
Shell and partners boost gas production from Norway's Ormen Lange field
OSLO, June 27 (Reuters) - Energy major Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab and its partners have started up two subsea compression stations at Norway's Ormen Lange gas field to help boost recovery of gas reserves, which are exported to European markets, the companies said on Friday.
The new compressor stations will increase the amount of gas recovered from the field from 75% to 85%, adding an additional 30-50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas, Shell said in a statement.
Gas from Ormen Lange is processed at the Nyhamna plant on Norway's west coast and exported to the European Union and Britain.
Norway in 2022 overtook Russia as Europe's biggest gas supplier after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and maintains a programme of upgrades and exploration to maintain supply levels.
Ormen Lange is operated by Shell, which holds a 17.8% stake in the field, with the other stakes held by Petoro (36.5%), Equinor (EQNR.OL), opens new tab (25.3%), Orlen Upstream Norway (14%) (PKN.WA), opens new tab and Vaar Energi (VAR.OL), opens new tab (6.3%).

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
10 minutes ago
- The Sun
Aldi confirms ‘addictive' discontinued crisps will return in months after shopper fury
ALDI is bringing back "addictive" crisps in a matter of months after they were axed. Shoppers were left distraught after spotting the Specially Selected Prawn Cocktail Crisps missing from shelves earlier this year. The 150g bag cost £1.09 and came as part of the discounter's premium range. But the picky bits are set to make a comeback later this year, Aldi has confirmed, following customer fury. Julie Ashfield, chief commercial officer at Aldi UK, said: 'We always do our best to listen and meet our customers' requests. "These crisps are clearly a fan favourite, so we are excited to bring the flavour back — watch this space." Aldi has not revealed an exact date the crisps will be available but is urging customers to keep an eye on its website and store shelves. It comes after eagle-eyed customers took to social media earlier this month to ask where the crisps, based on the classic British starter, had gone. One, posting on X, said: "What's happened to the prawn cocktail crisps? Bring them back please!" Shoppers who can't wait for the Specially Selected Prawn Cocktail crisps, branded "addictive" and "amazing", to be reintroduced to shelves can buy one alternative. Aldi also sells the more budget Snackrite Prawn Cocktail crisps, with packs of six smaller bags costing 89p. It is not the first time Aldi has axed a product customers love. It recently quietly removed the Specially Selected Caramel Layered Yogurt from its shelves. Shoppers only discovered the yogurt was discontinued after struggling to find it in their local shop. The German discounter has dropped Deli Smoked Pork Sausage and Deli Smoked Reduced Fat Pork Sausage 160g packs from many of its shelves as well. ITEMS MAKING A COMEBACK Retailers often bring back nostalgic and previously discontinued items, based on customer demand and appetite. Discos, owned by KP Snacks, is bringing back its beloved pickled onion flavour that was last seen on shelves in the noughties. The savoury bites will be sold in convenience shops across the UK from August 27. The 70g bag costs £1.35. Meanwhile, White chocolate Maltesers made a grand return to shelves earlier this year after a 10-year hiatus. A 30g bag is currently available to buy in Morrisons for £1.05, while a larger 74g pouch costs £1.75. Elsewhere, Opal Fruits, which were rebranded as Starburst in 1998, are available from Sainsbury's for £1.25. Why are products axed or recipes changed? ANALYSIS by chief consumer reporter James Flanders. Food and drinks makers have been known to tweak their recipes or axe items altogether. They often say that this is down to the changing tastes of customers. There are several reasons why this could be done. For example, government regulation, like the "sugar tax," forces firms to change their recipes. Some manufacturers might choose to tweak ingredients to cut costs. They may opt for a cheaper alternative, especially when costs are rising to keep prices stable. For example, Tango Cherry disappeared from shelves in 2018. It has recently returned after six years away but as a sugar-free version. Fanta removed sweetener from its sugar-free alternative earlier this year. Suntory tweaked the flavour of its flagship Lucozade Original and Orange energy drinks. While the amount of sugar in every bottle remains unchanged, the supplier swapped out the sweetener aspartame for sucralose.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
‘He left us with nothing': the British investors swindled by a German property firm
