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The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rose 0.5%, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) lost 0.1% as of 0807 GMT. Oil and gas (.FTNMX601010) added 0.8% as crude prices gained against the dollar, lifting oil giants BP Plc (BP.L) and Shell Plc (SHEL.L) 0.6% and 1.0%, respectively. "The FTSE 100 is falling in line with the positive sentiment we saw at the start of the week, overlooking the China-Taiwan tensions," said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at HYCM. While concerns over a potential recession in the U.S. amid persistent inflation have weighed on sentiment recently, the FTSE 100 has been on a positive streak, helped by commodity stocks and defensives including pharmaceuticals. Shares of West Africa-focused oil producer Tullow Oil (TLW.L) slid 2.9% on Jefferies' downgrade to "underperform" from "hold."

☆ Shell sees stronger LNG volumes and oil product performance in Q1
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Shell PLC FollowApril 6 (Reuters) - Shell (SHEL.L) expects higher liquefied natural gas (LNG) output in the first quarter after outages at its Australian plants last year as well as stable earnings from LNG trading, it said on Thursday. Shell, which recorded a record $40 billion profit last year, said In an update ahead of results due on May 4 that it expected first-quarter liquefaction volumes of 7 to 7.4 million tonnes, up from 6.8 million tonnes in the previous quarter. Its oil products division also likely boosted earnings through a "significantly higher" trading performance, the world's biggest fuel retailer said. It expects to have paid between $2.6 and $3.4 billion in tax for the first quarter, down from $4.4 billion. Its renewables unit is set to contribute $100 to $700 million to adjusted earnings, compared with $300 million in the last quarter of 2022.

☆ Nigerians accuse Shell of delay in oil spill London lawsuits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Sam Tobin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Thousands of members of the Bille and Ogale communities are suing Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC over oil spills. Shell strongly denies any liability and argues that parts of the cases were brought too late. It also says the majority of the spills were caused by illegal third-party interference, such as pipeline sabotage and oil theft. Shell says two further trials could then take place to determine allegations against its subsidiary and Shell's alleged liability as its parent company. Shell's proposal is "advanced as a device to shield (Shell) from scrutiny", Richard Hermer, a lawyer representing the claimants, said in court filings.

☆ FTSE 100 up as oil stocks rise; Cineworld slumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SummarySummary Companies FTSE 100 up 0.5%, FTSE 250 flatApril 3 (Reuters) - UK's FTSE 100 hit a three-week high on Monday, lifted by oil giants as crude prices rallied following a surprise output cut by OPEC+, while theatre chain Cineworld neared record lows as it failed to find a buyer for its U.S., UK and Ireland businesses. Energy heavyweights Shell Plc (SHEL.L) and BP Plc (BP.L) advanced over 4% each as crude oil prices jumped more than 5% following an unexpected output cut over the weekend by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) and its allies. The broader energy sector (.FTNMX601010) was up 4.3%, on course for its biggest daily gain in more than four months. The export-oriented FTSE 100 (.FTSE) rose 0.5%, kicking off the new quarter with gains, as the pound slipped. Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia CheemaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Companies Shell PLC FollowSINGAPORE, March 30 (Reuters) - Shell has decided not to go ahead with two projects it was studying to produce biofuels and base oils in Singapore, a company spokesperson said on Thursday. "We can confirm that we are stopping the exploration of two projects – a biofuels unit and a Group II base oil plant in Singapore," the company told Reuters in an emailed statement. "We will continue supplying base oil and lubricants, as well as biofuels, to our customers in Singapore and the region." Shell is building a 820,000 tpy biofuels plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and had targeted to make about 2 million tpy of SAF by 2025. Reporting by Trixie Yap and Florence Tan; Editing by Jan Harvey and Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ovo Energy plans takeover of Shell gas and electricity arm
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Ovo Energy is planning a takeover of Shell Plc 's UK gas and electricity business, a move that would allow the British retail energy supplier to reclaim the No. Ovo is expected to propose an indicative offer for Shell Energy Retail Ltd's UK operation, the report added, citing sources. Shell Energy Retail has about 1.4 million customers. Retail energy suppliers in Europe have struggled over the past year with soaring wholesale prices forcing governments to shield consumers from rising bills. This would put Ovo ahead of Octopus Energy, currently the UK's second-largest supplier, which has nearly 5 million household customers after its takeover of energy supplier Bulb.

