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Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced major deals in developing sector.

The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has announced new refining and petrochemical projects worth $9bn.

The Ministry said it is working on launching new refining projects valued at $7.5bn, including the expansion of Midor refinery in Alexandria, Egypt, which has completed its first and second phases and started experimentally operating, as well as the diesel production complex project at Assiut’s ANOPC.

It also added other projects including the Suez Petroleum Processing Company’s coking complex and diesel production, the condensate distillation project at Nasr Petroleum Company in Suez, and the air distillation project at Assiut’s oil refiner.

Egypt petrochemicals

The Egyptian ministry succeeded in operating eight new projects in fields of oil refining, with investments of $5bn, as part of a strategy launched in 2016 to develop the petroleum refining industry and increase its production capacities to reduce imports.

The strategy’s success led to doubling the domestic production of petrochemical materials to more than 4.3 million tons annually by the end of 2021/2022, compared to 2.1 million tons in 2015/2016, following the expansions that were added in 2016 and 2017 with a total investment of about $4bn.

By ArabianBusiness, July 11, 2023

Oil and gas will continue to be leading sources of energy for decades to come on the back of a lagging energy transition, major industry players said at the Energy Asia conference held in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur this week.

“We think the biggest realization that should come out of this conference … is oil and gas are needed for decades to come,” said John Hess, CEO of U.S. oil company Hess Corporation.

“Energy transition is going to take a lot longer, it’s going to cost a lot more money and need new technologies that don’t even exist today,” he continued.

When it comes to clean energy, the world needs to invest $4 trillion a year — and it’s nowhere close, Hess said.

According to the International Energy Agency, global investment in clean energy is set to rise to $1.7 trillion in 2023.

Hess said oil and gas are key to the world’s economic competitiveness, as well as an affordable and secure energy transition.

The oil market will be more constructive in the second half of the year, with production going up to 1.2 million barrels a day in 2027, he predicted. He noted that the biggest challenge the world has is the underinvestment in the industry.

“The world is facing a structural deficit in energy supply, in oil and gas, in clean energy,” he said.

Likewise, at the the conference’s opening address, OPEC’s Secretary General projected global oil demand will rise to 110 million barrels a day by 2045. The growth comes on the back of rapid urbanization over the next few years, Haitham Al Ghais said.

In an e-mail exchange Tuesday, the largest U.S. oil producer ExxonMobil reiterated the same.

The company expects oil to remain the largest primary source of energy for at least two more decades given its vital place in the commercial transportation and chemical industry.

“Liquids are projected to remain the world’s leading energy source in 2050, even as demand growth slows beyond 2025,” Erin McGrath, ExxonMobil’s public and government affairs senior advisor, told CNBC.

“Overall, demand for liquids is expected to rise by about 15 million barrels per day by 2050. Almost all the growth will come from the emerging markets of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.”

Main drivers?

Asia will continue to spur the demand for oil and gas, as the region’s growth is set to overtake the U.S. and Europe by the end of the year.

“This is the region where the growth in energy demand will be, and more to come,” S&P Global’s Vice Chairman Dan Yergin said at the energy conference. He said Southeast Asia’s population alone is 50% greater than the European Union’s.

Growth in LNG markets last year were driven by China, India, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, the chairman of French petroleum energy company TotalEnergies said.

“The demand is in Asia. The demand is here, you have 5 billion people moving population, [asking] for a better way of life. And so this is where we must look to the future,” said Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies.

Likewise for oil, one of India’s largest oil companies has increased refining capacities.

“We are probably one of the few companies, one of the few countries who are going to increase refining capacities in the next three to four years by 20%,” said A.S. Sahney from Indian Oil Corporation at a separate panel discussion.

“That shows our belief in [the] continuance of fuel,” the executive director said, acknowledging that energy transition is here to stay.

“But at the same time, the demand projections for the country are such that we are forced to put up new refineries,” he continued.

According to the IEA, India is expected to see the largest increase in energy demand of any country —demand is forecast to rise more than 3% when it becomes the world’s most populous country by 2025.

