News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc
Ed Crooks in New York: Sunday 7 Jan 2018
The growth of Royal Dutch Shell’s oil and gas operations in the next decade will depend on shale production, its chief executive has said, in the latest sign of western energy groups pinning their hopes for expansion on those “unconventional” resources. Ben van Beurden told the Financial Times that he saw chemicals, electricity and biofuels as key sectors for Shell’s long-term future… FULL FT ARTICLE
Companies like Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp.historically invested tens of billions of dollars over many years to develop huge reserves in isolated areas like northern Alberta, Kazakhstan or in the middle of the ocean. Shale is different. A tight-oil well could be drilled within a year for a few million dollars. As prices fell, more companies jumped in with more investment. Now, shale regions that were barely a blip on world markets a decade ago are expected to pump 7.5 million barrels a day in four years, and output probably won’t peak until after 2025… FULL ARTICLE
Shell, in an initiative called “iShale,” has marshaled technology from a dozen oilfield suppliers, including devices from subsea specialist TechnipFMC Plc that separate fracking sand from oil and well-control software from Emerson Electric Co, to bring more automation and data analysis to shale operations.
Ernest Scheyder: NOVEMBER 28, 2017
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Shale oil engineer Oscar Portillo spends his days drilling as many as five wells at once – without ever setting foot on a rig. Part of a team working to cut the cost of drilling a new shale well by a third, Portillo works from a Royal Dutch Shell Plc office in suburban Houston, his eyes darting among 13 monitors flashing data on speed, temperature and other metrics as he helps control rigs more than 500 miles (805 km) away in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. oilfield. FULL ARTICLE
Royal Dutch Shell will begin construction of a new $10bn petrochemicals site in the gas-rich Marcellus shale basin in the US within the next ten weeks as part of a radical growth plan for its petrochemicals business.
The oil major told investors that global demand for petrochemicals – which are used to manufacture the raw materials used to make plastics, paints and textiles – is set to grow by around 50pc by the end of the decade, making it a key area for the company’s growth.
Ben van Beurden’s rise to the top coincided with the oil price riding the crest of a wave.
But for a man who assumed Shell’s chief executive role just months before it all came crashing down, he sums up the last three years as “a blessing”.
“Less than a year into my new role, the oil price started going down and it’s been quite a journey, but if I look back on it I think this is probably the biggest blessing that I’ve had,” he said.
“It has done two things. First of all it provided a tremendous amount of focus on the things that needed doing. I mean, there’s nothing like a crisis to focus on cost efficiency.
By Tom Kool – Aug 15, 2017, 3:00 PM CDT
Oil prices remain in a game of tug of war as conflicting news sends both the bears and the bulls to the sidelines.
• In 2015, the U.S. spent the least on energy in over a decade, largely due to the collapse of oil prices.
• In real terms, the U.S. spent $1.27 trillion on energy in 2015, down 20 percent from a year earlier.
• In inflation-adjusted terms, as well as in terms of percentage of GDP, the expenditures were the lowest since 2004.
By John Donovan
An article published by an Oregon morning newspaper, the Daily Tidings, contains a reference to the Gale Norton scandal. Norton served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
After granting some potential valuable oil shale leases to Shell, she resigned to become Shell General Counsel in the oil shale division.
Soon after the inevitable public outcry, I was approached by the US government official leading the investigation and supplied Shell internal leaked documents and other assistance for which he was duly grateful and stated as such in an email.
Shale oil declines 35-50% per year. You need to keep drilling faster and faster until you go bust…..
And when the costs are high and returns are marginal, corners will be cut and other problems start. Polluted aquifers, operators going bust so who will clean up the mess?
US shale oil will keep prices low – will it ??
Give this 5 mins – it’s fun.
Excellent website link below, with great interactive charts on how the shale wells in US are doing.
These were supposed to keep the oil price low remember?
