Time running out for prosecutors to obtain potentially crucial documents seized in Geneva apartment raid

Ben Chapman: @b_c_chapman

Giant oil companies, offshore accounts, ex-MI6 agents, champagne lunches, a former Nigerian president and allegations of one of the biggest bribes ever paid – the corruption case against Shell and Italy’s Eni filed by prosecutors in Milan over a shady $1.3bn deal for a vast African oil field has could have been lifted from the pages of an espionage thriller.

The 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. read more

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 read more

Shell oil traders trade one Caribbean paradise for another

Julia Payne: AUGUST 17, 2018

LONDON (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

*Methodist fund developing system analyzing company ethics
*Top mining and oil companies will be graded by end of 2018

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 read more

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 read more

* Lori Ryerkerk to leave company at end of Aug

* To be succeeded by Robin Mooldijk, head of Americas refining

* Ryerkerk oversaw major refining overhaul

LONDON, 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.

Full article

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”.

Extracts from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally)

Extracts from pages 165 to 168 inclusive

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. read more

John Donovan in 1999

Extracts from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally)

Extracts from pages 155 to 164 inclusive

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. read more

Shell, Petrobras units probed for Brazil price-fixing

RIO 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 read more

Shell, which has its headquarters in the Netherlands, does business in more than 70 countries: TORU HANAI/REUTERS

Emily 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. read more

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 read more

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 read more

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.

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. read more

Shell CEO says ‘foolhardy’ to set carbon reduction targets

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. read more

Shell-Partners consortium ready to build Dutch offshore wind farm

Reuters Staff: JUNE 28, 2018

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A consortium led by Swiss investor Partners Group and Royal Dutch Shell said it has secured financing for the building of a 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) wind farm in the Dutch part of the North Sea.

Shell and consortium partners Eneco, Van Oord and Mitsubishi/DGE were awarded the “Borssele 3 and 4” project in December 2016, at what at the time was the Netherlands’ lowest-ever strike price of 54.50 euro cents per megawatt-hour.

Building of the wind farm, which will have the capacity to power around 825,000 households, will start in the fourth quarter of 2019, with production expected to begin in 2021. read more

U.S. court dismisses climate change lawsuits against oil companies

Reuters Staff: JUNE 26, 2018

(Reuters) – A federal court in California dismissed climate change lawsuits by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland against five oil companies, saying the complaints required foreign and domestic policy decisions that were outside its purview. San Francisco and Oakland sued Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and BP Plc last year seeking an abatement fund to help the cities address flooding they said was a result of climate change. Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said in the ruling that the dangers raised by the complainants were real and worldwide, and both parties accepted the science behind global warming. FULL ARTICLE read more

Shell, Exxon not to seek compensation for end of Groningen gas production: government

Reuters Staff: Monday June 25, 2018

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Energy companies Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil will not submit a claim for missed revenue due to the Dutch government’s decision to halt gas production at the Groningen field by 2030, the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday.

“A lot of gas will be left in the ground,” Economy minister Eric Wiebes said at the presentation of his deal with the oil majors responsible for extracting Groningen gas.

“That gas is the property of the oil companies, but they will not submit a claim and the government is not required to compensate them.” read more