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco is also banking on hopes that China and India will drive oil demand growth of more than 2 million barrels per day, at least for the rest of this year.

Once the broader global economy starts to recover, the industry’s supply demand balances could tighten, said CEO Amin Nasser during his speech at the summit.

Oil demand an ‘ancient story’

Commodities trading firm Vitol is less bullish, predicting that demand for crude will peak in 2030 — two years later than the IEA’s forecast.

“We got it peaking in about 2030 and a gradual decline out to 2040 … And then [a] rapid decline thereafter as the EV fleet and energy transition takes over,” Vitol CEO, Russell Hardy, said during a panel discussion.

While the industry faces good fundamentals in the next few months, Russia’s continued oil production and sputtering Chinese growth complicate forecasts of where prices will go.

“The supply side is slightly overblown, particularly [in] Russia where there were quite a lot of expectations for production loss as a result of the difficulty of getting oil to market because of the sanctions,” Hardy said.

“Because of the global economic malaise at the moment, Chinese recovery is stalling a little bit,” he continued, pointing out that China’s demand for oil has not been as strong as expected.

He observed that Europe and the U.S. have one and a half million barrels a day less demand today compared to 2019 as more consumers are pushed toward renewable sources in Europe and Asia.

“So the demand is an ancient story.”

By CNBC, July 11, 2023

Global petroleum prices appear reasonable given the level of inventories – to the frustration of the producers who would like them to be significantly higher.

Commercial inventories of crude oil and refined products in the OECD advanced economies were around 2,842 million barrels at the end of May, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Commercial inventories were just -35 million barrels (-1% or -0.19 standard deviations) below the prior 10-year seasonal average (“Short-term energy outlook”, EIA, June 6).

Given stocks almost exactly in line with the long-term seasonal average, it is unsurprising spot prices and calendar spreads were also close to average.

Front-month Brent futures prices ended May at $73 per barrel, which was in the 40th percentile for all trading days since the start of the century, once adjusted for inflation.

While the real price was a little low, it was not obviously mispriced or significantly below the long-term median price of $81.

Brent’s six-month calendar spread was trading in a backwardation of $1.31 per barrel, in the 54th percentile for all trading days since the start of the century.

The spread was slightly high, but again not obviously mispriced, or significantly above the long-term median of a backwardation of 98 cents.

Chartbook: Global oil stocks and prices

There are no comprehensive estimates for OECD inventories in June as yet.

But since the end of May, spot prices have been steady, spreads have weakened slightly, and oil stocks in the United States have been stable, all of which is consistent with a market close to balance.

Looking forward, production cuts by Saudi Arabia and its allies in OPEC⁺, as well as the declining oil and gas rig counts in the United States, are likely to deplete inventories later in 2023 and into 2024.

Working in the other direction, however, are high exports from Russia, Venezuela and Iran; rising interest rates and slowing economies in North America and Europe; and a sluggish post-pandemic recovery in China.

For all the powerful rhetoric from bulls and bears, including some producers and investors, the market remains in a glass half-full, half-empty condition, depending on your perspective.

Reuters by Barbara Lewis, July 11, 2023

The volume of crude oil sitting in stationary tankers jumped to the highest in more than two and a half years on June 23, as an unusual cluster of Saudi oil tankers is idle off Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Crude oil on stationary tankers has reached around 129 million barrels as of the end of last week, the highest floating crude volumes since October 2020, Vortexa data cited by Bloomberg showed on Monday.

Recent data points have shown that while crude on floating storage has been rising, crude in transit and total crude volumes at sea have been falling, according to Bloomberg. 

Several OPEC+ producers began production cuts in May, which will now extend into 2024, while Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude oil exporter and OPEC’s largest producer, will unilaterally reduce its output by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, to around 9 million bpd.

The cut could be extended beyond next month, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has said.

The rise in floating storage is also due to an unusual cluster of mostly Saudi supertankers loaded with oil that has been idling off Egypt’s Red Sea coast for weeks. Signs have emerged that the cluster may have started to clear as two of the 11 tankers are no longer anchored near the Ain Sukhna oil terminal off Egypt.

