By David Fickling | Bloomberg: June 5 at 7:03 AM

Greenwashed rhetoric is such a staple of the oil industry that it’s easy to assume every energy executive talking about climate and the transition to a zero-carbon economy is just mouthing words.

Barely a year after BP Plc Chief Executive Officer John Browne promised “action and solutions” on climate change in a 1997 speech, he led the then-biggest oil takeover in history with the acquisition of Amoco Corp. On his retirement a decade later, after years of rebranding about moving “beyond petroleum,” he left a base of oil and gas reserves more than twice the size of the one he inherited. read more

By Dulue Mbachu and Sherry Su: 30 April 2019, 10:38 BST Updated on 30 April 2019

Shell, Total declare force majeure on some crude oil grades

Idled Chevron well suffers fire after third-party incident

A spate of disruptions and security concerns, including kidnappings, are threatening to hinder surging Nigerian oil exports.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA declared force majeure on some of their Nigerian exports over the past week, a measure that allows companies to skip supply obligations. Chevron Corp.’s Nigerian unit said an idled well was interfered with.

While the precise cause of the Total force majeure remains unclear, the Shell and Chevron incidents involved third parties. The disruption comes just a few years after militants caused Nigeria’s oil production to plunge by attacking pipelines and other pieces of energy infrastructure. read more

Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Total and BP together have spent more than $1 billion on public relations since the Paris Agreement.

• By Alexander C. Kaufman
• Chris D’Angelo, HuffPost US
• 22 March 2019

The world’s five largest publicly traded oil companies are increasing their investments in oil and gas, putting a combined $110 billion in new fossil-fuel production.

Meanwhile, those firms are projected to spend just $3.6 billion on low-carbon investments, such as biofuels and renewables, according to a new analysis that Influence Map, a British nonprofit that analyzes corporate influence on climate policy, derived from industry data and numbers buried in company disclosures.

The reckless disparity comes just months after the United Nations warned that the world must rapidly phase out fossil fuel use over the next decade or face catastrophic global warming of at least 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. read more

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad.

Total may challenge Shell in violation of the acquisition of energy company Eneco

From our Editor

The French energy group Total is considering making an offer for the Dutch energy company Eneco. The financial press agency Bloomberg reports this on the basis of information from insiders.

Total would already have counsellors in hand to study the pros and cons of a bid. If the French continue this plan, they may expel Shell who has publicly announced that they want to acquire Eneco.

About three weeks ago, it became known that the British-Dutch oil and gas multinational and pension provider PGGM wanted to bid together for Eneco, one of the three major energy companies in the Netherlands. The combination was the first party that had publicly announced its interest. read more

By Dominic Walsh

Ben van Beurden has marked five years as chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell by giving a “wide-ranging interview” on climate change, his leadership style and “Shell’s biggest financial transformation” — an interview given to, erm, Royal Dutch Shell’s website. But rest assured, the oil group’s in-house journalists weren’t letting their boss off lightly. The transcript published yesterday features such hard-hitting questions as: “Who do you turn to for advice and support?” (answer: his wife, Stacey); “What are you most proud of when you look back at 2018?”; and “Why is trust so important for Shell?” A real zinger, that one.

SOURCE

Shell buys out Total’s 26% stake in Hazira LNG and Port

Shell Gas, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, acquired 26% equity interest in the Hazira LNG and Port from Total, to complete the acquisition. We did not disclose the financial consideration for the deal.