'He took everything, left us with absolutely nothing,' says David Middleton, one of thousands of British and Irish investors who racked up huge losses from the collapse of a German property ponzi scheme. The 72-year-old pensioner from Northern Ireland is referring to Charles Smethurst, the German-British businessman who set up Dolphin Capital in 2008, later renamed Dolphin Trust, then German Property Group (GPG), with 200 affiliated companies. In July 2020, the business filed for insolvency, owing more than €1bn to up to 25,000 investors around the world. Smethurst was convicted this month of 'serious fraud' and sentenced to six years and 11 months in prison by a regional court in Hildesheim, in northern Germany. As part of a plea bargain, he admitted to four of 27 counts of commercial fraud, filed against him by the Hanover public prosecutor's office last October, for total damages of €56m. The other charges were dropped in return for his confession to speed up the trial, which was due to run into August. Dolphin's glossy brochures promised readers double-digit returns for investing their money in a scheme that pledged to restore historic buildings across Germany – including the ruins of castle Dwasieden on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen – and turn them into luxury apartments. However, few were ever restored. Investors were mainly from the UK, Ireland, France, Singapore and South Korea and included financial institutions and individuals, many of whom lost their pension pots or other savings after regular interest payments dried up in 2019. Smethurst's fraud conviction related to €60m in investments made by the French fund manager Horizon AM, including €30m in the Pariser Strasse project in Berlin. The court heard that the building was never bought, but the funds were used by Smethurst's company to meet other obligations. He served a prison sentence for fraud between 2000 and 2003 in an unrelated case. Horizon said it was 'led to believe we were partnering with an experienced and reputable real estate developer' as Dolphin provided the firm with 'highly detailed due diligence documents' and sent regular reports wrongly suggesting projects were 'progressing as planned'. The investor was not aware of Smethurst's previous fraud conviction. 'According to findings from the insolvency administrator and the criminal investigation, a significant portion of the funds was diverted abroad to jurisdictions with strict banking secrecy, notably the British Virgin Islands and possibly the Cayman Islands,' Horizon said. 'These jurisdictions do not cooperate with European authorities, which means that the money trail goes cold. This illustrates the systemic failure of cross-border cooperation in cases of fraud, and why victims like us are left without meaningful recourse. 'We are still wondering where the money went, what remains, and whether it is still possible to recover anything to compensate Horizon and its investors.' UK individual investors told the Guardian they are angry, and fear that Smethurst will be released early for good conduct and recover the hidden funds for himself. Middleton and his wife, Janet, invested in Dolphin in 2015: his pension lump sum of £100,000 and her inheritance of £120,000. Their financial adviser, the late Alastair Hooks, told them it was low-risk and supported by the German government, Janet Middleton recalls. 'To be honest, I was nervous about it and strongly stated that as pensioners we could not afford to lose this amount of money, but again we were assured there was no risk.' After Dolphin filed for insolvency, Hooks did not return their calls, and the couple discovered he had unregistered from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2012. She says they have explored every avenue – even as they dealt with David being diagnosed with bowel cancer – but have not recovered any of their investment. Janet says Smethurst's sentence 'seems very lenient to me … Smethurst may well serve his sentence and even get early release for good behaviour while other people like David and I now serve a sentence in our retirement economically'. A former NHS nurse, she says the couple had been looking forward to a comfortable retirement but have had to budget their outgoings; they have not had a holiday in years and both drive 20-year-old cars. The Hildesheim court said it did not order Smethurst to make any payments to investors because it could not establish that he had personally siphoned off any funds. Justus von Buchwaldt, of the law firm BBL, the insolvency administrator who testified in June, subsequently said: 'I fear that this is only the tip of the iceberg. It is still unclear if other people were involved in this large-scale fraud and where most of the investments ended up.' Of an estimated €1.3bn of investments received by the property company, about €800m is missing. The Hanover prosecutor's office said it had investigated other company officials but could not find evidence of any wrongdoing. