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Frozen Future: Shell’s ongoing gamble in the US Arctic
Royal Dutch Shell stands at a strategic crossroads. Its response to the reserves scandal in 2004 has been a global reserves replacement hunt through a programme of relentless capital expenditure, including an investment in US Arctic Ocean leases in the mid-2000s that dwarfed other companies’ spending. Shell’s US offshore Arctic plans have been a failure…
25 Feb 2014 anna -
Russian Roulette: International Oil Company Risk in the Russian Arctic
International Oil Companies (IOCs) face pressure from investors to achieve a positive reserves replacement ratio. With governments around the world increasingly asserting control over natural resources in their territory, as well as conventional oil reserves dwindling, the Arctic is one of the frontier areas targeted by IOCs. In Russia, IOCs have entered a number of…
21 Apr 2013 anna -
Making a Killing: Oil Companies, Tax Avoidance and Subsidies
Oil company mega-profits are being made at the expense of the public purse, as youth centres shut, hospitals struggle and the queues at food banks grow. Companies like BP & Shell receive major government support including direct subsidies and military and diplomatic services, but seem to pay very small amounts of UK tax in comparison…
16 Feb 2013 admin -
Repeated Misadventures: Key questions for Shell on its Alaskan Arctic programme
On 8th January 2013, the U.S. Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, announced a review of the 2012 Alaskan Arctic offshore drilling programme “to review practices and identify challenges as well as lessons learned.” The review to be completed within 60 days will focus on the successive setbacks encountered by Shell during 2012. These include its failure…
14 Jan 2013 anna -
Russian Roulette – the BP and Rosneft deal
On 22nd October BP plc announced it had agreed heads of terms to sell its 50% stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft. BP’s official announcement of the proposed deal refers to Rosneft’s 2011 oil reserve replacement ratio of 127% and dividend of 25% of IFRS net income. However, there are a number of areas of concern…
5 Nov 2012 james -
London Late – The Big Money Games
London Late: The Big Money Games is a spoof newspaper that critiques and pokes fun at some of the more controversial sponsors of the Olympic Games, including BP, Addidas, Rio Tinto, G4S and Dow Chemicals. The paper has been produced by five organisations – the London Mining Network, the anti-poverty charity War on Want, the…
7 Aug 2012 admin -
Out in the Cold: Investor Risk in Shell’s Arctic Exploration
Royal Dutch Shell’s plans for Arctic exploration are exposing investors to a ‘spectrum of risks’, this new report by Platform, Fairpensions, and Greenpeace warns. Download the report (pdf) and investor briefing or read online below. The report highlights Shell’s failure to address key concerns for investors and environmentalists: • Spill response plans are inadequate –…
21 May 2012 anna -
Risking Ruin: Shell’s dangerous developments in the Tar Sands, Arctic and Nigeria
Shell’s plant is located directly on my father’s hunting grounds and today, instead of feeding my family, these lands kill my community. Shell’s plans to expand bitumen refining in an area already devastated by pollution is effectively a death sentence for our culture, lands and people. Ron Plain This report profiles the global Indigenous communities impacted by Shell’s operations in Canada’s Alberta Tar Sands,…
18 May 2012 admin -
Getting to Market: Emerging Investor Risks in the Tar Sands
The global oil price wavers around $100 a barrel as traders are split over whether Brent Crude is about to plummet due to the Eurozone disaster getting worse, or about the spike due to a renewed Middle East crisis. It is snowing in Fort McKay, in Nothern Alberta, and the temperature of -6 feels like…
14 Dec 2011 anna
