Profits Warning
Shell says ex-Deutsche Bank CEO Ackermann to retire from board
North Sea sale move after Shell profit warning
Royal Dutch Shell plans to put three oil and gas assets in the North Sea up for sale as it seeks to ramp up disposals and focus on improving shareholder returns after a shock profit warning.
Shell’s fire sale
Royal Dutch Shell’s decision to unload a massive amount of assets is a troubling sign. Shell’s fire sale casts into doubt how effective it can be in producing growth this year, even with its promising projects. Shell recently suspended drilling in the Arctic. It’s also selling a stake in a liquefied natural gas project in Australia for $1.1 billion and may also consider unloading an interest in a U.S. pipeline project. These actions are part of a broader initiative in which Shell intends to sell $15 billion worth of assets over the next two years.
Glencore-Macquarie Said to Exit Race for Shell Australia Assets
February 12, 2014
Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG) and Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) dropped out of bidding for Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s Australian oil refinery and filling stations, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The assets Shell is selling include storage terminals, filling stations and an oil refinery in Geelong, south of Melbourne. Shell is stepping up asset sales after new Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden promised last month to cut capital spending following the company’s first profit warning in a decade.
Shell halts work on Pierre River oil sands mine in northern Alberta
Jeff Lewis | February 12, 2014 5:18 PM ET
CALGARY – Royal Dutch Shell PLC told regulators it is halting work on its Pierre River mine in northern Alberta’s oil sands and that it has no idea when it may revive the blueprints. The Hague-based company this year cancelled plans to drill in Alaska’s Arctic and postponed development of a liquefied natural gas venture offshore Australia. The company issued a rare profit warning last month before reporting a 49% plunge in quarterly earnings to $2.9-billion.
Sinister Events In Ireland
OSSL and their allegations of Police corruption by Shell in relation to the Corrib Gas Project seems to have become entangled is an extraordinary situation involving the Irish Police Force (The Garda) and the authority responsible for independently investigating such allegations, the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission. In November Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan issued an astonishing warning of ‘mass assassinations’ if the Ombudsman gain access to certain classified files. The latest bombshell development is news that the Police Ombudsman hired a British security company to investigate if it had been placed under electronic surveillance (by the police?)
by John Donovan
OSSL and their allegations of Police corruption by Shell in relation to the Corrib Gas Project seems to have become entangled is an extraordinary situation involving the Irish Police Force (The Garda) and the authority responsible for independently investigating such allegations, the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission.
In November Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan issued an astonishing warning of ‘mass assassinations‘ if the Ombudsman gain access to certain classified files.
What you don’t know about Royal Dutch Shell’s Profit Warning
I can exclusively reveal today that the question of whether Shell was legally obliged to issue a profits warning did not first arise in relation to the final quarter. It was raised at the highest levels of Shell and of the Financial Conduct Authority some months earlier, in between the announcement of Peter Voser’s early retirement and the announcement of the Q3 results.
By John Donovan
Shell shareholders have been faced with a series of shocks, one stunning announcement by Royal Dutch Shell Plc after another.
All rather mysterious and without any credible explanation.
Started with the announcement of Voser’s decision to take early retirement from Shell at the age of 55, as a lifestyle change. It was said at the time to have “stunned investors.”
Next came the surprise announce of Ben van Beurden as his replacement. No one guessed that he was even in the race for the top job at Shell.
Royal Dutch Shell completely whiffed in the U.S. and North America
Oil prices in the United States hover near $100 per barrel and overall domestic production of oil and natural gas is soaring. With all this in mind, you’d assume the environment would be ripe for Big Oil to produce gushing profits.
Royal Dutch Shell completely whiffed in the U.S. and North America. Its Americas segment posted a $1.4 billion net loss in the fourth quarter and a $3.7 billion net loss for all of 2013.
Shell seeks positives as Arctic tab nears $6B
By Tim Bradner, Alaska Journal of Commerce: Published: 2014.02.06
Shell’s investment in its Arctic Alaska offshore exploration is approaching $6 billion after eight years. For all that, the company has two test wells partly drilled in 2012, one in the Chukchi Sea and one in the Beaufort Sea. The decision not to proceed with 2014 drilling was a tough one for Shell, the company’s Alaska president, Pete Slaiby, said in a Jan. 30 interview. Shell doesn’t expect the cancellation will have any immediate effort on the company’s workforce in Anchorage. However, had the exploration gone ahead this summer it would have employed about 2,000 people in total…
Why Royal Dutch Shell’s Fire Sale May be Cause for Concern
…both BP’s and ConocoPhillips’ asset sales look downright modest in comparison to the outright fire sale Royal Dutch Shell will soon embark on. Royal Dutch Shell unloaded billions last year, with even greater amounts to be sold off over the next two years. That’s why investors may have legitimate cause for concern about the fate of Shell’s future growth trajectory.
Royal Dutch Shell plans to sell off several billion dollars worth of assets over the next two years. Should investors be worried?
The last year was a tough one for integrated oil majors. Thinning refining margins put a serious dent in downstream earnings, and upstream profitability failed to impress despite cooperative energy prices. As a result, it’s not entirely surprising to see members of Big Oil such as (NYSE: BP) sell off non-critical assets.
Even independent exploration and production major ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), which isn’t nearly as integrated as its peers after spinning off its downstream and midstream business, got in on the asset sale game last year.
