News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc
Trying to interpret what is going on is difficult because of lack of detail from journalist report so maybe misinterpreting what happened and my interpretation may be misguided, but… evidence if more is needed that something is wrong on this installation.
Commodities (Feb 04, 2020 08:09)
By Jessica Jaganathan and Sonali Paul
Production suspended on Feb. 2 -spokeswoman
* Work under way to restore full operations
* Impact on Asian spot prices to be minimal -traders (Adds details)
By Jessica Jaganathan and Sonali Paul
SINGAPORE/MELBOURNE, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday it has temporarily suspended production at its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility off northwest Australia following an electrical trip on Feb. 2.
With reference to the published info from Bill regarding the very serious operational shortcomings on the Prelude NGL vessel.
It may be worthwhile publishing the entire notice as if it read by senior people in the Hague central offices there may be a sounding of very loud alarm bells if not there should be as Prelude represents an enormous investment and a leap into the future. The root cause of these issues requires to be identified and a root and branch analysis of how and why this state of affairs has been allowed to evolve, I believe it is a cumulative pressure from many sources over many months and not just the recent inspections, its much deeper than that. We can only speculate and read with a degree of horror the findings of the Australian Regulator.
In issuance of this direction, they took cognisance of three previous dangerous occurrences all resulting in a loss of containment, namely
Please read in conjunction with the recent comments made by Bill Campbell in the article Alarming warning to the Australian National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority about Shell Prelude Project
By Bill Campbell
HSE started in 1992 to record and classify dangerous occurrences including hydrocarbon releases. This was adopted as their principal technical integrity measure. In the circa quarter of a century from 1992 to 2015, for example, there were 4656 hydrocarbon releases on average 194 per annum. The latest data available is for 2018 where the number of releases was recorded at 96 per annum, so there has been a trend downwards but this should not be understood to be a significant improvement because the population number of installations in 1992 was larger than the number in 2018 due to installations being abandoned at end of life. In any case, the reality is that over the period 1992 to 2015 there was between 3 to 4 hydrocarbon releases per week and in 2018 there was approaching two hydrocarbon releases per week. This can not be viewed as a significant reduction in risk because hydrocarbon loss into the atmosphere, whether it be minor significant or major, are all classified as dangerous occurrences because of the potential of these incidents.
Alarming warning addressed to The Australian National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority.
Bill Campbell
Please read the information below from retired Shell Global Safety Consultant, Bill Campbell about the fears of a loss of hydrocarbons from the Shell Prelude facility. His comments were triggered by the recent article on Prelude FLNG and the recent intervention and involvement of the Regulator
Preamble
Some 30 years of government statistics from some 200 installations in U.K. waters demonstrate that despite it being the Regulator and the industries highest safety priority a significant number of dangerous occurrences re the loss of hydrocarbons has continued over this prolonged period. No one will or could argue on this conclusion based not on supposition but on historic data that there is and continues to be a certain inevitability that hydrocarbons will leak into the atmosphere. Subsequent ignition of these leaking hydrocarbons has the potential of loss of life or threats to the structure of the installation.
Shell issued direction from regulator over Prelude processesThe Prelude FLNG facility produces natural gas from an offshore field approximately 475km north-north east of Broome and last weekend shipped its 15th cargo of LNG.
This morning the National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority (NOSPEMA) ordered Shell not to conduct “intrusive activities” to certain parts of the plant and equipment aboard the Prelude over fears there could be a loss of hydrocarbons from the facility.
There is no immediate threat or risk to workers or the environment.
16 Jan 2020
Activists arrived at the Altens base at about 06:30 and plan to remain at the site all day “to hold Shell to account”.
The group says the protest is part of its two-week long campaign targeting the fossil fuel industry.
Shell said it was addressing its emissions and helping customers to reduce theirs.
The protesters plan to walk through Aberdeen city centre, starting at the railway station at 13:00 then going via Union St and the harbour.
The group also has its purple boat at the site.
Shell has announced a “significant” gas and condensate discovery within reach for a tieback to the Prelude FLNG facility in the Browse Basin off Western Australia.