Royal Dutch Shell’s top oil trader has launched a staunch defence against accusations that the company’s activity in the North Sea crude market had skewed the benchmark that underpins global oil prices. Shell is alleged to have traded aggressively in the region last year, contributing to heavy losses among rivals…
Shell Throws The Blame To Residents on Slow Cleanup of Oil Spills In Nigeria: The Science Times
EXTRACT: Oil and petroleum giant Shell blamed the Nigerian residents in the Delta community for its slow response in cleaning up the two oil spill incidents in 2008. Amidst almost a decade-long effort, Shell wasn’t able to fully contain the spill. However, there is a possibility that the clean-up might start next month.
Links below to a selection of current news stories posted on our sister website royaldutchshellgroup.com.
Big Oil’s Plan to Buy Into the Shale Boom
By Amanda Cooper and Catherine Ngai | LONDON/NEW YORK
As far as one of the world’s biggest commodities traders, Glencore’s chief Ivan Glasenberg, is concerned, the oil market will be at the mercy of “a cat and mouse game” between OPEC and its U.S. shale rivals in the coming year.
A 16 percent price rally over the past week has delivered U.S. frackers a golden opportunity to hedge – or sell forward – their production for 2017 and beyond, to shore up their coffers against possible future price falls.
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.
Royal Dutch Shell expects to pump out all the fossil fuel reserves listed on its balance sheet, its chief executive said, dismissing concerns that production limits in the wake of the Paris climate accord could hit the energy giant’s valuation.
In an interview with Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, Ben van Beurden said the issue of “stranded” reserves – deposits in the ground that cannot be used because of carbon emissions limitations – would have no impact on balance sheets.
Third Quarter Results: Tuesday, November 1
Confidence in enlarged Shell-BG entity was rattled after a very disappointing set of second quarter results, when it missed consensus forecasts by 52pc. Ahead of Tuesday’s interim results, analysts at UBS warned: “We don’t think it is reasonable to expect a significant uptick in earnings”.
Even though Royal Dutch Shell has a track-record of “volatile” quarters across the year, the bank highlighted that management have already been “quite explicit” in indicating that 2016 is likely to be “quite messy”.
Oct 20, 2016, 17:26 ET
CALGARY, Oct. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its affiliate Shell Canada Energy (“Shell”) today announced it has agreed to sell approximately 206,000 net acres of non-core oil and gas properties in Western Canada to Tourmaline Oil Corp. for a total consideration of approximately $1,037 million (C$1,369 million). The consideration is comprised of $758 million in cash and Tourmaline shares valued at $279 million. Subject to regulatory approvals the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2016.
: That well known Schlumberger ex-Chief with 'operations experience', Andrew Gould (Mr Corridor having seen fit to distance himself from the BG Group debacle) is now in the news as Chairman of a Houston based outfit called Sentinel, a blank-check company . The latter having struck lucky with a pipeline company called Strike in a $854MM deal. “If I take all my experience in the oilfield, I don’t think I see any other service segment which has been so outsourced as this one,” said Gould. Strike’s main focus will remain pipeline maintenance. The deal comes less than a year after Sentinel raised $345 million in an initial public offering. The company, which up until now had no assets, was set up as a so-called special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Gould is returning to public life after helping orchestrate the sale of the failed BG Group to Shell for $54 billion in 2016. Let's hope that there is a knighthood in it for him!
: The release of the Shell Brent PSMR is shocking testimony of the culture these pathetic incompetents administered without challenge. When Shell was generating huge revenue for the treasury, the regulator, even government ministers had their heads in the sand and a lack of accountability meant they could move on to spread their malignance. Finlayson took his “talents” to BG, another company ruined by pathetic incompetents with the same DNA.
Brinded joined Network Rail who appointed Mark Carne, another Shell/BG stray, described in one tabloid as the “bungling rail chief”. It’s ironic he now talks about (Rail Engineer 27.09.18) joining from Shell “part of an industry with a strong safety culture” and being motivated by big businesses, which are “safety-critical”, with more waffle about safety leadership and safety performance.
: Bill, now the full horror of your findings during the Expro audit have been made available via Johns’ web site I wonder what kind of reaction, if any, will be generated. In retrospect and with hindsight, publishing earlier might have sealed Brinded’s demise sooner and he would never have risen to an apparent level of “the untouchable”.
The Italians hopefully will ensure he will be disgraced never to be any where near a responsible position again.
: 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.
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.
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