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

Shell takes control of first Dutch offshore wind farm

30 March 2021

Shell has acquired Vattenfall’s 50% share in the 108MW Egmond aan Zee offshore wind farm, one of the first to be built.

Following the transaction Shell is the 100% owner of NoordzeeWind that manages the asset.

Vattenfall head of asset management Kasper Simonsen said: “The lessons we have learned from the first Dutch offshore wind farm can be applied in the construction of Hollandse Kust Zuid and other future offshore wind farms. 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 has written down the value of some of its gas assets, including its Queensland Curtis project in Australia.

As the Shift to Green Energy Speeds Up, Shell’s Big Natural-Gas Bet Is at Risk. The fuel faces growing environmental scrutiny and competition from cleaner energy sources

By Sarah McFarlane: March 27, 2021 5:30 am ET

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC bet big on natural gas as the energy source of the future when it bought BG Group for $54 billion. Five years later, it appears the gas era won’t last long. read more

Energy firms bet on hydrogen boom, but payday far away

By Ron Bousso, Stephanie Kelly: March 3, 2021: 4 MIN READ

“Without hydrogen by 2050 we cannot aim to be a net zero (carbon) economy,” Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told the CERAWeek online conference this week.

The universe’s most abundant element, hydrogen has been touted for decades as an alternative to fossil fuels, but attempts to commercialise it for use in vehicles and industry have largely failed.

So far, commercial-scale production has been from natural gas or coal and it is a niche market used mainly in oil refining and heavy industry. read more

How the Oil Lobby Learned to Love Carbon Taxes

The American Petroleum Institute may come out in favor of a carbon price, a sign of Washington’s dramatic move toward climate-friendly policy.

By Jennifer A Dlouhy and Leslie Kaufman: 4 March 2021, 07:00 GMT

Few saw the surprise disclosure earlier this week that the American Petroleum Institute is considering endorsing a price on carbon dioxide emissions and thought the fierce fossil fuel lobby was suddenly becoming climate-friendly. Rather, seasoned industry-watchers say it’s the clearest sign yet that fossil fuel companies see Washington’s shift on climate policy as a real and significant threat. read more

Shell in Germany seeks to speed up drive to go green

By Vera Eckert

FRANKFURT, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell in Germany aims to produce aviation fuel and naphtha made from crops and renewable power and to increase to commercial scale an electrolysis plant that makes fossil-free hydrogen, as it seeks to move away from crude oil.

The energy major told an online conference on Friday it had applied for subsidies to carry out the work from the European Union and from German funds earmarked for decarbonisation. read more

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell set out plans on Thursday to boost the use of nature-based carbon offsets and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, two climate solutions in their infancy but seen crucial to controlling global warming.

Both technologies can mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions Shell and its customers cannot eliminate on the path to the group’s 2050 net zero carbon target.

Shell wants to ramp up its use of nature-based carbon offsets, which include forestation projects, to 120 million tonnes a year by 2030, a big jump given the entire voluntary carbon offset market reached 104 million tonnes in 2019, Ecosystem Marketplace figures show. read more

Shell says new ‘Brazil-sized’ forest would be needed to meet 1.5C climate goal

Shell’s new ‘Sky 1.5’ scenario has scaled up nature-based solutions, but the oil-and-gas major’s pathway is nearly identical to the Paris Agreement’s ‘well-below 2C’ goal, an analysis by Carbon Brief revealed.

For the first time, Shell has released a “pathway” showing how the world could potentially meet the Paris Agreement’s ambitious goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C. read more

Shell’s Strategy Is Satisfactory

Summary

• This article takes a close look at Shell’s Strategy Day 2021, which focused on a net-zero emissions target and the businesses that Shell plans to operate.
• Ultimately, Shell isn’t changing its strategy too much, sticking to its core oil and gas businesses.
• By focusing on oil and gas and value over volume, Shell is a safer bet than BP which is betting big on a risky corporate restructuring.

The purpose of this article is to analyze Shell’s recent and very important Strategy Day. Shell had promised to give a lot of detail on an organizational restructuring at this event and it had the potential to radically change Shell’s direction. This means the Strategy Day presentations had a possibility to change my bullish thesis on the company. In that article I also gave some of my expectations of what I expected to see in Shell’s Strategy Day, and here I review the key takeaways of the Strategy Day and what they mean for my bullish thesis. read more

The Sunday Telegraph: Sunday 7 February 2021. Business Section Page 6

Rival BP is powering ahead with it renewable future, but despite first-mover advantage the Anglo-Dutch giant is yet to map out a path to sustainable returns, finds Rachel Millard

Shell’s boss Ben van Beurden says he hopes he will travel less even after the pandemic is over, having found it “really valuable” to spend more time with his family during 2020.

“Life will be different – how big and how much is hard to say;” he told staff via the corporate website last month. read more

Shell enters supply deal with Amazon to provide renewable energy

Reuters Staff: FEBRUARY 8, 2021

(Reuters) – A unit of oil major Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it has agreed to supply Amazon.com Inc with renewable energy, which will help the U.S. online retailer power its business completely using clean energy by 2025, five years before its target.

Shell Energy Europe BV said it will provide the renewable energy from a subsidy-free offshore wind farm constructed off the coast of the Netherlands. (go.shell.com/2MCUTbA) 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

Shell targets power trading and hydrogen in climate drive

By Ron Bousso: FEBRUARY 1, 2021: 8 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is betting on its expertise in power trading and rapid growth in hydrogen and biofuels markets as it shifts away from oil, rather than joining rivals in a scramble for renewable power assets, company sources said.

Shell and its European rivals are seeking new business models to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels and appeal to investors concerned about the long-term outlook for an industry under intense pressure to slash greenhouse gas emissions. read more

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

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

Translation of an article published by the Dutch financial newspaper, the FD. 

Shell Crown Prince: ‘We must show more predictable financial results’

Shell has had a bad year. The global corona pandemic left a huge hole in the financial results. The oil and gas multinational had to write off more than $20 billion on oil and gas fields and announced it would cut thousands of jobs.

Bert van Dijk 31 Dec ’20

Huibert Vigeveno is in charge of all Shell refineries and petrol stations. These will play a key role in the coming years, expects the 51-year-old Dutchman, tipped as a successor to Shell CEO Ben van Beurden. About CO₂ emissions: ‘There is often a gap between what a company promises and what it actually does. With us it is the other way around. ‘ read more