Benjamin Storrow, E&E News reporter Climatewire: Tuesday, January 21, 2020

A recent study identified 88 petrochemical projects along the Gulf Coast that are either in the planning stage or under construction. If all are completed, their combined emissions output could reach 150.8 million metric tons, the equivalent of 38 coal plants.

The same oil and gas boom that helped clean up the power sector has also made it cheaper to turn natural gas into plastics, fertilizer and other products. The process is emissions-intensive. Large quantities of natural gas liquids like ethane and propane are fed into enormous furnaces and heated to extremely high temperatures, creating smaller hydrocarbon molecules that can be separated and turned into different plastic products. read more

Companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, and Saudi Aramco are ramping up output of plastic — which is made from oil and gas, and their byproducts — to hedge against the possibility that a serious global response to climate change might reduce demand for their fuels, analysts say.

BETH GARDINER

As public concern about plastic pollution rises, consumers are reaching for canvas bags, metal straws, and reusable water bottles. But while individuals fret over images of oceanic garbage gyres, the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries are pouring billions of dollars into new plants intended to make millions more tons of plastic than they now pump out.

Companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, and Saudi Aramco are ramping up output of plastic — which is made from oil and gas, and their byproducts — to hedge against the possibility that a serious global response to climate change might reduce demand for their fuels, analysts say. Petrochemicals, the category that includes plastic, now account for 14 percent of oil use, and are expected to drive half of oil demand growth between now and 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. The World Economic Forum predicts plastic production will double in the next 20 years. read more

By Jackson Lewis on Jan. 17, 2020

HOUSTON — Shell Oil Co. will now accept payment for fuel and services through Uconnect Market, an in-car commerce program from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA).

The Uconnect Market platform is available in model-year 2019 and 2020 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brand vehicles equipped with eligible connected services. Customers fueling such vehicles at participating Shell stations will be able to use Shell Pay & Save within Uconnect Market to pay for their fuel directly from their in-vehicle touchscreens, plus earn and redeem Fuel Rewards savings. read more

Shell must grapple with its own existential crisis: How should a company that generates most of its profits by serving the world’s enormous appetite for oil navigate a long-term future in which shifting political and economic tides threaten to make fossil fuels obsolete?

BY JUSTIN WORLAND

A peculiar theme park in the Hague celebrates the history of the Netherlands through a series of miniature models. The Madurodam features little canals, old-fashioned windmills, tiny tulips and, amid it all, an homage to Royal Dutch Shell, the oil giant that is the biggest company in the country and, by revenue, the second largest publicly traded oil-and-gas company in the world. There’s a Shell drilling platform, a Shell gas station and a Shell natural-gas field, complete with a drilling rig. The display is at once odd–energy infrastructure in a children’s theme park–and entirely fitting: Shell has been, for decades, one of the most powerful players both in Dutch politics and on the global economic stage. read more

Jessica Resnick-Ault, Laura Sanicola: January 9, 2020

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) is looking to sell its oil refinery in Anacortes, Washington, according to three people familiar with the matter.

If completed, this and other asset sales currently underway would reduce Shell’s North American refining operations to large plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast, said the people, speaking on condition of anonymity as the talks are private.

Oil and gas major Shell has publicly committed to selling more than $5 billion (3.8 billion pounds) of assets per year in 2019 and 2020. The Netherlands-based company is trying to use its global scale to build a power business as the world moves toward cleaner energy. read more

January 6, 2020 – SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, co-leading a coalition of 13 states, filed an amicus brief supporting the State of Rhode Island in its lawsuit State of Rhode Island v. Shell Oil Products Company LLC et al. In the lawsuit, the state seeks to hold oil companies accountable for their actions contributing to climate change and the resulting harms from sea-level rise, changes to the hydrologic cycle, and increased air and ocean temperatures. read more

By OilPrice.com Editorial Dept – Jan 03, 2020, 1:00 PM CST

Shell says it’s made a “significant” natural gas discovery offshore Australia at the Bratwurst-1 exploration well. This could tie back to Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility, which is about 160 kilometers from the new discovery. The discovery comes as Shell divests the last of its US Haynesville shale assets.

Reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja and Libby George in Lagos, Dec 27, 2019

* Train 7 will boost LNG output to 30 mln t/y

* Deal shows “renewed confidence” from investors – Kyari

* FID was delayed from Q4 2018

ABUJA/LAGOS, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Nigeria signed a major gas expansion deal on Friday, a much-needed collaboration with oil majors that Nigeria LNG said would boost its liquefied natural gas output by more than 30%.

The agreement marks a moment of amity with international oil majors, even as a tax dispute and a new law increasing the government’s take on deepwater oil production have irked some companies.