“The move allows Shell to build an integrated gas value chain: supply from its global LNG portfolio, regasification at the Hazira facility, and downstream customer sales. It further enables Shell to contribute towards India’s long-term need for more and cleaner energy solutions,” Shell said in the statement. read more

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Aristofanis Papadatos: 25 August 2018

Summary

Shell oil traders trade one Caribbean paradise for another

Julia Payne: AUGUST 17, 2018

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) oil traders in the Caribbean island of Barbados are getting ready for a tough gig – they’re being moved to the Bahamas next month. The relocation of the oil and gas company’s trading hub for Latin America will make travel to customers in the key region easier for its employees, a company spokeswoman said. FULL ARTICLE

By Elizabeth Burden and Thomas Biesheuvel
15 August 2018, 08:54 BST

*Methodist fund developing system analyzing company ethics
*Top mining and oil companies will be graded by end of 2018

Divestment may be too blunt an instrument to encourage the world’s biggest oil and mining companies to behave ethically: the Methodist Church is prepared to back those committed to mending their ways. FULL ARTICLE read more

NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, BLOOMBERG: July 9, 2018

A flurry of activity is raising optimism that Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its partners are ready to go ahead with the nation’s largest infrastructure project: a $40 billion liquefied natural gas terminal that could at last unlock energy exports to Asia.

The action is unmistakable in Kitimat, the Pacific coast city hugging a deep inlet that would be the closest launch point on the continent for LNG cargoes to Asia. The lights are on, shades open and SUVs parked outside a 49-unit apartment complex built to house Shell executives, which sat mostly darkened for the last two years. Local workers have left jobs at a Rio Tinto Plc smelter nearby to join contractors ramping up for the LNG project. Landlords are raising rents and houses are selling twice as fast as they used to in anticipation of a flood of workers coming to town. read more

David Keohane in Paris and Andrew Ward and David Sheppard in London: 16 May 2018

Royal Dutch Shell, the largest European oil and gas group, also struck a provisional agreement with Iran in 2016 to carry out studies in three of the country’s biggest oil and gasfields. However, that agreement represented a much less firm commitment than Total’s and Shell has not opened an office in Iran or moved staff there. The Anglo-Dutch group said on Wednesday that it was still assessing the implications of Mr Trump’s withdrawal. FULL FT REPORT read more

FILE PHOTO: The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) headquarters are seen in Abuja, Nigeria December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo

For decades, communities in the Niger Delta oil heartland have complained that spills and pollution have destroyed their land and killed off wildlife. Rights group Amnesty International accused international oil majors Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Eni SpA in March of negligence when addressing spills in Nigeria. read more

By John Donovan 

Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, which has pushed up the price of oil, thus benefiting Shell and other oil companies, threatens to put billions of dollars worth of trade in jeopardy.

Shell has a record of treacherous conduct involving the Iranian regime, including using subterfuge to disguise shipping movements.

How will Shell react this time in an even more complex situation?

Below are extracts from articles published in the last 24 hours.

Sky News: How business could be hit by Iran deal pull-out read more

By Kevin Keane: BBC Scotland’s environment correspondent:

26 April 2018

The Health and Safety Executive has written to all oil and gas operators expressing concern about the number of gas releases in the industry.

The regulator said some had come “perilously close to disaster” and that more needed to be done to tackle them.

The HSE said a “lack of leadership” was often to blame for leaks, and called for firms to review their processes.

Operators have until July to respond with a summary of their planned improvements.

The HSE has written to operators ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. The platform exploded in July 1988, leaving 167 men dead. read more

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Royal Dutch Shell Plc rode the surge in oil prices to even greater heights, posting a profit not seen since the days of $100 a barrel, but investors continued to worry about the company’s cash flow.

Earnings at Europe’s largest energy company vaulted ahead of the upswing in crude to an average of $67 in the first quarter, reaping the benefits of years of cost cuts. Yet shares fell as analysts raised concerns about whether the company will be able to afford share buybacks. read more

Tristan R. Brown: Apr. 16, 2018 12:44 PM ET

Summary

The world’s largest oil companies have survived a life-changing crisis, and are now poised to reap the rewards, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. Big Oil is in a sweet spot with rising oil prices and low operating costs, leaving them with the biggest cash-flow growth in two decades and boosting earnings, Goldman said in a report Monday. That will increase their attraction for investors after years of elevated spending followed by crude’s slump sent their weighting in global equity indexes to a 50-year low, according to the bank. FULL ARTICLE read more