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Anti-graft groups query Nigerian Justice Minister on OPL 245 assets recovery

27 July 2020: Henry Uche

Nigeria’s Minister of Minister and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has been asked to give full disclosure of recovered assets linked to the OPL multi-billion dollar oil scam.

In a statement delivered by the Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) Mr Olanrewaju Suraj, the charge came after the Corner House, Global Witness, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) and Re-Common, launched a global campaign through a letter to the AGF Malami for transparency in the assets recovered from the scam. In the petition, the groups raised 25 critical questions for Malami. read more

Report: Oil and gas companies have extensive ties to police groups

BY RACHEL FRAZIN – 07/27/20 02:17 PM EDT

Major fossil fuel and utility companies as well as financial institutions have contributed to law enforcement organizations for years, according to a report published Monday.

The report from the left-leaning Public Accountability Initiative and its research arm LittleSis highlight contributions to police organizations in big cities from oil giants including Chevron, Marathon and Shell. read more

THE GUARDIAN: Big corporations accused of driving environmental and health inequalities in black and brown communities through toxic and climate-changing pollution are also funding powerful police groups in major US cities, according to a new investigation.

Some of America’s largest oil and gas companies, private utilities, and financial institutions that bankroll fossil fuels also back police foundations…

Shell is one of the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world, and is currently building a huge ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh, which advocates warn could turn Appalachia into the next so-called Cancer Alley – a corridor of Louisiana refineries, where Shell is also a major polluter. Shell is a “featured partner” of the New Orleans police foundation and a sponsor of the Houston police’s mounted patrol. read more

Royal Dutch Shell is expected to announce a record quarterly loss next week as the oil industry counts the cost of the toughest quarter in its history. read more

Shell offsetting carbon in Scottish forest is ‘greenwashing’, Government official warned

Forestry and Land Scotland accepted £5m to partner with Shell to offset emissions despite warning from senior employees of ‘greenwashing’

By Hayley Dixon: 24 July 2020 • 9:30pm

Shell’s plan to use Scottish forests for carbon offsetting is “greenwashing”, Government officials warned before accepting £5million for the scheme to go ahead.

The team at Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) said that the money was “small beer” for the oil giant and said that they were at risk being “worked over by Shell’s formidable PR machinery”. read more

MALABU SCANDAL: Italian Prosecutors want former Nigerian oil minister jailed for 10 years

July 23, 2020: Oladeinde Olawoyin

Italian prosecutors have requested a 10-year jail sentence for Dan Etete, a former Nigerian petroleum minister, over alleged fraud in the controversial Malabu Scandal.

Reuters reports that the prosecutors proposed eight years in prison for both Claudio Descalzi, former chief executive of Eni and Paolo Scaroni, his predecessor.

They also proposed a seven-years-and-four-months jail term for Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s former head of upstream. read more

Report shows fossil fuels still make up 90% of Shell and Total’s capital expenditure

 by Hamish Penman: 24/07/2020, 6:00 am

Shell and Total are being urged to put their money where their mouth is after a new report showed the pair are still investing much more in hydrocarbons than renewable energy.

Findings from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) revealed around 90% of the oil and gas majors capital expenditure continues to be on fossil fuels.

It estimates that both firms need to shift at least half of their total spend, around $10bn per annum, from oil and gas exploration to acceleration of renewable strategies. read more

By Stanley Reed and Lara Jakes: July 24, 2020, 4:38 a.m. ET

A hulking Russian pipe-laying vessel called the Akademik Cherskiy can be seen off Germany’s Baltic coast these days, marine tracking sites say, apparently waiting for the chance to complete the final stretches of a massive undersea pipeline that will carry natural gas directly to Germany from Russia.

The Trump administration, though, is trying to keep the pipeline, known as Nord Stream 2, on ice. Last week, the State Department moved to potentially impose economic penalties on investors and other business participants in the project, an expansion of existing sanctions. read more

Nigeria case, Eni: Public Prosecutor’s requests for conviction are completely groundless

San Donato Milanese (Milan), 21 July 2020 – Eni considers that the Public Prosecutor’s requests for conviction of the Company, its former and current CEOs and the managers involved in the Opl245 proceeding are completely groundless.