The final investment decision on the Train 7 processing unit at the Bonny Island plant was signed by Nigeria LNG partners state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Eni , Total and Royal Dutch Shell in Abuja. read more

By Anna Shiryaevskaya and Dina Khrennikova | Bloomberg Dec. 24, 2019 at 7:06 a.m. GMT

A new natural gas pipeline into Europe from Russia is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, worries leaders in Eastern Europe, has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the hot seat and most recently has become the target of U.S. sanctions. The punitive measures approved by U.S. President Donald Trump have stymied construction just as the final sections of pipe were about to be laid.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a planned 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russian fields to the European network at Germany’s Baltic coast. It will double the capacity of an existing undersea route — the original Nord Stream — that opened in 2011. Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors including Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG providing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) cost. Denmark removed one of the project’s last hurdles in October when it approved construction of the link through its waters. read more

In 2018 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Shell of violating clean air laws for over a decade and reached a settlement with the corporate giant shortly after.

Extracts

The Shell Norco Manufacturing Complex has been operating by the banks of the Mississippi River in southern Louisiana for almost a century. A sprawling set of oil refineries and petrochemical plants that dominate the landscape and pollute the air about 20 miles outside the city of New Orleans.

In 2018 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Shell of violating clean air laws for over a decade and reached a settlement with the corporate giant shortly after.

Since 2001 the Norco Civic Association, a community group heavily backed by Shell, has run a Christmas parade that winds through the industrial complex, which sits on the site of old sugarcane fields in the heart of a region known as “Cancer Alley” due to its high levels of industrial pollution. read more

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> said on Friday it expects impairment charges of up to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter and trimmed its forecast for quarterly oil production sales, as the Anglo-Dutch oil company faces slowing demand for oil and gas.

The company warned in October that trade tensions between the United States and China, the world’s two largest energy consumers, could hurt demand and take a toll on its performance.

Shell said it expects oil production sales of 6.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) to 7 million boepd for the fourth quarter, compared with its earlier estimate of 6.65 million boepd to 7.05 million boepd. read more

HOUSTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – A malfunction in the gasoline-producing unit at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s 225,300-barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery triggered flaring at the refinery on Monday, said sources familiar with plant operations.

The 112,000-bpd residual catalytic cracking unit (RCCU) remained in operation following the malfunction, the sources said.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

SOURCE

Atlanta-based Nexus Fuels is turning hard to recycle plastic waste into liquid feedstock for Royal Dutch Shell to manufacture new plastics.

Extracts from an article by Jordan Blum Dec. 4, 2019

The world’s rapidly mounting plastic waste and the public reaction to its impact on marine and wildlife is challenging the booming petrochemical industry, but the world’s biggest energy companies are increasingly stepping up with new projects to take on these challenges.

Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Houston’s LyondellBasell have all announced new projects or pilot plants in recent weeks to address recycling plastics that are the hardest to transform back into reusable materials. The latest came from Shell, which has begun making petrochemicals from plastic waste in a process known as chemical recycling. read more

Shell Energy signs solar PPA for energy produced by EDF California project

Rod Walton: 4 Dec

EDF Renewables North America and Shell Energy North America have signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for 132 MW of solar output in Riverside County, California.

The Maverick 7 project is part of the Palen Solar site to be built on 3,140 acres of federal lands. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management completed the federal permitting process approving the project in October 2018.

The project is expected to be completed and operational by the end of 2021.

“Palen Solar, with a total of 500 MW of solar capacity, demonstrates EDF Renewables’ long-term commitment to solar development in California,” said Dai Owen, vice president of power marketing for EDF Renewables. “The project uniquely positions the company to help load-serving entities meet their long-term carbon goals and obligations under California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) by offering smaller tranches at industry-leading prices.” read more

Perhaps Shell will be able to recycle the microplastic toxic waste from its Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex when it gets underway?

HOUSTON, Nov. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Today Shell announced it has successfully made high-end chemicals using a liquid feedstock made from plastic waste. The technique, known as pyrolysis, is considered a breakthrough for hard-to-recycle plastics and advances Shell’s ambition to use one million tonnes of plastic waste a year in its global chemicals plants by 2025.

“This makes sense for the environment and our business,” said Thomas Casparie, Executive Vice President of Shell’s global chemicals business.  “We want to take waste plastics that are tough to recycle by traditional methods and turn them back into chemicals – creating a circle. These chemicals will meet our customers’ growing demands for high quality and sustainable products.” read more

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors…

A new natural gas pipeline into Europe from Russia is shaking up geopolitics. Nord Stream 2, as it’s called, worries leaders in Eastern Europe, has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the hot seat and has prompted calls for sanctions from U.S. senators. Denmark gave approval on Oct. 30 for the pipeline to traverse its sub-sea territory, removing the final hurdle to its completion. Russian gas could be flowing through the conduit as soon as early next year.

1. What is Nord Stream 2?

It’s a planned 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russian fields to the European network at Germany’s Baltic coast. It will double the capacity of an existing undersea route — the original Nord Stream — that opened in 2011. Russia’s Gazprom PJSC owns the project, with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and four other investors including Germany’s Uniper SE and Wintershall AG providing half of the 9.5 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) in cost. As of the end of October, the link was 87% complete, according to Nord Stream. read more