Can New CEO Change Royal Dutch Shell’s Course?
Extract from article by Stephanie Link published bythestreet.com 24 February 2014
Over the last several years the company has mismanaged its huge shale asset base, has had multiple cost overruns on key projects and continues to run an underperforming refinery business. Last year alone, Royal Dutch Shell’s operational issues in Nigeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Alaska, and the U.S. cost its earnings by $5.1 billion. So it’s not surprising that the stock massively underperformed its peers last year, gaining just 3.4% vs. the sector, which rose 14.1%. There is no doubt this company and the management team have a credibility problem. But that is about to change, in my view with a new CEO on board, Ben van Beurden.
Garda Corruption Allegations
Extracts from articles published by The Irish Times 24 February 2014
Claims on Garda corruption first made in 2008
Allegations investigated at the time by GSOC and the Gard. The Irish Times understands that some of the allegations first raised by Sgt McCabe in May 2008 are contained in a dossier compiled by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and presented to the Government in recent weeks. The dossier also contains new cases.
Shatter to come under intense pressure to apologise to whistleblowers
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter is set to come under intense political pressure this week to apologise to two Garda whistleblowers for suggesting in the Dáil that they had failed to co-operate with an investigation into the termination by Garda members of motorists’ penalty points.
Funding boost for Shell and SSE’s gas carbon capture plan
Extract from article by The Telegraph Energy EditorEmily Gosden published on 24 Feb 2014
Plans to capture carbon dioxide emissions from a gas-fired power station in Aberdeenshire and bury them beneath the North Sea have won tens of millions of pounds in government funding. Ed Davey, the energy secretary, on Monday announces the funding for Royal Dutch Shell and SSE’s Peterhead carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, which would be the first commercial-scale gas-fired CCS plant. Shell’s UK chairman Ed Daniels, says that if Peterhead is successful it would “reinforce the UK’s leadership on responding to climate change and could act as a major boost to the CCS industry as a whole”.
Alaska North Slope communities divided as Arctic drilling delayed
Extract from article by
On one side of the rift are corporate leaders who have dashed off letters to The Arctic Sounder newspaper, bashing environmental groups that were on the winning side of last month’s decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled the Interior Department had not properly considered the risks of offshore drilling before selling leases in the Chukchi Sea in 2008. The decision throws into question whether Royal Dutch Shell, already hobbled by its own mistakes during the 2012 exploration season, will forge ahead with its costly effort to drill off the Arctic coast.
Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Chukchi Sea, Environment, Litigation, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United States.
Shell is top as global dividends breach $1 trillion
Extract from article by Harriet Dennys published by The Telegraph on 24 Feb 2014
UK companies take three places in top ten dividend payers, with Shell in pole position. Energy major Royal Dutch Shell paid the highest returns to shareholders in 2013, in a year when global dividends broke through the $1trn barrier for the first time.
Intrigue over unexplained sudden exit of Shell legal chief Peter Rees QC
Extract from article published 24 Feb 2014 by Legal Week under the headline: “Former Shell legal chief Peter Rees QC to return to private practice”
One source close to the matter said: “Only three people at Shell know the reason behind his exit: Peter, Ben and (chief human resources and corporate officer) Hugh Mitchell.
ACCESS TO FULL ARTICLE SUBJECT TO FREE TRIAL OR SUBSCRIPTION
COMMENT ADDED BY JOHN DONOVAN
SO MUCH FOR SHELL MANAGEMENTS PLEDGE OF TRANSPARENCY UNDER SHELL’S CLAIMED CORE BUSINESS PRINCIPLES
Arctic Oil Still Seen Decades Away as Producers Balk at Costs
Extracts from an article published by Bloomberg News 23 Feb 2014
Lundin Petroleum AB (LUPE), the Swedish explorer focused onNorway, said there won’t be any oil production in the ice-filled waters of the Arctic for at least 15 years because of technical and logistical challenges. Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA),Europe’s biggest oil company, in January again halted drilling plans offAlaska after a court ruled the area had been illegally opened to exploration. That followed a previous postponement after a series of technical mishaps in 2012, including the stranding of a rig.
Gazprom and Shell Sign for Third Train at Sakhalin II
Extract from an article published by The Maritime Executive 23 Feb 2014
Sochi hosted today the signing of a memorandum-roadmap between Alexey Miller, chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell. The document envisages the preparation of FEED documentation for the third LNG production train within the Sakhalin II project.
Shell hits out at Brussels energy policy
Extract from FT article by Pilita Clark published 23 Feb 2014
Royal Dutch Shell has launched a broadside against what it says is a “European energy crisis” that could drive a raft of new coal power plants across the continent at the expense of cleaner alternatives such as gas.
Russia’s oil giant Rosneft, Shell to eye joint projects
Extract from an article published on 23 Feb 2014 by THE VOICE OF RUSSIA
Russian state oil company Rosneft and Royal Dutch Shell will eye joint projects and draw up guidelines for future cooperation, according to Rosneft’s statement issued after a meeting of the companies’ chiefs Igor Sechin and Ben van Beurden on Sunday. The companies ruled out any conflicts of interest with joint projects of Shell and Russia’s gas giant Gazprom.
The TRUTH will set you FREE.
