Shell Funded Lobbying For Trump’s Pro-Fossil Fuel Financing Looking To Block Banks’ Climate Action

green queen: By Sally Ho Published on Mar 4, 2021 Last updated Mar 3, 2021

Anglo-Dutch global oil and gas giant Shell funded an industry group lobbying to block efforts by U.S. banks to tackle climate change, an investigation has found. Even as the corporation made new sustainability pledges and made net-zero its goal publicly, documents reviewed by nonprofit journalism platform SourceMaterial and HuffPost showed that Shell backed the lobbyists in favour of the controversial federal rule on fossil fuel financing that the Trump administration implemented in its final days. read more

BUSINESS: 25/02/2021 10:45 GMT

Despite Its Pledges, Shell Funded Anti-Climate Lobbying Last Year

The oil giant belonged to one group that pushed for a rule designed to preempt banks’ policies against lending for Arctic drilling and coal mining.

• By Luke Barratt
• Alexander C. Kaufman, HuffPost US

Royal Dutch Shell vowed last September to reach net-zero carbon pollution in its business by 2050. The goal was vague but notable, and seemed to become more realistic when the corporation announced earlier this month that its crude oil production had peaked in 2019 and would likely never increase again. 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

U.S. sanctions… forced Swiss contractor Allseas Group SA to withdraw its pipelaying vessels

Why the World Worries About Russia’s Natural Gas Pipeline

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) gas pipeline that will double the capacity of the existing undersea route from Russian fields to Europe — the original Nord Stream — which opened in 2011. Gazprom owns the joint Russian-European venture, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors contributing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11.2 billion) cost. Initially expected to come online by the end of 2019, the link has been delayed by U.S. sanctions that forced Swiss contractor Allseas Group SA to withdraw its pipelaying vessels. The pipeline operator is looking for solutions to lay the remaining 6% of the pipe, which includes construction work in Denmark’s waters. read more

One big question emerging from the pandemic is whether it will speed up the global shift away from oil. Life under lockdown gave a taste of a world that burns less petroleum, with consumption down by about a quarter and city dwellers from Los Angeles to New Delhi relishing the cleaner air. As restrictions eased, things weren’t exactly returning to normal. Many workers had given up on commuting and there was talk that air travel might never recover. On the other hand, rock-bottom oil prices and the desire to avoid crowded public transport had some people driving to work for the first time or taking road trips instead of flying. read more

BY FRANK ESPOSITO: JAN 5, 2020

Shell Chemical says the development of a major plastics and petrochemicals complex under construction near Pittsburg remains “important”  to its overall global effort, despite a report that questioned its viability. 

In an email to Plastics News, Michael Marr, Shell business integration lead, responded by saying that Shell’s chemicals business at Monaca, PA., “enjoys strong fundamentals” and that the Pennsylvania project “is an important part of our global effort to build-out new business models that will allow Shell to participate and thrive in the energy transition.” read more

Shell plastics plant Trump touted faces oversupply risks: Energy institute report

04 Jun 2020 12:16PM (Updated: 04 Jun 2020 02:58PM)

WASHINGTON: A massive Pennsylvania plastics project that President Donald Trump touted during a visit last year faces risks of oversupply and a low price outlook for the materials, a report by an institute that examines energy issues said on Thursday.

The Pennsylvania Petrochemical Complex plant in Beaver County, owned by Shell, has been promoted by some as an economic savior in a region still suffering from the demise of steel industry in the 1980s. read more

LOS ANGELES — Big Oil lost a pair of court battles Tuesday that could lead to trials in lawsuits by California cities and counties seeking damages for the impact of climate change.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by energy companies and ruled state courts are the proper forum for lawsuits alleging producers promoted petroleum as environmentally responsible when they knew it was contributing to drought, wildfires, and sea level rise associated with global warming.

The lawsuits claim Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and other companies created a public nuisance and should pay for damage from climate change and help build sea walls and other infrastructure to protect against future impact — construction that could cost tens of billions of dollars. read more

* European oil majors boost share of low-carbon investments

* European CEOs see faster energy transition after coronavirus

* GRAPHIC: European oil majors’ spending tilts green tmsnrt.rs/3dWh9VV

By Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) – Europe’s top oil and gas companies have diverted a larger share of their cash to green energy projects since the coronavirus outbreak in a bet the global health crisis will leave a long-term dent in fossil fuel demand, according to a Reuters review of company statements and interviews with executives. read more

The World’s Most Controversial Gas Pipeline Is Nearing Its Endgame

Bloomberg News: Jonathan Tirone: May 13, 2020: 5:29 AM EDT: Last Updated May 13, 2020

(Bloomberg) — Construction of the world’s most controversial natural gas pipeline is about to enter the endgame of an energy dispute that’s pitted the U.S. against Russia and some of its closest trans-Atlantic allies, satellite images show.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, built to increase the flow of Russian gas into Europe’s biggest economy, was thwarted five months ago after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions that forced workers to retreat. Now, after a three-month voyage circumnavigating the globe, the Akademik Cherskiy, the Russian pipe-laying vessel that’s a prime candidate to finish the project, has anchored off the German port where the remaining pipeline sections are waiting to be installed. read more

Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump’s top energy official said he’s confident that Russia won’t be able to complete the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea — and signaled that the U.S. will press forward with its opposition to the project.

Asked about Russian efforts to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the pipeline by completing it on its own, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said “they can’t” — and dismissed claims that project owner Gazprom PJSC will face only a short delay. read more

At a time when the oil industry is gripped by fears that demand for petrol will collapse in an era of electric vehicles, many hydrocarbon producers are betting on petrochemicals — and in particular, plastics — to fill the gap.

Michael Pooler in Paris: 12 Feb 2020

Along the banks of the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, giant cranes whir overhead as thousands of construction workers toil away at what will be one of the largest plastic factories in the world.

The multibillion dollar Royal Dutch Shell plant, on the site of an old zinc smelter in the American rust-belt, is the biggest investment in the state since the second world war…

At a time when the oil industry is gripped by fears that demand for petrol will collapse in an era of electric vehicles, many hydrocarbon producers are betting on petrochemicals — and in particular, plastics — to fill the gap. But doubts are emerging about the wisdom of a huge expansion in capacity that will leave the world awash in products that can take hundreds of years to decay. read more

The $1.3trn cost of leaving energy underground

Unless a solution is found for climate change in the coming decade, there is a risk of a sharp collapse in asset prices of oil companies. 

Alan Livsey: Feb 5, 2020

Donald Trump was thinking about the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg when he took aim at what he called the “prophets of doom” at Davos in January. But just as easily he could have been targeting global investors whose trenchant criticism of hydrocarbons has led to a shift in investment away from the traditional energy sector and into renewables.

This move represents a big problem for energy groups such as Exxon, BP and Saudi Aramco. Vast swaths of their oil, gas and coal reserves may never be extracted and burnt because doing so would intensify global warming, worsening weather events and threatening the loss of farmland and huge population displacement. read more

Letter to the editor published by the News Tribune

Jan 22, 2020

From Mike Barnhill

Ashland

Dear Editor:

Time Magazine’s recent article on “Can the oil-and-gas industry survive the climate-change fall-out?” may explain why President Trump left the Paris Climate Summit.

The Netherlands oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, is the country’s biggest business. As oil flirts with the prospect of decline, Shell is diversifying by expanding its plastics business and diversifying into electrical power. Some firms such as America’s ExxonMobil, are positioning themselves to squeeze the last lucrative years from the oil economy while attempting to convince shareholders that they will be able to sell all their oil. read more