Shell Share Discussion Threads

[grupo] 06/3/2020 08:20

Exxon, Shell Face Uphill Legal Battle Over Soured Nigerian Deal

William Clowes, Bloomberg News








(Bloomberg) -- Oil majors including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are facing uphill battles to convince U.S. courts to enforce multi-billion dollar arbitration awards they secured against Nigeria’s state oil company.

The companies accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. of taking more crude than it was entitled to under four deals that were signed in 1993 to incentivise them to develop deep offshore blocks. Those projects today account for about 30% of the country’s 2 million barrels of daily output.

Independent arbitration tribunals seated in Nigeria sided with the companies and awarded them damages. But the NNPC successfully challenged the awards in the Nigerian courts, which ruled the disagreements were either tax disputes and not subject to arbitration, or the tribunals had no right to impose the penalties.

In September last year, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a lawsuit filed by Exxon and Shell units that aimed at enforcing a 2011 arbitration ruling requiring NNPC to pay them $1.8 billion for a contractual breach. Judge William Pauley noted that the companies had multiple appeals pending in Nigeria.

‘No Justice’

The companies have appealed the U.S. judgment, saying the Nigerian courts denied them due process by annulling the award and they are now owed $2.7 billion with accrued interest.

The case was filed in the U.S. because Nigeria’s courts have never ordered NNPC to pay monetary damages to a foreign plaintiff over two decades and lack “the political independence to render impartial judgments in a high-value dispute,” the companies said in a court filing. It could take at least a decade for Nigeria’s Supreme Court to adjudicate in the appeals process, “which renders the prospect of justice so illusory as to amount to no justice at all,” they said.

Umar Gwandu, a spokesman for Justice Minister Abubakar Malami, didn’t respond to a request for comment. NNPC must file its response to the U.S. appeal by April 10.

The companies “face a formidable challenge” to persuade a U.S. judge to reinstate damages already set aside by a Nigerian court, said Tafadzwa Pasipanodya, a Washington-based partner in Foley Hoag LLP’s international litigation and arbitration department.

Read more about another legal dispute has with the oil majors.

Separate tribunals in Nigeria instructed NNPC to pay a Shell-led consortium $1.4 billion in damages in 2013, and Eni SpA more than $500 million the following year, while Chevron Corp. and Equinor ASA secured a $1 billion award in 2015. Those awards were also set aside by the local courts.

Chevron and Equinor initiated their own proceedings in the Southern District of New York in March 2018 to enforce their award, with oral argument scheduled to be heard on April 20. Eni approached the same court in mid-2017, but suspended its legal action in November while Nigeria’s Federal High Court considers the matter.

While U.S. courts can enforce arbitration awards made and subsequently overturned in other countries, they “apply a strong presumption in favor of following the foreign court’s ruling,” according to Jonathan Blackman, New York-based senior counsel at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

The parties must show the decisions of the Nigerian judiciary were “repugnant to basic U.S. principles of justice and fairness or due process,” he said. “This is a difficult -- but not impossible -- standard to meet.”

Industry Support

The case brought by Exxon and Shell meets that threshold, according to the American Petroleum Institute, which filed a brief in support of the companies’ appeal. The conduct of Nigeria’s courts “runs contrary to central concepts of justice in the United States,” it said.

Spokesmen for Exxon, Chevron and Equinor said their companies don’t comment on ongoing litigation. Representatives of Shell, Eni and NNPC didn’t respond to requests for comment.

There is an example of an arbitration decision that went against Nigeria being enforced in the U.K., which threatens to put further strain on the nation’s already stretched finances.

In September, a British judge ruled that Process & Industrial Developments Ltd. can collect on a compensation award for losses incurred on an aborted gas-processing project in Nigeria -- a claim that now stands at $9.6 billion, or more than a quarter of the nation’s foreign reserves. Nigeria’s government, which is appealing that ruling, alleges the company paid bribes to secure the contract. P&ID denies any wrongdoing.

Read more about the U.K case.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Clowes in Kinshasa at [e-mail]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at [e-mail], Mike Cohen

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

[waldron] 06/3/2020 07:39

European stocks set to open lower amid coronavirus volatility
Published Fri, Mar 6 202012:58 AM EST
Silvia Amaro
@Silvia_Amaro
Key Points

The U.S. 10-year treasury yield has hit a record low Friday morning.
Bond yields have tumbled this week as investors began pricing in further central bank action.

[waldron] 05/3/2020 22:09

i am tall and long



montyhedge
5 Mar '20 - 21:43 - 10404 of 10406
0 0 0
Only 600p to rise for break even, you should be back there 5 years time.
waldron
5 Mar '20 - 21:56 - 10405 of 10406 Edit
0 1 0
we will be back in september
Gooner1886
5 Mar '20 - 22:04 - 10406 of 10406
0 0 0
Waldron is short

[gooner1886] 05/3/2020 22:04

Waldron is short

[waldron] 05/3/2020 21:56

we will be back in september

[montyhedge] 05/3/2020 21:43

Only 600p to rise for break even, you should be back there 5 years time.

[waldron] 05/3/2020 20:29

Oil drops as OPEC agrees on massive oil supply cut to offset virus impact; awaits Russia’s approval
an hour ago
Coronavirus fears cause Dow to crater 1,100 points, erasing Wednesday's rebound

[fjgooner] 05/3/2020 20:22

All down to the Russians now then for tomorrow.

It will either be way up or way down for crude pricing.

Let's see ...

