Shell Share Discussion Threads

[grupo] 09/3/2018 22:26

Statoil, Total, Shell prove precocious in weaning from oil
Cassandra Sweet
Friday, March 9, 2018 - 2:15am
Oil companies are responding in different ways to growing pressure to cut the carbon output of their operations and products.
ShutterstockMakhnach S
Oil companies are responding in different ways to growing pressure to cut the carbon output of their operations and products.

When it comes to addressing climate change, oil companies are all over the map.

Meeting this week in Houston at CERAWeek, the world’s biggest oil and gas conference, the world’s biggest oil companies talked about oil and climate change — sometimes in the same sentence.

But while European oil majors such as Statoil and Total spoke about their long-term plans to shift their focus away from oil, toward natural gas and renewable energy, in line with the global transition to a low-carbon economy, their American counterparts appeared less convinced that demand for oil will diminish in future decades.

Amid growing international concerns about climate change and extreme weather events, such as destructive hurricanes, wildfires and droughts that scientists have started linking to global warming, the oil industry is under increasing pressure from investors to take action by adding low-carbon products and services to their businesses.

"The big debate in the industry and among investors is: Is there a role for the (oil) industry to play in a low-carbon transition?" said Andrew Logan, director of oil and gas at Ceres. "Do they bring anything other than cash to the table? That’s very much an open question."

Is there a role for the oil industry to play in a low-carbon transition?

Total plans to shift its focus from oil to natural gas and to expand into electricity, including renewables such as solar power and battery storage, which the company is already invested in, said Patrick Pouyanné, the company’s chairman and chief executive.

"If we’re able to shift all the coal-fired power plants to gas-fired power plants, we would be immediately on the 2-degree roadmap that the Paris Agreement is calling for," he added, speaking at CERAWeek in a session that was webcast. "In 20 years, Total will be first a gas and oil company, with some assets in alternative energies."

In 20 years, Total will be first a gas and oil company, with some assets in alternative energies.

Statoil plans to shift as much as 20 percent of its capital investments into renewables and low-carbon products by 2030. The company has invested about $2.6 billion in renewables in the last several years, particularly in offshore wind farms.

Royal Dutch Shell plans to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2050 by expanding into renewable energy and scaling back growth in oil and gas.

Shell has the right idea, climate mitigation experts say.

Oil and gas companies must cut the carbon emissions intensity of their products by 40 percent to 60 percent by 2050, Cynthia Cummins, a climate expert at the World Resources Institute, wrote in February. The world can afford a limited amount of emissions to avoid a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius, she added. That means that absolute carbon emissions from all global energy use needs to fall by 63 percent, and absolute emissions from oil and gas products must fall by 35 percent to 60 percent.

Some U.S. oil company executives who appeared at CERAWeek seemed skeptical of this scenario.

In ConocoPhillips' climate plan, the company describes plans to cut emissions from its operations, by boosting efficiency, plugging leaks and cutting back on gas flaring. But there is little mention of boosting investment in renewable energy, scaling back oil operations or taking other actions that would reduce the company's exposure to oil and petroleum products.

"We’ve never denied the science; we want to debate the policy," Ryan Lance, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said during an appearance at CERAWeek that was webcast. He added that the company plans to reduce its greenhouse-gas intensity over the next 15 to 20 years.

We’ve never denied the science, we want to debate the policy.

ExxonMobil in February acknowledged the threat of climate change, but predicted that global greenhouse-gas emissions will continue rising until 2040, as oil and natural gas is produced to meet more than half the world’s energy demand, with oil providing the largest share, due to strong demand from the commercial transportation and chemical industries.

Exxon released the information as part of a report on energy and carbon, in response to a shareholder resolution that sought climate disclosures about how technology advances and global climate change policies would affect the company.

Meanwhile, the pressure to change continues. Exxon and other oil companies are defending themselves in lawsuits brought by local and state governments that are making their way through the courts.

New York City, San Francisco and other cities are suing Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Shell and BP to recover the costs of protecting their cities from climate change impacts such as rising sea levels that the cities argue are the result of decades of greenhouse gases from making and burning petroleum fuels.

New York state is separately suing Exxon over accusations that the company misled investors about how it accounts for climate change impacts on its business.

It’s unclear what effect the lawsuits might have. But policy changes in other parts of the world are sending a clear message.

Among the clearest was an announcement the World Bank made in December that it won’t finance any upstream oil and gas projects after 2019. Instead, the bank plans to focus on providing financing in "transformational areas" such as energy efficiency, solar power and resilience, as part of efforts to help countries meet their climate goals under the Paris Agreement.