Drilling of the 100 percent Shell-owned Bratwurst -1 exploration well was successfully concluded on December 4 after nearly 80 days of drilling. This campaign was completed in just over 18 months from bidding and 12 months from award of the lease block title, Shell said.
The discovery is located 85 nm to the northeast of the Shell-operated Prelude FLNG facility and offers an opportunity for a future tie-back to Prelude.
Shell has flagged a hunger for more acquisitions and hinted at interest in pumped hydro generation as it furthers its aggressive expansion into electricity supply in Australia with the purchase of a 49 per cent stake in solar farm developer ESCO Pacific.
The deal, the price of which wasn’t disclosed, follows just weeks after the energy major completed its $617 million acquisition of ERM Power, which launched it into the electricity retailing sector in Australia. It also acquired German household battery supplier sonnen earlier this year.
The Offshore Alliance yesterday accused Shell of “training up Indian workers” instead of investing in the local workforce.
“Shell are (sic) on our coast and taking our gas resources – the least they can commit to is using Australian workers for all Prelude related tasks,” Offshore Alliance said.
Permit writing work is generally undertaken by employees familiar with the facility and who have ongoing interaction with project-based personnel.
The Offshore Alliance told Energy News permit writing requires detailed knowledge of work scope, hazards and controls, the isolations and temporary defeats, and that the work was most suitable to Australian workers aboard the Prelude or at the very least based in Australia.
Oct 4, 2019
Shell has opted to shake up its leadership ranks in Australia as it beds down the recent acquisition of ERM Power and faces key investment decisions on multibillion-dollar gas projects.
The shake-up will see Shell Australia chairman Zoe Yujnovich move to company headquarters at The Hague.
Ms Yujnovich said on Friday that Australia was central to Shell’s LNG business and for its plans to move into providing cleaner energy.
Her role in Australia will be filled by Tony Nunan, who currently heads up the oil and gas giant’s operations in eastern Australia.
Brad Thompson Reporter: Oct 2, 2019
Shell has warned Western Australia’s environmental watchdog that billions of dollars of investment are at risk if it contributes to mixed messages on tackling greenhouse gas emissions.
The oil and gas giant urged the Environmental Protection Authority to hold fire on handing down new emissions guidelines for approving large-scale projects in the resources rich state.
Shell also rejected the notion that it was possible to introduce a policy requiring net zero offsets in the oil and gas industry.
Rob Jager cannot be as naive as this, he has a distinguished career in Shell and also been appointed by the New Zealand Government to lead investigations into the tragic Mining accident some years ago. Clearly not a numpty so why is he making such statements claiming the Prelude is such a magnificent project it will operate perfectly and become boring.
Hydrocarbon Production Operations that I have experienced over many years have never been boring ever. Every day brings something different to be addressed and Prelude is and will be no different. Prelude is not receiving a semi-processed feed stack to refine or reform or blend but raw reservoir hydrocarbons. Even in the case of a rich gas hydrocarbon reservoir, the well effluent will contain a full range of hydrocarbon gas mixtures, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide water vapour and a whole host of trace gasses and other undesirable soluble and insoluble salts. Notwithstanding during initial production or subsequent well work-over, residual drilling fluids and completion debris some of which will have found its way into the umbilicals and hydraulic well control and safety shut down systems and cause untold havoc.
By CITY & FINANCE REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Royal Dutch Shell is in talks with the Australian government after it was hit with a £415m tax bill.
The Australian Taxation Office claims the Anglo-Dutch oil major avoided paying tax on its 27 per cent stake in the £16.5 billion Browse gas project in seas off the coast of Western Australia.
Court documents show Shell’s primary company in the country, Shell Energy Holdings Australia, has been in a dispute with the tax body for six years over the issue, the Guardian reported.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
: USA USA USA Hardly surprising is it. The company is overrun by sycophantic, grossly over paid, sniggering middle managers with numerous degrees in sedimentology, or some subject as equally useless, with little to no technical ability or technical background, who are dependent upon technical staff who likewise have little, to no, practical experience and who have only ever seen a rig laid up in the Firth of Forth in photographs, or when they went for a jolly with their wives for an outing one day. They spend their time documenting 'Lessons Learned' on fancy spreadsheets which are then filed in some obtuse filing system and they never learn the damn lessons!
