Shell Plc (SHEL)

[eFinanceMarkets]

Shell opens treatment plant In Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale play

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it has opened a treatment plant for shale oil and gas in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale play.

Shell says the plant has the capacity to process up to 10K bbl/day from the Sierras Blancas, Cruz de Lorena and Coiron Amargo Sur Oeste blocks the company operates.

The plant is part of Shell's plan to invest $300M/year through 2020 in Argentina in exploration, refining, distribution and marketing.

[eFinanceMarkets]

Dutch to cut Groningen gas production to lower earthquake risk

The Netherlands will cut production of its Groningen gas field by 10% beginning in October to limit the risk of earthquakes, the country's economy minister says.

Production would be reduced to 21.6B cm/year from 24B cm/year as a first step, according to the minister; output has been cut several times from 53.9B cm in 2013 as criticism mounted the Dutch government had failed to adequately assess the risk from earthquakes caused by production at Europe's biggest field.

Groningen is operated by a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM).

[eFinanceMarkets]

Green groups reject Shell’s plans to abandon North Sea structures

Environmental groups criticize Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) plans related to the decommissioning of the company’s four platforms at the Brent field in the North Sea.

Shell wants to leave behind the concrete and steel structures that support the field’s platforms plus other materials such as drill cuttings contaminated with oil, which would be costly and difficult to remove, but eight groups including World Wildlife Foundation, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth say Shell provided “insufficient information” to support its case.

The environmentalists’ response is considered a blow to Shell, as the Brent field - the biggest North Sea project to be decommissioned so far - is considered a test case for the industry.

[benfrankledger]

This is good news. Thanks for sharing.

[eFinanceMarkets]

Reuters: Shell signs three-year deal to lease oil tanks in Panama
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has signed a three-year contract to lease storage tanks at a large terminal in Panama that had been used by U.S. refining company Tesoro, Reuters reports.
The facility is owned by Petroterminal de Panama and includes up to 14M barrels of storage capacity on the Atlantic and Pacific shores.
The contract still needs final approval by Panama's finance ministry.

[eFinanceMarkets]

Shell to drill 160-plus new Australia wells to shore up gas supply
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it will drill 161 new gas wells at its Queensland operations by the end of 2018, backing up its pledge to continue supplying 10% of the domestic gas market to help prevent a shortage.
The project at Shell's QGC operations in the Surat Basin has been planned for some time as existing wells decline, and the new wells will help sustain the company's 75 petajoules/year of gas supplies to eastern Australia's gas market.
Shell Australia Chairman Andrew Smith says onshore production in Queensland will allow businesses there to pay less than others further south where onshore drilling has been banned or restricted.

[eFinanceMarkets]

Nigerian court overturns seizure of oilfield from Shell, Eni
A Nigerian court overturns a request by Nigeria's financial crimes agency to seize an oilfield from Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Eni (NYSE:E).
In January, a court had ordered the seizure of the OPL 245 oil block and transfer of operations to the government following a request by the agency, which was investigating whether the $1.3B purchase of the block in 2011 involved "acts of conspiracy, bribery, official corruption and money laundering."

[benfrankledger]

The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc ("RDS") today announced the Reference Share Price in respect of the fourth quarter interim dividend of 2016, which was announced on February 2, 2017 at $0.47 per A ordinary share ("A Share") and B ordinary share ("B Share") and $0.94 per American Depository Share ("ADS").

[Timothy Smith]

Shell’s assets are said to have caught the attention of former Centrica boss Sam Laidlaw, who reportedly was in talks with Shell over a deal with his Neptune P-E backed fund.

Shell is under pressure to sell $30B worth of assets from its global portfolio after its takeover of BG Group.

[GreenBrickRoad]

That's what I'm banking on as well. RDS hasn't let me down yet. I picked this up in the 30's at a 9% dividend rate. Even today at $50+ and a $7% dividend, it's hard to pass up.

