BP, SHELL, STATOIL COOPERATION

PLATTS - Energy majors BP, Shell and Statoil are to co-develop a blockchain-based digital platform for energy trading.

The investor group, which includes trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria, plus banks ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale, aims to "modernize and transform post-transaction management of physical energy commodities trading," the companies said in a joint statement Monday.

The platform is to be managed and operated as an independent entity. It is expected to be operational by the end of 2018.

The goal is to create a secure, real-time blockchain-based digital platform to manage physical energy transactions from trade entry to final settlement.

Pending regulatory clearance, the platform will be open to the whole commodity industry after it has been tested by the investors. "The intent is to move away from traditional and cumbersome paper contracts and operations documentation to secure, smart contracts and authenticated transfers of electronic documents," the group said.

The platform should reduce administrative operational risks and costs of physical energy trading.

It should also improve reliability and efficiency of back-end trading operations for all supply chain users, "while also opening the door to innovative funding and financing solutions," the group said.

Over time, the venture intends to lead the migration of all forms of energy transaction data to the blockchain, the companies said.

In June, BP and Italy's Eni completed a pilot program for European gas trading using blockchain technology developed by Canada's BTL Group.

In May, over 20 European energy trading firms joined forces to develop peer-to-peer blockchain-based trading using Hamburg-based IT company Ponton's Enerchain framework. In October, E.ON and Enel completed a first power trade using the system.

Blockchain is a digital ledger initially designed to record transactions using the Bitcoin crypto-currency.

Transactions on blockchain are done peer-to-peer without a central marketplace operated by an exchange or a broker.

The individual participant receives an online wallet that can be charged up with a digital currency. The individual can then transact with other members registered to the blockchain.

The blockchain's network of registered computers continually validates transactions, building blocks of transactions that are then permanently entered in the ledger.

Nobody can change the ledger, it is immutable. It is shared with all members at all times. It is not stored in one central place, reducing the risk of cybercrime.

Since transactions are cleared instantaneously using the chosen digital currency, there is no settlement risk. Neither is there any paperwork or middle-man fees beyond set-up and running costs associated with relatively simple computing.

-----

Earlier:

