News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc
September 20, 2018, 08:07:00 AM EDT By Reuters
MILAN, Sept 20 (Reuters) – A Milan court sentenced two defendants in a Nigeria corruption case to jail on Thursday in what is a first ruling on one of the oil industry’s biggest graft scandals.
Nigeria’s Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo were both found guilty of international corruption and each given four-year jail sentences, two sources with knowledge of the ruling said.
Lawyers for Obi and Nardo were not available for immediate comment.
19 SEPTEMBER 2018: By Prince Okafor With Agency Report
An Italian court has concluded plans to deliver its first verdict on the trial of top Shell and Eni executives, over alleged corruption in the controversial Malabu scandal tomorrow in Milan, Italy.
The Italian prosecutors alleged that $1.1 billion from the deal didn’t come into Nigeria where the oil field OPL 245 is located, but to accounts belonging to former Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Dan Etete.
The Italian judge, it was learnt will decide, for the first time, whether $1.1 billion of the sum paid was siphoned in bribes to win the license to the field.
MILAN, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Oil majors Shell and Eni will be carefully monitoring a first ruling this week by a Milan judge in one of the energy industry’s biggest corruption scandals for clues to what might be round the corner for them.
The two companies are embroiled in a long-running graft case revolving around the purchase in 2011 of one of Africa’s biggest oilfields – Nigeria’s OPL 245 – for about $1.3 billion.
The case, which involves Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi and four former Shell managers including one-time Shell Foundation Chairman Malcolm Brinded, has spawned legal cases spanning several countries and is expected to drag on for months.
Time running out for prosecutors to obtain potentially crucial documents seized in Geneva apartment raidThe latest developments thicken the plot further with a cache of documents seized in a raid on a Swiss financier’s apartment that could be crucial to the case, leaving prosecutors in a race against time to get them to Milan as trial hearings get underway this week.
The Geneva raid uncovered a briefcase belonging to Emeka Obi, a middleman who received millions of dollars from the deal and is in the dock along with several senior Shell and Eni executives.
Inside the briefcase, Swiss prosecutors found a laptop, two Nigerian passports, five sim cards and a hard drive containing 41,000 documents that prosecutors believe could be crucial to the trial playing out on the other side of the Alps.
By Zheng Xin | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-23 09:12
Global energy giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc has announced plans to triple the number of gas stations it has in China to 3,500 by 2025, in response to the recent lifting of restrictions on foreign investment in the sector. FULL ARTICLE
REUTERS STAFF: AUGUST 22, 2018
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.AS) Brazil chief said on Wednesday that the company is evaluating the assets of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA’s (ELET6.SA) that are being put up for sale as part of the state-owned utility’s debt reduction and privatization plans. Andre Araujo also told reporters that the company was considering participating in an upcoming Brazilian government auction for projects in the wind energy sector. FULL ARTICLE
Shell oil traders trade one Caribbean paradise for anotherLONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) oil traders in the Caribbean island of Barbados are getting ready for a tough gig – they’re being moved to the Bahamas next month. The relocation of the oil and gas company’s trading hub for Latin America will make travel to customers in the key region easier for its employees, a company spokeswoman said. FULL ARTICLE
By Elizabeth Burden and Thomas Biesheuvel
15 August 2018, 08:54 BST
Divestment may be too blunt an instrument to encourage the world’s biggest oil and mining companies to behave ethically: the Methodist Church is prepared to back those committed to mending their ways. FULL ARTICLE
REUTERS STAFF: AUGUST 12, 2018 / 11:12 PM
HOUSTON (Reuters) – The heavy oil hydrocracking unit (HCU) at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (RDSa.AS) 209,787 barrel per day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, refinery was shut after a fire early on Sunday, sources familiar with plant operations said. The fire broke out on the 45,000 bpd HCU, call the H-Oil Unit, at about 1:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday, the sources said. A Shell spokesman was not immediately available to comment. No injuries were reported due to the blaze, the sources said. FULL ARTICLE
* Lori Ryerkerk to leave company at end of AugLONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) – The head of Royal Dutch Shell’s global refining operations Lori Ryerkerk will step down at the end of the month after five years in a job where she oversaw a vast overhaul of the business, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
I have already listed the various kinds of Shell insider information we receive. It has included confidential internal documents from a high-level source in Shell Global Security. Another email seen by Reuters, apparently from a Shell communications representative to U.S. news network Fox News said: “royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out”.
By John Donovan
Shell cloak and dagger activities against me have continued in more recent years, but this time on a global basis, as revealed in a Reuters article (extract above). The most recent spying of which I am aware was directed at me, my website and against Shell’s own employees.
I have already listed the various kinds of Shell insider information we receive. It has included confidential internal documents from a high-level source in Shell Global Security.
