Shell Share Discussion Threads

[the grumpy old men] 02/4/2018 14:25

Shell expands Brazil-operated footprint with new deepwater blocks
3/30/2018

THE HAGUE -- Shell Brasil Petroleo, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell), today won four additional deep-water exploration blocks in the Campos and Potiguar basins, bringing its total operated presence offshore Brazil to 18 blocks. In the 15th deep-water bid round organized by the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP), Shell secured one exploration block on its own, and three in joint-bids with Chevron Brazil, Petrobras, and Petrogal Brasil. Of the newly acquired blocks today, Shell will operate two.

Shell will pay its share of the total signing bonuses, equating for all bids to approximately $70-million (R$ 235-million).

Globally, Shell plans to invest $5-6 billion each year through 2020 into its deep water business to strategically grow production and returns for the company. The business is on track to deliver annual, free flow of $6-7-billion by 2020 (at $60/bbl Brent RT 2016).


New acreage added to Shell Brasil’s portfolio

Campos basin:

C-M-791 – Shell Brasil (40% - operator), Petrogal Brasil (20%), Chevron Brazil (40%)

Potiguar basin:

POT-M-948 – Shell Brasil (100%)
POT-M-859 – Petrobras (60%), Shell Brasil (40%)
POT-M-952 – Petrobras (60%), Shell Brasil (40%)

[2hoggy] 02/4/2018 12:21

How else do we pay for the increasing welfare bill where any one coming into the country from any third world hell hole can and will be accommodated,its all free......

Come on in!!

[the grumpy old men] 02/4/2018 12:10

Excise duties in United Kingdom

Excise duties in United Kingdom are charged on, amongst other things, motor fuel, alcohol, tobacco, betting and vehicles. Excise duty is also a tax levied on the producer of these goods. In United Kingdom is it a separate tax from VAT, and is different from it in that VAT solely affects the consumer. The consumer also indirectly pays the excise, as it is included in the eventual sale price of the product.

• The alcoholic beverages
Beer
In United Kingdom the tax rate is 21.45 EUR per hl/degree of alcohol of finished product. The minimum in EU is 1.87 EUR per hl/degree of alcohol of finished product.
Wine
The standard rate in United Kingdom is 278.59 EUR per hectoliter still wine and 356.85 EUR per hectoliter sparkling wine.
Fermented beverages other than wine and beer
The standard rate in United Kingdom is 278.59 EUR per hectoliter other still fermented beverages and 326.94 EUR per hectoliter other sparkling fermented beverages.
Intermediate products
Minimum excise duty in EU is 45 EUR per hectoliter of product (Article 17 of Directive 92/83EEC). In United Kingdom is the standard rate 371.43 EUR per hectoliter of product, the reduced rate is 278.59 EUR.
Ethyl alcohol
Minimum excise duty in EU is 550 EUR or 1000 EUR per hectoliter of pure alcohol (Article 20 of Directive 92/83EEC). In United Kingdom is the rate 3061.59 EUR per hectoliter of pure alcohol.

• Tobacco
Cigarettes
The tax rate is 160.71 EUR per 1000 pieces.
Cigars and Cigarillos
The tax rate is 234.06 EUR per 1000 pieces.
Fine cut smoking tobacco
The tax rate is 168.24 EUR per 1000 pieces.
Other smoking tobaccos
The tax rate is 102.90 EUR per 1000 pieces.

