The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Royal Dutch Shell

  • Shell pays Fed Govt, agencies $6.397b

    Over $6.397 billion was paid to the Federal Government and its agencies in 2018 by Shell exploration and production companies in Nigeria, The Nation has learnt.

    In the group are Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo).

    The payment represents a 48 per cent increase overpayments ($4.322 billion) by the companies.

    The facts formed part of the four documents released yesterday by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Dutch Shell, Ben Van Beurden, to signal the firm’s renewed commitment to greater transparency.

    The documents are “Shell Sustainability Report”; “Industry Associations Climate Review”; “Nigeria Briefing Notes”; and “Payments to Government”.

    Read also: Shell: why we signed contractor support fund with banks

    “Shell must remain at the forefront of the drive for greater corporate transparency. We will continue to be more open about what we do and why we do it,” said van Beurden, adding: “We want to help people better understand Shell’s performance, values and principles. These reports outline our approach and activities in the crucial areas of sustainability and our relationships with industry associations and governments.”

    In the breakdown of the 2018 payments, the Shell companies paid $3.776 billion to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation as production entitlement while $1.286 billion was paid in taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

    Another $1.253 billion went to the Department of Petroleum Resources for royalties and fees, while $81.5 million was remitted to the Niger Delta Development Commission.

    SPDC Managing Director and Country Shell Companies in Nigeria chair Osagie Okunbor, described the reports as a further testament to Shell’s efforts to increase transparency around activities that are important to investors, governments and civil society.

    “We are irrevocably committed to transparency just as we are to business integrity part of our core values and central tenets of the Business Principles that govern the way we do business,” Okunbo said.

    The Shell Nigeria Briefing Notes detail the activities of the Shell Companies in Nigeria for 2018. These include production, environmental performance, social investment, economic contributions, gas initiatives, deepwater operations, security and Nigerian content development.

    The Industry Associations Climate Review assesses for the first time Shell’s alignment with 19 key industry associations on climate-related policy. The report also details new governance principles to improve how Shell manages its memberships of industry associations on climate-related topics.

    The 22nd edition of the Shell Sustainability Report outlines Shell’s approach to sustainability and covers its social, safety and environmental performance in 2018. It sets out how Shell is playing a role in the transition to a lower-carbon world and its contribution to society, which includes helping to achieve universal access to cleaner, affordable energy.

    In addition, Shell published its 2018 Payments to Governments Report covering 34 countries where it has extractive activities.

  • Shell sets carbon reduction targets

    Royal Dutch Shell yesterday said it planned to reduce carbon emissions from its oil and gas operations and product sales by between two per cent and three percent  by 2021. This is the first time the oil major is issuing carbon footprint targets.

    Meanwhile, Nigeria,  its major operating country in Africa, has relieved its local arm, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of the operatorship of oil mining lease (OML 11) and transferred it over to the exploration and production arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

    The oil block located in Ogoniland in Rivers State was operated by Shell but communities chased Shell away from the asset due to conflicts including lack of attention to the host communities and the killing of the nine Ogoni activists including Ken Saro-Wiwa. OML 11 lies in the southeastern Niger Delta and contains 33 oil and gas fields of which eight are producing as at 2017.

    For over two decades Shell had not had access to the asset, hence the Federal Government revoked the operatorship held by Shell and transferred it to NPDC.

    In a letter dated, March 1, 2019, with reference number: SH/COS/A/8540, signed by Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Abba Kyari, Buahri directed the NNPC and its upstream subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company to take over the operatorship of the entire asset.

    The memo titled: “Operatorship of Entire Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11” signed by Abba Kyari and addressed to the Group Managing Director (GMD), NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, the President directed “NNPC/NPDC to take over the operatorship from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of the entire OML 11 not later than April 30th 2019 and ensure smooth re-entry given the delicate situation in Ogoniland.”

    It also directed NNPC/NPDC to confirm by May 2, 2019 of the assumption of the operatorship. The federal government had last year denied SPDC renewal of OML 11 but decided to split it into three because the acreage is too large (2,800spkm).”

