Chinese Whispers: Sticking all sorts of crime on Shell?

Apr 14th, 2012

by John Donovan.

Why don't you start writing a new series for the X-Files for TV Donovan? With your ability at trying to stick all sorts of crime on Shell (e.g. the murder in China of Neil Heywood) fiction seems just right for you!!

Posting on Shell Blog by LondonLad on Apr 14th, 2012 at 6:36 pm

Why don't you start writing a new series for the X-Files for TV Donovan? With your ability at trying to stick all sorts of crime on Shell (e.g. the murder in China of Neil Heywood) fiction seems just right for you!!

REPLY BY JOHN: LondonLad, you seem to be turning into a hysterical troll, making nasty comments and an outright false allegation all directed at me personally while hiding behind an alias.

Please point out where I have alleged that Shell is implicated in the apparent murder of Neil Heywood?

I put legitimate questions to Shell based on the background facts, as stated in the articles I published. If Shell had replied to my first email giving a categorical denial of any connection with Heywood/Hakluyt in relation to Shell's activities/plans in China, that would have been an immediate end to the matter as far as I am concerned.

I have no idea why Shell has treated this as a taboo subject instead of responding as it has many times in the past and did so on two other matters I raised in correspondence at about the same time, replying on one occasion when no response had been requested. The correspondence has been at the highest level of Shell.

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Posted in: China, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Outspoken Articles, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: China · Hakluyt & Company Limited · John Donovan · Neil Heywood · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

← Total Elgin/Franklin toxic blowout

Total Elgin/Franklin toxic blowout

Apr 13th, 2012

by John Donovan.

13 APRIL 2012

John

Just received this pic from the Elgin-Franklin blowout.

The yellow stuff presumably is sulfur. Not nice stuff.

Blow-out is at the cellar deck from a surface Xmastree.

No idea how sour (H2S content) the gas is, but realise that 1000 ppm (= 0.1%) means instant death.

It is as poisonous or even slightly worse than hydrogen cyanide, the stuff in detective….

Very difficult to approach without full protection gear.

I am glad I am not in the shoes of the Total engineers and management.

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← A Tale of Two Oil Slicks

Chinese Whispers: Sticking all sorts of crime on Shell? →

A Tale of Two Oil Slicks

Apr 13th, 2012

by John Donovan.

April 13, 2012

By Alexis Flynn

On Thursday, Royal Dutch Shell announced it was investigating a potential leak in the Gulf of Mexico. On the same day, it reported a more than sevenfold increase in the amount of crude spilled over the last year in Nigeria, one of its major host countries. But only one of these events is believed to be the catalyst for investorfright.

Royal Dutch Shell shares fell around 5% at one stage Thursday after the Anglo-Dutch oil giant said it was taking a closer look at an oil sheen near two of its offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Later its shares rose and reversed most of the day's losses after the company said the sheen didn't stem from its two nearby platforms, and that the amount of oil was small.

Meanwhile, the company's admission that its facilities in Nigeria spilled some 5,300 tons of crude last year — up from 700 tons the year before — didn't seem to merit a drag on its stock.

While it would be easy to explain the apparent contradiction by pointing to investors unconcerned at the suffering of people thousands of miles away, their rationale in this case — that even one spill in the U.S. could cost billions while many spills in Nigeria probably won't — is hard to fault.

There are many reasons why this is the case. The U.S. is a cohesive, functioning state, while Nigeria is beset by widespread corruption and inefficiency. The U.S. also boasts one of the strictest regulatory regimes in the world when it comes tooffshore drilling, while Nigeria does not.

Shell executives and investors needn't look far to see the consequences of an error in U.S. waters. BP shareholders are still counting the costs of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, when an explosion on a drilling rig leased by the U.K. firm killed 11 and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. And with Shell still waiting on drilling permits before it can begin exploration work in Alaska's Beaufort Sea, the company is not in the mood to run afoul of U.S. authorities.

In contrast, the cost of spilling oil in Nigeria may be a stain on the company's reputation but not on its purse strings. Although the company faces a number of lawsuits from local communities, two of which were filed last month in Port Harcourt and London, Shell said in its most recent annual report that although the "various environmental and contractual disputes" it faces in Nigeria "could be seen as material" if taken together, "these matters are not expected to have a material impact on Shell."

Thursday's spill disclosure, contained in Shell's 2011 Sustainability Report (PDF), also showed that the number of onshore Nigeria operational oil spills increased to 63 in 2011, up from 32 the previous year. Operational spills are characterized as those related to equipment failures or accidents. The company attributed the higher number of onshore spills to more pipelines being put back into operation, as an improved security situation allowed its workers easier access to facilities.

Shell's local Nigerian onshore unit, the Shell Petroleum Development Co., says it cleans up "all spills in the Niger Delta when they occur, as fast as possible, no matter what their cause."

A United Nations report last year — funded by Shell — concluded that at least $1 billion would still be needed to clean up the severely polluted Ogoniland region of the Niger Delta in a process that could last up to 30 years. However, activist rights groups Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development have said the lack of an effective regulator to oversee the local oil industry means companies aren't under pressure to act.

The extent to which Nigeria remains Shell's environmental weak link is starkly illustrated in a table at the end of its sustainability report: Of the total volume of oil spilled as a result of operational issues from Shell's global facilities last year, around 87% was in the West African country. A pipeline leak at its Gannet Alpha platform in the U.K. North Sea, the country's worst in the decade, accounted for much of the remaining oil spilled.

The unfortunate reality is that this dynamic is unlikely to change any time soon, certainly not until all Nigerian stakeholders, including the government and regulators, better police the local oil industry. While Shell's impending annual general meeting is expected to feature a host of activists questioning the firm's top management on their oil spill track record, it is unlikely that their top institutional shareholders will be following suit.

Corrections & Amplifications:

Of the total volume of oil spilled as a result of operational issues from Shell's global facilities last year, around 87% was in Nigeria. A previous version of this article incorrectly implied that 87% of all spills occurred in the West African country.

SOURCE

Posted in: Africa, BP, Bribery, Business Principles, Corruption, Environment, Gulf of Mexico, Human Rights, Litigation, Nigeria, Oil, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, The Wall Street Journal.
Tagged: BP · Gulf of Mexico · Litigation · Militant Attacks · Niger Delta · Nigeria · Oil Prices · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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Total Elgin/Franklin toxic blowout →