• Gasoline
Leaded petrol
Minimum excise duty in EU is 421 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 861.40 EUR per 1000 liter.
Unleaded petrol
Minimum excise duty in EU is 359 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 722.02 EUR per 1000 liter (aviation gasoline 430.63 EUR per 1000 liter).
Propellant gas oil
Minimum excise duty in EU is 302 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 722.02 EUR per 1000 liter.
Industrial gas oil
Minimum excise duty in EU is 21 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 138.95 EUR per 1000 liter.
Heating gas oil – business use
Minimum excise duty in EU is 21 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 138.95 EUR per 1000 liter.
Heating gas oil – non business use
Minimum excise duty in EU is 21 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 138.95 EUR per 1000 liter.
Propellant kerosene
Minimum excise duty in EU is 302 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 722.02 EUR per 1000 liter.
Industrial kerosene
Minimum excise duty in EU is 21 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 138.95 EUR per 1000 liter.
Heating kerosene – business use
Minimum excise duty in EU is 0 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 0 EUR per 1000 liter.
Heating kerosene – non business use
Minimum excise duty in EU is 0 EUR per 1000 liter. In United Kingdom is the rate 0 EUR per 1000 liter.
Heavy full oil
Minimum excise duty in EU is 15 EUR per 1000 kg. In United Kingdom is the rate 135.08 EUR per 1000 kg.
Propellant LGP
Minimum excise duty in EU is 125 EUR per 1000 kg. In United Kingdom is the rate 234.46 EUR per 1000 kg.
Heating LPG – business use
Minimum excise duty in EU is 0 EUR per 1000 kg. In United Kingdom is the rate 0 EUR per 1000 kg.
Heating LGP – non business use
Minimum excise duty in EU is 0 EUR per 1000 kg. In United Kingdom is the rate 0 EUR per 1000 kg.

[the grumpy old men] 30/3/2018 17:27

World’s Most Indebted Oil Company Makes Major Hedge
By Tsvetana Paraskova - Mar 30, 2018, 11:00 AM CDT rigs

In February and March, Brazil’s state-controlled oil firm Petrobras hedged 128 million barrels of its expected 2018 production —equal to around 15 percent of total production—at an average price of $65 per barrel, to protect part of its operating cash flow generation this year.

The hedge puts a floor under around 350,000 bpd of Petrobras’s oil production this year, or just above 15 percent of its oil production of around 2.2 million bpd that the company has reported for the past two years.

Petrobras has purchased put options referenced to the average Brent price in February and March through the end of 2018, at an average cost of $3.48 per barrel and average exercise price of around $65/barrel, the Brazilian company said in a statement. The options mature at the end of this year.

The cost of the hedge, 128 million barrels at $3.48 per barrel, is around US$445 million.

“The transaction aims to shield part of the operating cash generation projected by the company for 2018, ensuring a minimum price level for the production volume under the transaction without, however, locking the price, should the average price of Brent in the year exceed the reference value,” Petrobras noted.

The company keeps its preference for exposure to the oil price cycle, but an occasional hedging strategy via derivatives may be applicable, depending on the business environment and Petrobras’ business plan goals. As such, the hedge is aimed at reducing the possible negative impact on cash generation in “the most adverse price scenarios”, helping the firm to proceed with its debt reduction.
Related: The Struggle Continues For Bankrupt Shale Drillers

Petrobras—largely viewed as the world’s most indebted oil company—reduced its net debt by 12 percent on the year to US$84.9 billion, and boosted free cash flow by 12 percent to US$13.85 billion last year, the company said earlier this month when it reported another annual net loss—albeit much smaller—due to a class action settlement in the United States.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

[scobak] 30/3/2018 12:29

GGL - You are right about a time to buy and also to sell. I try and do this on the quarterly dividend ie sell a couple of days before they go xdiv and try and buy back at a later date but before the divi is paid. Usually works out to put more money back in my pocket and avoids tax on dividend. This works reasonably well on other higher paying divi companies.

[grupo guitarlumber] 30/3/2018 08:49

30/03/2018 8:02am
Dow Jones News

Shell A (LSE:RDSA)
Intraday Stock Chart

Today : Friday 30 March 2018
Click Here for more Shell A Charts.

Its recent deals are part of a long-term strategy for its huge natural-gas output

By Sarah Kent

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 30, 2018).

LONDON -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC is on a spree of small but strategic acquisitions in an area oil companies have long avoided: the power sector.

In the past few months, the British-Dutch oil giant bought a utility, an electric-car charging business and a stake in a solar-power company, part of a broader long-term plan to marry its huge natural-gas output with a futuristic utility business.

