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, Shell issued 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 Guardian

Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price

Chris McGreal: Wed 30 Jun 2021 08.00 BST

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

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

• 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.

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. read more

OilPrice.com

Nigeria Inks Massive Oil Deal With Supermajors

Editor OilPrice.com: Wed, May 26, 2021, 5:00 PM

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

Big Oil Is In Desperate Need Of New Discoveries

By Alex Kimani – May 10, 2021, 2:00 PM CDT

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

Shell treads ‘narrow path’ as scrutiny of Big Oil’s climate targets intensifies

Author Yannic Rack: 22 April 2021

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

Oil supermajors’ mega-bet on natural gas

Is the least grubby hydrocarbon a bridge fuel to a greener future, or a trap?

Energy companies have no seat at the climate high table convened by President Joe Biden on April 22nd and 23rd, to which he has invited 40 other world leaders to discuss how to speed up the shift from dirty energy. From the sidelines, coal firms will scowl at efforts to curb demand in Asia and oil drillers will wince at support for electric cars. Watching particularly closely will be those companies which have bet big on natural gas. As the energy transition gathers momentum, no fuel’s future is hazier than that of the least grubby hydrocarbon. read more

Oil And Coal Firms Guilty Of ‘Great Deception’ Through Greenwashing, Say Climate Lawyers

A team of U.K. lawyers today released what they say is new evidence showing that the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies are systematically “greenwashing” their image to make the public believe they are taking concrete steps to combat climate change. In reality, the lawyers say, the firms are committed to increasing the sale of fossil fuels, which will inevitably generate more greenhouse gas emissions. read more

Shell, Exxon Look to Profit From Capturing Customers’ Carbon Emissions

Big oil companies are exploring charging for carbon storage, hoping to benefit from the drive to reduce emissions

By Sarah McFarlane: April 19, 2021 5:30 am ET

Oil companies have for decades made money by extracting carbon from the ground. Now they are trying to make money putting it back.

Energy giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are pushing carbon capture and storage—where carbon is gathered and buried underground—as part of a drive to reduce both their own and their customers’ emissions. Executives say the service could become a new source of income when the industry is grappling with how to adapt to a lower-carbon economy. read more

Shell Plans To Double Down On Strengths As A Retailer In New Net-Zero World

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050, unveiled last month, focuses heavily on selling low-carbon electricity, biofuels and hydrogen directly to households and electric vehicle owners.

The strategy marks a contrast with that of other European oil majors, who in their own plans to reach net-zero emissions have vowed to accumulate vast amounts of renewable power generation capacity in the form of wind and solar assets. read more

Shell has written down the value of some of its gas assets, including its Queensland Curtis project in Australia.

As the Shift to Green Energy Speeds Up, Shell’s Big Natural-Gas Bet Is at Risk. The fuel faces growing environmental scrutiny and competition from cleaner energy sources

By Sarah McFarlane: March 27, 2021 5:30 am ET

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC bet big on natural gas as the energy source of the future when it bought BG Group for $54 billion. Five years later, it appears the gas era won’t last long. read more

Oil titans vow climate collaboration with White House

Chief executives of some of the largest U.S. oil companies promised to collaborate with the Biden administration in its campaign against climate change during a meeting Monday with White House National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy.

The oil industry leaders pledged support for federal regulations explicitly limiting emissions of methane from wells and other oilfield equipment — a declaration that dovetails with President Joe Biden’s vow to clamp down on leaks of the potent greenhouse gas. read more

Shell changes senior UK leadership in global overhaul

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is changing the senior leadership of its operations in Britain as part of a global overhaul to cut costs and shift away from oil and gas to renewables and power.

Under the changes, which have been announced internally, country chair Sinead Lynch will become Shell’s global head of low-carbon fuels, a company spokeswoman said.

Lynch, who joined the Anglo-Dutch company in 2016 following its acquisition of BG Group, will be replaced by David Bunch who currently runs Shell’s retail business across Europe and South Africa. Bunch joined Shell in 1997. read more

How the Oil Lobby Learned to Love Carbon Taxes

The American Petroleum Institute may come out in favor of a carbon price, a sign of Washington’s dramatic move toward climate-friendly policy.

By Jennifer A Dlouhy and Leslie Kaufman: 4 March 2021, 07:00 GMT

Few saw the surprise disclosure earlier this week that the American Petroleum Institute is considering endorsing a price on carbon dioxide emissions and thought the fierce fossil fuel lobby was suddenly becoming climate-friendly. Rather, seasoned industry-watchers say it’s the clearest sign yet that fossil fuel companies see Washington’s shift on climate policy as a real and significant threat. read more

Which Banks Are The Biggest Backers Of Oil And Gas?

By Alex Kimani – Feb 25, 2021, 4:00 PM CST

About a month ago, BlackRock Inc.(NYSE:BLK), the world’s largest asset manager with $9 trillion in assets under management (AUM), sent shockwaves through the fossil fuel sector after it vowed to double down on climate activism by backing more shareholder resolutions on climate change and social issues in 2021.

Around the same time, the $226 billion New York State pension fund and the $5B Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced plans to divest the majority of their fossil fuel investments and also sell shares of other companies that have been actively contributing to global warming. read more

Shell unveils green strategy after oil output peak

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell declared Thursday that its oil output is locked in decline after peaking in 2019 as it outlined green plans to switch away from fossil fuels.

Shell said in a statement that it will invest up to $6.0 billion (4.9 billion euros) per year in green energy projects developing and promoting biofuels, electric car charging and renewables.

More than half the amount could end up being spent on marketing, Shell said.

In addition, Shell plans to still invest $8 billion annually on new oil and gas exploration. read more