Oil majors should break themselves up into separate fossil fuel and low-carbon businesses to accelerate investment in the energy transition, the former boss of BP has said.
The comments by Lord Browne of Madingley will fuel debate over the strategies of Britain’s oil giants with Shell already facing calls from Third Point, the US activist investor, to break itself up.
Both Shell and BP have thus far argued that they are better off remaining as single companies so they can use the proceeds of their oil businesses to fund green investments.read more
In an age in which stock trading is no longer reserved to Wall-Street and a climate crisis is becoming a reality, sustainability-driven shareholder activism was bound to happen. And we see it happening, with increasing impact—especially in Big Oil, responsible for the largest share of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“Thanks to the votes of institutional investors for the Follow This climate resolutions, Shell, Equinor, BP, Phillips 66, and Chevron have reluctantly set climate ambitions covering Scope 3 already.” And, as Follow This announced in their recent investor briefing, they will file no less than eight climate resolutions in 2022, at Shell, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, Occidental Petroleum, ExxonMobil, and Marathon Petroleum.read more
GLASGOW, Scotland — Financial institutions and individual board members could be the next targets of climate litigation cases, according to the campaigners who helped to secure a landmark courtroom victory against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell.
It comes at a time when countries are scrambling to reach consensus in the final days of the COP26 climate summit. Negotiators from 197 countries are taking part in discussions with the goal of keeping the all-important global target of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive.read more
If you’re looking for an extremely long-term stock pick from billionaire Bill Gates, here it is: Avoid Big Oil.
As the world moves away from fossil fuels and adopts more clean and renewable energy sources, oil giants that have dominated markets for more than a century could be in trouble, the Microsoft co-founder said in a briefing at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Thursday.read more
Oct 19th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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Britain’s fossil fuel dilemma in the spotlight as climate talks near
By Shadia Nasralla: Oct 19, 2021
EXTRACTS
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain faces a fossil fuel dilemma: it can burnish its green credentials by halting new oil and gas development in the North Sea, yet doing so will leave it more reliant on imported fuel.
Britain’s Oil and Gas Authority said gas extracted from the British North Sea had an average emission intensity of 22 kg carbon dioxide equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent, while imported LNG had an average intensity of 59 kg.read more
The committee called on top executives at ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell and lobbying groups American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to testify before Congress next month.
The committee also requested documents on the reported role of the oil and gas industry in a long-term campaign to spread climate disinformation and undermine climate policy.
The House Oversight Committee on Thursday expanded its investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s involvement in spreading disinformation about the role fossil fuels play in causing climate change.
Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Subcommittee on the Environment Chairman Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called on top executives at ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell and lobbying groups American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to testify before Congress next month.read more
Sep 16th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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The New York Times
House Panel Expands Inquiry Into Climate Disinformation by Oil Giants
Sept. 16, 2021Updated 10:42 a.m. ET
The House Oversight Committee has widened its probe into the oil and gas industry’s role in spreading disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming, calling on top executives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as the lobby groups American Petroleum Institute and the United States Chamber of Commerce, to testify before Congress next month.
In letters sent to the industry executives Thursday morning, the committee also requested information, including internal documents and emails on climate policy going back to 2015, related to the companies’ and groups’ efforts to undermine climate policy.read more
Royal Dutch Shell even anticipated the current wave of lawsuits: an internal study in 1998 forecast a scenario in which environmental groups would band together to file “a class action lawsuit on the grounds of neglecting what scientists, including [the industry’s] own, have been saying for years”.
Indeed, last May the Netherlands branch of the advocacy group Friends of the Earth won a landmark case against Shell. A Dutch court ordered Shell to bring its global operations in line with the Paris agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. This will require Shell to reduce both its own and its customers’ emissions by a staggering 45% from 2019 levels by 2030. Shell is appealing the ruling.read more
Aug 18th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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CNBC
Big Oil’s bid to lure back investors with cash could ultimately fail
… a ‘death knell’ for fossil fuels
Sam Meredith: PUBLISHED WED, AUG 18 2021 1:23 AM EDT
LONDON — The world’s largest oil and gas majors are seeking to lure back investors by returning more cash to shareholders. Market participants, particularly those looking to the long term, remain highly skeptical.