Shell is making a bet it can profit from changes to the power market as renewables begin to play a bigger role, combining its large energy-trading division and massive natural-gas supply -- the world's largest from a non-state-backed company -- to fill gaps when the sun doesn't shine or wind doesn't blow. Eventually, Shell said it could even compete with tech companies, crunching data about how and when customers use electricity to give them a better deal.

If all goes to plan over several decades, Shell said it would produce gas at the well, use it to produce electricity and then sell power to homes, businesses and electric-vehicle charging stations -- a similar model to its oil-rig-to-gas-station petroleum business.

It "makes us future proof in a world where electricity becomes the biggest game in town," said Maarten Wetselaar, Shell's head of gas and new energies in a recent interview.

Shell last month bought a midsize U.K. power supplier, First Utility, for an undisclosed amount, giving it direct access to retail electricity consumers for the first time. Last year, the company bought one of Europe's biggest electric-vehicle charging companies, New Motion, also for an undisclosed sum.

The company is in a partnership with Ionity -- a joint venture of large car manufacturers established to create a network of fast-charging points across Europe. In January, Shell announced plans to acquire a nearly 44% stake in U.S. solar company Silicon Ranch Corporation in a deal valued around $200 million.

Shell has said it plans to spend between $1 billion and $2 billion a year in what it calls its "New Energies" division through 2020 -- more than many other large oil companies are setting aside for renewables and electricity generation. The company is building wind farms off Europe's coast and has said future investments could also include gas-fired power plants.

The moves reflect Shell's need to find an outlet for its prodigious natural gas output, which grew with the company's roughly $50 billion acquisition of BG Group in 2016.

They also show how Shell and other large oil companies are anticipating shifts in how people consume energy, as many governments try to reduce fossil-fuel consumption under the 2015 United Nations' Paris agreement to fight climate change. Whether oil demand will level off in the coming decades is up for debate, while electricity consumption is widely expected to increase.

By 2050, power consumption is expected to outstrip demand for Shell's core business of oil and gas, said Mr. Wetselaar. The company's most recent of several potential scenarios, published Monday, foresees a world in which demand for oil and gas peaks in the next 50 years, driven by successful efforts to meet global climate goals. Reliance on electricity, by contrast, is expected grow from around 20% of energy consumption to closer to 50% by midcentury.

"To be an energy major by then, we'd better play in that sector," Mr. Wetselaar said of electricity.

Total SA -- another early mover on electricity -- is looking to build a retail power business in France. The French company also said it would consider investments in gas-fired power stations around the world to lock in a market for its growing gas production and has bought a battery company. British rival BP PLC has also said it would consider investments in gas power plants, though it has held back from setting ambitions to compete as a utility.

The challenge is selling electricity profitably. The oil industry has already lost billions of dollars in previous efforts to move into renewables. Shell made early and unprofitable moves into offshore wind and solar that prompted a yearslong retreat from those sectors. Meanwhile, oil companies have tended to avoid the highly regulated, localized and lower-return business of producing and selling electricity.

"The clean energy sector is a very difficult subject for the majors," said Valentina Kretzschmar, a director at Edinburgh-based consultancy Wood Mackenzie. "Anything on the renewables side -- including power -- has much more inferior returns on investment than what the companies can get from their oil and gas projects."

Shell is proceeding with caution, putting a fraction of its $25 billion to $30 billion capital spending budget into its new energies business. It will remain an oil-and-gas producer first for decades.

Shell's acquisition of First Utility gives it a customer base of 825,000 homes across the U.K. and Germany. Meanwhile, New Motion gives it more than 30,000 private home electric-vehicle charging points and over 50,000 public sites across Europe. Together with Ionity, Shell plans to install 500 high-speed charging points across 10 European countries in the next two years.

It is a long-term bet that the number of electric vehicles on the road will rise in Europe, encouraged by moves in France, the U.K. and others to eventually ban the combustion engine.