: Missed opportunities is not as bad as the botched opportunities. RDS has always claimed that there is limited capital and resources to exploit every opportunity. We all agree. But the fact that so many recent projects have failed to deliver production promises, that is more clearly a lack of management and leadership. Prelude? Penn Chem? Olympus? and the many others that have not delivered on schedule, cost or production. Then there are the projects that move forward with little to no assurance of these vital front end loading to verify that the promise is realistic. It is just more of the same - Bloat / Cut / Reorg and repeat...
: Exploration. One more for the pot! https://www.theguardian.com/business/2004/jan/20/india.oilandpetrol
: Here's a list of missed company-maker plays by Shell since 2000. The record of exploration performance is woeful and many of the responsible are still in leadership roles. Give up and turn to wind and solar indeed... Figures are total play discovered and recoverable, at 100% basis; 2001 - Mauritania-Senegal - 10 Billion BOE recoverable 2003 - US Gulf of Mexico Paleogene - 3 Billion BOE recoverable 2006 - Santos Pre-Salt - 45 Billion BOE recoverable 2010 - Campos Pre-Salt - 2 Billion BOE recoverable 2010 - Mozambique Rovuma - 23 Billion BOE recoverable 2011 - Angola Pre-Salt - 4 Billion BOE recoverable 2015 - Egypt Zohr - 3 Billion BOE recoverable 2016 - Guyana - 10 Billion BOE recoverable TOTAL MISSED BY SHELL SINCE 2000 = 100 Billion BOE recoverable!
: Or perhaps arrests and incarceration's to follow?
: Per my previous reference to 'moose pasture', see: https://www.shell.com/media/news-and-media-releases/2020/shell-sells-us-appalachia-assets-to-national-fuel.html Perhaps, more sales to follow?
: The detail of the previous post reveals https://www.michaelwest.com.au/the-second-british-invasion-how-royal-cronies-and-the-gas-debacle-took-australia-for-billions/
: More examples of toxic leadership. Another continent same consequence. https://www.michaelwest.com.au/covert-19-government-stacks-covid-commission-with-oil-and-gas-mates-cosy-deals-follow/
: Bogus Group, thank you for sharing the link. It sounds all too familiar, redolent of both BG Group and also the Shell reserves recategorisation debacle of the early 2000s. During any teleconference with BG's offices in Houston what were conspicuous by their absence were employees, vast acres of empty desks in the background in a highly expensive building. It would be interesting to know how Shell have covered-up the financial consequences of BG's mismanagement e.g. hectares of moose pasture acquired for shale gas development that never happened. There was good reason why BG Group delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, and that was because their global reserves would never have withstood scrutiny under SEC rules. One wonders what the auditors were doing? Perhaps, Helge Lund was not Andrew Gould's 'Fall Guy' after all and that he was complicit and therefore deserves little sympathy?
: In 2007, Statoil (now Equinor) under Helge Lund, drives expansion to ‘a higher gear’. In 2014 he moves to BG Group, in 2015 he prepares BG Group for Shell takeover. This article reveals a toxic mix of murky dealings, ineptitude, mammoth salaries and bonuses and extravagant lifestyles (sound familiar?). The revolving door of organisational failure continues to spin. https://www.newsinenglish.no/2020/05/11/scandal-losses-in-us-haunt-equinor/
: Hi John, looks like the Dutch Power Company Eneco helps a former Shell exec up the escalator. It is surprising to me that an IG heavy hitter thinks there are better opportunities elsewhere. https://renews.biz/59793/eneco-appoints-new-ceo/
: When your company general counsel authors a book “Practical Project Finance” on tendering, negotiation, financial structuring and management of infrastructure and energy projects, maybe the COO thought that corporate projects would run themselves, while he sampled corporate hospitality and champagne at Wimbledon. Oh yes! and we have the Value Assurance process, but why worry about that when you can apply ‘back’- end loading.
Comments RSS Feed