Future of Brent Oil Platform’s Giant Legs Remains Uncertain

Laura Hurst: 09 April 2021

(Bloomberg) — The U.K. government is still undecided on whether it will allow Royal Dutch Shell Plc to leave in the sea the giant concrete legs that once supported the iconic Brent oil platforms.

Shell has asked for permission to leave the columns — each almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower and together weighing around 1 million tons — jutting from the water because it says removing them would pose a greater environmental risk. A government decision on the matter, which was last due in September, has dragged. read more

Shell changes senior UK leadership in global overhaul

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is changing the senior leadership of its operations in Britain as part of a global overhaul to cut costs and shift away from oil and gas to renewables and power.

Under the changes, which have been announced internally, country chair Sinead Lynch will become Shell’s global head of low-carbon fuels, a company spokeswoman said.

Lynch, who joined the Anglo-Dutch company in 2016 following its acquisition of BG Group, will be replaced by David Bunch who currently runs Shell’s retail business across Europe and South Africa. Bunch joined Shell in 1997. read more

Royal Dutch Shell to cut more than 300 North Sea jobs

By Kevin Keane: BBC Scotland energy correspondent: 12 Jan 2021

The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is to cut 330 jobs from its operations in the North Sea.

The company said most of the posts are based at its office in Aberdeen and will be lost over the next two years.

In September, it was announced that up to 9,000 jobs would go worldwide as the company responded to the slump in demand for oil.

Shell insists it remains committed to the North Sea and will continue to invest in its operations. read more

Broadband bills will increase for thousands of Shell customers in a DOUBLE price rise

BROADBAND customers who have a contract with Shell Energy could face two price increases to their monthly bills in the coming months, the home internet provider has confirmed.

Shell Energy will increase prices for some broadband customers twice in the next six months, it has confirmed. The internet service provider has informed all customers who signed-up to one of its broadband plans before September 2, 2020 that a price hike to their home broadband and phone services will kick-in on January 11, 2020. read more

North Sea Neighbors on Opposite Ends of Shell’s Tax Bill

By Laura Hurst: 17 November 2020, 11:21 GMT: Updated on 17 November 2020, 13:14 GMT

• Energy giant gets money back from Britain for a second year
• Norway, however, taps company for more than $1 billion

Royal Dutch Shell Plc pumps thousands of barrels of oil and gas from the North Sea every day. In Norway the energy major paid over a billion dollars in tax last year, but on the U.K. side, it got more than a hundred million dollars back.

The discrepancy reflects contrasting government policies and spending by the oil and gas giant. In Norway, Shell had an effective tax rate of 78%. In Britain, it paid no corporation tax because of losses tied to investments in new North Sea fields. It also earned rebates from dismantling old platforms in the region. read more

Outlook darkens for North Sea oil and gas industry

TWO oil and gas majors provided votes of confidence in the North Sea last week but these may only provide cold comfort as the outlook for the sector gets ever bleaker.

On Tuesday BP underlined its belief in the exploration potential of the North Sea as it announced that it had returned to profit in the third quarter.

The giant included its successful bid for new North Sea exploration licences in a list of highlights for the three months to 30 September. read more

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

Egdon puts foot on the gas with Shell North Sea deal

An energy industry minnow has completed a deal with one of the biggest players in the North Sea to appraise gas prospects off the coast of North Yorkshire.

Shares in Egdon Resources rose by 7.1 per cent to 2¼p yesterday after it confirmed the transaction with Royal Dutch Shell, which was first agreed in January before the global collapse in oil and gas prices. Over the past two years the shares have fallen by 73.5 per cent.

Egdon has the rights to appraise two licence areas in the southern North Sea just off the coast of Scarborough, where gas was discovered decades ago but was left undeveloped because it was not thought to be commercially viable. 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

A worker who has shown symptoms of the coronavirus has been placed into quarantine on Shell’s Brent Charlie platform in the North Sea.

The energy giant said the man has been placed in isolation and that arrangements are being made to fly him back to shore.

A spokesman said: “We can confirm that a colleague on Brent Charlie has been isolated as a precautionary measure, after showing symptoms which may indicate coronavirus.

FULL ARTICLE

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North Sea ‘chaos’ as more suspected Covid-19 cases spring up

A trade union official has said the North Sea is firmly in the grip of coronavirus “fear” and lamented a perceived lack of leadership. 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