[sarkasm] 09/3/2018 20:40

News provided by
Royal Dutch Shell plc

12:50 ET

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands, March 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc ("RDS") (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) today announced the pounds sterling and euro equivalent dividend payments in respect of the fourth quarter 2017 interim dividend, which was announced on February 1, 2018 at US$0.47 per A ordinary share ("A Share") and B ordinary share ("B Share").

Dividends on A Shares will be paid, by default, in euro at the rate of €0.3818 per A Share. Holders of A Shares who have validly submitted pounds sterling currency elections by March 2, 2018 will be entitled to a dividend of 33.91p per A Share.

Dividends on B Shares will be paid, by default, in pounds sterling at the rate of 33.91p per B Share. Holders of B Shares who have validly submitted euro currency elections by March 2, 2018 will be entitled to a dividend of €0.3818 per B Share.

This dividend will be payable on March 26, 2018 to those members whose names were on the Register of Members on February 16, 2018.

Taxation - cash dividend

Cash dividends on A Shares will be subject to the deduction of Dutch dividend withholding tax at the rate of 15%, which may be reduced in certain circumstances. Non-Dutch resident shareholders, depending on their particular circumstances, may be entitled to a full or partial refund of Dutch dividend withholding tax.

Furthermore, in April 2016, there were changes to the UK taxation of dividends. The dividend tax credit was abolished, and a new tax free dividend allowance introduced. Dividend income in excess of the allowance is taxable at the following rates: 7.5% within the basic rate band; 32.5% within the higher rate band; and 38.1% on dividend income taxable at the additional rate.

If you are uncertain as to the tax treatment of any dividends you should consult your own tax advisor.

[waldron] 09/3/2018 16:59

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[waldron] 09/3/2018 08:22

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2,266 +0.04%



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2,288 -0.11%

[qantas] 09/3/2018 07:18

Please do your own research..

[waldron] 08/3/2018 17:00

Shell A
2,265 -0.37%



Shell B
2,290.5 +0.15%

[waldron] 07/3/2018 17:09

Shell A
2,273.5 -0.74%



Shell B
2,287 -0.89%

[grupo] 05/3/2018 18:22

Shell Takes Major Steps Toward Energy Diversification
By David Messler - Mar 05, 2018, 12:00 PM CST Shell

Shell has spent the last three years reinventing itself for the energy future it sees in the coming decades. A few years back, Shell was a company struggling to find its footing. Exploration success was declining, as was daily liquids production. From the graph below you can see that the lack of success in exploration was starting to equate to reduced production. An oil company’s life can be measured in production, and they were not replacing the oil being produced.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: Shell Website, chart by author

As can be seen at the right side of the chart that in 2016 something critical changed to reverse the downward trend. A reversal that continues through to present day, even after an intensive non-core asset divesture program where it has shed over twenty-billion dollars in producing assets.

What changed in 2016 was the acquisition of natural gas rich, and global LNG competitor British Gas-BG. Widely panned at the time as being too expensive, and out of sync with the general decline in the oil market, it actually turned out to be the first step in a corporate transformation. A transformation that led it to rethink what its role as an energy provider would be going forward.

The new Shell has several key pillars upon which its future is being built.

• Integrated Gas

• New Energies

• Global Deepwater Plays

Integrated Gas is a play on the need for emerging markets, like China and India, to transition their energy generation away from coal, and toward fuels like LNG. Their economies have depended traditionally on secure access to cheap fuel, but they also recognize the need to improve the air quality experienced by their citizens.

(Click to enlarge)

Source:

The new Shell has emerged as the dominant player in this dynamic market and has inked a number of contracts reflecting this status. Key among these perhaps was December’s announcement of a nearly three-decade deal with PetroChina. Here Shell will supply from their Queensland Curtis LNG plant, trillions of cubic feet of gas to supply the growing Chinese market.

Integrated Gas has also cemented its position in the key Indian market by doubling the size of its Hazira LNG regasification plant, and siting a major LNG research center in Bangalore.

Shell-Integrated Gas currently possesses the world’s largest fleet of dedicated LNG vessels, some 70 in number, and a global facility footprint unmatched by any other company.

Shell has embraced a low-carbon future in which fuel sources other than hydrocarbons will play an increasingly important role in power generation and distribution. New Energies is Shell’s approach to everything else that is energy. From biofuels, to wind, to retailing electricity directly to consumers, Shell is expanding its energy footprint far beyond its traditional base of hydrocarbons extraction. Recent developments include the acquisition of First Utility in Britain. Moving from pure upstream energy producer to last mile electricity distributor, First Utility gives Shell an entree to over 800,000 homes in the U.K.