We discovered that the continued campaigning on our part triggered another bout of sinister activity by Shell, this time targeting my website, myself and Shell employees.
John Donovan in 1999
We receive insider information about Shell from a number of different sources.
The first is from Shell itself.
Shell has supplied Shell internal documents and internal emails directly to me in compliance with a series of SAR applications.
The internal documents revealed that Shell secretly set up a counter-measures team and mounted a global spying operation in a determined, but unsuccessful bid to stop the flow of Shell insider information to me.
Another source is from disgruntled Shell employees who have supplied insider information and Shell internal documents and internal emails.
Shell, Petrobras units probed for Brazil price-fixingRIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil’s three largest fuel distribution companies are under investigation for fixing prices at the pump, police said on Tuesday…
Shell to make final investment call on Nigeria oilfield in 2019: official
Shell, which has its headquarters in the Netherlands, does business in more than 70 countries: TORU HANAI/REUTERSEmily Gosden, Energy Editor: 27 July 2018
Royal Dutch Shell launched a long-awaited $25 billion share buyback plan as it sought to shrug off disappointing second-quarter results.
The Anglo-Dutch energy group insisted it had had a “very good quarter” as profits excluding exceptional items rose to $4.7 billion, up from $3.6 billion a year earlier, aided by higher oil and gas prices.
The result was significantly below analysts’ expectations of almost $6 billion, however, because of factors including foreign exchange effects and rising operating costs.
Ron Bousso, Shadia Nasralla: JULY 18, 2018
LONDON (Reuters) – Oil giant BP’s Eastern Trough Area Project off the coast of Scotland wasn’t supposed to be viable beyond 2018. But government and industry working together have given ETAP a new lease of life that is being closely watched by countries and companies eyeing other ageing projects around the world. When ETAP was launched 20 years ago today, some experts predicted the UK sector of the North Sea would cease most production by 2030. FULL ARTICLE
Mr Trump last year signed a law giving him the right to impose sanctions on companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Royal Dutch Shell, BASF’s Wintershall unit, Uniper, OMV and Engie have agreed to provide Russia’s Gazprom with financing for the €9.5bn pipeline and could be at risk of penalties.Elena Mazneva, Margaret Talev and Naureen S Malik: 18 July 2018
US President Donald Trump eased his tone about a Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany after a one-on-one meeting with President Vladimir Putin, shifting from the harsh criticism of Germany he’d levied in Europe last week. “We are going to be selling LNG and will have to be competing with the pipeline and I think we’ll compete successfully, although there is a little advantage locationally” because Russia is closer to buyers in Europe, Mr Trump told reporters at a news conference with Mr Putin after their meeting in Helsinki on Monday. FULL ARTICLE
REUTERS STAFF: 10 JULY 2018
OSLO (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is shutting down production at its Knarr field in the North Sea after workers walked out on strike on Tuesday, the company said.
“As a result of the strike, Knarr is closing its production in the Norwegian North Sea,” said Shell spokeswoman Kitty Eide. “We started shutdown operations this morning and to complete them can take up to 36 hours. As soon as the strike is over, we will restart production. No other fields or platforms that we are operator of are affected by the strike.”Production at Knarr is 3,800 standard cubic metres of oil equivalents. It produces mostly oil, with some natural gas liquids and gas production.
The partners in the Knarr field are Japan’s Idemitsu (5019.T), Wintershall [WINT.UL] and DEA, according to data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
Ron Bousso: JULY 5, 2018
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s boss said it would be “foolhardy” for the oil and gas producer to set hard targets to reduce carbon emissions as it risked exposing the energy giant to legal challenges.
The energy industry has struggled in recent years to find a clear path to secure its role as the world shifts from fossil fuels in order to meet the 2015 Paris climate agreement goals.
Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden last year set out ambitions last year to halve its carbon emissions by 2050, far exceeding rivals. But the Dutch CEO resisted calls by activists and some investors to set binding targets.
: After the Shell BG merger completed in 2016 , a lot of really good people lost their jobs , it was handled terribly by the HR dept and the so called 'General Managers' culled some of the best experts they had ...in less than a year of the redundancies Shell were struggling and now with the lack of expertise...they have had to take in contractors to fill staff positions ..within a year of the redundancies ... they could be liable if people took this issue up.. Also Shell were looking at hiring back some old boy network ...who are now pensioners to come back in as managers to help out with the problems ..LOL . they have so much dead wood staff on their books and the company is ran like a club. I'm glad to be away from the farce that Shell became , the malaise started around about 2004 when they began to lose the plot. The BG merger for many was a final nail in the coffin, some of the hand picked people for the new club don't know their arse from their elbows. The only way Shell actually make profits is when the oil price goes high... when Brent is low they can't compete within their quartile or peer groups. I'll keep abreast here on the blog
: I’ve just come across an article "Tips & Insights: A World-class Combination" about the proposed combination of Royal Dutch Shell, one of the largest companies in the world and 'best known for its gasoline stations' and BG Group, a natural gas specialist.
