Shell outlines tighter upstream, refining footprint in post-COVID transition plans

• Author Robert Perkins 
• Editor Debiprasad Nayak 
• Commodity Coal,  Natural Gas,  Oil

London — Shell plans to focus its future upstream operations on nine core areas and transform its refining portfolio into six integrated sites which are part of moves to grow its low-carbon businesses and support its cash flows, the major said Oct. 29.

Reporting stronger than expected third-quarter earnings, Shell said it wants to pursue more “value over volume” by simplifying its upstream assets to nine significant core positions; Brazil, Brunei, Gulf of Mexico, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Permian and UK North Sea. It said combined the areas will generate more than 80% of its upstream cash flow from operations. read more

Shell addresses safety concerns from trade union

Royal Dutch Shell has dismissed “major safety concerns” allegations brought up by the UK’s largest trade union, Unite, reassuring safety of its operations remain paramount, Kallanish Energy reports.

Unite said on Wednesday Shell was reducing “vital” maintenance contractor jobs at its Mossmorran plant in Fife and St Fergus gas terminal “by more than 80%.” It claimed the compulsory redundancies at the Scottish gas plants raised “critical” health and safety concerns. The trade union also warned that fire and safety responses to any major incidents at the plants “could be severely impact.” read more

Shell questioned over Brent Bravo ‘attic oil’ removal

By Allister Thomas: 15/10/2020

Work is being carried out to remove “attic oil” from the Brent Bravo installation – which has been the subject of widespread environmental concerns – after Shell estimated none was there.

Shell said in documents published in 2017 and 2018 it believed Bravo had “zero” volumes of the free-flowing oil in its legs, however Enpro Subsea has now been carrying out work to remove it. read more

Allseas Litigation: Top lawyer Mike Stubbs accused of relaying offer of £1m ‘bribe’ to police, say court transcripts

By John Donovan

Shell contractor, Allseas, is a key player in a continuing story of mystery and intrigue surrounding criminal court proceedings.

Top lawyer Mike Stubbs acted for Allseas at the time when, according to court transcripts, he allegedly relayed a £1m bribe offer to UK police detectives.

Victims of £73 m fraud

In 2011, Allseas invested £73 million with investors led by a conman claiming to have links to the Vatican and Spanish nobility. More information can be found in articles such as the June 2018 FT story: “The ship tycoon, the con men and a €100m scam”. read more

Shell Brent legs: Decom decision ‘postponed’ for giant structures

A decision on whether Shell will be allowed to keep the giant legs of the Brent field in the North Sea forever has been “postponed”.

Allister Thomas: 4 Sept 2020

The Ospar Commission, the intergovernmental body to protect Europe’s marine environment, confirmed the UK Government has still not made a decision on the controversial plans, 11 months on since the last formal meeting on them.

The legs of the Shell Brent Bravo, Charlie and Delta, made of steel and concrete, each weigh around 300,000 tonnes and are taller than the Eiffel Tower. read more

North Sea – WEBWIRE – Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Today Greenpeace activists from Germany have launched a protest in the North Sea to call out Shell’s plans to abandon an estimated 11,000 tonnes of oil in the sea.[1] The Greenpeace ship Esperanza approached the 500m exclusion zone of Shell’s platforms in the Brent oil field, off the Shetland Islands, with protestors on board waving banners calling on Shell to clean up its mess. Today’s protest also highlights how Shell is failing to take responsibility for its harmful impact on the environment. read more

Virus crisis threatens to set back oil platform decommissioning

By Benoît PELEGRIN: July 12, 2020: LONDON

Oil companies are being forced to cut spending due to a fall in global oil prices, threatening funds earmarked to dismantle dated off-shore rigs, despite environmental risks.

A drastic drop in revenue caused by the coronavirus outbreak has seen majors such as Total, Royal Dutch Shell and BP having to cut or defer expenditure by billions of dollars.

Decommissioning platforms is not “one of their top priorities”, according to Sonya Boodoo, an analyst at Rystad Energy. read more

Shell slashes valuation of oil and gas assets amid coronavirus crisis

By Mark Williamson: 1st JULY 2020

The company said yesterday it expected to cut the valuation of its integrated gas business by $8 – $9 billion, “primarily in Australia”. It said this would include a partial impairment of the giant Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility.

