Posts Tagged ‘Total’

Oil Giants’ Production Cuts Come to 1 Million Bpd as They Post Massive Writedowns

By Reuters: Aug. 9, 2020, 1:18 a.m. ET

(Reuters) – The world’s five largest oil companies collectively cut the value of their assets by nearly $50 billion in the second quarter, and slashed production rates as the coronavirus pandemic caused a drastic fall in fuel prices and demand.

The dramatic reductions in asset valuations and decline in output show the depth of the pain in the second quarter. Fuel demand at one point was down by more than 30% worldwide, and still remains below pre-pandemic levels. 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

Bloomberg: Shell Says U.K. Can Bring Forward Gasoline Car Sale Ban to 2030

By Rakteem Katakey: 17 July 2020, 14:49 BST

• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set a 2035 deadline
• ‘Right policy and incentives’ could push it earlier: Lynch

Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects the U.K. can end the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles in just a decade, as the nation attempts to eliminate emissions by the middle of the century.

The ban can be brought forward to 2030 with “the right policy and incentives,” Sinead Lynch, the head of oil giant Shell’s operations in Britain said on LinkedIn. That’s five years earlier than the deadline set by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in February, and also beats the 2032 date that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said may be possible to achieve. read more

‘Divest or we escalate’, Extinction Rebellion warns University of Cambridge

Extinction Rebellion is ready for an extensive campaign next month to encourage the University of Cambridge to divest fully from investments in fossil fuel companies.

Extinction Rebellion Cambridge (XRC) and Extinction Rebellion Youth Cambridge (XRYC) are “beginning their campaign by delivering their demands to the university and the non-divested colleges”.

The activist group add that “if divestment isn’t announced by the end of July”, they “will begin an escalating campaign of non-violent direct action until it is”. read more

Implications Seen for U.S. LNG as Nord Stream 2 Nears Finish Line

BY RON NISSIMOV July 10, 2020

The start-up of the 5.3 Bcf/d NS2 could curb a potential recovery of U.S. LNG exports even if the Covid-19 pandemic recedes next year, said BTU Analytics LLC energy analyst Connor McLean.

“If Nord Stream 2 comes online as expected, the influx of supply into Europe could place further pressure on a U.S. LNG recovery in 2021,” McLean said in a recent post on the firm’s website.

To combat the Russian plan, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Barrasso (R-WY), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) introduced a bill to sanction any entity that aids in completion of the line. That could include companies that have extensive operations in the U.S., such as Royal Dutch Shell plc, Total SA, Engie and OMV, which have stakes in parts of NS2, and Norwegian maritime classification society DNV. read more

Big Oil’s Investment Risk Is Spiking

By David Messler – Jul 07, 2020, 5:00 PM CDT

The major integrated oil companies: Shell,(NYSE:RDS.A, RDS.B); ExxonMobil, (NYSE:XOM); BP, (NYSE:BP); Chevron, (NYSE:CVX), and a few others, so named for their vertical stewardship of the hydrocarbon molecule from initial extraction to final refining, have come under increasingly accurate fire from climate change advocates. In the past organizations like Greenpeace and a host of other conservation organizations, have used direct measures to interdict oil company operations. Measures that were flashy, as they drew a lot of attention from the global press, but over the long haul did little to achieve their goals of stopping oil and gas exploration. read more

LONDON — Investors managing £1.8 trillion ($2.2 trillion) in assets are widening a campaign pressing oil majors to better reflect climate risks in their accounting, and will soon target other businesses with heavy fossil fuel exposure, the group said on Monday.

The investors believe their campaign is working, noting the “hugely important” news of BP joining other oil majors in lowering the value of its assets amid a global transition to cleaner energy, said Natasha Landell-Mills, head of stewardship at asset manager Sarasin & Partners. read more

Coronavirus has dealt the fossil-fuel industry the biggest single blow in its history, and it is clear that 2020’s plummeting demand for oil and gas is no mere flesh wound. The global Covid-19 crisis may have already triggered a terminal decline for big oil.

BP’s decision last week to reset its oil price forecasts for the next three decades was the latest tremor in a seismic shift for the industry. Its forecasts of a $75-a-barrel oil price over the next 30 years were scrapped in favour of an average price of $55. The watershed decision wiped more than $17bn from the value of its business at a stroke… read more

THE EDITORIAL BOARD: 15 JUNE 2020

Big Oil faces a future where it may not be so big, and may have less to do with oil.

Investing in Big Oil, like Big Tobacco, has become much less acceptable.

Royal Dutch Shell has vowed to become the world’s largest electricity company by the 2030s.

FULL FT ARTICLE

British oil major predicts that the coronavirus pandemic will hurt long-term demand

BLOOMBERG: 15 JUNE 2020

BP will write down the value of its business by as much as $17.5 billion, as the British oil major predicts that the coronavirus pandemic will hurt long-term demand and accelerate the shift to cleaner energy.

The company is also undertaking a review of its projects that could result in some oil discoveries being left in the ground.

It’s the latest in a series of big shifts from BP, which has pivoted sharply toward clean energy under its new chief executive officer Bernard Looney. Shares fell 5 per cent to 307 pence as of 8.15am in London. read more

“Shell extracts a lot of oil and gas from Nigerian soil, and that is associated with pollution, sabotage, tax lawsuits, protests from the local population and suspected corruption.”

English translation of a Dutch article by nrc.nl

Dutch ambassador leaked information to Shell

Nigeria Robert Petri, the Dutch ambassador to Nigeria, had been in post for less than a year and a half. He did not have a good relationship with his staff. And above all: wasn’t he too close to Shell?

Prime Minister Mark Rutte (l) and Shell chairman Ben van Beurden (r) visiting President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, autumn 2019. Photo Bart Maat / ANP read more

Crude Woes: Chevron to Make Nearly 10-15% Staff Redundant

Shell is proposing voluntary unemployment.

LOS ANGELES — Big Oil lost a pair of court battles Tuesday that could lead to trials in lawsuits by California cities and counties seeking damages for the impact of climate change.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by energy companies and ruled state courts are the proper forum for lawsuits alleging producers promoted petroleum as environmentally responsible when they knew it was contributing to drought, wildfires, and sea level rise associated with global warming.

The lawsuits claim Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and other companies created a public nuisance and should pay for damage from climate change and help build sea walls and other infrastructure to protect against future impact — construction that could cost tens of billions of dollars. read more

The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp relief the existential threat posed to the world’s biggest oil companies from policies aimed at combating climate change by offering a glimpse into a future with little demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

It has also brought to the fore a question with profound implications for the energy industry and Houston, where fortunes rise and fall with the price of oil. Has the virus — in two short but life-altering months — fundamentally changed society and consumer behavior, making it likely that global oil demand would peak earlier than expected, perhaps even during this decade? read more

By Nick Cunningham – May 12, 2020, 7:00 PM CDT

Oil prices continue to rise on the prospect of a rebound in fuel demand as economies begin to reopen.  But there is a large difference between oil demand rising from recent lows and actually growing relative to pre-COVID-19 trends. In other words, demand destruction on the order of nearly 30 million barrels per day (mb/d) may have been brief, but we are a long way from a 100-mb/d oil market.

In fact, some are wondering whether the world will ever get back to 100 mb/d of oil demand. Even oil executives have their doubts. Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO Ben van Beurden recently suggested that a rebound is unlikely, even looking out beyond 2020. “We do not expect a recovery of oil prices or demand for our products in the medium term,” he said. read more