What SpaceShipTwo Explosions relate to Shell?

SpaceShipTwo Explosion: Shell Prelude another pioneering venture fraught with risk

Nov 2nd, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

1 comment

The New York Times magazine has published an informative article by Robert Sullivan about Prelude, under the appropriate headline:

“The Biggest Ship in the World (Though It Isn’t Exactly a Ship)”

The dangers associated with innovative  technology, with potentially disastrous consequences, are heightened following the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo rocket ship explosion in the US.

To obtain an overall assessment on risks relating to Prelude, the article by Robert Sullivan is best read in conjunction with a series of articles by experts triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the equally pioneering Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Bill Campbell, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and Hans Bouman, another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.

Spotting potential pitfalls is essential bearing in mind that according to The New York Times magazine, it is anticipated that 30 of these giant floating facilities (some might call them potential floating bombs) are to be constructed.

Lets hope the prospect of them being a possible magnet for terrorist activity has also been carefully considered.

It is relevant to note that on the 1st November, Shell Brent Alpha and Bravo North Sea platforms saw the last day of activity after more than four decades of productivity. A safety audit on the platforms in 1999, led by Bill Campbell, exposed a “Touch Fuck All” safety culture in place, with safety records routinely falsified. Mr Campbell reported the damning audit findings. Shell senior management promised to take action, but failed to do so, and a subsequent huge explosion killed workers on the Brent Bravo platform. Shell received a record breaking fine for avoidable fatalities. Profits had been given a higher priority than safety.

We can only hope and pray that Shell has mended its ways.

The recent Arctic drilling debacle suggests otherwise.

PRELUDE ARTICLES

Royal Dutch Shell Prelude to disaster?: 10 Jan 2014

Shell Prelude FLNG: loss of containment of hydrocarbons almost inevitable: 21 Feb 2014

What should frighten stiff Royal Dutch Shell shareholders: 15 March 2014

Tales of the Unexpected and Royal Dutch Shell Prelude FLNG: 28 March 2014

Prelude FLNG: A case of all your eggs in the one basket: 10 July 2014

Prelude FLNG risks are on par with modern offshore oil and gas facilities say Shell – but are they?: 23 Sept 2014

Royal Dutch Shell Prelude Project ‘A Step Too Far’: 25 Sept 2014

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Posted in: Arctic, Bill Campbell, Brent Bravo Scandal, Environment, Gas, GoogleNews,Hans Bouman, Prelude FLNG Project, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, Shell Employee Safety.
Tagged: Gas · Prelude FLNG Project · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

JOHN DONOVAN OCTOBER 31, 2014 NEWS ROUND UP

Shell’s Simon Henry says its not difficult to drill in the Arctic Seas

Oct 31st, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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How reassuring.

According to a Bloomberg article, Simon Henry, a mathematician, accountant, and the Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, has stated in relation to drilling for oil in Arctic seas,  off Alaska –

“Its not that difficult to drill up there.”

The long term bean counter is also quoted as saying “Thirty years ago we went there and drilled several wells pretty quickly.”

His bold statements would have more weight if uttered by someone with expertise in offshore drilling.

Some might describe his comments as ill informed and even reckless, bearing in mind Shell’s recent shambles that heavily damaged the companies reputation.

As a finance man, did Simon Henry have any role in the decision to send a rig into stormy seas off Alaska in an effort to evade tax?

The one that ran aground and put lives at risk.

This extract from a US News & World Report article published in April 2014 is typical of many comments published on the subject:

Notably, in September 2012, a Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig ran aground in Alaska as workers attempted to tow it beyond the state’s waters. A Coast Guard report released Friday found that the Anglo-Dutch oil company decided to move the rig – and insisted on doing so through dangerous stormy weather – to avoid paying new Alaskan taxes. The report also detailed myriad safety issues.

Shell Executive David Lawrence of Alaska, paid the price for the debacle.

Simon Henry seems to think we have already forgotten about those dramatic events.

That would be another huge miscalculation on the part of Shell. 

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Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Bloomberg, Environment, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, Simon Henry, United States.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

UK News Reports Royal Dutch Shell Quarterly Result

Oct 31st, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

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DAILY EXPRESS: Oil giant Shell floats as prices sink

Extracts

ROYAL Dutch Shell unleashed an industry-beating rise in quarterly profit yesterday, despite falling oil prices, and vowed to keep slashing less-lucrative projects.

Finance chief Simon Henry said: “It’s quite likely we’ll take a very close look at investment levels where we have flexibility if we see oil price weakness persisting.”

FULL ARTICLE

DAILY MAIL: Shell posts forecast-busting profit rise of 31pc despite slump in oil prices

Extracts

Shell has managed to weather the sharp drop in the price of oil since June, announcing forecast-busting results for the third quarter.

Oil and gas production slipped by 5 per cent compared with the same period last year due to the expiration of its licence in Abu Dhabi, as well as security impacts in Nigeria and divestments.

The oil major also announced that Charles Holliday, a board director since 2010 and former chairman of Bank of America, will take over from outgoing chairman Jorma Ollila in 2015. He will be the Dutch-based group’s first American chairman.

FULL ARTICLE

THE GUARDIAN: Shell appoints former Bank of America boss Charles Holliday as new chairman

Extract

The announcement came as Shell’s profit rose strongly in the third quarter year on year, but the company warned it had yet to feel the full effect of the falling oil price. 

