March 15, 2021 Shell's oil trading earnings double in 2020 to $2.6 buyers was between 10% and 15%, the sources said. bln Saudi Aramco is also commissioning its 400,000-bpd Jizan Royal Dutch Shell's 2020 earnings from trading crude refinery in the south west of the country which may have oil and refined products doubled from the previous reduced its exports, one of the sources said. year to $2.6 billion, helping to offset a sharp drop in For India, Saudi Aramco has rejected Indian refiners' re- fuel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. quests for extra supplies in April, but will keep average Shell's oil trading operations, known internally as monthly supplies to the country unchanged, three Indian Trading & Supply, accounted for 43% of the Oil Prod- refining sources said. ucts division's total earnings of $5.995 billion in 2020. Saudi Aramco declined to comment. Trading earnings totalled $1.3 billion in 2019, Shell's India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, annual report, which was released on Thursday, said. had repeatedly called on major oil producers to ease sup- The unusually high contribution from trading helped ply curbs and had pointed to Saudi Arabia's voluntary cuts Shell to weather one of the toughest years in the in- for contributing to a spike in global oil prices. dustry's history, when energy consumption collapsed Saudi Aramco did not cut supplies for some Asian buyers during the pandemic. in March, but reduced volumes by up to a quarter in Febru- Shell, the world's largest energy trader, experienced a ary. 28% drop in oil sales last year to 4.71 million barrels per day on average, the annual report said. Its 2020 profit dropped to its lowest in at least two Energy firms seize on carbon tech, environmental decades. goals to build new businesses Shell's oil trading figures do not include natural gas, Major energy companies are turning their carbon seques- liquefied natural gas, power and renewables. Shell is tration technologies and projects into business ventures, the world's largest liquefied natural gas trader. converting some efforts that help pump more oil and gas Rival BP's trading arm made nearly $4 billion in 2020 into profit-making ventures while burnishing their environ- on oil and gas trading, a copy of an internal BP mental reputations. The efforts could help big greenhouse presentation seen by Reuters showed, almost equal- gas emitters reduce their carbon emissions intensity and ling the company's 2019 record trading profit. move closer to Paris Agreement climate change targets. Companies can make large profits even during times Energy giants view these efforts as balancing customer of lower demand for commodities by storing products demands for more oil and gas while fitting in a lower- such as oil on shore or at sea. Shell's vast refining, carbon energy world. trading and retail operations also allow it to take ad- Carbon removal technologies will be necessary to limit the vantage of short-lived changes in supply and demand increase in planetary warming to no more than 1.5 de- around the world. grees Celsius, the goal of the 2015 Paris Climate Agree- The strong trading results for BP and Shell show that ment, the United Nations has said. there is real value creation which will transfer over into renewable power as the companies shift away from oil KINDER MORGAN INC and gas, Bernstein analyst Oswald Clint said in a Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan has formed a business note. unit to acquire assets and build new services around car- bon storage, renewable gas and diesel, hydrogen and Saudi cuts April crude for some Asian refiners, power generation and transmission. Its Energy Transition maintains India supply -sources Ventures unit aims to broaden low-carbon projects already Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has cut the supply of in development, the company said. The operation will have April-loading crude to at least four north Asian buyers its own financial, commercial and engineering staff to de- by up to 15%, while meeting the normal monthly re- velop and commercialize new projects. quirements of Indian refiners, refinery sources told Reuters on Friday. BAKER HUGHES CO Saudi Arabia's reduction in supplies come as the Or- The oilfield equipment and services firm acquired Norwe- ganization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries gian technology firm Compact Carbon Capture (3C) and (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, de- plans to commercialize its solvent-based products. 3C cided earlier this month to extend most of its supply says its scalable designs can be as little as a quarter of the cuts into April. footprint of other carbon-capturing systems. Baker Hughes Saudi Arabia has pledged to continue with an extra 1 will market the rotating 3C equipment alongside its prod- million barrels per day voluntary output cut for a third ucts and services to industries including oil and gas, lique- month in April. fied natural gas, shipping and pipeline operators. 