Shell has a significant real estate footprint across the U.K and Western Europe through its branded fueling stations. Here it is rolling out fast EV charging through its acquisition of New Motion in 2017. It also entered a JV with European EV charging company, Ionity to expand this service more broadly.

Related: Russian Hackers Target U.S. Energy Infrastructure

Leaving no stone unturned Shell is installing LNG fuel pumps in several global markets, Europe, the U.S.A, and Canada among them. Direct photovoltaic and wind energy projects round out this new business structure of Shell’s.

Finally, recognizing the role traditional hydrocarbon sources will play in the energy mix for decades to come, Shell has doubled down on Deepwater. Beginning in 2015 with the sanctioning of its GoM Appomattox megaproject, due to come on line in 2019-20, Shell has shown that Deepwater resources will continue to play a critical role in providing a secure energy future.

Recent successes include another major find in the Deepwater GoM. Called Whale, Shell’s CEO, Ben Van Beurden termed it in the recent Conference Call as,

“One of the largest U.S. Gulf of Mexico exploration finds in the past decade.”

Other notable Shell successes in Deepwater include the award of nine of nineteen available blocks in Mexico’s recent Deepwater auction. The Northern Mexican GoM is close to existing Shell infrastructure which may help to facilitate early recovery of oil in the event of discoveries. Five of the nine blocks awarded are in the Perdido fold belt, where Shell has had previous discoveries in the last decade. This experience will supply leverage to Shell as it evaluates prospects going forward.

Finally, another major area for investment in Deepwater is Brazil. Shell has been active there for almost thirty years, and currently operates its Parques das Conchas Deepwater development in the Santos basin. A string of successes with partner Petrobras include, the giant Lula field, now delivering about 150,000 barrels of crude net to Shell. Others include the sanctioning of the giant Libra field, with development plans now underway. There are also exploration opportunities down the road with the blocks recently awarded production sharing contracts with acreage close to existing Shell finds, Gato do Mato (Wildcat), and Alto Cabo do Frio West.

By David Messler for Oilprice.com

[waldron] 05/3/2018 12:55

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Shell B
2,277.5 -0.09%

[sarkasm] 04/3/2018 07:07

Royal Dutch Shell to Investors: The World Needs (Lots) More LNG
The company's second annual LNG outlook reaches conclusions that oppose accepted thinking in the energy industry.
Maxx Chatsko
(TMFBlacknGold)
Mar 3, 2018 at 6:06PM

In an incredibly rapid yet somewhat overlooked shift, global trade volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have doubled since 2005 -- and they're not done growing yet. Demand will continue to rise, and the countries lucky enough to be flush with natural gas reserves are racing to keep up with it.

The United States will boast 9.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of LNG export capacity by the end of 2019. That will make it the third-largest LNG exporter on the planet, right behind Australia and Qatar. While that alone is amazing, the U.S.'s overnight ascension up the global rankings is even more incredible: America had just 0.8 Bcf/d of export capacity at the start of 2016.

Judging by the supply growth in the U.S. and elsewhere, it seems the market will have plenty of LNG to go around. But an astonishing industry outlook published by Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A)(NYSE:RDS-B) sounded the alarm bells, concluding that the world soon won't have enough LNG production to meet demand. That flies in the face of what investors have been told over the years.

Is the world really headed for an LNG crunch?
Two ships sitting idle at port.

Image source: Getty Images.
Why Shell thinks an LNG shortage is possible

Countries around the globe have turned to LNG imports for various reasons -- sometimes to displace dirtier coal-fired power generation, sometimes to replace falling domestic production of natural gas, sometimes to lower geopolitical risk, and sometimes for all those reasons. Cheap and abundant natural gas reserves in Australia and the U.S. have made the global LNG boom possible, as have billions in investments planned years ago.

Royal Dutch Shell is a majority owner in a floating LNG (FLNG) facility hovering over the massive Prelude field in Australia, which is nearly 300 miles offshore. Meanwhile, Cheniere Energy (NYSEMKT:LNG), America's top LNG exporter, employs more traditional land-based liquefaction facilities along the Gulf Coast. The company actually embodies the national and global trends in the industry quite well.

Cheniere made huge bets a decade ago on the potential opportunity in LNG exports. It will see most of its production capacity (nearly half of America's total) come online between 2017 and 2019, and then it plans to kick back and let cash flows accumulate. According to Shell, that last part is the problem facing the global industry.