☆ New Shell CEO Faces Big Dilemma: Should the Company Pump More Oil?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Jenny Strasburg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HOUSTON— Wael Sawan knows he is about to make some people very unhappy. The new chief executive of Shell PLC is in the midst of crafting his business plan for the London-based energy giant, including whether to increase oil production. Doing so would please many investors looking to build on last year’s oil-and-gas bonanza, which produced record annual earnings for Shell.

Iraq's Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani, who took office in October, plans to update Iraq's oil production strategies to meet local needs while complying with the OPEC+ agreement, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters. It is too early for the new government to talk about any significant increases in Iraq's oil production outside the OPEC+ agreement, Jihad said. 'HARD, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE'For the oil sector, the country has repeatedly delayed a target to reach 7-8 million bpd capacity, from the current 5 million bpd. The beneficiaries were not the international oil companies, but UAE firm Crescent Petroleum and two Chinese companies. Iraq's oil minister this month revived seven investment opportunities in Iraq's refining sector.

☆ UK pension funds threaten to vote against BP and Shell directors over climate targets - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 12 (Reuters) - Two of the UK's largest pension schemes will vote against the election of top directors at BP Plc (BP.L) and Shell Plc (SHEL.L) at their annual meetings unless both companies improve their commitments to tackling carbon emissions, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Shell declined to comment, while BP, USS and Borders to Coast did not respond immediately to requests for comment. BP said previously it aimed to cut emissions from fuels sold to customers to 20% to 30% by 2030, less than an earlier target of a 35% to 40% reduction, and it planned to reduce its total emissions to net zero by 2050. Shell has pledged to be a net zero carbon company by 2050 and has said its overall carbon emissions peaked in 2018 at around 1.7 billion tonnes. ($1 = 0.8314 pounds)Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HOUSTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Guyana's coming auction of offshore oil exploration blocks has lured at least 10 companies including Shell, Petrobras and Chevron, to consider the decade's hottest oil region, people close to the matter said. Guyana also has begun direct negotiations on the 14 blocks and other areas with governments that have state-controlled oil companies. The proposed rules will nearly double the government's take from oil production to 27.5% of royalties and profit oil, plus a new 10% corporate tax, compared to Exxon's main contract. "We believe it is asymmetric now, and a bit in favor of the companies," Jagdeo said. The Exxon group can use 75% of the oil production to offset a variety of costs, including construction of its new Guyana headquarters.

☆ Chevron CEO does not rule out consolidation among oil majors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sabrina Valle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HOUSTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp. (CVX.N) Chief Executive Michael Wirth on Tuesday said a consolidation between the five top Western oil producers remains a possibility but would face regulatory hurdles. Soaring stock prices and cash levels at oil-focused U.S. energy majors has driven Wall Street talk of potential deals for European oil producers. Citi analysts in January speculated Chevron or Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) could acquire BP PLC (BP.L), Shell PLC (SHEL.L) or TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) due to valuation differences. "I never say never about anything," Wirth said in a media briefing following the company's annual business update for investors. Chevron is not in a hurry for M&A in oil or renewable energy and remains committed to keeping a tight rein on spending even during periods of high energy prices and cash abundance, he said.