The article centres on Sarah Franklin, (BG chief counsel, with a list of responsibilities, including health and safety after her name), who would be BG’s legal lead for integration planning.
Franklin has apparently added other governance matters, including human rights and whistleblowing investigations to her legal skill set. She set up BG’s first whistleblowing program.
If you are a Shell employee, be extremely cautious about the content of the two preceding paragraphs. If you have concerns, especially those with a safety connotation and you wish to engage with her……….beware.
: I listened to the then BG Group chief executive drool over the Petrobras ‘partnership’ at his award speech for GB Personality of the Year by the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in 2013 (https://youtu.be/pfknsxjT2Rw). He described many extraordinary moments during this partnership, a relationship that had flourished with ‘mutual trust and respect and super giant discoveries’, which was going from strength to strength. He was looking to a very long future with many more Eureka moments for BG and its partners in the years and decades to come. So why would they want to put such ‘jewel’ in the Shell crown and who was responsible for this? At that time did anyone envisage the fall from grace in the coming months and years? Since then there has been turmoil in both companies, what could possibly have gone wrong. Insiders will know the answer.
: Andrew Gould, Chairman of the disgraced BG Group, who allegedly was seeking a knighthood by joining the company has gone to ground. Given his contractor mind set coupled with his training as an accountant does not bode well for the industry. His LinkedIn profile shows that he is still Chairman of BG Group, as well as being a Board Member (Non Executive!) of Saudi Aramco. Given that Saudi Aramco are going to drop their IPO, this could well leave 'Mr Corridor' twiddling his thumbs and wondering how he can manoeuvre back into a position where he can achieve his ambition of being knighted.
: It looks like Prelude has 19 helicopter fights per week. All of them are routed to the "Posh Arcaida" which is an accommodation vessel with up to 750 beds on board.
An article I read dated 17th March indicated that more than 17,500 people had been moved by helicopter since arrival.
: Andrey Golubel. It's an oil painting, what would you expect?
: There's a bit of pattern here. Corruption seems to be running through the veins of Shell. We see in all these recent tax articles how they seem to be snuggled up in bed with the Dutch Government. Will anything come of this? Of course not silly. It has been going on for years. There is even a department called Government Relations which is staffed by - yes you guessed it - former government employees. Where was Van Beurden a few days ago, for three whole days? The very secretive Bilderberg meeting in Turin (Guardian article by Charlie Skelton can be found on this website), along with many of the worlds elite businessmen and politicians, AND the Dutch king. The outcomes of the meeting were not something I saw on any of the Shell internal or external communication messaging. Funny that, seeing how they always share even the most mundane van Beurden news. So will Shell be brought to account for its actions in OPL? I somehow doubt it. But there is some hope. Will the real Slim Robinson please stand up.
: For centuries “The Mocking of Samson” was thought to be a copy of a famous Dutch painting. Then a Shell microscope made a remarkable discovery.
: This gets interesting....Enron links to Dynegi, links to accounting scandal, custodial sentences, links to BG Group, links to Non Exec Directors in BG Group, more links to Dynegi 'strays' on the BG Exec committee!!! Interested parties may want to dig deeper.
: Biggest Fraud in History. I object! BG Group was clearly the biggest fraud in recent oil and gas industry history after Enron. The company had over-inflated its reserves on little substance and fact, and the auditors were either gullible or complicit. BG had been lucky with production, but the Geoscience supporting the production was usually fabricated. What they didn't understand they speculated about or made-up. The Board bid the shareholders up the cobblers, Project Berkshire in the Brasil Asset was a classic example of this deceit - the Emperor's new clothes. Their undoing was not that they had lied to the shareholders, but that they actually believed their own lies and flawed integrity. Their assurance process was corrupt and their cappucino and pepper plant culture led to them failing to meet targets. Ultimately, they managed to get away with it by selling-out to Shell after a protracted period of alignment, who turned around the toxic purchase by spewing-out most of BG's worthless assets, Caveat Emptor!
: Lawyers for the many parties involved will be reading these series of postings with great interest as will the Italian Prosecutors.
: UPDATE 6 JUNE 2018: Overnight developments: After putting "A Mole" in direct contact with one of the key investigative organisations in relation to the OPL 245 corruption scandal, this anonymous source has now supplied them with more information relating to the OML 30 Nigerian oil deal involving Shell/Heritage Oil and Guy Colegate.
I am also in contact with a person who appears to be a key player in the OPL 245 scandal. I await promised documents from this insider source to whom I have also guaranteed anonymity.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
Comments RSS Feed