"There's a tipping point that's not that far out," Mr. Wetselaar said.

Write to Sarah Kent at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

[grupo guitarlumber] 29/3/2018 19:48

Shell gains foothold in Shetland development area
03/29/2018
Licenses in the Shetland area
(Courtesy Siccar Point Energy)

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – Shell UK has signed a sale and purchase agreement with Siccar Point Energy that will give Shell participating interests in three licenses in the Shetland area.

The company will gain 30% of P1028 and P1189, incorporating the Cambo discovery, and 22.5% of P1830, which includes the Blackrock prospect, both 125 km (78 mi) northwest of the Shetland Islands.

A final appraisal well is due to be drilled this spring on Cambo, followed by an exploration well next year on Blackrock.

The transaction, which is subject to partner and regulatory consents, involves a cost-carry contribution on both wells and on any subsequently approved development of Cambo.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to customary regulatory and partner consents.

Jonathan Roger, CEO of Siccar Point, said “Shell brings a wealth of relevant expertise…R21;

[grupo guitarlumber] 29/3/2018 19:29

Shell expands operated footprint in Brazil with new deep-water blocks
Shell Oil Company Logo. (PRNewsFoto/Shell Oil Company)

News provided by
Shell

14:11 ET

Share this article

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell Brasil Petroleo, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc ("Shell"), today won four additional deep-water, exploration blocks in the Campos and Potiguar basins, bringing its total operated presence offshore Brazil to 18 blocks. In the 15th deep-water bid round organized by the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP), Shell secured one exploration block on its own and three in joint-bids with Chevron Brazil, Petrobras, and Petrogal Brasil. Of the newly acquired blocks today, Shell will operate two.

Shell will pay its share of the total signing bonuses, equating for all bids to approximately USD $70-million (R$ 235-million).

"We continue to demonstrate our commitment to growing our production in Brazil and our strong belief in the value deep-water resources brings to our global portfolio," said Andy Brown, Upstream Director, Shell. "This bid round offers significant potential for additional deep-water discoveries. These lease commitments fall within our agreed capital ceiling and are consistent with our value-based approach."

Globally, Shell plans to invest $5-6 billion each year through 2020 into its deep water business to strategically grow production and returns for the company. The business is on track to deliver annual, free cash flow of $6-7-billion by 2020 (at $60/barrel Brent RT 2016).

NEW ACREAGE ADDED TO SHELL BRASIL'S PORTFOLIO
Campos Basin:
C-M-791 – Shell Brasil (40% - operator), Petrogal Brasil (20%), Chevron Brazil (40%)
Potiguar Basin:
POT-M-948 – Shell Brasil (100%)
POT-M-859 – Petrobras (60%), Shell Brasil (40%)
POT-M-952 – Petrobras (60%), Shell Brasil (40%)

EDITORS NOTE

Today's win further reinforces our commitment to Brazil, from which approximately 10% of our global oil and gas production originates.
Shell has operated Upstream and Downstream businesses in Brazil for 105-years and was the first international oil company to commercially produce oil after the state monopoly eased in the late 1990s.

[grupo guitarlumber] 29/3/2018 18:59

RDSB is great for the divi and therefore i am in for the long term



There are good times to buy and sell


what i do NOT like are those posters that persist in promoting a STRONG BUY posture no matter
what the current sp


There are times during any one year when one can sell on high and buy on lows if charts are followed

sadly it does not always pan out


HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND

[waldron] 29/3/2018 17:39

Total
46.13 +0.64%

Cac 40 Index 5,167.30+0.7%



BP
479.25 +1.67%



Shell A
2,233.5 +0.09%


FTSE 100 7,056.61+0.2%



Shell B
2,277 -0.35%


Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 69.04 -0.03%
Gasoline NYMEX 2.03 +0.26%
Natural Gas NYMEX 2.74 +1.41%