As of June 16, ten very large crude carriers (VLCCs) carrying around 20 million barrels of oil were floating off Ain Sukhna and another two supertankers were heading to the same location, Vortexa data showed.

All 10 floating supertankers have been stationary for seven days or more and most of these cargoes loaded during or after the second half of May, Jay Maroo, Head of Market Intelligence & Analysis (MENA) at Vortexa, wrote in a note.

It wasn’t immediately clear what has caused the accumulation of tankers, while Saudi Arabia hasn’t commented on the build-up of cargoes off Egypt. Most supertankers carrying Saudi Arabian crude typically deliver the oil to Ain Sukhna without transiting the Suez Canal.

The most likely reason is a lack of storage, according to Bloomberg.

Oilprice.com by Charles Kennedy, July 11, 2023

An affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC (“ArcLight”) has acquired an incremental 12.5% interest in Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (“NGPL”) from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN) (“Brookfield Infrastructure”). As a result of this transaction, ArcLight’s ownership in NGPL increased to 37.5% while Brookfield Infrastructure retains a 25% interest. Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI) continues to operate the pipeline and holds a 37.5% interest in NGPL.

“Our investment in NGPL continues to be highly representative of ArcLight’s thesis in strategic natural gas infrastructure. NGPL provides critical energy reliability and security services to utilities, enables increasing electrification in the U.S. and supports the generational shift in supply-demand fundamentals driven by LNG export growth. In addition, we believe NGPL serves as a critical enabler to the future development of energy transition infrastructure. We are excited to further invest in our longstanding partnership with Kinder Morgan, a highly sophisticated operator with industry leading ESG credentials,” said Lucius Taylor, Partner at ArcLight.

NGPL is the largest transporter of natural gas into the high-demand Chicago-area market as well as one of the largest interstate pipeline systems in the country. It is also a major transporter of natural gas to large liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) export facilities and other markets located on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. NGPL has approximately 9,100 miles of pipeline, more than 1 million compression horsepower and 288 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of working natural gas storage. NGPL provides its customers access to all major natural gas supply basins directly and through its numerous interconnects with intrastate and interstate pipeline systems.

By CISION, June 21, 2023

Oil cartel members reportedly agree to reduce output by a further 1.4m barrels, with oversupply a concern.

The Opec+ group of oil-producing countries has reached an agreement to extend output cuts into next year, in the face of flagging prices and a looming supply glut.

The oil cartel reportedly agreed to reduce its output by 1.4m barrels a day, at a meeting in Vienna on Sunday of member countries – which include the big producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Russia.

Opec+ sources told Reuters that the group was likely to agree a “policy rollover” for 2023 and make additional reductions in output in 2024 if new production baselines, from which cuts and quotas are calculated, for members were agreed.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to make a voluntary reduction of 500,000 barrels a day in its output, although it is not clear when the cuts will begin.

Opec+, which groups the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, produces about 40% of the world’s crude, meaning its policy decisions can have a significant impact on oil prices.

The group came to a deal after delaying the start of formal talks by more than six hours because of members’ discussions on production baselines.

According to a Bloomberg report, the delay centred on a dispute between the group’s most powerful members and African countries over how their cuts are measured, which led to side meetings as ministers discussed the details.

A group led by Saudi Arabia were reportedly trying to persuade under-producing countries such as Nigeria and Angola to have more realistic output targets.

The United Arab Emirates was seeking a higher baseline to reflect its growing production capacity, reports said.

Oil prices surged in April after Opec+ announced a surprise cut in production, saying its members would reduce output by about 1m barrels a day, the equivalent of about 3.7% of global demand. That 1m figure was on top of existing plans to continue cutting 2m barrels a day – originally agreed in November – until the end of 2023.

At the same time, Russia announced plans to extend its production cut of 500,000 barrels a day until the end of the year.

The April announcement helped to drive oil prices about $9 (£7) a barrel higher to above $87, but they swiftly fell back under pressure from concerns about global economic growth and demand. On Friday, the international crude benchmark Brent settled at $76 a barrel.

