Reading uni cuts fossil fuel investments by more than half

By Alex Seabrook Local Democracy Reporter: 6th November 2019

THE University of Reading (UoR) has cut its investment in fossil fuels by more than half in the past year – after pressure from students.

The university’s £63million endowment fund now has £729,575 invested in Royal Dutch Shell.

That’s according to financial statements recently published, which show what the fund is invested in as of July 31.

Last year, the university had £2,628,305 in fossil fuels, as of July 31, 2018, according to the previous statements. read more

Just 20 energy companies account for one-third of greenhouse emissions since 1965, according to a new study.

The Climate Accountability Institute’s Richard Heede tallied up all the fossil fuels extracted by every company through 2017 and calculated the emissions. The data is public, the math is straightforward and the emissions are indisputable.

The top 10 companies, in order, are, predictably, Saudi Aramco, Chevron, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil, National Iranian Oil Co., BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Coal India and PEMEX. More details are available online at http://climateaccountability.org/carbonmajors.html. read more

By Nick Cunningham – Nov 02, 2019, 4:00 PM CDT

The carbon bubble “continues to inflate,” according to a new report from Carbon Tracker. And yet no major oil company has aligned its operations with the goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

This is not just a matter of bad corporate behavior. The oil industry is charging ahead with oil and gas projects that completely defy climate targets, which means that they are taking on serious financial risk. “Companies who continue to sanction higher-cost projects which do not fit with a lower demand scenario risk destroying significant shareholder value through the creation of stranded assets,” Carbon Tracker warned. The more companies delay, the greater risk they take on. read more

Jillian Ambrose: Fri 1 Nov 2019 13.02 GMT

The world’s largest oil and gas companies need to slash their production by more than a third by 2040 to meet global climate targets, according to a new report.

The seven listed oil majors – including ExxonMobil, BP and Shell – would need to cut the total amount of oil and gas they produce every day by 35% to avoid driving temperatures 1.5C higher than pre-industrialised levels.

Global governments would also need to stop issuing new oil and gas licences for fossil fuel exploration, according to the report. read more

By HARRY WISE FOR THISISMONEY.CO.UK and PA

PUBLISHED: 12:19, 31 October 2019 | UPDATED: 12:27, 31 October 2019

Oil giant Shell has experienced a large fall in third-quarter profits due to weaker oil prices.

Earnings after stripping out fluctuating expenses fell 15 per cent to £3.7billion, well below estimates it might reach almost £5billion.

Shell was able to charge an average of £43.25 per barrel of oil it produced in the quarter, down from £52.69 in the same three months last year. It was even more than a dollar lower than the second quarter price. read more

Sam Meredith: 31 Oct 2019

• Net income attributable to shareholders on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, used as a proxy for net profit, and excluding identified items, came in at $4.767 billion for the third quarter of 2019.
• That compared with a profit of $5.624 billion in the same quarter a year ago and $3.462 billion in the second quarter.
• Shares of the Anglo-Dutch oil company are down more than 1% when compared to the same period in 2018.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter net profit on Thursday, citing lower energy prices and chemicals margins.

Net income attributable to shareholders on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, used as a proxy for net profit, and excluding identified items, came in at $4.767 billion for the third quarter of 2019. That compared with a profit of $5.624 billion in the same quarter a year ago and $3.462 billion in the second quarter. read more

Oil major investors bracing for bad news as headwinds gather

by Bloomberg: 28/10/2019, 7:05 am Updated: 28/10/2019, 8:12 am

The so-called supermajors — Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp., Total SA and BP Plc — are expected to disclose a 42% plunge in third-quarter earnings, on average, when they post results this week. That drop-off is too steep to blame on the 18% decline in crude oil prices, which means executives will have some explaining to do.

Exxon, Shell, and BP already have already taken steps to manage shareholder expectations by releasing limited data points on things like refinery repairs, asset sales and hurricane impacts on offshore oil production. Nonetheless, investors will be watching for additional color on what to expect for the remainder of 2019. read more

Financial Times: Energy majors eye swifter shift to green

David Sheppard, Energy Editor

Extracts

This week brings quarterly results from the world’s biggest energy companies. Some will beat expectations, some will miss, and after a brief flurry of algo-driven share price adjustment your average investor will carry on hating oil stocks, regardless.

