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Shell Chemical plant at Norco stirred controversy decades before Clean Air Act allegations

Shell’s Norco Refinery

When Iris Carter heard that the Shell Chemical plant near her childhood home in Norco had been ordered to spend $10 million on pollution control equipment to resolve decades of allegations that the plant was violating the federal Clean Air Act, she felt a variety of emotions. She was frustrated, she said, and angry. But she wasn’t surprised. As Carter sees it, this should have happened more than 20 years ago, when she and her family first helped start a campaign to abandon an area she said had become too polluted to live in. “The stink in the air was so strong it knocked you back,” Carter, now 66, remembers. “It was terrible.” FULL ARTICLE read more

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Oil Boom Gives the U.S. a New Edge in Energy and Diplomacy

A pump jack in a Permian Basin oil field in West Texas. The area has been a focus of the shale drilling boom. Credit Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America

HOUSTON — A substantial rise in oil prices in recent months has led to a resurgence in American oil production, enabling the country to challenge the dominance of Saudi Arabia and dampen price pressures at the pump. The success has come in the face of efforts by Saudi Arabia and its oil allies to undercut the shale drilling spree in the United States. Those strategies backfired and ultimately ended up benefiting the oil industry. Overcoming three years of slumping prices proved the resiliency of the shale boom. Energy companies and their financial backers were able to weather market turmoil — and the maneuvers of the global oil cartel — by adjusting exploration and extraction techniques. FULL ARTICLE read more

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Shell News Update 10 Jan 2018

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Saudi purge may lift lid on Shell’s money-laundering role in £43bn BAE al-Yamamah arms deal 

By John Donovan

The Times has published an article today, 11 November 2017, under the headline “Saudi purge may lift lid on £43bn BAE arms deal

Extract: Britain’s biggest -ever arms deal faces renewed scrutiny after Saudi Arabia placed it at the centre of an urgent criminal investigation as part of the kingdom’s anti-corruption drive. One of the hundreds of princes, ministers and businessmen held in the country’s unprecedented purge of senior figures is Prince Turki bin Nasser, the royal at the centre of the so­ called al-Yamamah scandal, The Times has been told. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Oil prices head towards $70 in the wake of Saudi purge

Jillian Ambrose: 

Global oil prices broke above two year highs and could climb higher to hit $70 a barrel in the wake of a shock anti-corruption purge of Saudi royals and senior officials.

Oil prices bounded to highs not seen since July 2015 at over $64 a barrel on Monday following a sweep of arrests targeting ministers, investors and members of the Saudi royal family on corruption charges over the weekend.

The shock crackdown also helped drive shares in Royal Dutch Shell to within a breath of its highest ever share price at £24.89 following the company’s rosy financial results last week. Before the oil price crash in late 2014 the company’s shares traded at a peak of £25.76. FULL ARTICLE read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell shelves plan to close Convent gasoline unit in 2018

HOUSTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc has shelved a plan to permanently close the gasoline-producing unit at its 227,586-barrel-per-day Convent, Louisiana, oil refinery in early 2018, the company said on Thursday.

Shell has decided to overhaul the 92,000-bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) next year, extending its production for at least four to five years, a company spokesman said.

“Shell re-evaluated the cat cracker end-to-end economics and determined that the business case was strong to run the FCCU for another cycle,” Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said. read more

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Shell News Update 21 June 2017

Oil firms could waste trillions if climate targets reached: report: Reuters: 20 June 2017

Oil giants including Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell risk spending more than a third of their budgets by 2025 on oil and gas projects that will not be feasible if international climate targets are to be met, a thinktank says.

Global oil price falls to nine-month low as oversupply fears mount: The Independent: 21 June 2017

A number of producers – notably Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Russia – have aggressively ramped up output…

Norway opens up record 93 blocks for Arctic oil exploration: Financial Times: 21 June 2017

Norway has infuriated environmental groups by opening up a record number of blocks in the Arctic for oil exploration. Environmental groups, emboldened by their success ending Royal Dutch Shell’s drilling off Alaska, are stepping up protests against Oslo. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Money Laundering for Saudi Arabia

Once again the conspiracy involved a shadowy man associated with Shell, said to be an MI6 agent. Not John Copleston or Guy Colgate of OPL 245 fame, but a spy from an earlier generation of British spooks – Stephan Kock – reportedly responsible for ordering assassinations.

By John Donovan

As has been widely reported, Shell and former/current senior managers up to executive director level face criminal charges in connection with the OPL 245 corruption scandal. Apart from other issues, Shell is accused of money laundering along with Eni. If found guilty, there is no prospect of Shell reducing any penalty by pleading it’s a first offence, because that is not the case. 