[waldron] 05/3/2020 20:11

Dow tanks 1,000 points on coronavirus fears, giving up most of Wednesday’s gains
Published Thu, Mar 5 202012:07 AM ESTUpdated 13 min ago
Yun Li
@YunLi626
Eustance Huang
@EustanceHuang

[waldron] 05/3/2020 20:10

Equinor, Shell team up on digital transformation projects
3/5/2020

OSLO – Equinor and Shell have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on digital collaboration to develop solutions and methods together through the exchange of expertise within areas like data science, artificial intelligence and 3D printing.

The collaboration is expected to entail co-innovation across the whole value chain, such as maintenance, production optimization and supply chain management.

“We are already collaborating closely in the Open Subsurface Data Universe (OSDU) initiative and see many mutual benefits as both companies have applied cloud-based digital solutions as an approach to our industry’s digital transformation. Such collaborations are increasingly important to strengthen safety, reduce carbon emissions and realize value by applying digital technologies,” says Torbjørn F. Folgerø, chief digital officer in Equinor ASA.

The agreement will be further detailed on a project basis. It will enable the companies an agile foundation to explore specific digital initiatives and projects.

“Open Innovation is key to accelerating digital innovation across the energy industry. Collaborating and building on others’ strengths is critical to deliver competitive and affordable technology. We are excited about this opportunity to co-develop digital technology with Equinor,” says Alexander Boekhorst, vice president for digitalization and computer science in Shell.

Equinor recently increased its 2025 improvement ambition by 50%, from 2 to 3 billion USD mainly due to scaling digital solutions across our global portfolio faster than expected contributing to increased production as well as reducing maintenance, drilling and facility cost.

The speed of implementation of new digital solutions has already delivered a cashflow impact of more than 400 million USD in 2019, mainly due to earlier start-up of Johan Sverdrup and increased uptime on assets connected to our integrated operations center.

“Forming new partnerships and working closer with our suppliers is critical to further deliver on our improvement ambition,” says Folgerø.

[waldron] 05/3/2020 19:52

Dow tanks 950 points on coronavirus fears, giving up most of Wednesday’s gains
Published Thu, Mar 5 202012:07 AM ESTUpdated 9 min ago
Yun Li
@YunLi626
Eustance Huang
@EustanceHuang

[waldron] 05/3/2020 17:25

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 50.81 -0.63%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.55 -0.29%
Natural Gas NYMEX 1.83 -1.82%
WTI 46.56 USD -1.64%


FTSE 100
6,705.43 -1.62%
Dow Jones
26,374.64 -2.64%
CAC 40
5,361.1 -1.90%
SBF 120
4,244.83 -1.97%
Euro STOXX 50
3,363.58 -1.49%
DAX
11,944.72 -1.51%
Ftse Mib
21,587.06 -1.64%


Eni
10.968 -1.65%



Total
39.05 -2.24%

Engie
15.73 -1.26%


Bp
416.7 -1.41%

Vodafone
140.86 +0.92%

Royal Dutch Shell A
1,690 -2.73%

Royal Dutch Shell B
1,694.8 -2.52%

[gibbs1] 05/3/2020 15:01

Dow tanks 800 points, continuing a wild week on Wall Street
Published Thu, Mar 5 202012:07 AM ESTUpdated Moments Ago

[gibbs1] 05/3/2020 14:43

Dow tanks 700 points at the open, continuing a wild week on Wall Street

[grupo] 05/3/2020 14:08

Sam Zell is buying energy
Mar. 5, 2020 8:10 AM ET|About: Energy Select Sector SPD... (XLE)|By: Stephen Alpher, SA News Editor

Appearing on CNBC, Sam Zell says he isn't finding a ton to buy, excepting the energy space, where valuations have been "unjustifiably killed."

He didn't disclose any names, but says he's been putting a lot of money to work in the sector. One advantage, says Zell, is that he wasn't long energy on its long journey down. A lot of investors he talks to agree with him about how cheap things are now, but they're "already up to here" in energy.

Tickers of interest include: XLE, XOP, VDE, OIH, BGR, ERX, XOM, CVX, COP, TOT, BP, RDS.A, RDS.B

[grupo] 05/3/2020 13:52

Equinor, Shell, Total ‘positive̵7; about suitability of Troll well for carbon capture storage
by David McPhee
05/03/2020, 11:33 am



A partnership group of Equinor, Shell and Total has announced the completion of a carbon capture (CO2) storage suitability drilling campaign in the Norwegian North Sea.

Equinor said preliminary results from the well have been “positive̶1;.

It said the purpose of the drill was to determine the suitability of the reservoir in the Johansen formation for CO₂ storage.

[the white house] 05/3/2020 12:45

Holding forever, but back in long September...what could go wrong

[grupo] 05/3/2020 11:50

Around 6:35 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average futures indicated a drop of more than 600 points at the open.

[fjgooner] 05/3/2020 11:32

This is worth a read this morning - I had to laugh at this quote:

"Moscow, which has cooperated on output policy since 2016 in an informal group known as OPEC+, has in the past shown reluctance during negotiations but has signed up at the last minute."

[fjgooner] 05/3/2020 11:15

Breaking news.

As predicted, OPEC confirms that they are going ahead with a 1.5Million barrels per day production cut.

This was never in any doubt really for the reasons expressed in my previous post.

[grupo] 05/3/2020 10:27

Dow set to drop 500 points at the open following Wednesday’s surge

[grupo] 05/3/2020 09:29

Pre-market data

Dow set to drop more than 400 points at the open following Wednesday’s surge

Published Thu, Mar 5 202012:07 AM ESTUpdated 12 min ago

Eustance Huang

@EustanceHuang

Key Points

At around 3:45 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 308 points, indicating a negative open of more than 414 points.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were both slightly lower.

The moves came amid a roller coaster week for stocks on Wall Street, which saw the 30-stock Dow swinging 1,000 points or higher two times within three days.