Shell's "Green" Ads Mislead

Oil and gas giant Shell have had some of their adverts in the UK banned for misleading claims about how clean their overall energy production is.The ban applies to one TV advert, a poster displayed in Bristol and a YouTube ad, all shown in 2022. 

 

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled they all left out information on Shell's more polluting work with fossil fuels. The selection of ads were likely to mislead consumers as they "misrepresented the contribution that lower-carbon initiatives played, or would play in the near future" compared with the rest of the company's operations. 

 

Shell however "strongly" disagreed with the ASA's findings. 

 

Whatever. The adverts cannot be shown in their current form again, the ASA decreed. 

 

One of the banned advertisements was a poster shown in Bristol, with the text "Bristol is ready for cleaner energy". It included text quoting the number of homes in the South West of England which used renewable electricity. 

 

The ASA maintained the poster was fallacious because it gave the impression that Shell as a whole were providing cleaner energy. 

 

A spokesperson for Shell said the ASA's decision "could slow the UK's drive towards renewable energy". 

 

"No energy transition can be successful if people are not aware of the alternatives available to them. That is what our adverts set out to show, and that is why we're concerned by this short-sighted decision", the spokesperson added. 

 

The ruling comes as ASA are combating companies overstating their environmental friendliness, known as "corporate greenwashing". They included “green” ads in the UK by Spanish oil company Repsol and Malaysia’s Petronas for not providing full information on their activities and carbon reduction strategies. 

 

And not just energy companies. Last year, ASA prohibited a Tesco plant-based burger ad, a Persil advert, and two HSBC adverts over their claims of environmental benefits, which the agency deemed "misleading".

Oil Prices Dive

Over the past two years, global crude oil prices have been in free-fall, and nobody seems to know when the bungee cord will catch.

 

In June 2014, you had to shell out $110 to buy a barrel of Brent crude. In the early part of 2015, that had dived to $60. Today, it costs $30 to buy a barrel of oil – a level not seen since 2004. It's a staggering slide.

 

And on two occasions, the price of crude had even slipped to just below $30. On January 06, 2016, the 13-member OPEC sold it at $29.71 a barrel. Then, six days later, oil price was down again. Brent crude, used as an international benchmark, fell as low as $29.96, but bounced back to trade at $30.22.

 

On that day too, Petronas opined that crude oil prices could average $30 a barrel this year, and warned of two to three more tough years ahead.

 

PM Najib Razak’s Budget 2016 unveiled in October last year, was based on the assumption of $48 a barrel – therefore, he is now compelled to amend, revise and recalibrate his budget. And according to Malaysian government estimates, the country risks losing RM300 million for every $1 per barrel drop!

 

With prices now below break-even costs for many producers, particularly in the once-thriving US shale patch, and the costly Canadian oil sands producers barely making $15 a barrel, an extended slump has caused financial pain to flare across the world, threatening corporate bankruptcies and fiscal strain. And not forgetting, massive job losses.

 

And it can get worse. Standard Chartered think the price of global crude oil can sink to as low as $10 a barrel. For them to even make such an insane prediction speaks volumes about the deteriorating fortunes of the O&G industry.  

At the Tournament of Champions (January 07-14, 2016) in New York, USA, Nicol David (left) couldn’t maintain her winning form when she lost to Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini 8-11, 5-11 and 6-11 in the semifinal on Wednesday.

 

A day earlier, the 32-year-old Penangite had prevailed over fifth seed Omneya Abdel Kawy of Egypt in the last-eight clash, and before that, she was victorious against Hong Kong’s Annie Au on Monday and England’s Victoria Lust on Saturday. ,

 

Malaysia’s other representatives – Delia Arnold was eliminated in the second round while Low Wee Wern suffered a first-round defeat.

Dark Side of Declining Oil Prices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

European benchmark Brent oil sank under $50 on Wednesday for the first time since April 2009, battered by OPEC’s stance on maintaining its current production levels, market oversupply, weak demand and the strong greenback. In morning London deals, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February plunged to $49.66 a barrel.

 

And US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also for February tumbled on the same day to a similar low at $46.85, having already collapsed under the symbolic $50 level on Monday.

 

This is certainly not good news for Malaysia!

 

The country is already walking precariously on the plank that is dangling over the sea. Malaysia is almost reaching the edge and we are about to be pushed into the deep waters below to drown. Optimism has long evaporated; hope is fast disappearing; and the reality that we are heading into a fiscal black hole becomes more apparent.

