Posts under ‘Shell Employee Safety’

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

Written by Allister Thomas and Chris Jaffray – 03/08/2018

Shell has been fined £60,000 after a technician was severely injured by a gas cylinder on a North Sea platform.

The incident in November 2014 took place on the Brent Delta installation when a gas cylinder unexpectedly discharged, causing projectiles to strike a worker.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard today that technicians were required to replace a gas cylinder within a system used to extinguish fires on November 9, 2014.

One technician rolled what he thought was an empty cylinder and took off a protective cap, however the cylinder was in fact fully charged which caused an uncontrolled release of gas and a loud bang –  resulting in the technician dropping the cylinder which caused the valve to shear, with projectiles severely injuring a second technician. read more

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

Extract from page 147.

I publish articles on my website penned by me and authored by Shell insiders and former Shell employees.

A brief selection:

Roll call of Shell toxic brands deadly to insects, crop pests AND humans: 20 August 2010

Shell Corrib employee group leaking information to website: 6 August 2010

Adventures in Shell ‘Matulaland’: 11 June 2010

DATA SECURITY BREACH AT SHELL PUTS ITS EMPLOYEES AT RISK: 4 February 2010

Shell’s North Sea history of safety violations, blackmail and blacklisting: 28 January 2010

SEX, DRUGS & CORRUPTION SPONSORED BY SHELL

News headlines file for Royal Dutch Shell Sex and Drugs Scandal: 27 May 2009

Royal Dutch Shell Fat Cat Malcolm Brinded: Big Brain but no scruples: 28 May 2009 read more

A quarter of Shell shareholders turned on Ben Van Beurden after he pocketed €8.9m (£7.8m)

Jillian Ambrose: 22 MAY 2018 • 2:02PM

The boss of Royal Dutch Shell has suffered a bruising shareholder revolt after more than a quarter of its investors voted against his multi-million euro payout for last year.

Ben Van Beurden pocketed €8.9m (£7.8m) for 2017 after trebling the company’s profits to $12.1bn (£9bn) as the oil giant staged an impressive recovery from a crash in prices.

But shareholders took against the FTSE 100 boss after an accident in Pakistan last year claimed the lives of more than 200 people in an explosion of a fuel tanker operated by one of the energy giant’s subsidiaries. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc will face difficult questions at its annual general meeting next week after an investor-advisory group urged shareholders to challenge executive pay and the company’s response to a fatal accident in Pakistan. 

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., an influential adviser on corporate governance, has recommended investors reject Shell’s pay report at its AGM on May 22, saying it was initially “silent” on the Pakistan incident. ISS also said it could only offer “qualified support” to the re-election of the independent director looking after corporate social responsibility.  read more

By City & Finance Reporter for the Daily Mail: PUBLISHED:21:51, 13 May 2018 | UPDATED: 21:51, 13 May 2018

The boss of oil giant Shell is facing the threat of a revolt over his £7.8million pay packet.

Institutional Shareholders Services, a leading investor advisory group, is recommending that Ben van Beurden’s pay is voted down at the annual general meeting later this month.

ISS said it also wants more information about how the 60-year-old’s bonus was affected by an incident in Pakistan in 2016, when a fuel tanker operated by a Shell Pakistan contractor exploded, killing more than 200 people. read more

The firm also drew attention to a number of safety incidents in 2017 which it is working to address and provide support to victims for, including oil spills and theft in Nigeria, earthquakes in Groningen and a road tanker disaster in Pakistan.

Allister Thomas read more

Of particular concern to Shell, the author provides first-hand insight into Shell’s security and intelligence activities in Nigeria, Iraq, Iran, Ireland and other global hot spots and details how Shell worked with US, UK and Dutch Intelligence and military agencies to further their mutual agendas.  The author also discusses Shell’s secret communications with MEND militants in Nigeria through intermediaries. 

By John Donovan 

I suspect that Shell in particular, should be very concerned about a book in the pipeline called “CRUDE INTENTION”. I say this because the author is a former senior manager of Shell Global Security. 

Unlike the MI6 “people” hired by Shell including Guy Colegate, John Copleston and Ian Forbes McCredie, and the FBI officials recruited for their government connections like former FBI Deputy Director Richard Garcia, the author is a career security & business professional in the oil & gas industry whose own principles and ethics often conflicted those of his spymaster bosses and coworkers; including the monitoring of our activities as part of a Shell global surveillance operation.  read more

The UK’s workplace safety watchdog has reprimanded Shell following a gas leak on the Brent Bravo platform in November.

Written by Mark Lammey – 17/01/2018 11:38 am

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Shell has failed to “prevent the uncontrolled release of flammable or explosive substances”.