ROYAL Dutch Shell has said it plans to slash the valuation of its oil and gas assets by up to $22 billion (£17.9bn) to reflect the expected impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic on demand and the wider economy. read more

By Bill Campbell

On 22 January past the Regulator wrote to Shell Australia with a direction, a mandatory notice requiring action by the Owner, because staff on Prelude FLNG were carrying out activities the risks of which were not being reduced to levels as low as reasonably practicable and thus there was a significant risk to the Health and Safety of persons on the facility.

In issuance of this direction, they took cognisance of three previous dangerous occurrences all resulting in a loss of containment, namely read more

Undated information published by Scottish Legal News 16 Jan 2020

An oil and gas company has been granted a court order to prohibit environmental campaigners from carrying out protests on four offshore installations in the North Sea.

Shell UK was granted an interdict to prevent Greenpeace activists from boarding or attempting to board the Brent Alpha, Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta rigs 85 miles north-east of Shetland, after a judge in the Court of Session ruled that the defenders had “no right or title to occupy the installations”. read more

06 JAN 2020

Three members of the group have scaled the Valaris 122 rig as part of 10 days of “solidarity actions”.

Extinction Rebellion said they are prepared to “stay up there for as long as possible to stop the rig leaving the harbour”.

Industry body Oil and Gas UK condemned the action as a “dangerous and short-sighted stunt”.

Forth Ports, owner of the Port of Dundee, said it had deployed a pilot boat to Alexandra Wharf, where the rig is berthed, and will stay on site as a precaution while they liaise with the rig owners and relevant authorities. read more

 by Allister Thomas: 24/12/2019, 7:55 am

A government report has revealed CNOOC was the biggest tax spender in the North Sea last year while energy giant Shell paid the least on balance after a reimbursement. The “extractive industries transparency initiative” (Eiti) report highlights progress in getting UK-based oil, gas and mining companies to disclose their payments and receipts to and from government agencies.

FULL ARTICLE (PAYWALL)

Energy giant Shell has won a court order preventing environmentalists from boarding unmanned North Sea installations.

Lawyers acting for the company went to the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking an interim interdict against Greenpeace.

It comes after protesters boarded platforms in the Brent field off Shetland in October.

Lady Carmichael ruled the activists had no right to enter the installations.

• Shell launches Greenpeace North Sea legal action
• Greenpeace ends occupation of oil platform

Greenpeace had claimed an order would breach its right to protest, and described the ruling as a “setback” – but said a possible appeal would be considered. read more

Royal Dutch Shell is set to plug its last remaining Brent oil wells in the North Sea next year

The world’s most famous oil and gas field—and the backbone of global crude pricing—has dried up. Soon the Brent benchmark will have no Brent oil. Royal Dutch Shell PLC is expected next year to plug the last remaining Brent oil wells, located in the North Sea’s East Shetland Basin, about 115 miles northeast of Scotland’s Shetland Islands. The closures mark the end of an era, as the industry shifts its focus to smaller oil finds near existing infrastructure. read more

Printed below is an English translation of an article published 25 November 2019 by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad. 

Shell is taking Greenpeace to court

From our editor: 25 November 2019

Oil company Shell demands a ban on Greenpeace protests at its Brent oil field.

The step follows earlier actions by the environmental group in the North Sea. In mid-October, protesters climbed the abandoned remains of a drilling platform.

Greenpeace demands that Shell remove these parts. According to Greenpeace, there are still more than 11,000 tonnes of oil in the structures, which will eventually come into the sea if they are left behind. read more

Shell has received the green light to decommission its Goldeneye platform in the North Sea.

by Allister Thomas: 01/11/2019, 11:58 am

The Anglo-Dutch firm submitted plans to the UK Government for the installation, 80 miles north-east of Aberdeen, in November last year.

Plans have been approved to remove the jacket, topsides and decommision the wells and subsea infrastructure.

However a second document for the pipelines will be submitted later as they are hoped to be used as part of a carbon, capture and storage (CCS) project.

In August, Energy Voice revealed that Shell, in partnership with Chrysaor, intended to re-use pipelines for Goldeneye as part of the Acorn CCS project at the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Aberdeenshire. read more