JOHN DONOVAN MARCH 8, 2014 ARTICLES

Shell says Ho-Ho pipeline shut after leak in Texas

Mar 8th, 2014

by John Donovan. 

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Extracts from a Reuters  article by Selam Gebrekidan published on 7 March 2014 by The Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell on Friday said construction crew members punctured its Houston-to-Houma (Ho-Ho) pipeline near Port Neches, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, releasing 364 barrels of crude oil.

The company said it shut the pipeline after the leak. Emergency crews and first responders were deployed to the scene and are using absorbent booms to contain the oil, Shell said.

FULL ARTICLE

COMMENT RECEIVED FROM A SHELL RELATED SOURCE

John

The pipeline that was ruptured by a Shell contractor (Houston-Houma or HoHo line) is one of the assets that Shell is trying to sell… they recently modified it to reverse the direction of flow. And while 100 barrels might not sound like much, the actual amount might be considerably more (it’s not easy to measure) and even 100 barrels (~16000 litres) is enough to make a bit of a mess… and incur some serious cleanup costs. Presumably, the pipeline itself is now shut down.

The location is between Beaumont and Lake Sabine on the border between Texas and Louisiana.

Global coverage for the pipeline, but not a great advertisement for an asset that Shell is trying to sell….

Posted in: Oil Spill, Pollution, Reuters, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United States.
Tagged: Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Shell scaling back drastically on exploration and is selling assets

Mar 8th, 2014

by John Donovan. 

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Extract from an article by John Pendleton published Friday 7 March 2014 by righands.com

In 2013 several of the major oil companies spent lavishly on offshore prospects and are now feeling the pain of exploration efforts that didn’t pay off. Royal Dutch Shell, for example, spent more than five billion dollars in a bid for Arctic oil that was mired in litigation and so far has produced little in the way of results. Under new leadership Shell is now scaling back drastically on exploration and is selling assets.

FULL ARTICLE: BP Will Create New Entity Just For Onshore Oil And Gas In U.S.

BP Will Create Create New Entity Just For Onshore Oil And Gas In U.S. – See more at: http://www.righands.com/news/news-detail/bp-will-create-create-new-entity-just-for-onshore-oil-and-gas-in-us-582#sthash.h0rvjYp9.dpuf

Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, BP, Environment, Litigation, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Firesale,Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

JOHN DONOVAN MARCH 7, 2014 ARTICLES

Ukraine, Shell Shale Gas Deal

Mar 7th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extracts from article by Maxime Zech published on Friday 7 March 2014 by NL Times.nl

The Ukrainian parliament asked the new government on Wednesday for an investigation into the gas contract with Shell. There is suspicion that money is being funneled to ousted president Yanukovych and his cronies via the contract. The deal with Shell must be entirely clarified and must be off the table as soon as possible. As well as suspicion of corruption, Shell is also causing environmental damage in Ukraine by the application of techniques which are illegal in the Netherlands… 

FULL ARTICLE

Posted in: Bribery, Business Principles, Corruption, Gas, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Gas · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Ukraine

Royal Dutch Shell cavalier approach to corporate governance

Mar 7th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extracts from an article by Alex Brummer published on 6 March 2014 by thisismoney.co.uk (The Daily Mail)

Royal Dutch Shell has often shown a rather cavalier approach to corporate governance. Its annual general meetings have become a battle ground over directors pay with institutional investors notably concerned over less than stretching bonus arrangements.

There has also been irritation over the failure to fulfil an undertaking to hold parallel annual meetings in London and the Hague.

It is a general principle on the London Stock Exchange that all shareholders, from the smallest private investor to big institutions, receive price sensitive information at the same time. So it is unfortunate that Shell chose selectively to release details of its views on Scottish independence before the new chief executive Ben van Beurden formally confirmed that the oil major – a key player in the North Sea – wants Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted in: Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Kazakhstan sues Kashagan oil group for $737 mln in pollution case

Mar 7th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extracts from article by Dmitry Solovyov published on 7 March 2014 by Reuters

ASTANA, March 7 (Reuters) – Kazakhstan is suing the multinational consortium developing the huge Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea for 134.2 billion tenge ($737 million) over damage to the environment, the Environment Protection Ministry said on Friday. Production at Kashagan, the world’s biggest oil discovery in 35 years, which took 13 years and some $50 billion to bring onstream, began in September but was stopped just weeks later after gas was found to be leaking from its pipelines.  Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Eni and Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGas each hold a 16.81 percent stake in Kashagan.

FULL ARTICLE

RELATED: ‘CASH ALL GONE’

Posted in: Environment, Exxon Mobil, Gas, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total.
Tagged: ExxonMobil · Gas · Kashagan · Kazakhstan · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Total

Third time unlucky: why Gazprom wants no new gas war

Mar 7th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extracts from an article by Dmitry Zhdannikov published on 7 March 2014 by Reuters

Over the past decade, Gazprom, 51-percent controlled by the state, has twice cut its supplies to Ukraine over pricing disputes with Kiev. That action also cut supplies to the EU, which gets 50 percent of Russian deliveries via Ukraine. Gazprom also helped the Kremlin nationalise Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin gas project as Putin re-established Russia’s grip on the energy sector after predecessor Boris Yeltsin let it slip with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite setbacks at Sakhalin, Shell remains Gazprom’s partner in the project, calling it a very successful investment.

