Outgoing Shell CEO says shale investment not paying off yet

• Katie Colaneri
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  Katie Colaneri is a reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania and WHYY in Philadelphia covering energy and the environment. Before joining StateImpact, Katie worked as an investigative and enterprise reporter at WBGO in Newark, New Jersey. She covered some of New Jersey's biggest stories including the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, as well as the day-to-day triumphs and struggles to revitalize state's largest city. A native of New Jersey with roots in South Central Pennsylvania, Katie holds a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College.

In an exit interview with the Financial Times, outgoing Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser says the company has yet to profit from its $24 billion investment into “unconventional” shale oil and gas in the U.S.
Voser’s comments come just a little more than a week after Shell announced it would be selling its stake in Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale and after a $2 billion write down on its shale assets. Voser told the Financial Times that company was disappointed by the results of exploration in U.S. shale beds.
This may not be good news for Pennsylvania where Shell has been actively drilling in Tioga County and has proposed building a gas processing plant called an ethane cracker in Beaver County. In August, the company announced it was going out to bid for suppliers as part of an ongoing site evaluation process. But in an e-mail to StateImpact Pennsylvania, a Shell spokeswoman downplayed the news as merely a project update. The deadline for bids was on Friday, October 4 and the company is not expected to make a final decision until next year.
Governor Tom Corbett has high hopes for the project and is doing what he can to convince Shell to seal the deal by pushing for large tax breaks and touting the thousands of jobs it could bring to western Pennsylvania.

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