[waldron] 29/3/2018 17:22

Royal Dutch Shell Plc 26.5% Potential Upside Indicated by Morgan Stanley

Posted by: Amilia Stone 28th March 2018

Royal Dutch Shell Plc using EPIC/TICKER code (LON:RDSA) had its stock rating noted as ‘Reiterates217; with the recommendation being set at ‘OVERWEIGHT217; today by analysts at Morgan Stanley. Royal Dutch Shell Plc are listed in the Oil & Gas sector within UK Main Market. Morgan Stanley have set their target price at 2830 GBX on its stock


PS plus 45p premium for rdsb thereby becoming 2875p perhaps

[the white house] 29/3/2018 16:17

On April 19 2017 Citi downgraded to Sell when the price was 210011 months later they reiterate with the price 200p higher & on the same day as bigger hitters Morgan Stanley restate Overweight & price climbs in response by 20p... Happy Easter guys

[waldron] 29/3/2018 12:35

Total
46.01 +0.38%

Cac 40 Index 5,158.44+0.6%



BP
478.95 +1.60%

V

Shell A
2,245.5 +0.63

Shell B
2,289.5 +0.20%


FTSE 100 7,072.49+0.4%



Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 68.41 -0.94%
Gasoline NYMEX 2.01 -0.62%
Natural Gas NYMEX 2.74 +1.33%

[waldron] 29/3/2018 11:54

I shell b wondering how many investors shell b changing electricity suppliers

[sarkasm] 29/3/2018 11:49

LONDON-- Royal Dutch Shell PLC is on a spree of small but strategic acquisitions in an area oil companies have long avoided: the power sector.

In the past few months, the British-Dutch oil giant bought a utility, an electric-car charging business and a stake in a solar-power company, part of a broader long-term plan to marry its huge natural-gas output with a futuristic utility business.

Shell is making a bet it can profit from changes to the power market as renewables begin to play a bigger role, combining its large energy-trading division and massive natural-gas supply--the world's largest from a non-state-backed company--to fill gaps when the sun doesn't shine or wind doesn't blow. Eventually, Shell said it could even compete with tech companies, crunching data about how and when customers use electricity to give them a better deal.

If all goes to plan over several decades, Shell said it would produce gas at the well, use it to produce electricity and then sell power to homes, businesses and electric-vehicle charging stations--a similar model to its oil-rig-to-gas-station petroleum business.

It "makes us future proof in a world where electricity becomes the biggest game in town," said Maarten Wetselaar, Shell's head of gas and new energies in a recent interview.

Shell last month bought a midsize U.K. power supplier, First Utility, for an undisclosed amount, giving it direct access to retail electricity consumers for the first time. Last year, the company bought one of Europe's biggest electric-vehicle charging companies, New Motion, also for an undisclosed sum.

The company is in a partnership with Ionity--a joint venture of large car manufacturers established to create a network of fast-charging points across Europe. In January, Shell announced plans to acquire a nearly 44% stake in U.S. solar company Silicon Ranch Corporation in a deal valued around $200 million.

Shell has said it plans to spend between $1 billion and $2 billion a year in what it calls its "New Energies" division through 2020--more than many other large oil companies are setting aside for renewables and electricity generation. The company is building wind farms off Europe's coast and has said future investments could also include gas-fired power plants.

The moves reflect Shell's need to find an outlet for its prodigious natural gas output, which grew with the company's roughly $50 billion acquisition of BG Group in 2016.

They also show how Shell and other large oil companies are anticipating shifts in how people consume energy, as many governments try to reduce fossil-fuel consumption under the 2015 United Nations' Paris agreement to fight climate change. Whether oil demand will level off in the coming decades is up for debate, while electricity consumption is widely expected to increase.

By 2050, power consumption is expected to outstrip demand for Shell's core business of oil and gas, said Mr. Wetselaar. The company's most recent of several potential scenarios, published Monday, foresees a world in which demand for oil and gas peaks in the next 50 years, driven by successful efforts to meet global climate goals. Reliance on electricity, by contrast, is expected grow from around 20% of energy consumption to closer to 50% by midcentury.

