Posts under ‘Shell Employee Safety’

Shell’s $12 Billion Prelude LNG Barge Drifts Toward A Finale

Prelude’s future darkens as losses mount.

Tim Treadgold: Contributor: Asia: April 26, 2021

Prelude or finale, that’s a question some observers are starting to ask about a $12 billion ship called Prelude which was supposed to revolutionize the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

Built by Royal Dutch Shell, Prelude is designed to move from one offshore gasfield to another, avoiding the need for costly offshore structures and pipelines to shore-based gas processing facilities. read more

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell says it will take a £145m first-quarter hit from Texas freeze that left nearly 200 dead

• Severe freezing weather hit Texas in February this year triggering many deaths
• Millions of people were also left without power and Shell’s operations were hit 

By JANE DENTON FOR THISISMONEY

PUBLISHED: 09:22, 7 April 2021 | UPDATED: 09:24, 7 April 2021

Royal Dutch Shell has warned that the severe winter storm in Texas earlier this year looks set to hit its bottom line for the fist quarter.

In February, a snowstorm swept across Texas and swathes of North America, knocking out sections of the former’s electricity grid, leaving millions without power and nearly 200 people dead. read more

Iraq Moves To Exploit Its Massive Natural Gas Reserves

EXTRACTS

…that said, it has made some progress in developing gas resources, most notably in 2019/2020 when the US$17 billion 25-year Basra Gas Company (BGC) project with Royal Dutch Shell…

The original design plans for Nebras – formulated between Shell and the Iraq Oil Ministry and Ministry of Industry and Minerals – were for a project that could produce at least 1.8 million metric tonnes per year (mtpy) of various petrochemicals. read more

THIRD-PARTY CYBER SECURITY INCIDENT IMPACTS SHELL

Mar 16, 2021

Shell has been impacted by a data security incident involving Accellion’s File Transfer Appliance. Shell uses this appliance to securely transfer large data files.

Upon learning of the incident, Shell addressed the vulnerabilities with its service provider and cyber security team, and started an investigation to better understand the nature and extent of the incident. There is no evidence of any impact to Shell’s core IT systems as the file transfer service is isolated from the rest of Shell’s digital infrastructure. read more

Federal, state agencies probing Shell’s Falcon ethane pipeline after whistleblowers’ allegations

Early last year, Penn­syl­va­nia’s top en­vi­ron­men­tal of­fi­cial tried to raise an alarm at the high­est level of the fed­eral agency re­spon­si­ble for pipe­line safety.

“I write to you re­gard­ing a very se­ri­ous pub­lic safety mat­ter for Penn­syl­va­nia,” the let­ter from Patrick McDon­nell, sec­re­tary of Penn­syl­va­nia’s Depart­ment of En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion, be­gan. read more

Prelude: A year of working dangerously

Mark Tilly: Journalist: 05 February 2021

“…unions allege a culture of silence that keeps many other incidents unreported thanks to employees’ fear of reprisals.: One complainant filed in April, 2020 said they had been “intimidated and pressured by numerous phone calls and messages from representatives of the Shell company…”

SHELL’s floating LNG facility made headlines last year for all the wrong reasons, after a spate of technical issues forced the multi-billion dollar facility to halt production and cease sending cargoes for almost a year just months after it finally started up. read more

Australia’s Prelude FLNG shipments resume: Shell

Published date: 11 January 2021

Cargo shipments have resumed at the 3.6mn t/yr Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) offshore Western Australia (WA), around 11 months after it went off line in February 2020 because of technical issues.

“LNG cargoes have resumed from Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility,” said operator Shell.

Prelude FLNG in the Browse basin has been plagued by technical issues since it started shipments in June 2019. read more

Prelude was planned as a flagship floating LNG project for the Anglo-Dutch supermajor. Like most other large-scale offshore LNG projects, however, it ran into delays and cost overruns.

Shell Restarts Production At Huge Prelude Project As LNG Prices Soar

By Irina Slav – Jan 11, 2021, 11:00 AM CST

Shell has restarted production of liquefied natural gas at its Prelude offshore project in Australia after almost a year’s suspension.