The next Opec meeting will take place on 26 November in Vienna.

By The Guardian, June 16, 2023

CNOOC, the giant Chinese state-owned offshore oil and gas company, plans exploration offshore Tanzania under an agreement with the local state firm, Tanzanian Energy Minister January Makamba told Bloomberg on Thursday.

Tanzania, on Africa’s eastern coast, is looking to boost the development of its natural gas resources and has recently agreed on a deal with supermajors to develop a huge LNG export terminal.

CNOOC and Tanzania have “an agreement in the works” to do seismic studies ahead of an offshore licensing round slated to be held in 2024, Tanzania’s energy minister told Bloomberg during a visit to China to discuss projects with CNOOC. 

The Chinese company and state-held Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation will carry out joint work in deepsea blocks owned by TPDC, the minister added.

The blocks are close to the vast natural gas discoveries made by a consortium of Shell, Equinor, and ExxonMobil.

Last month, the three supermajors and Tanzania’s government struck an agreement to develop an LNG export terminal. The initial deal includes the pillars of a host government agreement and a production-sharing agreement.

“It paves the way for the series of milestones that need to follow to realise this fantastic LNG opportunity for the country and the world,” Equinor’s Tanzania country manager Unni Fjaer said in a statement carried by Reuters.

Tanzania, as well as other countries in Africa, are looking to take advantage of the LNG demand in Europe, which is buying growing volumes of the super-chilled fuel to replace Russian pipeline supply.

“We believe that Tanzania has more gas, and possibly oil, to be discovered because only 30% of the area with potential for oil and gas resources has been explored so far,” the Tanzanian minister told Bloomberg.

Oil and gas majors are now looking to sign additional deals in the Mediterranean and Africa to supply gas to Europe, which wants to ditch Russian gas by 2027.

Eni’s chief executive Claudio Descalzi told the Financial Times early this year that Europe should look to Africa for a “south-north” energy axis for gas deliveries.

OilPrice.com by Tsvetana Paraskova, June 28, 2023

From the moment that China offered Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) a face-saving way out of the Saudi Aramco initial public offering disaster that he had created, as analysed in depth in my new book on the new global oil market order, the relationship between the two countries has grown ever stronger.

Toward the end of last year, Saudi Arabia reiterated its commitment to China as its “most reliable partner and supplier of crude oil,” along with broader assurances of its ongoing support in several other areas.

This followed the comment in March 2021 at the annual China Development Forum hosted in Beijing, from Aramco chief executive officer, Amin Nasser that: “Ensuring the continuing security of China’s energy needs remains our highest priority – not just for the next five years but for the next 50 and beyond.”

Such statements appeared to confirm that MbS now sees the U.S. as a partner just for its security considerations in the new global oil market order, with no meaningful quid pro quo on Saudi Arabia’s part, whilst regarding China as its key partner economically and Russia as its key partner in energy matters. A slew of new commitments last week from Saudi Arabia to China appear to confirm these views. 

To begin with, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the Kingdom is keen to cooperate further with China in developing gas ties, as well as those relating to crude oil.

These gas ties will span the entire sector, from the development of reserves to new petrochemicals projects, and follow on from the signing last August of a multi-pronged memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Saudi Aramco and the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec). As the president of Sinopec, Yu Baocai, put it at the time: “The signing of the MoU introduces a new chapter of our partnership in the Kingdom [of Saudi Aabia] …The two companies will join hands in renewing the vitality and scoring new progress of the Belt and Road Initiative [BRI] and [Saudi Arabia’s] Vision 2030.”

Crucially for China’s long-term plans in Saudi Arabia, it also covers opportunities for the construction of a huge manufacturing hub in King Salman Energy Park that will involve the ongoing, on-the-ground presence on Saudi Arabian soil of significant numbers of Chinese personnel.

