Shell To Develop A "Whale" Of An Oil Field -- July 27, 2021

Best twitter tweet from yesterday, link here. Just a few months ago, Shell said it was going green, pledging to net-zero emissions by 2050. 

That was when they were losing their shirt on $50 oil; now that crude oil is trading above $70 Shell has a huge change of heart. Shell announces it will go ahead with its Gulf of Mexico "Whale" oilfield project. The link takes you to a Reuters article:

Royal Dutch Shell announced plans on Monday to develop a new oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico, its first major project to get the go-ahead since a Dutch court ordered the energy company to accelerate its carbon emissions reduction targets.

The Whale development, operated by Shell which owns 60% of the project, alongside Chevron with 40%, is expected to reach peak production of around 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Whale, which was discovered in 2017, holds a recoverable resource of 490 million barrels of oil equivalent and is scheduled to begin production in 2024.

In May, a court in The Hague ordered Shell to accelerate its energy transition plans and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, significantly faster than its current plan. Such cuts would mean shrinking its oil and gas business. 

Sempra / Poland: from SeekingAlpha -- 

• Poland's state-controlled PGNiG says it terminated a supply deal with Sempra Energy for 2M mt/year of liquefied natural gas from the Port Arthur LNG project in Texas, citing delays in the project's development. 
• But the Polish firm also signed a new memorandum with the company for a potential replacement of the Port Arthur volumes from Sempra's other projects in North America. 
•  PGNiG also agrees to buy an additional 2M mt/year of LNG from U.S. supplier Venture Global, bringing its total contracted volume with the company to 5.5M mt/year. 
• Sempra said in May that it likely would delay its planned final investment decision on the Port Arthur LNG plant until next year. 

In a down market today, the utilities are doing well, and SRE is up 1%, a $124-stock trading at $132. With a P/E of 10, it pays 3.7%.  

China syndrome: ARKK in free-fall. Down almost 4%.