FULL ARTICLE

The Independent: Shell puts rival BP in the shade after profits jump despite fall in oil prices

Extracts

Although Shell beat City hopes, profits were down on the $6.1 billion seen in the April-June quarter due to the plunging oil price, which has plummeted by more than 20 per cent since the summer.

Oil and gas prices have continued to fall since the end of the quarter, threatening further revenue falls for Shell and its competitors.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said: “The recent decline in oil prices is part of the volatility in our industry. It underlines the importance of our drive to get a tighter grip on performance management, keep a tight hold on costs and spending, and improve the balance between growth and returns.”

FULL ARTICLE

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Posted in: Ben van Beurden, BP, Chad Holliday, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Gas,GoogleNews, Nigeria, Oil, Oil Company Profits, Oil Prices, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shale Gas, Shale Oil, Shell, The Independent.
Tagged: Ben van Beurden · BP · Gas · Nigeria · Oil · Oil Prices · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Shell Moerdijk Impact From Steam Leak

Oct 31st, 2014 

by John Donovan. 

No comments yet

Styrene prices shot up following a steam leak at Shell’s steam crackers at Moerdijk in the Netherlands early this month.

Shell had to declare force majeure on ethylene and propylene at the unit which makes basic materials for the chemical industry and employs about eight hundred people.

The main repairs will last until at least the end of 2014, with some work not completed until an unspecified date in 2015.

The plant supplies steam to all the plants at the complex.

A Shell spokesman admitted that the steam leak resulted in flaring activity.

Extracts from related Wikipedia Styrene Article

“Styrene is regarded as a “hazardous chemical”, especially in case of eye contact, but also in case of skin contact, of ingestion and of inhalation, according to several sources. The International Agency for Research on Cancer considers styrene to be “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.

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Posted in: Environment, GoogleNews, Netherlands, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc,Shell, Toxic contamination.
Tagged: Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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Water Markets: False Solution to Real Crisis

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SATURDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2014 Water Markets: False Solution to Real Crisis Mitch Jones: Putting a public resource in the hands of the wealthy will not solve California’s water crisis.  READ MORE

Water Markets: False Solution to Real Crisis

BY MITCH JONES

Putting a public resource in the hands of the wealthy will not solve California’s water crisis

If we have learned anything from the water shut-offs in Detroit and the ongoing water crisis in the Western U.S., it is that every community deserves access to safe and reliable water, regardless of its ability to pay. Yet a new movement is afoot to transfer control of our water to new water markets. Despite the evidence privatizing water doesn’t work, water privatization and market-based schemes are still being pushedupon the public as a solution. Specifically, we are seeing the idea of water markets gain attention, especially in response to the Western drought.

While not a new idea, the widespread use of water markets, which represents the financialization of all of our common resources, is relatively new. They are a false solution that assigns the benefits of our investment in this common resource to a small few at the expense of everyone else, and do little to ensure adequate supply to anyone.

We know that large financial institutions dream of water markets. In fact, Willem Buiter, Chief Economist at Citigroup, has written of his desire to see a global water market: “I expect to see a globally integrated market for fresh water within 25 to 30 years. Once the spot markets for water are integrated, futures markets and other derivative water-based financial instruments — puts, calls, swaps — both exchange-traded and OTC will follow…. Water as an asset class will, in my view, become eventually the single most important physical-commodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities and precious metals.”

This is a frightening vision of a future in which our water is controlled by the Wall Street casino and it is currently being slipped into policy discussions under the guise of a solution to water shortages in a drought.

People who think of the market as the ultimate expression of fairness confuse money with people, and cost with value. A market can’t represent the common will of the people, because only those with the money to buy are allowed a voice.

Water is the ultimate common resource. As a nation, we invest in dams, in water infrastructure for transport and in treatment plants to make water more available for public use. And we invest a lot. According to the Congressional Budget Office, from 1956 to 2006, we spent almost four trillion dollars on developing our water resources. Society has spent that money because water is important for all of us.

Moreover, water is the ultimate inelastic resource. Economists describe a resource as “inelastic” if the price of the resource doesn’t really affect the amount of the resource being consumed. Not only will we pay anything if we need water, we are unwilling to part with what water we have. In Chile, where they marketized water in the 1981, there were very few trades. That’s because farmers were unwilling to part with their water access for any price. And when large corporations simply took water, poorer farmers were unable to afford the court costs to fight for their rights. The choice of a market over government in a resource that people didn’t want to sell led to centralizing a common resource in the hands of the rich.

The calls for water markets and water pricing also fail to see the reality of what water distribution and control would look like under these markets. In the United States, according to a study published in 2009, real estate developers seeking small amounts of water during construction projects and suburban developments paid the highest prices. In 2012, natural gas companies seeking water for hydraulic fracturing outbid Colorado farmers, freezing out farms.

People who think of the market as the ultimate expression of fairness confuse money with people, and cost with value. A market can’t represent the common will of the people, because only those with the money to buy are allowed a voice. And it can’t express the value of water because the value of a life-giving substance like water is different than its cost. Water is vital for all of us. And, access to water cannot be for sale.

Mitch Jones

POSTED ON OCTOBER 31, 2014

The TRUTH will set you FREE.