It comes at a time when oil and gas companies are raking in their highest profits since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic amid a sustained period of stronger commodity prices.read more
Geofinancial Analytics’s MethaneScan® benchmark scores the oil and gas producers based on observed methane emissions in the year to this July.
This first snapshot, of the top 15 producers, finds that oil super-majors Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron are the worst performers, followed by ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil and ExxonMobil.read more
Jul 19th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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The Guardian
How a powerful US lobby group helps big oil to block climate action
Chris McGreal: Mon 19 Jul 2021 11.00 BST
When Royal Dutch Shell published its annual environmental report in April, it boasted that it was investing heavily in renewable energy. The oil giant committed to installing hundreds of thousands of charging stations for electric vehicles around the world to help offset the harm caused by burning fossil fuels.
On the same day, Shellissued a separate report revealing that its single largest donation to political lobby groups last year was made to the American Petroleum Institute, one of the US’s most powerful trade organizations, which drives the oil industry’s relationship with Congress.read more
The environmentalist Bill McKibben once characterized the fossil fuel industry’s behavior as “the most consequential cover-up in US history”. And now for the first time in decades, the lawsuits chart a path toward public accountability that climate activists say has the potential to rival big tobacco’s downfall after it concealed the real dangers of smoking.
“We are at an inflection point,” said Daniel Farber, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley and director of the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment.read more
Jun 25th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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CNBC
Big Oil’s increasing number of climate lawsuits draws parallels to Big Tobacco
PUBLISHED FRI, JUN 25 20211:12 AM EDT: Sam Meredith @SMEREDITH19
KEY POINTS
The prospect of a rising tide of climate litigation cases against heavy emitting businesses comes shortly after a landmark courtroom defeat for Royal Dutch Shell.
Since the turn of the century, more than 2,000 climate litigation cases were found to have been filed in a trend that is widely expected to have global implications for carbon-intensive companies.
Analysts believe this is merely scratching the surface of what is to be expected in the future — drawing parallels to the so-called tobacco trials of the 1950s and 1960s.
LONDON — Big Oil is likely to face an exponential increase in climate lawsuits over the coming years, a trend that analysts say is reminiscent of activists turning to the courts to take on the tobacco industry.
May 27th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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OilPrice.com
Nigeria Inks Massive Oil Deal With Supermajors
Editor OilPrice.com:
Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corporation this week signed a deal with Shell, Exxon, Total, and Eni to develop an offshore oil block that includes the deepwater Bonga field, the NNPC said in a series of tweets.
The NNPC noted the deal marks a historic moment as it settles long-running disputes between the Nigerian government and international oil companies.
According to the company, the deal could unlock up to $10 billion in new investments in Nigeria’s oil industry. It could also add 150,000 bpd to the country’s oil production, bringing the total output from the block—Oil Mining Lease 118—to 350,000 bpd, Bloomberg reports.read more
The year 2020 was a watershed moment for the fossil fuel sector. Faced with a global pandemic, severe demand shocks and a shift towards renewable energy, experts warned that nearly $900 billion worth of reserves–or about one-third of the value of big oil and gas companies–were at risk of becoming worthless.