    Shell has 45 per cent stake in OML 11 while the Federal Government through the NNPC has 55 per cent. Whether the Federal Government will strip Shell of its equity holding in the asset and transfer it to another company is yet to be determined

    The targets, which will be linked to executive pay, aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its oil and gas extraction and refining as well for fuels and other products sold to millions of customers, known as Scope 3 emissions.

    Rivals BP and Total have already set short-term targets on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, but those planned cuts are limited to their own operations and exclude Scope 3 emissions.

    “Early 2019, it was decided to set a Net Carbon Footprint target for 2021 of 2-3 per cent lower than our 2016 Net Carbon Footprint of 79 grams of Co2 equivalent per megajoule,” Shell said in its 2018 annual report,  released yesterday.

    The targets will be linked to the remuneration of around 150 executives this year and expanded to 16,000 employees next year.

    The Anglo-Dutch company last year announced an “ambition” to halve its carbon footprint by 2050 by increasing its output of lower-carbon products including natural gas, biofuels, electricity and hydrogen.

    Its decision to set targets in 2019 comes a year earlier than it had previously indicated.

    The oil and gas industry has come under growing shareholder pressure to tackle carbon emissions following the 2015 Paris climate agreement seeking to reduce emissions to net zero by the end of the century, mostly by lowering fossil fuel burning.

    Mark van Baal, head of the shareholder activist group said the targets were not sufficient.

    “Shell takes another step towards Paris. However, this will not get us to Paris,” van Baal said in a statement.

  • Four Gulf of Mexico oil platforms shut after Enchilada fire -Shell

    Four Gulf of Mexico oil platforms shut after Enchilada fire -Shell

    Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday that production at four oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut in the wake of a Nov. 8 fire at its Enchilada platform.

    “Production is shut in at the Shell- operated Enchilada and Salsa platforms, as well as the associated Hess-operated Conger field,” in which has a 37.5 per cent share, it said in a statement.

    In addition, Shell safely shut in all production operations at its Auger platform due to downstream constraints caused by this incident.”

    Production from Auger flows back to Enchilada for transport to shore.

    There was still no timeline for the resumption of normal operations.

    “Shell is in the process of developing a plan to repair damage caused by an operational incident on its
    Enchilada platform and safely re-deploying personnel.”

    NAN

  • British court stops Nigeria oil spill case against Shell

    British court stops Nigeria oil spill case against Shell

    Britain’s high court ruled on Thursday that oil major Royal Dutch Shell cannot be sued in London courts over Nigerian oil spill allegations.

    If the High Court had ruled in favour of the two groups, other claimants against British-based multinationals could have been emboldened to pursue legal action through the British courts, some legal experts had said.

    Villagers from the Bille and Ogale communities in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta region were trying to pursue oil spill allegations against the company’s Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in British courts.

    The court ruled that the suit did not establish that Shell, the parent company, had legal responsibility for SPDC’s actions.

    “The claimants have failed to demonstrate that the first threshold requirement – is there a ‘real issue’ between the claimant and the anchor defendants – is met,” the ruling stated.

    Leigh Day, a law firm representing the villagers, said it would appeal the ruling.

    Igo Weli, SPDC’s general manager for external relations, said the firm hoped “the strong message sent by the English court today ensures that any future claims by Nigerian communities concerning operations conducted in Nigeria will be heard in the proper local courts.”

    The Nigerian villagers argued domestic courts were unfit to hear their case, while Shell said the matter was a uniquely Nigerian issue and should be heard there.

    Shell also denies responsibility for the spills, which it says were due to sabotage and illegal refining.

    “It is our view that the judgment failed to consider critical evidence which shows the decisive direction and control Royal Dutch Shell exercises over its Nigerian subsidiary,” said Dan Leader, partner at Leigh Day who also represented Nigeria’s Bodo community in another oil spill claim against Shell that ended in a $55 million settlement in 2015.

    In 2016, the High Court ruled that a case brought by Zambian villagers against miner Vedanta Resources over environmental pollution could be heard in England.