"To be an energy major by then, we'd better play in that sector," Mr. Wetselaar said of electricity.

Total SA--another early mover on electricity--is looking to build a retail power business in France. The French company also said it would consider investments in gas-fired power stations around the world to lock in a market for its growing gas production and has bought a battery company. British rival BP PLC has also said it would consider investments in gas power plants, though it has held back from setting ambitions to compete as a utility.

The challenge is selling electricity profitably. The oil industry has already lost billions of dollars in previous efforts to move into renewables. Shell made early and unprofitable moves into offshore wind and solar that prompted a yearslong retreat from those sectors. Meanwhile, oil companies have tended to avoid the highly regulated, localized and lower-return business of producing and selling electricity.

"The clean energy sector is a very difficult subject for the majors," said Valentina Kretzschmar, a director at Edinburgh-based consultancy Wood Mackenzie. "Anything on the renewables side--including power--has much more inferior returns on investment than what the companies can get from their oil and gas projects."

Shell is proceeding with caution, putting a fraction of its $25 billion to $30 billion capital spending budget into its new energies business. It will remain an oil-and-gas producer first for decades.

Shell's acquisition of First Utility gives it a customer base of 825,000 homes across the U.K. and Germany. Meanwhile, New Motion gives it more than 30,000 private home electric-vehicle charging points and over 50,000 public sites across Europe. Together with Ionity, Shell plans to install 500 high-speed charging points across 10 European countries in the next two years.

It is a long-term bet that the number of electric vehicles on the road will rise in Europe, encouraged by moves in France, the U.K. and others to eventually ban the combustion engine.

"There's a tipping point that's not that far out," Mr. Wetselaar said.

Write to Sarah Kent at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 29, 2018 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)

[sarkasm] 29/3/2018 10:14

NewMotion trials vehicle-to-grid technology in Amsterdam

01/03/2018 in Environment News
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vehicle-to-grid amsterdam trial, V"G technology.

NewMotion has installed public charge points that can charge electric vehicles (EVS) and deliver electricity back to the grid by using Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology.

The company launched the pilot in Amsterdam alongside grid company Alliander, technology company Enervalis and innovation platform Amsterdam Smart City.

V2G technology enables the electricity stored in the batteries of electric cars to be made available to the grid at times of high demand.

In the case of low demand, electric vehicles can be recharged as normal. In the future, electric drivers who use this technology will have the opportunity to receive a fee for their contribution back to the grid.

In addition, grid operators can use the storage capacity of electric cars to balance peaks and troughs in energy supply and demand.

The Amsterdam pilot is part of the City-Zen programme, which aims to create more energy-efficient cities throughout Europe. The first results of the V2G-pilot are expected at the end of February 2018.

Most of the V2G-charge points used in the pilot are located at public locations throughout Amsterdam. However, charge points are also located at the offices of accounting firm PwC and at a large sports facility. At these locations, electric vehicles can either be charged or provide electricity directly to the internal network of the organisation. This exchange is called Vehicle to Office.

Sytse Zuidema, CEO at NewMotion, said: “In the Netherlands alone, we’re expecting to see around one million electric vehicles on the roads by 2025. At the same time, the decentralised generation of electricity through solar panels and wind turbines is responsible for an ever-increasing share of the total electricity supply.

“Due to the irregular availability of sun and wind, it is imperative that storage capacity becomes available, so that sustainably generated electricity can be stored for peak moments in energy demand. These developments pave the way for the broad deployment of V2G technology.”

Amsterdam Smart City (ASC) is another active participant in the pilot. Annelies van der Stoep, project coordinator of energy transition at ASC, said: "V2G is definitely one of the technologies that can make an important contribution to sustainable and energy-efficient cities. We are proud to be part of this world premiere.”

Marisca Zweistra, senior project manager of energy company Alliander, added: "We are testing the impact of V2G on a low-voltage network in close collaboration with our partners.