3C's in- Chinese refiners received a small cut in their Saudi dustrial-scale unit designs could capture up to 250,000 supply, while the reduction in volumes for Japanese tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. 1 March 15, 2021 (continued) EXXON MOBIL CORP But other suspected criminals continue to operate BR Exxon Mobil formed Low Carbon Solutions LLC, offering stations, Reuters has found. A major franchisee in the to make available its technologies and projects that Exx- state of Rio de Janeiro, for example, has been indicted by on deployed to sequester its planet-warming CO2 emis- state prosecutors at least 12 times for fuel-related crimes sions. The business also aims to leverage Exxon's expe- over the past 15 years and is currently on trial for his al- rience in producing hydrogen gas. leged participation in a sprawling fuel-smuggling ring, ac- The Low Carbon business will leverage Exxon's CO2 cording to court documents reviewed by Reuters. He has storage caverns along the U.S. Gulf Coast and under the not been convicted in any of the court cases examined by North Sea. It also will market emissions-reduction credits the news agency. from the use of its sequestration projects. BR's situation is not unique. Crooks have infiltrated the four largest gasoline chains in Brazil, where they are esti- mated to control hundreds, if not thousands, of stations, OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP according to Reuters interviews with more than two doz- Occidental formed Oxy Low Carbon Ventures to marshal en industry and law enforcement officials. The news or- its carbon capture, utilization and emissions reduction ganization also reviewed thousands of pages of court operations. It and private equity investor Rusheen Capital cases and enforcement records from Brazil's oil regulator. Management formed 1PointFive, a Texas business that Cheats sell stolen gasoline and rig pumps to short cus- aims to capture CO2 directly from the air and bury it un- tomers the full amount they paid for, the interviews and derground. documents show. More serious crimes abound, too. United Airlines pledged a multimillion dollar investment in Some entrepreneurs use their stations to launder cash for 1PointFive and will become a customer of the business, gangs like the First Capital Command, South America's aiming to absorb the equivalent annual carbon emissions largest organized crime group, authorities allege, as well of 10% of its aircraft. as for "militias" - violent criminal enterprises composed in part by retired and off-duty cops. TOTAL SE In southern Brazil, a station owner is facing trial for the Total has pledged to put 10% of its research and devel- 2017 murder of the head of an industry watchdog that opment budget to advance carbon capture, utilization was investigating suspected fraud at the businessman's and storage technology. It invested in a project to study operations. the costs of capturing CO2 generated by a Lafarge- Gas station graft is lucrative. Ill-gotten gains at Brazil's Holcim cement plant in Colorado and bury the emissions pumps amount to 23 billion reais ($4.15 billion) annually, underground. according to a November estimate from the Instituto Combustivel Legal, or ICL, an industry group founded last year to combat fraud. CHEVRON CORP Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has blamed unscrupu- Chevron invested in Blue Planet Systems, a startup com- lous gas station owners for cheating the treasury and mercializing a technology that makes a substitute for fleecing motorists amid public anger over recent fuel pric- limestone in concrete and building materials from CO2. es hikes. The two firms are planning pilot projects that commercial- "It's a business worth billions," Bolsonaro said during a ize the Blue Planet carbon capture process. live broadcast on multiple social media platforms in Feb- ruary. In statements to Reuters, Brazil's largest fuel distributors SPECIAL REPORT-In Brazil, organized crime siphons by market share - BR, Ipiranga, Raizen and Ale - billions from gas stations acknowledged grappling with bad actors in their retail out- Travel across Brazil and you'll spot signs almost every- lets, all of which are owned by independent franchisees. where for BR Distribuidora, the owner of South America's Together these four firms account for nearly half the gas largest gas station chain. The familiar green-and-yellow stations in Brazil. The distributors said they work diligently logo of the company, formerly a unit of state oil giant to cull miscreants, feeding information about alleged mis- Petrobras, is a fixture in big cities and hamlets alike. conduct to police, prosecutors and regulators. Less well-known is BR's effort to purge its retail network These companies have ties to some of the biggest names of alleged crooks.