[Spicknspan]

The dividend look secure, so you are being paid while you wait for higher energy prices--and a higher price--and a higher dividend.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it will decide next year whether to resume installing subsea compressors at its giant Ormen Lange field offshore Norway, after stopping the project last year to save costs.

The Ormen Lange field, which feeds the Langeled pipeline under the North Sea, is one of the U.K.'s biggest sources of natural gas; Shell's partners include Statoil, Exxon Mobil and Dong Energy.

[OTCdoc]

Write Downs are going to be the norm for oil producers across the board....Especially the big boys....hope most are on the side lines on oil plays because they are going much lower in the next couple weeks :(

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it is halting construction on the 80K bbl/day Carmon Creek oil sands project in Alberta, and will take a $2B charge to be recorded in its Q3 earnings, which are scheduled for release on Thursday.

Shell says the decision reflects "current uncertainties, including the lack of infrastructure to move Canadian crude oil to global commodity markets."

[Timothy Smith]

It was a smart move. The economics of that development were not good at these prices. Overall a good value proposition from here.

[OTCdoc]

for now...shell still a good buy.

[OTCdoc]

lookin good here...shell and TOT will both get contract to start drilling in Iran.

[Timothy Smith]

Shell's (RDS.A, RDS.B) $7B flop north of Alaska means billions of barrels of crude oil likely will remain locked away in Arctic waters from the U.S. to Russia, at least as long as prices remain anywhere near $50/bbl.

The result "will scare everybody away from trying [to drill in the Arctic] for a long, long time," says Per Magnus Nysveen, head of analysis at the Rystad Energy consultancy. “If Shell can’t do it... there is really nobody that can do it.”

With OPEC members still controlling 72% of proved oil reserves, the largely unexplored Arctic could be the last great prize; Alaskan waters alone are believed to hold ~25B barrels of oil, but drilling in remote waters is expensive.

Also a factor, a Shell source told Reuters, was the difficulty in navigating the U.S. regulatory process; the Obama administration dealt a blow to Shell in June when it ruled that laws protecting walrus and polar bears prevented the drilling of two rigs simultaneously at close range.

[ecmoney]

DRY HOLE

Shell has found indications of oil and gas in the Burger J well, but these are not sufficient to warrant further exploration in the Burger prospect. The well will be sealed and abandoned in accordance with U.S. regulations


Shell will now cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future



http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=68663742&symbol=RDS.A


ec

[conix]

Is anyone buying BG for the merger arbitrage?

[Timothy Smith]

Newly released documents reveal a multitude of problems with anti-pollution equipment and a botched fire drill earlier this year on separate Shell-contracted (RDS.A, RDS.B) Arctic drillships before beginning an exploratory oil well in the Chukchi Sea.

[Timothy Smith]

Shell hasn't reduced the dividend since 1945.

The high-grade payout has stood for 70 years, whether the price for a barrel of oil has been $140 or $10.

[Timothy Smith]

The global market selloff and plunging oil prices have increased fears that some of this year’s largest takeover deals are at risk of falling apart, including Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) ~$70B offer for BG Group (OTCPK:BRGXF, OTCQX:BRGYY), Financial Times reports.

[Timothy Smith]

There are a couple of reasons why Shell is performing better than its U.S. competitors.

First of all, Shell is more disciplined with respect to operational CAPEX.

Sure the company spent $70 billion to acquire BG Group (OTCPK:BRGXF), but operational CAPEX decreased much faster in the first half of 2015 compared to Exxon and Chevron.

Second, Shell is executing its operations very efficient. The company reported only a -15% drop in EPS while revenue dropped -37%.

[Timothy Smith]

It is my opinion that the economics are very challenged at these levels. Heck maybe even at $60 levels. However this project would take years to get fully developed and big oil is always planning years in advance or in this case to be ready for a rebound in prices. That said there have been reports of some off shore leases expected to expire, although I don't recall of any were related to $RDS.A.

