GLOBAL OFFSHORE UPDATE

Royal Dutch Shell expects to pump out all the fossil fuel reserves listed on its balance sheet, its chief executive said, dismissing concerns that production limits in the wake of the Paris climate accord could hit the energy giant's valuation. In an interview with Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, Ben van Beurden said the issue of "stranded" reserves - deposits in the ground that cannot be used because of carbon emissions limitations - would have no impact on balance sheets.

Shell and its joint venture (JV) partners, Pavilion Energy and Ophir Energy, have started their drilling program offshore Tanzania. The $80-million campaign, which consists of one well in Block 1 and another in Block 4, will take place in the Mafia Deep basin. The drillship supporting the program–the Noble Globetrotter 2–will be operating in water depths of up to 2,300 m. According to Shell, the two wells will meet the remaining exploration requirements as per the licenses issued by Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals. The development of Blocks 1 and 4 is part of the Tanzania LNG project. Shell and its Block 1 and 4 partners are working with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and other Block 2 partners on future development of the project'>project. “In the current investment climate, there is a critical need to have strong project'>project fundamentals, including government support and cooperation,” Shell said. Shell became the operator ...

Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s second-biggest oil company by market value, thinks demand for oil could peak in as little as five years. “We’ve long been of the opinion that demand will peak before supply,” CFO Simon Henry said on a conference call on Tuesday. “And that peak may be somewhere between 5 and 15 years hence, and it will be driven by efficiency and substitution, more than offsetting the new demand for transport.” If renewable energy and other disruptive technologies, such as electric cars, continue their rapid advance, petroleum use will peak in 2030, the World Energy Council has forecast. Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, predicts a peak in 2025 and decline in the 2030s. “For the first time, oil companies have to think seriously about the future,” Alastair Syme, an oil analyst at Citigroup in London, said by phone. Drillers that even a couple of years ago believed “every molecule of oil we produce will have a market,” have come to realize ...

Royal Dutch Shell and BP on Tuesday joined peers in reporting higher than expected earnings by making further deep cuts in spending to cope with an oil price downturn now in its third year. The companies said they were well on the way to adapting to the more than halving in prices. But any new sharper downturn would test their ability to invest for growth and retain the relatively large dividends their shareholders expect. Shell's stock rose by over 4 percent as it announced higher quarterly earnings than arch-rival U.S. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest listed oil company by output and market capitalization. The Anglo-Dutch major, which acquired rival BG for $54 billion earlier this year, had been under pressure to cut costs after second quarter earnings came in around 50 percent below forecasts. By contrast, BP's stock fell by more than 4 percent by 1210 ET as some analysts said its results were boosted by a one-off tax gain, meaning its longer-term profits and ...

Royal Dutch Shell reported third-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates after its acquisition of BG Group boosted oil production, helping to counter a slump in prices. The shares rose. Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes advanced 17% from a year earlier to $2.79 billion, The Hague-based Shell said Tuesday. That exceeded the $1.79-billion average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, and the earnings of U.S. giant Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Ben Van Beurden, who completed Shell’s record purchase of BG in February, has vowed to boost savings from the acquisition and use higher cash flows to safeguard the dividend following a two-year slump in crude. While the purchase increased Shell’s production from Australia to Latin America, it also forced the company to take on billions of dollars of debt and limit spending. Shell expects capital investment to be about $25 billion in 2017, at the bottom of its $25 billion to $30 billion guidance and lower than th...

Royal Dutch Shell expects to take part in the next bidding round for exploration licenses offshore Norway, after dropping out of the latest one, the head of its Norwegian unit said on Monday. The oil major pulled its application from Norway's 23rd Arctic-focused oil licensing round in April, saying it needed to take a break to assess its exploration plans after the acquisition of BG, and due to low oil prices. "We are looking forward to the 24th round in order to increase our activity on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS)," Tor Arnesen, the head of Shell's Norwegian unit, told an oil conference in northern Norway. Arnesen said the decision to pull out of the 23rd licensing round was "sad and very regrettable" for the company, which has been a long-standing operator off Norway. Monday's announcement may come as a relief to the Nordic country, which saw the withdrawal as a blow to its ambitions to explore for oil and gas in its northern offsh...