During its indictment, in the absence of any evidence or tangible reference to the contents of the trial investigation, the Public Prosecutor has told a story based on suggestions and deductions as already developed during the investigation. read more

Translation of an article published overnight by the Dutch media organisation nrc.nl

High prison sentences demanded against former Shell employees

Lawsuit In a criminal case for alleged corruption by Shell and Eni when purchasing a Nigerian oil field, the Public Prosecution Service demands high penalties.

Merijn Rengers and Carola Houtekamer: July 21, 2020 at 22:22

The Italian Public Prosecution Service demanded unprecedented high prison sentences in Milan on Tuesday against four former Shell directors and employees for large-scale corruption. The prosecution charges it to a former member of the board of directors, a director and two advisers who participated in bribery in Nigeria. The amount of the kickback, more than $ 1 billion, makes this one of the largest corruption affairs a Dutch company has ever been involved in. read more

Translation of an article published overnight by the Dutch news media organisation, nrc.nl

Of course, Shell knew about the corruption risk, the prosecutor said

Lawsuit over oil field In a dim Milanese bunker, Tuesday was worked towards the denouement in the corruption case against oil companies Shell and Eni. Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale calls it “the perfect economic crime.”

Carola Houtekamer: July 21, 2020

The lawsuit revolves around the acquisition of rights to the oil field “OPL 245”, for which Shell and Eni paid $ 1.3 billion. Photo George Osodi / Getty read more

MILAN, July 21 (Reuters) – Italian prosecutors have asked for oil majors Eni and Shell to be fined and some of their present and former executives, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, to be jailed in a long-running trial over alleged corruption in Nigeria.

In a Milan court, prosecutors asked on Tuesday for eight years in prison for Descalzi and seven years and four months for Shell’s former head of upstream Malcolm Brinded.

The prosecutors also asked for Eni and Shell to be fined 900,000 euros ($1.04 million) each and sought to confiscate a total of $1.092 billion from all the defendants in the case, the equivalent of the bribes alleged to have been paid. read more

Prosecutor Seeks 8 Years Jail for Eni CEO on Bribe Charge

Alberto Brambilla: Jul 21 2020, 10:36 PM Jul 21 2020, 11:10 PM

(Bloomberg) — A prosecutor in Milan asked for eight years of jail time for Eni SpA Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi over an allegedly corrupt $1.1 billion Nigerian oil deal.

The court should reach a conclusion later this year on the accusation that most of that payment was distributed as bribes.

Any verdict could be subject to a long appeals process.

In his closing arguments on Tuesday, prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale asked the court in Milan for the sentence for Descalzi, who oversaw the company’s oil exploration and production unit at the time. The CEO denies any wrongdoing and he was re-appointed to the position by the Italian government in April. read more

Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Shell launch JV for hydrocarbon development

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft on Tuesday said it had signed an agreement with Shell to establish a joint venture to develop a large-scale hydrocarbon cluster on the Gydan peninsula in Siberia.

The deal is scheduled to close in 2020, Gazprom Neft said, after which both partners will have a 50% share in the venture.

Reporting by Maxim Rodionov and Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Writing by Alexander Marrow; editing by Louise Heavens read more

Workforce strike at Shell’s Prelude confirmed

Paul Hunt: Senior Journalist: Oil & Gas, Policy. 21 July 2020

In a statement provided to Energy News today, union officials said that members had voted unanimously to take protected action at the giant FLNG after negotiations with a key contractor turned sour.

Protected action allows the union members to strike without legal consequences and is often a ‘last resort’ effort to negotiating worker rights.

Union members will not work between 4am and 7am or between 4pm and 7pm. Further to this no hot food will be cooked and no meat will be prepared. There will also be no baking and no laundry services “until further notice”. read more

Shell Deer Park, Texas, refinery shuts gasoline-producing FCC after fire: sources

JULY 19, 2020

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc shut on Saturday the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 318,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery after a fire, sources familiar with plant operations said on Sunday.

How long the 70,000-bpd FCC will be shut was unknown on Sunday, the sources said.

Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said on Sunday that all individuals were safe and accounted for at the Shell Deer Park Complex, which includes the refinery and adjoining chemical plant. read more