“LNG cargoes have resumed from Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility,” Argus reported, citing a company statement. read more

“Prelude has been a ‘white elephant’…

Shell resumes gas shipments from world’s largest floating structure

Jamie Smyth in Sydney: 11 Jan 2021

The restart of the huge Prelude facility — which at 488 metres is longer than four football fields — is a welcome boost for Shell as it coincides with a record surge in LNG prices fuelled by a cold snap in Asia. But construction challenges, cost overruns and technical problems with Prelude, as well as challenging market conditions, have prompted Shell and other producers to cancel other FLNG projects. “Prelude has been a ‘white elephant’ — we always felt it was a technology looking for a solution rather than the other way round,” said Neil Beveridge, an analyst at Bernstein. read more

51 years ago two Shell ships exploded within 15 days of each other 

Extracted from page 06/412 and 06/413 of “A History of Royal Dutch Shell, volume 2” – Powering the Hydrocarbon Revolution, 1939-1973. 

(From page 06/412)

(From page 06/413)

Text from the same page.

On 14 December 1969, Marpessa, from Shell’s Antilles fleet, exploded during her maiden round voyage. Two Chinese Petty Officers were killed and the 207,000 dwt vessel, over 1,000 feet (328 metres) long, became the largest ship, civil or military, ever to sink. Fifteen days later her sister ship Mactra also blew up and killed two crew-members, but did not sink, and the following day a third VLCC – not a Shell ship, but of very similar design – exploded. All had been undertaking tank-cleaning operations at the time, and the ensuing two-year enquiry established the most probable cause as sparks accidentally generated in the tank’s gaseous atmosphere. The solution was to fill the tank with inner gas during cleaning. read more

Sixty-one new COVID-19 cases were reported at Beaver County’s cracker plant this week, bringing the total number since March to 335.

CHRISSY SUTTLES | BEAVER COUNTY TIMES: 12 Dec 2020

POTTER TWP. — Coronavirus cases continue to grow at Shell Chemicals’ ethane cracker plant site as COVID-19’s third wave hammers the region.

Sixty-one new virus cases were reported at Beaver County’s petrochemical complex this week, bringing the total number since March to 335. Since mid-November, total cases have tripled. read more

Shell takes giant writedown on Prelude: Massive pre-tax writedown on troubled $US12bn Prelude floating LNG plant raises concern over the long-term prospects. 

SOURCE ARTICLE (PAYWALL)

MP calls for urgent safety assessment’ over maintenance job cuts at Fife NGL Plant

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath SNP MP Neale Hanvey has written to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) raising “serious concerns” about reductions in staff at Shell’s Fife NGL Plant at Mossmorran.

It is understood  Shell intends to axe 63 out of 77 contractor jobs at the plant – a move trade union Unite has claimed could put lives at risk.

However, Shell has maintained, despite not disputing Unite’s figures, that not all roles being lost relate to “safety critical maintenance” and has given an assurance that safety at the plant would not be compromised. read more

Prelude will not resume full production this year, says Shell

Article by Adam Duckett: 21st October 2020

SHELL has said its huge floating LNG production plant – the Prelude FLNG facility – is not expected to resume full production this year, following a troubled start for the pioneering facility.

Production aboard Prelude – which at 488 m long is the largest ship ever built – was halted in February after an electrical trip and it has not resumed. This fault followed, though was not linked to, an order from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for Shell to revise its safety management system. read more

Shell’s plans to slash maintenance staff at Mossmorran would put lives at risk warns union

by Aileen Robertson: October 21 2020, 7.00am

Trade union Unite said it understood Shell was intending to axe 63 out of 77 contractor jobs at the Fife NGL Plant and that this could put lives at risk.

Shell has disputed the union’s claims of an 80% cut in workforce, insisting the safety of its plants was “paramount” and would not be compromised.

Posts under threat are said to include scaffold inspectors and supervisors, riggers and rigging supervisors, forklift drivers, general assistants and mechanical supervisors. read more

Shell deny huge job cuts at two Scots plants then U-turns as union raises ‘critical’ safety concerns

SHELL have come under fire after denying union claims of huge job cuts at two of its plants raising ‘critical’ safety concerns – that were later confirmed.

Details seen by the Herald confirm Unite concerns that proposals affecting the energy giant’s Northern Systems and Plants (NSP) operations in Fife and Aberdeenshire would result in 63 out of 77 Kaefer jobs being axed at the Mossmorran plant with a further 46 out of 52 jobs being proposed for redundancy at St Fergus. read more