Even Big Oil mostly appeared resigned to its fate, with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) CEO Ben van Beurden declaring that we had already hit peak oil demand while BP Plc. (NYSE:BP)—a company that doubled down on its aggressive drilling right after the historic 2015 UN Climate Change Agreement--finally gave in saying “..concerns about carbon emissions and climate change mean that it is increasingly unlikely that the world’s reserves of oil will ever be exhausted.” BP went on to announce one of the largest asset writedowns of any oil major after slashing up to $17.5 billion off the value of its assets and conceded that it “expects the pandemic to hasten the shift away from fossil fuels.”read more
Oil and gas majors are under growing scrutiny to deliver on their climate pledges, with some investors and industry analysts still unconvinced that their transition can both deliver shareholder value and make a meaningful dent in reducing the pollution caused by their products.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC presented a strengthened climate plan to its shareholders in February, acknowledging for the first time that it will need to eliminate or offset all of its emissions — including those generated when its fuels are burned, which make up the bulk — to reach its 2050 net-zero goal.read more
In the 90s and up to 2004 carrying on Audits on Woodside Energy offshore installations on behalf of SIEP I was made aware that Woodside along with other operators held the then Regulator in low regard. They were not enough of them, underfunded and considered not competent and also because of this did not have the authority and respect of the Industry.
A forward looking COO of Woodside had the revolutionary idea of involving Regulators in his Audit process and requested I also discuss my findings etc with them. Now the old Regulatory organisation has been redesigned with more resources, a wider brief, and much more support it appears from state and national government.
Bogus Group has made both a succinct but most meaningful contribution.
If as covered on their blog the operator is considered Not Yet Competent to understand his own operational risks by a rejuvenated, well resourced, self confident, and authoritative Regulator, and that finding seems to be accepted by Shell Australia, then we begin to understand better how the events of 2nd December developed
Bill Campbell.
Bogus Group: When the regulator determines that an operator does not have sufficient understanding of the risks of the Prelude facility power systems, including failure of mechanisms, interdependencies, and recovery, alarm bells should be ringing.
Bogus Group: Following yet another Prelude safety issue, I wonder if ‘mortification’ is in Rob Jager’s’ vocabulary, after his legacy idiotic statements (August’19 blog). Or does he just develop amnesia as he moves through the executive revolving door to his next role, where he can continue to utter Hans Christian Andersen like proclamations.
Gail: As a very concerned South African citizen I wish to point out that Shell is supposed to respect people and have ethics.
You are going against the wishes of many South African citizens with this proposed exploration.
Citizens have stood together and have brought two court cases against Shell, the first one was not successful and we are awaiting the decision on the second case.
We appeal to Shell HO to take notice of our concerns and cease with this exploration.
USA USA USA: I think this site is loosing its purpose. The next batch of Shell reorg has removed most of the people who would be willing to post comments. Shell is just lost - thinking its green when its about 0.5% green...
Eliece Horton: I really like my local Shell Gas Station, they have always been very helpful, so I am sad that we can no longer go there.
Our family will be BOYCOTTING SHELL in the USA to STOP Seismic Testing on the South African Coast to protect Marine Life.
The oil will not go anywhere. Leave it there until Britain has a generation of inhabitants that appreciate it. Meanwhile the present numpty generation can cope with windmill energy and 51'N solar.
David Tallboys
Fortunately the Japanese have seen sense and are encouraging new oil and gas projects:
Government officials have been quietly urging trading houses, refiners and utilities to slow down their move away from fossil fuels, and even encouraging new investments in oil-and-gas projects.
Robin Beckett
Shell won't care too much, they have exploration and new developments going on worldwide, as do the other big oil and gas companies. Gas/petrol was $2.76 a gallon in Texas yesterday, that's 15c down on earlier in the week.
colin whyte
Am I missing something here? Wasn't Scotland's financial state based on oil/gas receipts during their last independence referendum? I'm to suspect that Krankie now realises independence is a no go so is doing her utmost to trash the Nation. Nice to be able to turn down a thousand jobs as well.
R Morley
Unless we have zero requirement for oil and gas we have two options:
1) Exploit UK national resources and extract it ourselves
2) Pay another country and import it.
It is astonishing/depressing that UK Plc is having its energy policy dictated by a group of juvenile eco extremists.
