay off 698 workers as it closes its Convent refinery in Louisiana, part of a company effort to reduce carbon emissions.

The layoffs will begin in March and be completed by the end of August when the plant closes, according to information filed with the Louisiana workforce commission last month.

“The decision is part of the company’s global strategy to invest in a core set of uniquely integrated manufacturing sites that are also strategically positioned for the transition to a low-carbon future,” the Hague-based company said in November, when it began shutting down the refinery after failing to find a buyer for it. read more

Shell CEO hopeful Biden will speed up climate change fight

Laura Hurst, Bloomberg Dec. 4, 2020

Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell plc., speaks during CERAWeek by IHS Markit Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Houston. ( Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle) Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle

The change in the U.S. presidency will bring the collaboration and set of progressive policies needed to tackle the energy transition, Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s chief executive officer said.

President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement on global warming and railed back environmental protections while promising to keep the coal industry alive. read more

James Osborne: JUNE 25, 2020

WASHINGTON – The District of Columbia sued Exxon Mobil and other large oil companies Thursday over their contribution to climate change, adding the nation’s capitol to a growing list of states seeking to punish the oil sector for its history of climate denial.

At a time large oil companies are increasingly vocal about the need to address climate change, the suit tackles a long period when despite warnings from their own scientists oil executives openly questioned claims greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels were warming the planet. read more

The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp relief the existential threat posed to the world’s biggest oil companies from policies aimed at combating climate change by offering a glimpse into a future with little demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

It has also brought to the fore a question with profound implications for the energy industry and Houston, where fortunes rise and fall with the price of oil. Has the virus — in two short but life-altering months — fundamentally changed society and consumer behavior, making it likely that global oil demand would peak earlier than expected, perhaps even during this decade? read more

Shell hoping voluntary severances will help weather oil crisis

Laura Hurst, Bloomberg May 21, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell will use measures including voluntary severance for staff to bolster its finances as the coronavirus pandemic batters profits, according to people with knowledge of the matter.In a note to staff, Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden wrote that the organization was being reshaped to make it leaner and more resilient, the people said. The company has already slashed spending and surprised investors with a two-thirds cut to its dividend.

Shell isn’t the only company making big changes to withstand the unprecedented oil-industry disruption caused by Covid-19. Most of its peers have made big spending reductions, while Norway’s Equinor ASA also cut its dividend.

BP Plc promised its employees their jobs were safe at least until the end of June, but companies including Chevron Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and Halliburton Corp. are laying off employees. read more

Energy companies slash another $19 billion as oil price remain near 20-year lows

Sergio Chapa March 24, 2020 Updated: March 24, 2020 7:02 a.m.

Eleven energy companies over the past several days said they would cut a combined $18.6 billion dollars from their budgets as oil prices remain near 20-year lows, setting the stage for tens of thousands additional layoffs.

West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $23.36 per barrel Monday, a price not seen since March 2002 as Russia and Saudi Arabia flood global markets and the coronavirus pandemic crushes demand.

Energy companies big and small — including Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil, Hess and Halliburton — have responded by slashing spending for new projects and operations, halting stock buy back programs, putting deals on hold and selling assets. read more

Perla Trevizo Feb. 6, 2020

In the fall of 2018, a leak at a Pasadena oil refinery led to the release of thousands of pounds of toxic pollutants, including some 8,000 pounds of cancer-causing benzene.

During that nearly 67-day stretch, the Pasadena Refining System reported its highest two-week average concentration of benzene from one of its fence-line monitors — a level that was 6.5 times above a federal guideline for short-term exposure.

The Pasadena refinery is one of 10 across the country that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s action level for benzene as of Sept. 30, according to an analysis released Thursday by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project. Six of them are in Texas, including three in the Houston area. read more

Jordan Blum Jan. 22, 2020 Updated: Jan. 22, 2020 9:48 a.m.

The growing threat of climate change and the evolving transition toward cleaner energy alternatives are threatening spending on traditional oil and gas exploration worldwide, according to a new report.

The largest energy companies are reducing exploration budgets and facing more pressure from shareholders to conduct more exploratory drilling around the world, even amid growing reserves of oil and gas, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. read more

“Investors are gradually moving away from energy stocks. A look behind the dividend payments of the leading companies helps explain why. For the core business of these companies, there is more money going out than coming in.” 

By Jordan Blum: Thursday, January 16, 2020

The largest oil and gas companies for years have lived beyond their means and paid more money to investors than they can reasonably afford, according to a new report.

The study from the Cleveland-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that the five largest Big Oil majors — Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total — spent $536 billion on shareholder dividends and stock buybacks since 2010 while bringing in just $329 billion in free cash flow. read more

Atlanta-based Nexus Fuels is turning hard to recycle plastic waste into liquid feedstock for Royal Dutch Shell to manufacture new plastics.

Extracts from an article by Jordan Blum Dec. 4, 2019

The world’s rapidly mounting plastic waste and the public reaction to its impact on marine and wildlife is challenging the booming petrochemical industry, but the world’s biggest energy companies are increasingly stepping up with new projects to take on these challenges.

Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Houston’s LyondellBasell have all announced new projects or pilot plants in recent weeks to address recycling plastics that are the hardest to transform back into reusable materials. The latest came from Shell, which has begun making petrochemicals from plastic waste in a process known as chemical recycling. read more

Chris Tomlinson Nov. 4, 2019

Just 20 energy companies account for one-third of greenhouse emissions since 1965, according to a new study.

The Climate Accountability Institute’s Richard Heede tallied up all the fossil fuels extracted by every company through 2017 and calculated the emissions. The data is public, the math is straightforward and the emissions are indisputable.

The top 10 companies, in order, are, predictably, Saudi Aramco, Chevron, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil, National Iranian Oil Co., BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Coal India and PEMEX. More details are available online at http://climateaccountability.org/carbonmajors.html. read more