☆ Exxon warns of Russia risks to its $2.5 billion Kazakhstan income
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Sabrina Valle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HOUSTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Wednesday warned in a securities filing of potential risks to its Kazakhstan oil operations, which provided $2.5 billion in earnings last year. Threats to Kazakhstan oil exports have been in the spotlight since Moscow invaded Ukraine a year ago this week. Exxon and Chevron (CVX.N) are major holders in the Central Asia country's oil production and related export pipeline. Kazakhstan shares a 4,750 mile (7,644 km) border with Russia and its oil exports travel mainly through a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) line through Russia and lands at a Russian Black Sea export terminal. Any closure of the CPC pipeline or terminal would shut in more than 1% of global oil supply and cost its producers billions of dollars in lost income.

☆ Brent oil lower amid stronger dollar, caution ahead of Fed minutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Brent crude benchmark opened slightly lower on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar strengthened and traders waited for cues from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes, after optimism over demand amid tightening supplies drove prices higher on Monday. Brent crude was down 59 cents, or 0.5%, at $83.57 a barrel on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) for March, which expires on Tuesday, was up 78 cents, or 1.02%, at $77.12 at 0146 GMT. "The U.S. dollar strengthened and pressed on the oil price in the Asian session today, causing a pullback in the oil markets from yesterday's rebound," said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets. Russia plans to cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day, equating to about 5% of its output, in March after the West imposed price caps on Russian oil and oil products.

After a dearth of plant approvals last decade, developers have secured dozens of long-term contracts to finance new multibillion-dollar LNG plants. The United States was long an importer of LNG, but natural gas discoveries and production from the shale revolution flipped the country into an LNG exporter in 2016. U.S. LNG exports hit 10.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2022, making the country the second biggest LNG exporter behind Australia. But their production volumes will allow the United States to remain ahead of output from Australia and Qatar. The seven U.S. export plants already in service, including Freeport LNG, can turn about 13.8 billion cubic feet of gas into LNG each day.

☆ Shell Directors Are Sued Over Action on Climate
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Gareth Vipers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON—An advocacy group sued the directors of Shell PLC, challenging the oil giant over what it says are failures to act on the climate crisis. ClientEarth, a group of environmental lawyers that holds a small shareholding in Shell, said it has filed a lawsuit against the board. The organization said the claim marks the first time corporate directors could potentially be held personally liable over a company’s action on fossil fuels.

☆ Third Point Has a Stake in Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Laura Cooper | Lauren Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Dan Loeb ‘s Third Point LLC has a stake in Salesforce Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, the fifth known activist shareholder with a position in the software company’s shares. Third Point is known for taking stakes and pushing for change at blue-chip companies including Campbell Soup Co., Shell PLC and Walt Disney Co., with which it reached a settlement agreement last year.

☆ Oil Industry’s Windfall Fails to Excite Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Collin Eaton | Jenny Strasburg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Oil companies delivered the market’s best shareholder returns last year, but Wall Street is still wary. The biggest Western oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Shell PLC, together cleared a record of more than $132 billion in annual profit in 2022 and handed investors $78 billion via share buybacks and dividends, about 50% more than the last time oil topped $100 a barrel in 2014.

☆ Shell Joins U.S. Oil Majors in Posting Record 2022 Profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jenny Strasburg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON— Shell PLC became the latest oil giant to post a record annual profit last year, joining American peers in surging back from early pandemic losses on soaring energy prices. Shell’s $41.6 billion full-year profit surpassed the London-based company’s previous record of $31.4 billion in 2008, measured on a net current-cost-of-supplies basis—a figure similar to the net income that U.S. oil companies report.

☆ Shell Posts $42 Billion Profit, Adding to Industry’s Record Haul
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jenny Strasburg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Shell’s results are the first reported under Chief Executive Wael Sawan. LONDON— Shell PLC became the latest oil giant to post a record annual profit last year, joining American peers in surging back from early pandemic losses on soaring energy prices. Shell’s $41.6 billion full-year profit surpassed the London-based company’s previous record of $31.4 billion in 2008, measured on a net current-cost-of-supplies basis—a figure similar to the net income that U.S. oil companies report.