Stuart Robertson
Few of these green eco nuts were alive or old enough to remember when in the early 1970’s when OPEC put our economy into a tailspin and we started to explore for our own resources. Now thanks to meaningless virtue signally we are about to become even more dependent on foreign powers to keep us warm and our way of life alive. I say meaningless because industry is already working towards transition from fossil fuels but it can’t happen by tomorrow afternoon and meanwhile our friends in Russia and Mid East will be rubbing their hands in glee at our naivety.
Len RMaC
Green activism is a cancer that will erode this country’s competitiveness and our standards of living. Somehow, it needs cutting out before it’s damage has gone too far.
graeme scott
We don’t develop national resources, we don’t develop our infrastructure to cope , we import resources from Qatar and yet we have shale gas in North Yorkshire that will meet our needs for 50 years
John Condon
The ecowarriors use ICE cars possibly Diesel. They probably have gas central heating and ovens. It’s OK according to them to import coal, oil and gas to power these - but we must stop producing fossil fuels ourselves?!?!?! They seem oblivious to the additional transportation costs associated with importation.. They seem oblivious to the strategic risk of trusting Putin and OPEC to maintain supplies and prices. They have essentially put the cart before the horse. FIRST STOP IMPORTS and when coal, oil and gas are no longer needed for fuel and raw materials such as plastic THEN STOP INDIGENOUS SUPPLIES. This is so obvious how come they can’t see it?!?!?!
Clitherow Kid
It will go ahead but with lower public profile investors. Recent projects have seen a slew of equity partners with unrecognised names. The wider picture though is the message it sends to the highly skilled and well paid UK workers in the sector. They represent the jobs that we need to retain, and could be deployed in the urgently needed new nuclear plant developments. Instead it looks like a lot will be relocating to the middle east to be replaced here with what? More Deliveroo cyclists?.
Ogden Nash
Could somebody at the DT please commission a simple piece of research and write an article to show the requirements for electricity should the Government plans come into being - namely that all cars and all domestic heating is converted over to electric. So something like ..... No' of cars is the UK x average mileage x no' of KWh per mile = total KWh required for transport. ( you could even make it optimistic and assume everyone converts to a Nissan Leaf - no more Chelsea Tractors ) Then a similar calculation for homes ... No' of homes x average KWh used per year = Total KWh.
Add these together and divide by one of the outputs of a major Nuclear rector, This will show how many more reactors we would need to supply these crazy ideas.
Oil giant has pulled out of the Cambo field amid lack of support from UK and Scottish governments: Small selection of comments from this Telegraph article
Kathryn Jones
Let me correct that headline for you."victory for Nicola Sturgeon, Saudi Arabia and Russia as Shell walks away..." Fixed it for you.
J Thomas
Oh no! We are going to have to send more charity payments to Scotland under the Barnett formula! Additionally, if no one drills for gas and oil two things will happen. Many of us will freeze to death and the price of oil and gas will zoom upwards to include what I call G.T.T. The Greta Thunberg Tax!
Kelland Hutchence
Well done Shell! At least the oil and gas will still be there to be exploited when all this fake climate crisis is revealed for what it really is.
Ian Mclaren
If that's a victory? I'd hate to see what one of her defeats looks like.
Dale Carmichael
I think we going to massively regret this.
The eco loons don't care about the decent people this decision will effect.
James Hammett
These people are ridiculous. We are still going to use oil and all its by-products. This makes no positive difference to the country's carbon output, it just means a little more of it will be from burning oil from other countries' oil fields when we could have been drilling our own.
Scot Way
In 2014 gas and oil were the bedrock of an independent Scotland's financial future. Her new stance is mere posturing and destructive towards future jobs and industry. Wind power ain't gonna cut it. She's like rudderless ship being tossed about at sea during a storm.
Echo Fish
Reply to Scot Way - view message
Especially if the plan is to sell the energy to the "hated" English. She may well find England finds other independent energy sources.