Is It Finally Time To Dump Royal Dutch Shell Stock?
By Aaron Levitt, InvestorPlace Contributor
Sometimes you just have to say goodbye to a stock, even when it has been good to you over the years. RDS.A was willing to go the extra mile into some pretty ambitious energy sources. From Australian natural gas to drilling in the Arctic Circle, Shell could be seen as the “growth” orientated major. Unfortunately, those go-getting plans haven’t gone according to plan, and now RDS.A is the process of closing up shop in several of these locations and selling the assets. And with many years of underperformance behind it, it may just be time to sell Royal Dutch Shell stock out of your portfolio.
Shrinking Giants: Royal Dutch Shell long list of abandoned projects
A total of $15 billion worth of assets are expected to be sold this year and next, including petrol stations in Australia, offshore production capacity shares in Brazil, pipelines and a host of other assets (link). Problem is that many of the projects were meant to boost production both upstream and downstream, which means that most likely Shell will not be able to stem a steady long-term production decline.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B):
While in 2012 total production of oil and gas increased by about 47,000 barrels of oil equivalent, it seems that Shell production declined for 2013 by 1.8% compared to 2012 and fourth quarter decline was 4.7%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. This decline will probably continue into 2014 and perhaps beyond as Shell actually tries to divest from many projects which were hoped to bring more production online (link).
Shell’s fall from grace
In May 2013, when Voser’s retirement was announced, he was described by Reuters as having been Shell’s “renaissance CEO”. Fast-forward eight months and Voser’s successor stunned the market with a profits warning. It was a remarkably quick fall from grace for both the former chief and the company… …the company’s misstatement of its proven reserves early in the century landed it with a multi-million dollar fine from stock market regulators and forced the departure of its chairman as well as shocking investors. Shell has had its own environmental problems in Nigeria. Now it is being severely criticised for overspending.
By John Kemp
Feb 4 (Reuters) – “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure,” wrote Enoch Powell, a former member of Britain’s parliament who held controversial views on immigration and national identity.
Much the same could be said of business careers, as Shell’s former chief executive Peter Voser has learned the hard way. His strategy of continuing to invest in complex megaprojects through the oil industry cycle is now blamed for the company’s recent profit warning and underperformance.
BP versus Shell
In the wake of this month’s profits warning from Royal Dutch Shell and its problems in Nigeria, its upstream and downstream problems and the failure of its massive capital expenditure program to yield any meaningful benefits in the short term, investors appear to be asking themselves whether a move back to BP might be in order. Shell’s new CEO Ben van Beurden in his new role as CEO appears to be clearing the decks for some form of company reorganisation as the company struggles with falling revenues and lower oil prices.
Chris Finlayson’s dreadful first year as chief executive at BG
LONDON EVENING STANDARD TODAY:
Chris Finlayson’s dreadful first year as chief executive at BG Group was today capped by the news that profits slumped 37% to $4.16 billion (£2.54 billion) in 2013. The former Royal Dutch Shell executive said he shared shareholders’ “disappointment” at the oil producer’s many problems, which have included four profit warnings in little more than 12 months. Garry White, chief investment commentator at broker Charles Stanley, said: “I reckon it’s time for BG Group to be broken up.”
By John Donovan
WE REPEATEDLY WARNED BG SHAREHOLDERS AND EMPLOYEES ABOUT CHRIS FINLAYSON…
HE IS NOT THE ONLY COMMON DENOMINATOR BETWEEN ROYAL DUTCH SHELL AND BG GROUP.
BOTH COMPANIES HAVE JUST ISSUED PROFIT WARNINGS
- How Chris Finlayson bungled the Mother of all Projects: Sakhalin II: 24 December 2012
- BG Group corporate incubator for Shell strays?: 22 December 2012
- BG Group CEO Chris Finlayson and the Shell ‘Touch F*** All’ Scandal: 20 December 2012
- CHRIS FINLAYSON AND THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL RESERVES SCANDAL: 18 December 2012
- Contact with BG Group about its controversial new CEO Chris Finlayson: 17 December 2012
- Shareholder alarm over appointment of BG Group CEO Chris Finlayson: 16 December 2012
- Chris Finlayson: One can of worms after another: 17 Jan 2013
- Chris Finlayson saw himself as the victim of a brutal Shell regime: 21 October 2013
THE DEVASTATING ARTICLE PUBLISHED TODAY BY THE LONDON EVENING STANDARD IS SELF-EXPLANATORY
Gloom continues for new BG boss amid profits slide
4 February 2014
Chris Finlayson’s dreadful first year as chief executive at BG Group was today capped by the news that profits slumped 37% to $4.16 billion (£2.54 billion) in 2013.
The former Royal Dutch Shell executive said he shared shareholders’ “disappointment” at the oil producer’s many problems, which have included four profit warnings in little more than 12 months.
BP Fourth-Quarter Profit Drops
February 04, 2014
BP follows Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Exxon Mobil Corp., the two biggest oil companies by market value, in reporting lower earnings as the cost of drilling rises, refining profits slump and oil prices stagnate.
Shell and BG Group Plc (BG/) both issued profit warnings for the fourth quarter. BG today reported the first loss since 2000 on output disruptions from Egypt and higher exploration costs. Shell said last week it will accelerate asset sales to offset investment after capital spending reached a record in 2013.
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