These will not just be directly related to the oil, gas, petrochemicals, and other hydrocarbons activities, but will also include a small army of security personnel to ensure the safety of China’s investments. At that point last year, Aramco already had a 25 percent stake in the 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) Fujian refinery in south China through a joint venture with Sinopec (and the U.S.’s ExxonMobil) and had also earlier agreed (in 2018) to buy a 9 percent stake in China’s 800,000 bpd ZPC refinery from Rongsheng. 

Several other joint projects between China and Saudi Arabia that had been agreed in principle had been delayed due to a combination of factors at the time. These were the ongoing effects of COVID-19, Aramco’s crushing dividend repayment schedule, and concern from both countries – especially China – on how Washington might react to this clear threat to the U.S.’s own long-running relationship with Saudi Arabia, as also analysed in depth in my new book on the new global oil market order.

The basis of this enduring relationship had been struck back in 1945 at a meeting on 14 February 1945 between the then-U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Saudi King at the time, Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud. The deal that they agreed – which had been the basis for all the U.S.’s Middle East policy up until very recently – was this: the U.S. would receive all of the oil supplies it needed for as long as Saudi had oil in place, in return for which the U.S. would guarantee the security both of the ruling House of Saud and, by extension, of Saudi Arabia. This landmark deal survived the 1973 Oil Crisis and even looked as though it might survive the Saudi-led Oil Price War from 2014 to 2016, aimed by Riyadh at destroying or at least severely disabling the then-nascent U.S. shale oil industry. The real death of the 1945 Bitter Lake deal came when Russia emerged at the end of 2016 to support the then-beleaguered Saudi Arabia and OPEC in future oil production deals, given the lack of credibility in the global oil markets that both had at the end of the 2014-2016 Oil Price War.

With the announcements last week, it seems that all the key elements of the previously-announced deals between Saudi Arabia and China are coming back into play.

Just prior to the signing of the wide-ranging MoU in August 2022 – the precursor to last week’s agreements – Saudi Aramco’s senior vice president downstream, Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, announced the creation of a ‘one-stop shop’ provided by his company in China’s Shandong. “The ongoing energy crisis [caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022], for example, is a direct result of fragile international transition plans which have arbitrarily ignored energy security and affordability for all,” he said. “The world needs clear-eyed thinking on such issues – that’s why we highly admire China’s 14th Five Year Plan for prioritising energy security and stability, acknowledging its crucial role in economic development,” he added.

The megaproject in Shandong, which is home to around 26 percent of China’s refining capacity and is a key destination for Saudi Aramco’s crude oil exports, will broadly involve the flagship Saudi oil and gas giant creating “stronger ties with the world’s largest oil exporter [that] would enhance China’s energy security, especially as we work on increasing our production capacity to 13 million barrels per day,” according to Al Qahtani. Aside from the fact that Saudi Arabia still cannot produce anywhere near 13 million barrels per day of crude oil, as examined in detail in my new book, closer cooperation between Aramco and China will mean Saudi Arabia investing heavily in the build-out of a large, integrated downstream business across the country in tandem with its Chinese partners.

A key facet of agreements made by emerging nations with China is that they tend to feature significant deal creep. As highlighted above, they all tend to feature the build-out by China of major facilities in the target countries that allow Beijing to station significant numbers of personnel – including those designated as security staff – in and around them. They also tend to act as the precursor to several other more insidious features that only become clearer as time progresses. In December 2022, MbS hosted a series of meetings in Riyadh between China’s President Xi Jinping and the leaders of countries in the Arab League.

The Arab League comprises Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. At this meeting – and the January 2022 meeting between senior officials from the Chinese government and foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, plus the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) – the principal topics of conversation were to finally seal a China-GCC Free Trade Agreement and to forge a “deeper strategic cooperation in a region where U.S. dominance is showing signs of retreat”.

Also at the December 2022 meetings, China’s President Xi Jinping identified two ‘priority areas’ that he believed should be addressed as quickly as possible, as also analysed in depth in my new book on the new global oil market order. The first was the transition to using the Chinese renminbi in oil and gas deals done between the Arab League countries and China.

