Tag: Shell

DNV awards Shells Quest Carbon Capture and Storage project DNV has issued the world's first certificate of fitness for a carbon dioxide (CO2) storage development plan to Shell's Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project. The proposed Quest project will capture and permanently store underground more than one million tonnes of CO2 per year from its Scotford Upgrader, located near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.DNV, together with industry and governments, has recently developed recommended guidelines and best practices for CO2 geological storage selection and risk assessment, and were commissioned by Shell to coordinate a comprehensive review to assess the suitability of the Quest project's underground storage formation to safely and permanently store injected CO2. The review also assessed the project's measurement, monitoring and verification program to validate that it would provide the necessary rigor to demonstrate effective containment. DNV assembled a panel of seven CCS experts from academia and research institutions to perform the review over a two-week period."Through developing guidelines and standards for CCS in collaboration with governments and industry, DNV has taken an instrumental role towards paving the way for safe and cost-effective deployment of CCS," Jørg Aarnes, Principal Consultant, DNV says. "But while regulations, guidelines and standards may help ...

latest effort to block Shell from drilling off the coast of Alaska Environmental groups have filed a formal challenge to air-quality permits that Royal Dutch Shell needs to drill for oil in the Arctic.The challenges, filed Monday, represent the latest effort to block Shell from drilling off the coast of Alaska and could derail the company's plans to begin exploring the region in 2012.The permits under question were approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September. The permits allow Shell to use the drillship "Discoverer" and a fleet of icebreakers and other vessels in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.The environmental groups, led by Earthjustice, say the permits granted by EPA don't protect air quality. They filed a petition with the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board."The EPA essentially is green-lighting dangerous Arctic Ocean oil drilling," Earthjustice attorney Colin O'Brien said in a statement.Shell spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said company executives "believe the EPA conducted a thorough technical analysis before issuing this air permit, and we expect the permit to be upheld by the Environmental Appeals Board."Environmental groups have launched several challenges to Shell's plan to drill in the Arctic. In September, the groups sued the Interior Department for approving the ...

No need for long pipelines and for platforms to pump the gas to shore Royal Dutch Shell PLC's (RDSA, RDSB, RDSA.LN, RDSB.LN) new technology to produce liquefied natural gas aboard floating vessels will prove to be a game changer for the offshore gas industry, said the company's Chairman, Jorma Ollila Tuesday."This game-changing technology will substantially reduce the cost and environmental footprint of developing offshore gas fields," Ollila said at the International Energy Agency's Ministerial Meeting in Paris."There is no need for long pipelines, for platforms to pump the gas to shore, for dredging, jetty construction or onshore development," all of which add costs to gas projects, he said.Shell plans to use the first floating LNG plant to develop the Prelude gas fields 200 kilometres off the coast of Australia. This project demonstrates that floating LNG opens up potential oil and gas reserves formerly regarded as too expensive to produce, said Martin Ferguson, Australia's Minister for Resources and Energy.Floating LNG will become an important contributor to Australia's economic well being, Ferguson said.Source: Dow Jones Newswires

To build a liquefied natural gas terminal in India Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (500109.BY) is in initial talks with three companies including Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in India, a senior MRPL executive said Tuesday."Several issues like ownership, gas sourcing, investment, the size of the terminal are under discussion," the executive, who didn't wish to be named, told Dow Jones Newswires.GAIL (India) Ltd. (532155.BY) and Petronet LNG Ltd. (532522.BY) are the other companies MRPL is talking to, the executive said.MRPL, a unit of state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (500312.BY), operates a 236,000-barrel-a-day refinery at Mangalore in the southern state of Karnataka. It is looking to invest in an LNG terminal as it seeks cheap gas for its petrochemical plant and refinery."We need 2.8 million standard cubic meters of gas a day, and an investment into an LNG terminal would be the best way to secure supply," the executive said.Shell India declined to comment on the matter while GAIL didn't immediately comment. A Petronet executive, who didn't want to be named, said that "discussions have been held with MRPL for a terminal at Mangalore but there isn't anything concrete."A shortfall in domestic ...

Shell shouldn't have been issued an oil drilling permit Royal Dutch Shell Oil may have gotten the Obama administration to approve the most aggressive Arctic drilling proposal in US history, but not without a challenge. A coalition of native and conservation groups filed suit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement's (BOEMRE) over its decision to allow offshore oil drilling in Arctic's Beaufort Sea.In granting the permit, BOEMRE said it "found no evidence that the proposed action would significantly affect the quality of the human environment."Yet, U.S. Coast Guard officials have repeatedly explained the resources to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean simply don't exist. This summer, Commandant Admiral Robert Papp told Congress the federal government has "zero" spill response capability in the Arctic."The lawsuit filed against the Obama administration argues Shell shouldn't have been issued an oil drilling permit in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea without having a credible cleanup plan in the event of an oil spill."The holes in Shell's plan, notably the lack of a workable oil spill response plan, leave the fragile natural systems of the Arctic and the livelihoods of native communities at risk. Smarter transportation choices, not dangerous drilling ...