 

Budget 2015 was drawn up on the assumption that crude oil price would average $110 for 2014 and $105 for 2015 in the world market. Surely now, the government have no choice but to go back to the drawing board and revise the Budget. All their numbers have flown the coop.

 

Forty percent of government revenue comes from oil and gas. The plunge in price would unavoidably slice revenue and this means a bigger budget deficit is well-nigh a certainty.

 

State-owned Petronas are the largest single contributor to government coffers – the country’s “piggy bank”. For those who are ignorant, Petronas funded Putrajaya, the KL Twin Towers and other mega-projects in the country.

 

In 2013, the national oil company posted a net profit of RM54.11 billion (RM49.92 billion the year before). But even so, the dividend payout to the Government came down by RM1 billion to RM27 billion.

 

Believe me, 2014 is not expected to match these figures. If you are still doubting me, last month, the company have already said they would lop dividends by more than 37 percent if oil prices stayed below $75 a barrel.

 

And if Petronas make less money, they will not only contribute less to the government but they will start a chain reaction – the company themselves will spend less, which will eventually affect the economy as a whole, and Malaysian consumers end up even more worst off.

 

On Wednesday, Petronas have “indicated” that they may slash local capex by 30 percent. In late November 2014, president and group CEO, Shamsul Azhar Abbas had already warned that capital expenditure could be cut by 15-20 percent this year because of the drop in oil prices. Who is to say that if oil prices continue to go south, the cuts won’t get any deeper?

 

According to Shamsul, every $1 change in oil prices has a RM1 billion impact on pre-tax profit (The Sun, January 08, 2015, p 16).

 

Malaysians, brace yourselves because 2015 is likely to be a very challenging year! Stay strong!

Merdeka 2013

Image credit: http://www.postme.com.my/blog/merdeka-merdeka-merdeka/

I don’t know about you but this year’s Merdeka appears quiet and subdued. A BN government is still entrenched in power and unfortunately, we have a Prime Minister who is clueless. And sure, things are not looking that great in the country at the moment. Still I believe Malaysians are hopeful and I remain optimistic.

This Petronas commercial to celebrate Merdeka (August 31) and Malaysia Day (September 16) says a lot about you and I, about  us, about Malaysians – that we are united by the same values, aspirations and dreams. We are Malaysians after all!

 

DBKL Playing the Fool

In the latest twist to the Bersih saga, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has sent a letter of demand to the electoral watchdog’s co-chairperson S Ambiga and steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah.

The letter, inked by DBKL director-general Salleh Yusup, sought compensation amounting to RM351,203.45 with regard to the April 28 Bersih 3.0 event here, and an additional RM100 for preparing the legal notice. And if the duo failed to settle the stipulated amount within two weeks, Salleh said DBKL would initiate legal action against them.

Wah! Is that the price to spotlight the partisan political role of the Election Commission? And is that also the price to underline the lack of transparency in our electoral system? If that is so, it is pretty cheap by any standard.

But seriously, DBKL is showing itself to be nothing but a tool to be manipulated and used. Just wait when the change of government takes place, just you wait, DBKL!

I was at the Petronas offices today – at the invitation of their in-house Toastmasters Club president Rosidah Hardiani – to attend the Pesona Toastmasters meeting. This was my first visit to this club and surprise, surprise – I found out only today that Rosidah is the same Toastmaster whom I already know at MIHRM! This pint-sized lady is determined to expend her boundless energy toward ensuring that the club continues to do well and I applaud her.

I was tasked to evaluate an advanced speech by an accomplished Toastmaster, Mas Rizal and I remembered him as a good speaker with a natural flair for words that can loop, spiral and whorl into a double helix of humor-suffused sobriety of a speech that truly impresses.

There were twenty of us at this meeting venue in the Twin Towers – of course, mostly from Petronas and a good sprinkling of visiting Toastmasters from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bangsar, MidValley, Pidato and Sunway University. Overall, the meeting went well although the bane of Toastmasters meetings was again, evident – we started 29 minutes late! I shook my head. I am scoring this meeting a 5 out of a 10 – an extra point only because the view from Level 40 of Tower 1 was just fabulous.

France will play Spain in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals after surrendering their Group D top-spot to England by losing 0-2 against Sweden. The French were outplayed, outfought and outscored! They had better buck up!

Petronas CNY TV Commercials

We are still celebrating Chinese New Year, and so I thought it would be nice if I upload a collection of some of those Petronas CNY commercials onto my blog – they are memorable because they give us insights into CNY traditions that we should hold dear to, and values that we should cherish and prize.

“There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself”, Henri David Thoreau (1817-1862) once said, and he's right, y'know! Very meaningful. Very appropriate.