“In addition, we want to see whether V2G has potential as a back-up in the event of electricity failures and if more of the self-generated solar energy at these offices can be used for the electricity supply of these locations.

“If this is the case, there will be less load on the grid and as a result, fewer expensive power cables will have to be installed.”

Author: Gareth Roberts
[e-mail]

[2hoggy] 29/3/2018 09:53

Now there is a surprise a Nigerian taking a bribe...

They as a race are expert at crime,fraud,the latest being caught bringing in migrants into the eu...

Have you been offered money from a politician who needs a british bank account to get millions out of Nigeria.lol

[waldron] 29/3/2018 09:07

Total
45.76 -0.16%

Cac 40 Index 5,143.67+0.3%


BP
471.95 +0.12%



Shell A
2,232.5 +0.04%


Shell B
2,280 -0.22%


FTSE 100 7,053.99+0.1%


Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 68.90 -0.23%
Gasoline NYMEX 2.02 -0.18%
Natural Gas NYMEX 2.74 +1.26%

[waldron] 29/3/2018 08:54

Oil giant suspects that ex-executive may have taken kickbacks from Nigerian sale

By Sarah Kent

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 29, 2018).

LONDON -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC has referred a former senior executive to Dutch legal authorities, and a person familiar with the matter said the move was based on suspicion he may have received kickbacks from the 2011 sale of the company's interest in an oil-producing area in Nigeria.

The British-Dutch oil giant said Wednesday it has filed a criminal complaint in the Netherlands against Peter Robinson, who served as the company's commercial vice president for sub-Saharan Africa from 2008 to 2011. Mr. Robinson left the company in 2014. Based on an internal Shell probe, the company said Wednesday "we suspect a crime may have been committed" during the sale of Shell's interest in the oil-producing area -- or bloc -- known as OML 42 in 2011.

Mr. Robinson is already facing criminal prosecution in Italy, one of several former Shell employees set to stand trial beginning in May in one of the oil industry's biggest-ever corruption cases. That case relates to a separate Nigerian oil bloc called OPL 245, which Shell and Italian rival Eni SpA acquired in 2011. Prosecutors in Italy allege the two companies and their executives engaged in a wide-ranging bribery scheme to secure the bloc. Dutch authorities have said they are conducting a criminal probe into the OPL 245 bloc transaction.

Shell and Eni have denied wrongdoing in the OPL 245 deal.

Mr. Robinson couldn't be reached for comment. Chiara Padovani, a lawyer who is representing him in the Italian case, didn't respond to several requests for comment.

Mr. Robinson held a key commercial role in Shell's sub-Saharan African operations during the negotiations for both the OML 42 and OPL 245 deals. A Shell spokesman said the company believes the two matters are unrelated. In terms of the Italian criminal prosecution, "we continue to believe, from our review of the prosecutor of Milan's file and all of the information and facts currently available to us, there is no case to convict Shell or its former employees," the spokesman said.

Evidence turned up in the course of international authorities' investigations into the OPL 245 transaction made Shell suspicious of Mr. Robinson's other activities, according to the person familiar with the matter. The company began an internal investigation late last year into whether Mr. Robinson may have used two Swiss bank accounts and a Seychelles-based firm to funnel kickbacks from the sale of OML 42, the person said.

Shell informed Dutch authorities of its suspicions in January. The company also informed the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Justice when investigations into the OPL 245 deal alerted it to the alleged existence of Mr. Robinson's Swiss accounts, the person said.

While its internal investigation is still proceeding, it decided to officially take the matter to Dutch authorities last week, the person added.

The Dutch Public Prosecutor said officers were aware of the facts and circumstances mentioned in Shell's complaint as part of its investigation of the company's acquisition of OPL 245.

--Eric Sylvers in Milan contributed to this article.

Write to Sarah Kent at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 29, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

[maywillow] 29/3/2018 07:52

VOLUMES MIGHT BE DOWN DUE TO PEOPLE TAKING EASTER EARLY