Its inspector accused the oil major of failing to ensure valves on the rig were kept in “efficient working order and in good repair”.

Shell has been given until March 8 to comply with the improvement notice.

A spokesman for Shell UK said: “Shell UK can confirm that we were issued with an HSE improvement notice on 8^th December 2017 in relation to a small hydrocarbon release on our Brent Bravo platform in the North Sea. read more

Written by Mark Lammey – 03/01/2018 12:00 pm

Energy giant Shell has been ordered to improve its safety procedures at the St Fergus plant near Peterhead.

The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the company had failed to made “adequate arrangements” to ensure that “emergency shutdown and emergency depressurisation valve actuators” were maintained in an “efficient state and effective working order”.

HSE initially gave Shell until December 21 to comply with the improvement notice, but the deadline has now been extended to February 28.

A spokeswoman for Shell said: “We can confirm that we have been issued with an improvement notice on 23^rd November 2017 in relation to the maintenance of emergency shutdown valves at our St Fergus plant in North East Scotland. read more

In February 1965 there was a explosive blowout at a NAM gas field in Sleen, East Drenthe – an agricultural area of the Netherlands. A whole drilling rig was swallowed in a quicksand lake created by the explosion.

Afterwards, NAM, the company responsible for the explosion all those years ago and the earthquakes now plaguing Groningen, converted the area into a park.

Unfortunately, scientists have discovered to their consternation that methane leaks have contaminated the local groundwater and there is a risk of further explosions. read more

By a Retired Shell North Sea Platform Manager

The latest lifeboat incident in the North Sea Brent Alpha is very worrying indeed to everyone working offshore and in this case the remaining Shell operated platforms.

Brent Alpha is in the process of extensive decommissioning activities in preparation for the removal by the “Spirit of the Seas” in 2019.  

The problem with lifeboat release and retrieval systems has been know about many years before 2011 when the new IMO and SOLAS regulations were issued.  These regulations have to be complied with by July 2019 which applied retrospectively to all shipping and offshore mobile or fixed units..   read more

By MarEx  18 December 2017

Shell has launched an investigation after a lifeboat accidentally “descended” from the aging Brent Alpha platform during maintenance.

A Shell spokesperson said that on Saturday morning, a mechanical failure occurred during routine maintenance, “allowing [the lifeboat] to descend into the sea.” The BBC reports that the lifeboat davit’s clutch slipped during work on the boat. No injuries were reported, and the boat was recovered the following day.

“Safety is our number one priority and at no time was there any risk to personnel and we are working hard to resolve this issue,” Shell UK said in a statement. “The Coastguard has been informed of the situation.” read more

REUTERS STAFF: 18 DECEMBER 2017

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Three offshore oil workers filed a lawsuit against units of Royal Dutch Shell and Enbridge, seeking $1 million in damages for injuries they allegedly received during a Nov. 8 fire on a U.S. Gulf of Mexico production platform. The suit, filed in Galveston County court in Texas on Dec. 5, claims safety lapses on Shell’s Enchilada platform caused severe injuries to the three. The complaint seeks more than $1 million in damages from Shell International Exploration and Production, Shell Offshore, and Garden Banks Gas Pipeline Co, a unit of Enbridge, which owns a gas pipeline connected to the platform. read more

By John Donovan

A lifeboat has fallen off the Shell Brent Alpha platform in the North Sea Brent field. See EnergyVoice.com article below: “Shell launches investigation after lifeboat plunges from platform”.

In March 2008, Shell made itself the object of derision when it was discovered that two lifeboats on the Brent Bravo platform in the Brent field were unseaworthy. The problem was similar in nature to the latest dangerous fiasco, involving faulty lifeboat clutches and how the lifeboats were secured on the platform.  read more

The readings were literally sky high … over 6300 Counts per second with the presence of Alpha, Beta and Gamma radiation. the entire area was highly contaminated, but all warning signs had been removed and no personal protective equipment available. I do have a host of documentation to back up my case and I have been advised by my Member of Parliament and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to pursue this issue due to the horrendous nature of the incident accompanied with the Duty of Care that “Shell” should have initiated to show that they are serious about protecting employees, contractors and joint venture personnel.

By John Donovan

The text in black italics above comes from an email I received on 27 November from a former Shell worker, Mr Keith MacDonald, who has a tragic tale to tell.

In August 2000, Keith worked for Al Furat Pet Co (AFPC) in Syria. Shell has a major stake (32%) in the company. AFPC is managed by Syria Shell Development (SSPD). Syria Shell Petroleum Development B.V. operates as a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc. Furthermore, Mr. MacDonald received his instructions at AFPC directly from Shell managers. He was to all intents and purposes working for Shell.  read more