EurOil: Shell reacts to Dutch ruling

Royal Dutch Shell will fast-track its energy transition strategy, CEO Ben van Beurden announced on June 10, after a bombshell ruling by a Dutch court last month.

Shell set some of the most ambitious targets in the oil industry earlier this year, vowing to reduce the net carbon intensity of its products by 6-8% by 2023, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and 100% by 2050, using its emissions in 2016 as a baseline. However, the court in The Hague ruled that the Anglo-Dutch major’s policy on climate was “not concrete and is full of conditions ... that’s not enough.” It called for the company to implement a steeper reduction in its Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions of 45% by the end of the decade.

Shell plans to appeal against the court ruling, although under law, the verdict applies immediately and cannot be suspended before the appeal, van Beurden has said.

Meanwhile, troubles are mounting for UK junior Hurricane Energy. The company has suffered a series of complications at the fractured basement Lancaster field and its shareholders will vote next month on whether to remove several board directors. Hurricane downgraded its resource estimate for Lancaster significantly last year, and it has been forced to shut in one of the field’s two wells.

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