  • Shell earns $600m from Nigerian asset’s sale

    Shell earns $600m from Nigerian asset’s sale

    Royal Dutch Shell said  it has raised $600million from the sale of its interest in an oil field in Nigeria as part of its ongoing two-year disposal programme.

    The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has divested a 30 per cent interest in Oil Mining Lease (OML24) and related facilities in the Eastern Niger Delta to an indigenous firm, Newcross Exploration and Production.

    “This divestment is part of the strategic review of SPDC’s onshore portfolio and is in line with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s aim of developing Nigerian companies in the country’s upstream oil and gas business,” the company said in a statement yesterday.

    Total’s Nigerian subsidiary, Total Exploration and Production (E&P) Nigeria, has also sold its 10 per cent stake and Nigerian Agip Oil Company has offloaded its five per cent interest, leaving Newcross with a 45 per cent holding.

    Shell, which has been in Nigeria for over 50 years, said it remains committed to keeping a long-term presence in the country through SPDC and its other subsidiaries.

    OML24, which produced an average of 13,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day in the first half of this year, was put up for sale along with OMLs 18, 25 and 29, along with the onshore pipeline Nembe Creek Trunk Line.

    Reports last month claimed that the company had already signed sales agreements for all these assets.

    Shell said back in January that it would be selling off up to $15 billion of its assets between this year and next year in both upstream and downstream to improve returns and focus on core areas.

  • Shell’s global deepwater holds 675b bbls recoverable oil, says IEA

    Shell’s global deepwater holds 675b bbls recoverable oil, says IEA

    The Royal Dutch Shell’s global deepwater assets have been said to contain an estimated 675 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

    In its latest monthly publication, Shell World, published by Shell companies in Nigeria, the company quoted the International Energy Agency (IEA) as putting Shell’s global deepwater proven reserves at about 675 billion barrels. In the publication, Shell confirmed that it has enjoyed decades of successful projects and some landmark moments in 2014 in global deepwater.

    It stated that its Nigerian Bonga North West (BNW) Field, which achieved first oil in August, is part of Shell’s long-standing commitment to developing deepwater engineering skills in Nigeria, adding that the investments made by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and its other project partners in the Bonga North West project include upgrades of local contractors’ facilities and providing specialised training for Nigerians to work in the energy industry.

    Oil from the Bonga North West field, according to Shell, is transported by a new subsea flowline to the existing Bonga subsea infrastructure while additional equipment and control systems were installed and integrated with Bonga Main topsides.

    The publication noted that a significant part of the project was carried out by Nigerian companies including an indigenous contractor that fabricated and installed the BNW topsides equipment.

    Commenting on the BNW achievement, Shell’s Vice President Nigeria & Gabon, Markus Droll, said: “It is significant to note that the project leadership and majority of staff working on the BNW project are Nigerians – testament to the growth of deepwater engineering experience in SNEPCo. Above all, we are pleased that the project has so far been delivered without lost time injury (LTI) with SNEPCo and contractor staff working safely on various aspects of the project in about 10 different locations in the United States, Europe and Nigeria.

    “This programme – on top of the ongoing Phase 2 drilling and after the start-up of Bonga North-West barely two months ago – further underlines our commitment to Nigeria and leadership in deepwater production.”

    The Corporate Media Relations Manager, Precious Okolobo, also said that SNEPCo has announced plans to drill eight more wells in the Bonga field to help maximise deepwater production in Nigeria. This third phase of the Bonga Main development is expected to add about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day through the existing Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility.

    Okolobo stated that Phase 3 is an expansion of the existing Bonga Main development and will involve drilling four oil producing and four water injection wells. Drilling is expected to start in 2015. Output from the new wells will be transported through existing pipelines to the FPSO facility. The facility has the capacity to produce more than 200,000 barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas a day.

    The Phase 3 work will be executed by several contractors including Nigerian companies that have developed deepwater expertise through the provision of similar services for SNEPCo. The Bonga field, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s first deep-water development in depths of more than 1,000 metres. Bonga has produced over 500 million barrels of oil to date.

    The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo as contractor under a production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, which holds the lease for OML 118, in which the Bonga field is located. SNEPCo holds a 55 per cent, Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited 20 per cent, Total E&P Nigeria Limited 12.5 per cent and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited 2.5 per cent.