The awesome growth in global LNG trade, which reached 293 million metric tons in 2017, has been made possible by hundreds of billions of dollars invested in supply expansion. From 2015 to 2019, the world will add roughly 150 million tons per year of production capacity, including over 40 million tons of annual capacity expansion both this year and next. But a strange thing happens after that: Planned capacity expansions fall to virtually zero in 2020 and beyond.
A Chinese city in the background with energy infrastructure in the foreground.

Image source: Getty Images.

What's the reason? Well, it's not because LNG consumption growth stops. To the contrary, Royal Dutch Shell expects global LNG demand to nearly double again by 2035. Instead, the global energy leader points to a stalemate between the needs of producers and buyers.

Buyers are increasingly seeking smaller and more flexible volumes in order to make LNG more competitive for an expanding list of downstream applications, ranging from industrial use to vehicle fuels. From 2011 to 2014, the average LNG supply contract had a length of over 12 years and volume of over 1.3 million tons per year. From 2015 to 2017, those metrics slipped to just seven years and 0.7 million metric tons per year.

The problem is that producers have come to rely on signing massive long-term contracts up front in order to secure the financing needed to construct export terminals. That's because export terminals are incredibly expensive to build, and financiers want revenue certainty before handing over money. Case in point: Cheniere Energy may be barreling its way toward 4.5 Bcf/d of export capacity, but it had $25.3 billion (and counting) in long-term debt at the end of 2017.

Luckily, the stalemate doesn't appear to be bad news for investors. In fact, investors stand to win almost no matter what.
An aerial view of an LNG tanker at port.

Image source: Getty Images.
A boon for business?

While investors have become accustomed to seeing Cheniere Energy announce supply agreements lasting 15 years or longer, that will become increasingly rare going forward. The good news: America's largest LNG exporter will be largely unaffected by the shifting market dynamics for the foreseeable future. That's because 85% of the company's capacity -- including most of the expansions coming online between now and the end of the decade -- is entered into long-term contracts.

Things could get interesting as existing contracts begin to expire closer to 2030, but that's a pretty long time away. The supply crunch Royal Dutch Shell is warning against is expected to become a problem in the early 2020s.

In fact, given the mismatch between supply and demand, it may make sense for Cheniere Energy to reserve a certain portion of its production capacity for spot markets, where prices have periodically tripled those in long-term contracts. And the company seems to have left that door open, as the liquefaction trains at its Corpus Christi expansion project are smaller than those at its flagship Sabine Pass facility. That would be a win for investors, perhaps providing lucrative incremental income under the right market conditions.

Royal Dutch Shell's Prelude FLNG project should be able to fly above market turbulence, too, as it's smaller and close to the world's fastest-growing LNG markets in Asia. There's almost no set of market conditions under which it couldn't thrive.

Long story short, the changing dynamics in global LNG trade appear to have caused a dramatic underinvestment in new liquefaction capacity. That could create problems for supply sold on the spot market -- especially if prices skyrocket as product becomes scarce -- and affect planning and investment in new production facilities. But Cheniere Energy and Royal Dutch Shell should avoid the worst of the fallout. In fact, it could even be a boon for business.

[ariane] 03/3/2018 19:18

BASF, Dow Chemical, BP, Valero, Phillips 66, Shell, Univar, Albermarle Set to Share Their OpEx Journeys at IQPC's Conference on Operational Excellence in Refining & Petrochemicals

News provided by
IQPC

Mar 02, 2018, 10:26 ET

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HOUSTON, March 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Over 150 operations leaders from BASF, Dow Chemical, BP, Valero, Phillips 66, Shell, Univar, Albermarle and more are coming together this April 9-11 at the 2018 Operational Excellence in Refining & Petrochemicals Summit (Houston) to give an inside look at their operations.

Key speakers confirmed for this April include:

Michiel Van Noort, Global Head of Continuous Improvement, Downstream, Royal Dutch Shell
Hugo Ashkar, Global Risk Manager, BP
John Quigley, Director of Operational Reliability, Valero
Jim Wetherbee, Astronaut and Author, Controlling Risk: 30 Techniques for Operating Excellence
Patrick Wallior, Senior Director, Health & Safety, Univar
Manny Ehrlich, Board Member, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Nev Lockwood, Global Operational Excellence Director, Albemarle
Matt DiGeronimo, Vice President, Operations, Veolia

2017 attendee Change Management Leader at Duke Energy said: "I truly enjoyed attending the OpEx conference. Not only benchmarking opportunities, but networking and being able to continue to share best practices going forth."