Steve Graham
It seems that the Scottish economy or jobs dont matter any more to Sturgeon's SNP. While the UK push for a Zero Carbon economy, China are burning everything they can find the push their economy forwards. Mini countries like Scotland need to stop virtue signaling their Green smugness and realise their input is so minute that they are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Andrew Pierce
Your headline describes this as "a victory"! How the hell can this be described as a victory? Anything which reduces our own self-sufficiency, and leaves us more reliant on importing a vital resource from countries who's leaders seek to destroy us can only be described as a monumental own-goal!
Jiminy Cricket
Sturgeon only ‘opposed’ Cambo on the 16th November 2021. Before that she sat on the fence and blamed Boris. Then during Cop26 she realised her mistake and opposed it. Boris is the winner here - he knew that this would be an ‘own goal’ for Sturgeon and the SNP, now in league with the Scottish Green Party who also oppose the Scottish fishing industry. 10000 jobs lost to Scotland and much more. Environmental issues marooned in the in-tray for the Scottish Government- while power cables are still not fixed and people in Scotland are freezing. If that’s a win for Sturgeon I’d like to see her Financial Plan for her Independence Referendum.
If this had been the other way around, this article would have featured prominently in the main news page, rather than under the “Business” section. This is why people question the BBC’s impartiality..
(P.S. I voted remain)
No2EU: 10:54 15 Nov
to rl"
If this had been the other way around, this article would have featured prominently in the main news page, rather than under the “Business” section.This is why people question the BBC’s impartiality..(P.S. I voted remain)
"
No2EU replied: And Brexit would be blamed.
Smile dont shout: 10:57 15 Nov
Can't imagine what prompted this move:
"Earlier this year, a court in the Netherlands ruled that by 2030 Shell must cut its CO2 emissions by 45% compared to 2019 levels.” This only applies to the Netherlands
greenbird10 11:01 15 Nov
to Smile dont shout
"
Can't imagine what prompted this move:"Earlier this year, a court in the Netherlands ruled that by 2030 Shell must cut its CO2 emissions by 45% compared to 2019 levels."This only applies to the Netherlands
"
greenbird10 replied:
Think that's all the article needed to say to explain the move.
U17881151: 10:48 15 Nov
The truth is corporations are concerned about EU bureaucratic interference.
We saw with AstraZenica that the EU will block trade if they believe it gives them an advantage.
Google and other tech companies are increasingly being fined billions to fund EU wages and pensions.
The EU is a bit anti business.
It would be better to just focus on trade and creating friendly partnerships.
Arcangel: 10:56 15 Nov
to U17881151
"
The truth is corporations are concerned about EU bureaucratic interference. We saw with AstraZenica that the EU will block trade if they believe it gives them an advantage. Google and other tech companies are increasingly being fined billions to fund EU wages and pensions. The EU is a bit anti business. It would be better to just focus on trade and creating friendly partnerships.
"
Arcangel replied:
Agreed, but tbh I would rather we were stricter on companies like Shell given they are responsible for a large amount of the worlds pollution
Insider: Joe Lycett should talk to his friend Jimmy Carr about Shell. Jimmy worked in Shell marketing dept during the 1990s at Shell Mex House in the Strand.
Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. The instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan
JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW
SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE
SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS
SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL
INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL
DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON
SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA
ESTHER KIOBEL SUES SHELL FOR COMPLICITY IN HUSBANDS MURDER
ESTHER KIOBEL: EVIL OIL GIANT SHELL COLLUDED IN THE EXECUTION OF MY INNOCENT HUSBAND
SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA
SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO
SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS
SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO
ABANDONED BY SHELL: KEITH MACDONALD & FAMILY, VICTIMS OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION AT WORK
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER
JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS
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.
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Shell treads ‘narrow path’ as scrutiny of Big Oil’s climate targets intensifies
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EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
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