John Browne, the former BP chief, said last week that it felt like the energy transition was “collapsing in time”, with changes towards cleaner energy that were once expected to take decades now being demanded by the public — and increasingly investors — within years. read more

20 October 2019: The Sunday Times

What seemed like the perfect route to a low-carbon world now looks like a risky bet, writes John Collingridge

What do the former Redcar steelworks on Teesside, a university in the Midlands and forests in the Scottish Highlands have in common? Answer: Big Oil is praying they hold the key to its future.

Strikes by schoolchildren, the rise of “flight-shaming” and an exodus of investors have left the energy industry reeling. Oil giants’ multibillion-pound bet — that gas will power the global economy into a low-carbon future — now looks risky.

As the mood changes, Big Oil is making increasingly ambitious — and desperate — attempts to clean itself up and reduce or trap carbon emissions. For giants including Shell, Total and BP, that means carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Redcar, promoting hydrogen as an alternative fuel, such as a pilot at Keele University — and even planting forests in Scotland. read more

JONATHAN PRYNN Consumer Business Editor: 25 Oct 2019

More than 300 MPs from all parties have called on the trustees of Parliament’s pension fund to dump all its shares in oil and gas companies.

The demand to ditch fossil fuels came in the Divest Parliament Pledge, which has been signed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford and Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan.

The Parliamentary Pension Fund’s single biggest holding is £11.6 million shares in BP. It also owns £10.9 million of shares in Royal Dutch Shell. read more

Why Big Oil faces court cases that echo the litigation against Big Tobacco in the ’90s

Case that began in New York this week delves into what industry knew about climate change and when

Kelly Crowe · CBC News · Posted: Oct 24, 2019 

How much did the oil industry know about the impact of fossil fuel emissions on the climate? When did they know it? And what did they do with that knowledge?

Those are the central questions in a series of court cases attempting to hold companies accountable for their role in climate change.

It’s been called Big Oil’s “Big Tobacco” moment, echoing the famous litigation that exposed how tobacco companies deliberately generated scientific uncertainty even though they knew that cigarettes cause cancer. read more

Oil lobby’s reach into EU politics – The five biggest oil and gas companies – BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total – and their industry groups have spent at least €251m (£217m) lobbying the EU over climate policies since 2010. Researchers say the figure represents the tip of the iceberg, as in some years companies made no declarations of spending in the voluntary EU transparency register. Pascoe Sabido, researcher at Corporate Europe Observatory, said the oil and gas lobby had “delayed, weakened and sabotaged EU action on the climate emergency thanks to their hefty lobby spending. A cool quarter of a billion over the last decade buys a lot of access and influence in Brussels.” read more

By Danielle Haynes

Oct. 22 (UPI) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stay the city of Baltimore’s lawsuit against a group of oil companies it accuses of contributing to climate change.

The high court’s decision clears the way for the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether the case should proceed in state court. The oil companies — including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell — requested the stay, seeking to have various state-level lawsuits moved into federal court to eliminate the “costs and burdens of duplicative litigation.” read more

The group of companies includes BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

Can you strike a blow against climate change by getting rid of your oil company stocks — and can you do it without losing money? The idea is not just for activists anymore. Norway took a partial step in selling off oil and gas stocks in its massive $1 trillion wealth fund. And a growing number of investors who control trillions more are using the threat of divestment as a cudgel to force energy companies to adopt greener ways. Together these approaches are producing a notable disruption in the energy field. read more

By Kelly Gilblom: 22 October 2019, 00:01 BST

Group of 300 British lawmakers seeking fossil fuel divestment

Dumping shares could restrict companies’ access to new capital

A group of 300 British politicians are pushing the trustees of the Parliamentary Pension Fund to sell shares of BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc to ward off the risks of climate change.

The group, organized by environmental non-profit 350.org, adds to pressure on the fossil fuel industry. Over the last two weeks, climate change activists from the group Extinction Rebellion have disrupted London by blocking roads and climbing on commercial airplanes. Just weeks before that, an estimated 7.6 million people globally took to the streets to protest continually rising emissions. read more