Russia has submitted its bid for vast territories in the Arctic to the United Nations. It is claiming 1.2 million square kilometres (more than 463,000 square miles) of Arctic sea shelf, the Russian foreign ministry said. Russia, the US, Canada, Denmark and Norway have all been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to hold up to a quarter of the planet’s undiscovered oil and gas.
Environmental campaigners have begun a month of protests over oil giant Shell’s efforts to drill in the Arctic with a Titanic-themed orchestral performance. Greenpeace is holding protests outside Shell’s London headquarters against the company’s attempts to undertake oil drilling in the Arctic, which the campaigners warn could lead to environmental disaster and worsen climate change. The protests began with a performance of Requiem for Arctic Ice, an orchestral piece inspired by the famous story of the musicians continuing to play as the Titanic sank after it hit an iceberg, by the Crystal Palace Quartet and supporting musicians.
Profits slipped at BG Group in the second quarter despite oil and gas production reaching record levels.
Shell revealed it would take a “good look” at its North Sea portfolio as it considers $30billion of asset sales over the next two years.
Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden said its landmark takeover of BG will act as a “springboard to change Shell into a simpler and more profitable company”.
In the 36 years since the Islamic revolution swept over Iran, the country has tapped international debt markets exactly twice.
Oil companies’ least-loved business over the past five years is proving to be their lifeline. Margins from refineries in northwest Europe rose fivefold last quarter to the highest since at least 2003, data from Total SA show. In the preceding quarter, the share of profit from processing crude and chemicals at Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc was four times higher than the same period a year earlier. The turnaround follows last year’s end to an oil boom that tripled the cost of crude for processing since 2009 and spurred a focus on drilling instead of refining. A decade-long doubling of refining capacity in China also swamped European efforts to rein in supply. Crude’s slump in the past year has reversed the dynamic, curbing refining costs and raising demand for fuels. “Refining has become a boon in these times from being a burden over the years,” Iain Armstrong, an oil analyst at fund manager Brewin Dolphin Ltd., said July 22 in London. “The companies will look to make the most of this dramatic change while it lasts.” Shell and BP are scheduled to release second-quarter earnings at the end of the month. Results at their downstream businesses, which include trading as well as refining, are likely to show they also benefited from a market structure called contango, where future prices are higher than those for immediate delivery. That allows their traders to profit by storing cheap oil now to sell for more later.
A venture between Royal Dutch Shell and Canada's Petromanas has applied to drill two onshore blocks in central Albania close to another promising well they are drilling further south, an official said on Thursday. The official said three bids had been submitted for the blocks - from Shell Upstream Albania B.V with Petromanas Albania GmbH, Israel's Delek Group Limited and Interland Investments SA.
Shell has been given approval by the US Department of Interior to carry out limited offshore drilling in the Arctic. The decison comes amidst strong opposition from environmental groups who fear a potential oil spill in the region could have a lasting impact. The oil major will not be able to begin drilling until it has all necessary hardware in place to proceed as well as necessary safety measures.
Shell has attempted to calm investor jitters over its proposed £55billion takeover of BG Group by saying it expects to save billions of dollars by cutting costs once the deal goes through.
Oil major Shell is expected to move to a three on, three off shift pattern at the start of 2016. The company previously revealed it was in consultation with staff over the move, which is in line with a number of companies including Chevron and EnQuest.
Oil giant Shell is to sell its equity interest in Elba liquid natural gas company for Kinder Morgan for $630million.
George Clooney is leading a star-studded line-up in the latest round with Shell over plans for its Arctic drilling.
Royal Dutch Shell has acquired Morgan Stanley's European gas and power trading book as the U.S. bank continues its exit from the sector. Shell is set to significantly increase its footprint in the gas market in the coming years if it completes its proposed $70 billion acquisition of smaller British rival BG Group and as part of a growing strategic alliance with Russia's Gazprom, the world's top gas producer. Shell Energy Europe, its supply and trading arm in the region, has signed a binding sales and purchase agreement for Morgan Stanley's portfolio, the Anglo-Dutch company said on Friday, without providing further details.
The full-scale of Shell's incredible Prelude FLNG project has begun to take shape as the last of the topside modules have been moved into place. The oil giant has captured footage of the moment the module was safely installed.
The US unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc may soon drop the word “oil” from its name in a move that would symbolize its transition to other sources of energy, an executive said. With Shell Oil Co.’s parent focusing more on natural gas and looking at other energy alternatives, the oil in the name “is a little old-fashioned, I’d say, and at one point we’ll probably do something about that,” Marvin Odum, director of the company’s upstream Americas business, said Thursday at the Toronto Global Forum.
Shell in Norway has awarded Kvaerner a project to harmonise the power supply interaction between the Nyhamna gas plant and the national grid.
Brazil gave the green light to oil major Royal Dutch Shell to buy smaller rival BG, advancing the $70 billion merger, the largest of the past decade, closer to completion in early 2016. Shell is set to become the largest foreign operator offshore Brazil after it buys BG, so the clearance from the country was a crucial step to complete the merger on time. Brazil's competition authority CADE said on Wednesday it had given preliminary approval to the transaction "without restrictions." BG said that if no appeals were lodged or referrals made in the next 15 days, CADE’s clearance would become final. A spokesman for Shell confirmed the approval and the 15-day appeals period.
Shell has confirmed that its ambitious Brent Delta topside decommissioning programme has been approved by the UK Government.
Shell has awarded the Technip Samsung Consortium two contracts for its $40billion natural gas project in Australia. Shell's Browse project covers the installation of three FLNG units to develop the Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa fields in the Browse Basin.
Oil giant Shell was today fined over £6,000 after a diesel leak on board the same North Sea platform where two workers died 12 years ago.
Royal Dutch Shell has been granted permission to develop the Appomattox deepwater oil and gas field in the Gulf of Mexico, set to be the energy giant's largest floating platform in the region. The Appomattox project, 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana, is expected to reach peak production of around 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, Shell said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Obama administration dealt a setback to Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic oil exploration plans on Tuesday, saying established walrus and polar bear protections prevent the company from drilling with two rigs simultaneously at close range, as it had planned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued Shell a permit which emphasized that under 2013 federal wildlife protections, companies must maintain a 15-mile (24-km) buffer between two rigs drilling simultaneously. The rule is meant to protect populations of animals sensitive to sounds and activities of drilling. Walruses have been known to plunge off rocks into the sea during drilling, putting some at risk. The animals are already at risk from reduced habitat due to global warming.
U.S. Coast Guard and police boats cleared a way through protesters in kayaks at a Seattle-area port on Tuesday so a drilling ship could head for the Arctic on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell. The Noble Discover is the second drilling ship Shell has sent to the area in recent days. The activists, who have staged frequent demonstrations during the past two months against Royal Dutch Shell's oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea off mainland Alaska, had taken to the waters just beyond the Port of Everett north of Seattle where the oil rig launched for sea.