SOURCE

Posted in: Gas, Gazprom, Reuters, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Russia, Sakhalin II.
Tagged: Corruption · Gas · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Russia · Ukraine

Big oil counts the cost of tapping new discoveries

Mar 7th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extract from an excellent article by Ed Crooks of The Financial Times published 6 March 2014

The issue has come to a head after three years in which the price of crude has drifted down… while costs have continued to rise. Chevron’s and ExxonMobil’s shares have both risen by 11 per cent in the past three years, and Total’s by 8 per cent, while Royal Dutch Shell’s have fallen 2 per cent.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted in: Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Oil Company Profits, Oil Prices, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Chevron · ExxonMobil · Oil Prices · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

JOHN DONOVAN MARCH 6, 2014 ARTICLES

BP and Shell suspected manipulation of oil prices

Mar 6th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extracts from an article by Alex Lawler published on 6 March 2014 by Reuters

BP says U.S., Asia regulators ask for details after EU price probe

(Reuters) – BP Plc said regulators from the United States and Asia have asked it for information after the European Commission’s started an investigation last year into suspected manipulation of oil prices. London-based BP, Europe’s second-largest oil company, made the disclosure in its annual report released on Thursday.Last May, European authorities raided offices of BP, and Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil in an investigation of suspected price manipulation. “Related inquiries and requests for information have also been received from U.S. and other regulators following the European Commission’s actions,” BP said in its 2013 annual report, published on its website.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted in: BP, Business Principles, Corporate Governance, Oil Price Fixing, Oil Prices,Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Statoil.
Tagged: BP · Oil · Oil Prices · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Shell, Quicksilver Reap $180M In Colo. Shale Acreage Sale

Mar 6th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extract from an article by Benjamin Horney published on 5 March 2014 by Law360.com

Law360, New York (March 05, 2014, 4:15 PM ET) — A unit of Southwestern Energy Co. will pay $180 million to buy out assets in Colorado’s Sand Wash Basin held by a Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary and Quicksilver Resources Inc., the companies said Wednesday, in a deal intended to boost Southwestern Energy’s natural gas resources….

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Posted in: Gas, Royal Dutch Shell Firesale, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shale Gas, United States.
Tagged: Gas

Shell/Exxon Mobil puts Ukraine gas prospect on hold

Mar 6th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extract from an article by Jim Landers published on 5 March 2014 by The Dallas Morning News

Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell are heading a group selected in 2012 to explore for gas off Ukraine’s western Black Sea coast in an area called Skifska. Negotiations on a production-sharing agreement with the Ukrainian government were underway in the weeks before street battles with government opponents led the country’s president to flee to Russia.

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RELATED

U.S. Hopes Boom in Natural Gas Can Curb Putin

Extracts from article by CORAL DAVENPORT andSTEVEN ERLANGER published on 5 March 2014 by The New York Times

At the helm of the new energy diplomacy effort is Carlos Pascual, a former American ambassador to Ukraine, who leads the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources. In an interview, Mr. Pascual asserted that his team’s efforts had already weakened Mr. Putin’s hand, and had helped lower Ukraine’s dependence on Russia for natural gas supplies to 60 percent, down from 90 percent. In addition, he said, the team is helping countries develop their own natural gas resources, including in partnership with American energy giants. Halliburton has started fracking for natural gas in Poland, while Shell last year signed a contract to explore for natural gas in Ukraine.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted in: Exxon Mobil, Fracking, Gas, New York Times, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Russia,Shale Gas.
Tagged: ExxonMobil · Gas · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Ukraine

Scottish independence: Shell boss wants Scotland to ‘remain in UK’

Mar 6th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extract from an article published on 5 March 2014 by BBC News

The chief executive of the oil company Shell has said he would like Scotland to “remain part of the UK”. Addressing the company’s annual reception in London on Wednesday, Ben van Beurden said he valued the “continuity and stability” of the UK.

Last week, Shell hosted the UK cabinet at its headquarters in Aberdeen. At the time, the chairman of Shell UK, Ed Daniels, said the independence debate was “a matter for Scottish people” and that “it would be wrong” for Shell to intervene.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted in: BBC News, Ben van Beurden, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Ben van Beurden · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Scotland

Shell warns Scotland over independence

Mar 6th, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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Extracts from an article by  Andrew Critchlow and James Quinn, published on 5 March 2014 at 10.14PM by The Telegraph

Ben van Beurden, chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, said: “We’d like to see Scotland remain part of the United Kingdom. “Shell has a long history of involvement in the North Sea – and therefore in Scotland – and we have continued to invest heavily there.” In a speech to a reception in London on Wednesday night , Mr Van Burden said that one of the many things his company values about the UK “is the continuity and stability it offers”.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted in: Ben van Beurden, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Ben van Beurden · North Sea Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Scotland

The TRUTH will set you FREE.