With roundtables, panels, case studies and workshops on Human Factors, Process Safety, Asset Risk Management, Leadership & Culture, Procedure Management, Root Cause Analysis, Leadership and Behaviour, Management of Change and more, this event offers a unique opportunity to downstream professionals to learn from US and international industry experts who have successfully executed on strategy and delivered substantial improvements in operational performance.

Leslie Allen, Portfolio Director for the Operational Excellence event series comments: "With increasing volatility, competition, regulation and risk, there has never been a more critical time for refining and petrochemical companies to be focused on operational excellence. And that's why over 150 operations leaders are taking three days out of the office this April to attend the 2018 Operational Excellence in Refining & Petrochemicals Summit".

To find out more about North America's leading forum on Operational Excellence in Refining & Petrochemicals, download the 2018 agenda at

Tickets and full event program are available online at

SOURCE IQPC

[ariane] 03/3/2018 17:18

A rapidly shifting energy landscape being reshaped by new technologies and a revival of U.S. fossil-fuel production will dominate the agenda as the world's leading energy executives, government ministers and financiers gather in Houston next week.

Thousands of energy leaders, including the heads of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC and Saudi Arabian Oil Co., will descend on Texas starting Monday for CERAWeek, the annual conference put on by IHS Markit Ltd. that has become a bellwether for the health of the global energy industry.

They will be joined by many of the world's top energy policy makers, notably OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo and several Trump administration officials, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Leaders of many other energy-related industries are also set to speak, including the chief executives of General Motors Co. and Siemens AG.

This year's gathering takes place amid a continuing recovery for oil prices, which passed $70 a barrel earlier this year for the first time since 2014, and have been over $60 for most of the year.

But concerns linger about whether the oil market is truly overcoming a glut as U.S. production continues to surge, thanks to shale drilling. For the second year running, Mr. Barkindo and U.S. shale producers are set to meet privately for dinner as they seek to learn about one another.

"The exporters, OPEC and non-OPEC, are trying to understand how this different kind of U.S. oil industry works," said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of energy research at IHS Markit. "They're there to learn, because it's changed the nature of the oil market."

If the U.S. surges past Saudi Arabia to become the world's second-biggest oil producer behind Russia, as some forecasters predict, it could signal a fundamental change in a global pecking order that has been a basis for international energy policy for decades.

"The role of the U.S. in global energy markets has changed more dramatically than the public realizes," said Mr. Yergin, who serves as the event's master of ceremonies, co-hosting dozens of sessions on oil, natural gas, electric power and geopolitics. "It's a new form of influence for the United States in the world."

The conference will be packed with ministers from large oil and gas producers, including Norway, Kuwait, Nigeria, Canada, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, as well as executives from Gazprom, Russia's largest gas company, and Saudi Aramco, which is in the middle of planning for an initial public offering.

A likely topic of discussion: whether top U.S. shale companies will abide by investor demands that they instill capital discipline and emphasize returns, or succumb to the allure of even more drilling at current prices. The heads of many top U.S. producers are set to speak, including Occidental Petroleum Corp., XTO Energy Inc., Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and ConocoPhillips.

Another major topic: how huge reserves of U.S. natural gas are also upending energy markets. The U.S. became a net exporter of natural gas in 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a trend fueled by exports to South America and Asia. Top executives from the companies at the heart of the gas export boom -- Cheniere Energy Inc., Freeport LNG Development LP, Tellurian Inc. and Venture Global LNG -- will discuss their plans.

A host of electric-power executives are set to speak as the utility industry experiences rapid changes, with coal and nuclear generation losing ground to gas, solar and wind. They include the heads of Duke Energy Corp., PG&E Corp., Exelon Corp. and Edison International.

The conference will also examine longer-term questions looming over the industry, including how digital technologies are fast changing the way companies produce oil and gas, and the differing outlooks for when electric vehicles and renewable energy will start to take a serious bite out of demand for oil and gas.

--Bradley Olson contributed to this article.

Write to Christopher M. Matthews at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 02, 2018 21:06 ET (02:06 GMT)

[waldron] 02/3/2018 17:09

Shell A
2,249.5 -1.83%

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2,279.5 -1.21%

[waldron] 02/3/2018 08:36

Shell A
2,279.5 -0.52%



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[waldron] 28/2/2018 16:56

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2,301 -0.07%



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2,321 +0.19%

[waldron] 27/2/2018 17:08

Shell A
2,302.5 +1.05%

[grupo] 27/2/2018 12:20

Shell A
2,287 +0.37%