The second was to bring nuclear technology to targeted countries, beginning with Saudi Arabia. Previously, the Kingdom had been in talks to acquire nuclear technology from the U.S. under the ‘1-2-3’ protocol.

As highlighted in 2019 by then-US Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, Saudi Arabia had told the U.S. that it wanted to go ahead with a full-cycle nuclear programme, including the production and enrichment of uranium for atomic fuel. The U.S. had made it clear that for U.S. companies to participate in Saudi Arabia’s project, Riyadh would need to sign an accord on the peaceful use of nuclear technology with Washington. The ‘1-2-3’ protocol was intended to limit the enrichment of uranium for arms purposes.

China does not have such a protocol in place for Saudi Arabia. And, as Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman again reiterated last week: “We came to recognise the reality of today that China has taken a lead and will continue to take that lead […] We do not have to compete with China, we have to collaborate with China.”

OilPrice by Simon Watkins, June 28, 2023

In the European oil industry, green is out of fashion and black is making a comeback.The trend has been months in the making, but it reached a high point on Wednesday when Shell Plc announced what amounts to a pivot back into hydrocarbons and a promise to deliver higher returns to shareholders.Gone are the days when Shell aimed to reduce its oil production every year, and lavishly invest in loss-making electricity businesses.

Now, Wael Sawan, the company’s new-ish chief executive officer, has promised that it “will invest in the models that work – those with the highest returns that play to our strengths.” Translation: more spending on fossil fuels, less solar and wind. That’s music to shareholders and a public rebuttal of the strategy of his predecessor, Ben van Beurden. After all, if Shell will now only invest in what works, the corollary is that previously it was investing in businesses that didn’t. Sawan has now put some of those operations on sale and canceled many others.

Shell faces an uphill battle to convince shareholders that it’s serious. The dividend — increased 15% to about 33 cents per share starting this quarter – is still well below the 47 cents when Van Beurden slashed it in April 2020. At the time, it was the first cut for Shell since World War II. Another round of share buybacks will also help, as will the promise to reduce capital expenditure. At the midpoint of it guidance, Shell will target capex of $23.5 billion in 2024 and 2025; that’s down from $25 billion in 2023.

Shell said that the combination of a focus on higher-yielding investments and “stronger capital and cost discipline” would allow it to return to shareholders 30% to 40% of its cash flow from operations, up from 20% to 30% previously. The increase would help Shell close a valuation gap with its US rivals.

Trading at less than three times enterprise value to underlying earnings, Shell is significantly cheaper than Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., which trade at around five times.But investors can be forgiven their skepticism. Too many zigs and zags in the last five years by not just Shell but BP Plc and TotalEnergies SE, have left shareholders unsure of what comes next. The reaction to the announcement was lackluster. Shell shares barely budged.Is the latest swing in the European Big Oil industry’s strategy truly the last? Unlikely. But for now, at least, in large part because European governments have woken up to the dangers of reducing investment in fossil fuels in the wake of Russia’s isolation, the ESG trend has lost momentum.

On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency’s annual update predicted oil demand growing in the next five years, even if at a slower rate than historically from 2026 onward due to more efficient internal-combustion vehicles and, at the margin more electric cars. By 2028, the final year of the IEA’s forecast horizon, global oil demand will reach nearly 106 million barrels a day, up from 102 million in 2023.

Note that according to the IEA, to meet the net zero emissions by 2050 targets, oil demand would need to drop to 75 million barrels a day by 2030.

Given the urgency to reduce carbon emissions, the contradictions are never far from the surface, even in Shell’s own statement on Wednesday. Disregarding the legal boiler plate, the press release runs at 623 words exactly.

In it, Shell mentions every buzzword you would imagine a big oil producer uttering when it’s trying to buy the love of Wall Street — buybacks, returns, cost discipline. All of them, except one word: oil. In Shell’s words, its focus is on the “liquids” business — of course, liquid as in oil.

If an oil company like Shell can’t muster itself to say it’s in the oil business, I don’t see why shareholders should give Sawan the full vote of confidence he was hoping for.

The Washington Post by Javier Blas, June 22, 2o23