The EPA approved the air permit for the drilling vessel Noble Discover, Shell Oil Co. on Monday took a step closer to tapping vast petroleum reserves off Alaska's Arctic coasts when the federal Environmental Protection Agency approved an air quality permit for one of the company's drilling vessels.The EPA approved the air permit for the drilling vessel Noble Discover, which Shell hopes to use for exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast, and its support fleet of oil spill response and supply vessels.Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said the permit was a hopeful step."The delivery of final air permits for our exploration program is another in a series of recent, positive developments and adds to our confidence that we will be drilling our offshore Alaska leases by July of next year," Smith said in an email.Environmental groups and some Alaska Native groups bitterly oppose offshore Arctic drilling.Drilling during the ice-free months this year was blocked in part by a successful appeal of two air permits the EPA issued to Shell in 2010. The agency's independent Environmental Appeals Board overturned the permits in December.The EPA said Monday that under the new permits, Shell will reduce its fleet emissions ...

About 1,300 barrels-spilled into the North Sea- the worst oil spill in a decade Royal Dutch Shell PLC may be prosecuted for the U.K.'s worst oil spill in a decade, after Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said an investigation into a leak from Shell's Gannet Alpha platform last month will be sent to Scotland's public prosector.The Department of Energy and Climate Change previously said the findings of the investigation would only be sent to the procurator fiscal "if appropriate.""My department and the health and safety executive have commenced investigations into the cause of the incident," said Mr. Huhne, adding it would likely "take some months.""A full report will be sent to the procurator fiscal to consider whether a prosecution is appropriate," Mr. Huhne said.About 218 metric tons of oil-equivalent to 1,300 barrels-spilled into the North Sea from a leaking undersea pipeline at the North Sea platform between Aug. 10 and 19.Mr. Huhne said the DECC was initially informed on Aug. 10 of a surface oil sheen and was told a leak had occurred. He was then told by Shell that the leak had been stemmed the following day.However, on Aug. 12, aerial surveillance in the late afternoon showed ...

The agreement will focus first on supplies from the US Gulf Coast, and then later expand Wärtsilä, the marine industry's leading solutions provider, and Shell Oil Company have signed a Joint Co-operation Agreement aimed at promoting and accelerating the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel. The agreement was signed in August 2011 and will run for several years.Supplies of low cost, low emissions LNG fuel will be made available to Wärtsilä natural gas powered vessel operators, and other customers by Shell. The Joint Cooperation Agreement will focus first on supplies from the US Gulf Coast, and then later expand their efforts to cover a broader geographical range.Gas fuelled marine engines are seen as being a logical means for ship owners and operators to comply with increasingly stringent environmental legislation. This agreement aims at increasing and easing the availability of natural gas for marine engine use, as well as developing the supply chain and infrastructure to facilitate the bunkering of LNG fuel. The two companies will jointly move these developments to marine markets in order to enhance its rapid introduction and use.Wärtsilä has been at the forefront in the development of dual-fuel engine technology, allowing the same ...

Ocean, coastal and meteorological data NOAA, Shell Exploration & Production, ConocoPhillips, and Statoil USA E&P Inc.signed an agreement to enhance collaboration on ocean, coastal and climate science for the Arctic. The agreement calls for sharing a number of scientific data sets for this largely frontier region, including weather and ocean observations, biological information, and sea ice and sea floor mapping studies.This agreement provides a framework among the signatories to share high-quality data to enhance NOAA's ability to monitor climate change and provide useful products and services that inform responsible energy exploration activities in the region. Integrating these types of data could also provide a greater national capacity to effectively manage and respond to environmental disasters, such as hazardous spills, in an area where limited personnel and facilities exist.NOAA will conduct quality control on all data provided to the agency under this agreement before it is incorporated into NOAA products and services through compliance with OMB and NOAA guidelines implementing the Information Quality Act, for example, through peer review.Consistent with NOAA's commitment to openness and transparency, as highlighted most recently in its draft scientific integrity policy, NOAA will make the data obtained under this agreement available to the public except as ...

But green groups remain angry over slow public reporting of leak Shell has defended its much-criticised reporting of this month's North Sea oil spill, but has stopped short of providing a full picture of how the decision to announce the spill was made.The company has recently been under fire from green groups. These have accused the oil giant of failing to provide transparent information on the largest UK oil spill in the past decade, after it emerged that the spill was first detected on Wednesday 10th August, but was not publicly confirmed until two days later.Dr Richard Dixon of WWF Scotland accused the company of only "grudgingly" releasing information to the public, while Per Fischer, communications officer at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said Shell was guilty of providing "drip-fed information" to the press and public.Green NGOs also accused Shell of only issuing a public statement on the leak after industry magazine Upstream approached the company on Friday 12 August, seeking confirmation on reports that there was a major spill in the North Sea. The incident has further fuelled allegations that oil companies frequently fail to provide public updates on oil leaks, ensuring that many smaller spills go largely unnoticed.But ...