BP:					SHELL:
2017, November, 1, 13:15:00 BP PROFIT $4 BLN Bob Dudley – Group chief executive: “We are steadily building a track record of delivering on our plans and growing across our businesses. This quarter, three new Upstream projects and the highest Downstream earnings in five years, underpinned by reliable operations and disciplined spending, have generated healthy earnings and cash flow. There is still room for further improvement and we will keep striving to increase sustainable free cash flow* and distributions to shareholders.”					2017, November, 3, 12:05:00 SHELL INCOME $9.2 BLN Compared with the third quarter 2016, CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding identified items increased to $4.1 billion, reflecting higher contributions from Downstream, Upstream and Integrated Gas. Earnings benefited mainly from stronger refining and chemicals industry conditions, increased realised oil and gas prices and higher production from new fields, offsetting the impact of field declines and divestments.
2017, July, 14, 09:40:00 BP: EXCELLENCE, SUSTAINABILITY, COLLABORATION I think there are three areas where we should focus our efforts. The first is excellence in our operations, or as this session’s title puts it, leadership in responsible operations. The second, is sustainability in our products - fully realising the benefits of both natural gas and renewables as well as our Downstream product range.					2017, October, 2, 14:40:00 SHELL'S INVESTMENT RISKS “The point that you can be too early was proved by us,” he says. “We were among the first of the big international oil companies to get into solar and we found out we could not make any money out of it.”
2017, March, 2, 19:30:00 BP'S GROWTH Bob Dudley said: “In six years we have fundamentally reshaped and built a very different BP. We are now stronger and more focused - fully competitive and fit for a fast-changing future. “We have proven financial discipline, clear plans in action and have built a distinctive portfolio which gives us a strong platform for growth, now and into the future. Striking a balance between short and long-term value, our recent acquisitions and agreements have strengthened this even further.					2017, July, 28, 09:45:00 SHELL INCOME $1.55 BLN Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden commented: “Shell’s strong results this quarter show that we are reshaping the company following the integration of BG. Cash generation has been resilient over four consecutive quarters, at an average oil price of just under $50 per barrel. This quarter, we generated robust earnings excluding identified items of $3.6 billion, while over the past 12 months cash flow from operations of $38 billion has covered our cash dividend and reduced gearing to 25%.
2017, February, 28, 18:50:00 BP ENERGY OUTLOOK 2035 The growing world economy will require more energy, but consumption is expected to grow less quickly than in the past - at 1.3% per year over the Outlook period (2015-2035) compared with 2.2% per year in 1995-2015.					2017, February, 2, 18:30:00 SHELL INCOME $1.54 BLN Royal Dutch Shell’s fourth quarter 2016 CCS earnings attributable to shareholders were $1.0 billion compared with $1.8 billion for the same quarter a year ago. Full year 2016 CCS earnings attributable to shareholders were $3.5 billion compared with $3.8 billion in 2015.
2017, February, 7, 18:40:00 BP LOSS $999 MLN For the full year of 2016 the RC loss was $999 million, compared with a loss of $5,162 million for the full year of 2015. Both periods were impacted by charges associated with the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill following the settlement of federal, state and local government claims in 2015 and additional provisions this year, when a reliable estimate for the remaining material liabilities was determined.					2016, November, 2, 18:45:00 SHELL & BP PRICES: $50 The UK-listed oil majors both said they were planning for prices per barrel in the low $50s in 2017 — only a little above current levels — in a sign of the industry adapting to “lower-for-longer” market conditions.
2016, October, 20, 18:40:00 BP: IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY We expect global GDP to more than double over the next 20 years, while energy demand increases by only 30%. The difference between those two things is improving energy efficiency or declining energy intensity. That is critical in underpinning the shift we expect to see in the rate of growth of carbon emissions. We think the energy intensity of GDP will decline much more rapidly than we’ve ever seen before.					2016, August, 24, 18:55:00 MAJORS DEBT'S RECORD Exxon Mobil Corp.Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC and Chevron Corp. hold a combined net debt of $184 billion -- more than double their debt levels in 2014, when oil prices began a steep descent that eventually bottomed out at $27 a barrel earlier this year. Crude prices have rebounded since, but still hover near $50 a barrel.
2016, July, 26, 18:40:00 BP PROFIT $720 MLN Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive said: " BP today is a stronger, more focused and more disciplined company. We continue to actively develop a strong, balanced portfolio and we are managing the business for value over volume. Our relentless group-wide focus on capital and cost discipline is helping BP to become much more efficient while maintaining the investment needed for future growth".					2016, June, 16, 17:55:00 SHELL & EXXON COMPETITION “I want to create a world class investment case for Shell and our shareholders.”
STATOIL:
2017, October, 6, 12:40:00 STATOIL'S RENEWABLE INVESTMENT "Brazil is a core area for Statoil where our ambition is to deliver safe and sustainable growth in a significant energy market. Entering into solar in Brazil adds to the positions we have already in the producing Peregrino oil field and in the offshore licenses BM-S-8 and BM-C-33 which include the yet to be developed discoveries Carcará and Pão de Açúcar respectively. We are excited to have entered our first solar project with an experienced partner like Scatec Solar," says Irene Rummelhoff, Executive Vice President of New Energy Solutions in Statoil.
2017, July, 28, 09:40:00 STATOIL NET INCOME $1.4 BLN “Our solid financial results and strong cash flow are driven by good operational performance with high production efficiency and continued cost improvements. At oil prices around 50 dollars per barrel, we have generated 4 billion dollars in free cash flow, and reduced our net debt ratio by 8.1 percentage points since the start of the year. We expect to deliver around 5% production growth this year, and at the same time realise an additional one billion dollars in efficiencies,” says Eldar Sætre, President and CEO of Statoil ASA.
2016, December, 7, 18:35:00 STATOIL SEES $60 The balance between demand and supply in the oil market will shift earlier than previously expected due to OPEC's output cuts, with prices heading towards $60 a barrel next year, Statoil's chief executive said on Tuesday. Brent crude futures LCOc1 hit $55 a barrel on Monday, the highest level since July 2015, after OPEC agreed on Dec. 1 to curb production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from January.
2016, June, 10, 14:20:00 NORWEGIAN MERGER Oil companies BP (BP.L) and Det norske (DETNOR.OL) have agreed to merge their Norwegian businesses in a $1.3 billion all-share deal to cut costs, challenge Statoil's (STL.OL) dominance of the local industry and look for more acquisitions.
2016, May, 19, 20:00:00 MAJORS GREEN INVESTMENTS: 2.5 BLN Shell, Eni, Total and Statoil have announced green energy investments with a combined value of around $2.5 billion in recent weeks in a bid to diversify away from their core oil and gas markets.
2015, July, 15, 19:25:00 ROSNEFT & STATOIL PARTNERSHIP Russia’s Rosneft and Norway’s Statoil completed drilling works as part of the Pilot Project at the PK1 layer of the North-Komsomolskoye field in Purovsky and Nadymsky regions of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.
2014, November, 3, 21:25:00 STATOIL: GIGANTIC PROGECT $199.21 BLN Norway’s Statoil AS A said on Monday that the giant Johan Sverdrup oil field in the North Sea could generate revenue of 1.35 trillion Norwegian kroner ($199.21 billion) over the next five decades.