[DewDiligence]

Does it still make economic sense to do so?

[Timothy Smith]

Federal regulators have granted Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) the final permit it needed to drill in the Arctic off Alaska's northwest coast. The permit was granted after Shell brought in a vessel carrying a device (known as a capping stack) needed to stop a potential well blowout.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) plans to swap a stake in one of its international energy assets for part of Gazprom’s (OTCPK:OGZPY) Sakhalin-3 project, as it seeks greater involvement in the world’s biggest gas reserves.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) expects crude oil prices to recover very gradually over the next five years, with progress slowed by persistent global oversupply and receding Chinese demand growth.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) may consider restarting mothballed Canada oil sands projects but not until oil prices return to $80/bbl, says Marvin Odum, its director of the upstream Americas.

[DewDiligence]

Gorgon revisited (today’s NYT): #msg-115154483.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it will move ahead with its Appomattox deepwater development, a project that will include building the company’s eighth and largest deepwater platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) to Outperform from Sector Perform, noting that it is now the biggest underperformer in the sector YTD and down 16% since announcing the BG Group acquisition in April.

[Timothy Smith]

Gazprom (OTCPK:OGZPY) is building a global strategic alliance with Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) that will include asset swaps and allow it to penetrate new markets, CEO Alexei Miller tells Reuters.

[Timothy Smith]

Ten environmental groups today filed suit at the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against the U.S. government to overturn the approval of Royal Dutch Shell's (RDS.A, RDS.B) plan for Arctic offshore drilling.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) CEO Ben van Beurden endorses the view that the world’s fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned unless a way is found to capture their carbon emissions, but maintains that hydrocarbons will be needed for years to come.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) joins BP in calling on European regulators to refrain from imposing stricter capital requirements and greater disclosure measures on oil trading.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it has received a $529M binding offer from Ireland's DCC Energy (OTC:DCCPF) for its Butagaz liquefied petroleum gas business in France.

[Timothy Smith]

Pres. Obama is seeking to balance the need to meet oil demand and concerns about climate change as the U.S. government considers final approvals for Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) Arctic drilling plans, according to the State's Department's special representative for the Arctic

[Timothy Smith]

Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) may be forced to divest BG Group's (OTCPK:BRGXF) 29.25% stake in a lucrative natural-gas field in Kazakhstan called Karachaganak once Shell completes it acquisition of BG.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) will consider small additions to its North America oil and gas business, despite ruling out large acquisitions after its deal to buy BG Group, the director of Shell's Americas exploration and production business tells Reuters.

The BG deal "doesn't make us shy away from a bolt-on" acquisition, Marvin Odum says, even though "it is hard to believe there is something big out there that is compelling

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) yesterday docked a 400-ft. Arctic drilling rig at its temporary home in Seattle, despite protests from environmentalists and the city's opposition.

[Timothy Smith]

I would imagine that may be delayed with current climate. Going to be interesting to see.

[DewDiligence]

The question is: Do they still want to do that?

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) wins approval from the U.S. Interior Department to resume oil exploration this year in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s Arctic coast, provided it obtains all necessary permits from other state and federal agencies and comply with endangered species rules.

[Timothy Smith]

I believe strong dividend in a depressed market is a very strong value proposal.

[Norton1973]

RDS.A, part of the reason i bought/like owning Royal Dutch Shell is the dividend. :)

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) says it is postponing the startup of the Carmon Creek oil sands project in Alberta until 2019, about two years later than initially planned, while it works to wring cost savings from suppliers.

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) declares $0.94/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous.

Forward yield 5.92%

Payable June 22; for shareholders of record May 15; ex-div May 13

[Timothy Smith]

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and BP post solid gains in London trading following after Prime Minister Cameron’s Conservative Party swept to an unexpectedly strong U.K. election victory.

Shell, BP move higher following U.K. election results
http://www.seekingalpha.com/news/2506896