Feb 1 (Reuters) - North American pipeline operator TC Energy Corp (TRP.TO) on Wednesday raised its cost estimate more than expected for completing its troubled Coastal GasLink project, sending share prices sharply lower. The company attributed the cost increase to a labor shortage, poor work by contractors and adverse weather. TC is looking to sell C$5 billion worth of assets this year to raise funds to repay debt and pay for projects including Coastal. TC Energy raised its overall 2023 capital expenditure outlook to C$11.5 billion-C$12 billion from C$9.5 billion earlier, partly due to Coastal's higher costs. An impairment will be recognized to TC Energy's equity investment in Coastal in its fourth-quarter results scheduled for Feb. 14, the company said.

☆ Exxon smashes Western oil majors' profits with $56 billion in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Sabrina Valle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Overall earnings and cash flow were up pretty significantly year on year," Exxon Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells told Reuters. "So that came really from a combination of strong markets, strong throughput, strong production, and really good cost control." Exxon boasted that its cash flow from operations soared to $76.8 billion last year, up from $48.1 billion in 2021. Part of it is explained by rising costs in the Permian, with inflation in the double digits, amid "really, really hot" demand for equipments and services, he said. Exxon's results come ahead of what are expected to be strong earnings from Shell plc on Thursday and from BP plc and TotalEnergies next week.

☆ Exxon smashes Western oil majors' earnings record with $59 billion profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Sabrina Valle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The scale has renewed criticism of the oil industry and sparked calls for more countries to levy windfall profit taxes on the companies. "So that came really from a combination of strong markets, strong throughput, strong production, and really good cost control." Exxon said it incurred a $1.3 billion hit to its fourth quarter earnings from a European Union windfall tax that began in the final quarter and from asset impairments. Slapping new taxes on oil earnings "has the opposite effect of what you are trying to achieve," she said, adding it would discourage new oil and gas production. Adjusted fourth quarter per share profit was $3.09 per share, below the $3.32 per share forecast by Zacks Financial.

☆ Shell to combine its integrate gas, upstream businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The logo of Shell on an oil storage silo, beyond railway tanker wagons at the company's Pernis refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. Shell Plc said on Monday its integrated gas and upstream businesses would be combined to form a new integrated gas and upstream directorate led by current upstream director Zoe Yujnovich. The downstream business will be combined with the renewables & energy solutions unit to form a new downstream and renewables directorate led by current downstream director Huibert Vigeveno, the company said.

☆ Shell considers exiting UK, German, Dutch energy retail businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Ron Bousso | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Shell PLC FollowLONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Shell (SHEL.L) has launched a strategic review of its home energy retail businesses in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany in the wake of "tough market conditions", it said on Thursday. European energy suppliers have struggled over the past year with soaring wholesale prices and efforts by governments to shield consumers from rising bills. No decision has been taken yet on the future of the businesses, Shell said. Shell injected nearly $1.5 billion in cash and credit into its British energy retail business in 2022 to help it weather huge volatility in power prices that caused the collapse of several rival UK utilities. Shell said its wholesale and business-to-business (B2B) energy supply businesses are not part of the strategic review, and neither are its home energy supply businesses in the United States and Australia.

☆ Exclusive: Harbour Energy to cut jobs due to UK windfall tax
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ron Bousso | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The jobs would be cut in Harbour Energy's headquarters in the North Sea hub of Aberdeen, Scotland, but the extent of the cuts is yet to be determined and will be subject to consultations. Harbour Energy Plc has 1,700 employees worldwide, according to its website. Executives in North Sea companies have urged the British government to introduce a price floor to mitigate the impact of the windfall tax as firms struggle to access new funding. Industry group OEUK said in response to Harbour's announcement that the windfall tax will further undercut spending. Companies including Shell Plc (SHEL.L) and Equinor ASA (EQNR.OL) have already said they will review their North Sea investments.

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