  • Shell’s global deepwater holds 675b bbls recoverable oil, says IEA

    Shell’s global deepwater holds 675b bbls recoverable oil, says IEA

    The Royal Dutch Shell’s global deepwater assets have been said to contain estimated 675 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

    In its latest monthly publication called Shell World,published by Shell companies in Nigeria, the company quoted the International Energy Agency (IEA) as putting Shell’s global deepwater proven reserves at about 675 billion barrels. In the publication, Shell confirmed that it has enjoyed decades of successful projects and some landmark moments in 2014 in global deepwater.

    It stated that its Nigerian Bonga North West (BNW) Field, which achieved first oil in August, is part of Shell’s long-standing commitment to developing deepwater engineering skills in Nigeria, adding that the investments made by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and its other project partners in the Bonga North West project include upgrades of local contractors’ facilities and providing specialised training for Nigerians to work in the energy industry.

    Oil from the Bonga North West field, according to Shell, is transported by a new subsea flowline to the existing Bonga subsea infrastructure while additional equipment and control systems were installed and integrated with Bonga Main topsides.

    The publication noted that a significant part of the project was carried out by Nigerian companies including an indigenous contractor that fabricated and installed the BNW topsides equipment.

    Commenting on the BNW achievement, Shell’s Vice President Nigeria & Gabon, Markus Droll, said: “It is significant to note that the project leadership and majority of staff working on the BNW project are Nigerians – testament to the growth of deepwater engineering experience in SNEPCo. Above all, we are pleased that the project has so far been delivered without lost time injury (LTI) with SNEPCo and contractor staff working safely on various aspects of the project in about 10 different locations in the United States, Europe and Nigeria.

    “This programme – on top of the ongoing Phase 2 drilling and after the start-up of Bonga North-West barely two months ago – further underlines our commitment to Nigeria and leadership in deepwater production.”

    The Corporate Media Relations Manager, Precious Okolobo, also said that SNEPCo has announced plans to drill eight more wells in the Bonga field to help maximise deepwater production in Nigeria. This third phase of the Bonga Main development is expected to add about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day through the existing Bonga floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility.

    Okolobo stated that Phase 3 is an expansion of the existing Bonga Main development and will involve drilling four oil producing and four water injection wells. Drilling is expected to start in 2015. Output from the new wells will be transported through existing pipelines to the FPSO facility. The facility has the capacity to produce more than 200,000 barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas a day.

    The Phase 3 work will be executed by several contractors including Nigerian companies that have developed deepwater expertise through the provision of similar services for SNEPCo. The Bonga field, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s first deep-water development in depths of more than 1,000 metres. Bonga has produced over 500 million barrels of oil to date.

    The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo as contractor under a production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, which holds the lease for OML 118, in which the Bonga field is located. SNEPCo holds a 55 per cent, Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited 20 per cent, Total E&P Nigeria Limited 12.5 per cent and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited 2.5 per cent.

  • Shell appoints Ben van Beurden CEO

    Shell appoints Ben van Beurden CEO

    The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc has announced that Ben van Beurden will succeed Peter Voser as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 January 2014.

    Peter Voser will leave Shell at the end of March 2014, marking the end of 29 years with the Company.

    Van Beurden, 55, has been Downstream Director since January 2013.

    “I am delighted to announce Ben van Beurden as the next Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell,” said Chairman Jorma Ollila. “Ben has deep knowledge of the industry and proven executive experience across a range of Shell businesses. Ben will continue to drive and further develop the strategic agenda that we have set out, to generate competitive returns for our shareholders.”

    “Van Beurden’s selection came after a comprehensive assessment and review of internal and external candidates led by the Board Nomination and Succession Committee,” Ollila added.

    Van Beurden joined the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies in 1983 and has held a number of technical and commercial roles in both the Upstream and Downstream businesses. He has worked in The Netherlands, Africa, Malaysia, USA and, most recently, the UK.

    Van Beurden, a Dutch national, graduated with a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He is married and has four children.