In the 1980’s, Shell and BP played a money-laundering role in the Al-Yamamah project generating slush funds associated with Saudi arms contracts which helped to fund terrorism and corruption, including massive bribes to Saudi royals by the main contractor, BAe Systems. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell News Headlines Updated 26 May 2017

Energy-Generating Kites Backed by Shell Set for Test in Scotland: Bloomberg/Quint: 26 May 2017

Power-generating kites backed by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Schlumberger Ltd. and EON SE will start tests in the U.K. this summer, with the aim of developing a technology that could eventually replace offshore wind turbines. Kite Power Systems, known as KPS, is working on a 17-meter device that flies on air currents high above the ground and generates power by pulling at a cable. It raised 5 million pounds ($6.4 million) from the three energy giants last December. “The reason we are interested in something like this is that it has potential to reduce the cost of offshore wind in the future,” said Geert van de Wouw, managing director of Shell Technology Ventures BV. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell completes transaction separating Motiva assets

HOUSTON, May 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”) announces today the completion of the transaction for the separation of assets, liabilities and businesses of Motiva Enterprises LLC (“Motiva”).   As announced when the definitive agreements were signed, the separation is as follows:

  • Saudi Aramco (through its wholly owned Saudi Refining, Inc. subsidiary) assumes full ownership of the Motiva Enterprises LLC name and legal entity, including the refinery at Port Arthur, Texas and 24 distribution terminals. Additionally, Motiva has the right to exclusively sell Shell-branded gasoline and diesel in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as well as the eastern half of Texas and the majority of Florida.
  • Shell (through various affiliated companies) assumes sole ownership of the Norco, La., refinery (where Shell operates a chemicals plant), the Convent, La., refinery, 11 distribution terminals, and Shell-branded markets in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, a portion of the Florida panhandle, and the North-eastern region of the U.S.  These assets are now fully integrated with Shell’s downstream business in North America.

About Shell

  • Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with operations in more than 70 countries. In the U.S., Shell operates in 50 states and employs more than 20,000 people.
  • www.shell.com
  • www.shellus.com

Inquiries
Shell Media Relations:  International +44 207 934 5550; Americas +1 713 241 4544
Shell Investor Relations:  Europe + 31 70 377 4540; North America +1 832 337 2034 read more

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Royal Dutch Shell Motiva Blues

Over the next few days, we will be posting some outspoken insider comments made several years ago in relation to Motiva, kicking off with the exchange below between “Jim Hartsock” and “Motivasux.”

The comments reveal the low esteem, to put it mildly, in which Shell Oil executives were held at that time.

Comments are welcome from current employees about worker morale these days bearing in mind the dramatic consequences of the Shell/Saudi Aramco divorce. Comments can be posted on our Shell Blog under an alias, thus preserving confidentiality. Or send them to me for publication on the same confidential basis: [email protected] read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Dramatic Breakup of Shell/Saudi Aramco jv Motiva

Photo taken in happier times several years before the divorce

Comment posted on Wall Street Journal article: Shell Seeks to Streamline in 2017

The US operations will face drastic cuts. with the breakup of Motiva, many people will be reassigned, told to post for other positions, or face layoff.

The process has already begun, and will intensify as the April 1 target date for the breakup gets closer.

Middle management will be realigned, as some northeast terminals will be sold off to raise cash, and managers will be scrambling for other available positions which may involve relocation, taking early retirement or the unemployment line. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Norco chemical plant malfunction triggers flaring

HOUSTON, Dec 18 2016 (Reuters) – A malfunction on Saturday triggered flaring at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Norco, Louisiana, chemical plant, said a Shell spokesman.

Shell’s Ray Fisher on Sunday declined to say which unit sustained the malfunction.

A source familiar with plant operations said the malfunction was in an olefins unit at the chemical plant.

The Shell chemical plant in Norco shares the safety flare system with the adjoining Motiva Enterprises refinery. Flaring from the chemical plant is sometimes thought to come from the refinery. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Trump stance could complicate Saudi/Shell deal

By RUSSELL GOLD: Dec. 16, 2016 2:45 p.m. ET

The election of Donald Trump threatens to complicate efforts by Saudi Arabia’s national oil company to purchase refineries and expand its petrochemical footprint in the U.S.

Speaking in Louisiana earlier this month, he said: “We use refineries from other countries. The whole thing is just crazy. It’s crazy.”

That stance could complicate a continuing deal: Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are in talks to end a joint venture called Motiva Enterprises. The Saudi company, which is state owned and state controlled, has said it expects after negotiations are concluded to own the 603,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. Shell is expected to get two smaller refineries in Louisiana. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

screen-shot-2016-12-05-at-16-34-00 By The Motley Fool  Dec 5, 2016

Today I’m looking at the critical reasons to sell out of Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB).

A drop in the ocean

The oil sector’s major players breathed a huge sigh of relief last week after OPEC — responsible for four-tenths of the world’s oil supply — confounded the expectations of many and agreed to cut its output.

Saudi Arabia brokered a deal that will see production fall by 1.2m barrels per day, to 32.5m barrels beginning in January. The news prompted Brent oil to top the $55 per barrel marker for the first time since the summer of 2016. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Leaner and meaner: U.S. shale greater threat to OPEC after oil price war

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By Catherine Ngai and Ernest Scheyder

NEW YORK/HOUSTON In a corner of the prolific Bakken shale play in North Dakota, oil companies can now pump crude at a price almost as low as that enjoyed by OPEC giants Iran and Iraq.

Until a few years ago it was unprofitable to produce oil from shale in the United States. The steep slide in costs could encourage more U.S. shale output if OPEC members cut supplies, undermining the producer group’s ability to boost prices. OPEC ministers meet Wednesday to weigh output cuts to end a two-year glut that has pressured global oil prices. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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