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion It is one of Germany's biggest investment scandals since the second world war, and the German authorities have been criticised for being slow to intervene, even though the property company stopped filing financial accounts in 2015. Alison Moncrieff-Kelly, 63, a freelance musician from Kent and former director of the Rye arts festival, was a Dolphin investor. She said: 'This seems a pathetically small price for Smethurst to pay for such heinous and convoluted levels of crime. Where's the money gone is the big question … and six years 11 months doesn't touch the sides.' Most of the listed buildings acquired by GPG were never redeveloped and left derelict. Von Buchwaldt at BBL has sold 20 of 75 properties so far, for more than €87m, and has yet to distribute the proceeds to investors. Those sold include castle Dwasieden, a listed former brewery in Bad Aibling in Bavaria and a period villa in Fürstenberg/Havel in Brandenburg. The property sales are expected to take years as the legal situation is often complex. Almost 8,000 creditors have filed claims with BBL against the collapsed property group, out of an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 investors globally. Von Buchwaldt has said BBL would work with the UK's FCA, Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Debbie Kay Randles, 67, invested £25,000 in Dolphin in 2015 and, like others, has also lost money in other investment schemes. She paid £6,000 to a financial claims company in an attempt to recover her Dolphin investment, but 'they just disappeared'. She even enlisted a private detective to track down the claims firm. 'It's just been an absolute ongoing nightmare,' she says. 'I've not got a lot left, so I'll just keep working, probably until I'm 75, and then retire.' A former TSB employee, she now works for a window blinds business and lives in York. Moncrieff-Kelly says the trial 'doesn't address this issue of how incredibly badly regulated financial affairs are in the UK … I don't know if it's happening so much in any other country in the world.' She points to the 'middlemen' – financial advisers who are typically paid commission of 20% to 30% and 'kept that money' despite 'selling a fraud'. She invested in Dolphin after her financial adviser suggested it. Moncrieff-Kelly has recovered about half her £80,000 investment – money she inherited from her late mother – from the FSCS, with the help of a claims company that took the other half as payment. The FSCS says it has paid compensation to more than 1,900 customers in relation to Dolphin/GPG investment products, and a further 150 people have open claims. Compensation may have been triggered in relation to unsuitable financial advice that customers were given. It says it cannot put a figure on the compensation paid because it includes payouts for other investment losses. The SFO declined to comment while the FCA said it could not comment on individual firms. 'People don't understand the trauma and the damage that [fraud] has done,' says David Middleton. 'People think [with] white collar crime, slick City crime, there's no victim. There is a victim.'


The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Starmer urged to act after Trump threatens Commonwealth ally Canada
Keir Starner is facing calls to act after Donald Trump cut off talks with Canada and threatened the Commonwealth country with more trade tariffs. Just weeks before president Trump is due to meet King Charles, Canada's official head of state, on a visit to the UK, he claimed he had 'such power' over the country but added 'I'd rather not use it.' In a move that caused market turmoil amid fears of a renewal of Trump's trade war, he said he would tell Canada the levies they will have to pay on goods entering the US '....within the next seven day period.' The call for Starmer to intervene comes after a similar diplomatic row exploded earlier this year when the PM declined to back Canada against Trump's ambitions to turn it into the 51st state of the USA. A Conservative MP in Canada and a former ambassador were among those to criticise the UK prime minister for failing to stand up for their country. The latest attack on Canada comes at a a difficult time for the Labour leader. He is hoping to woo President Trump on a historic second state visit to the UK in September, when he will meet the King, a keen champion of the Commonwealth. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: "Once again, Donald Trump has shown contempt for his allies by continuing his damaging war on trade. With such an unreliable partner in the White House, the government needs to strengthen our economy, by establishing a bespoke UK-EU Customs Union, and work closer with our European and Commonwealth allies to create a coalition of the willing to end Trump's trade war." SNP MP Stephen Gethins said: 'The Trump project, just like Brexit, is about throwing up barriers to trade with our partners that will cost jobs and damage public finances. The UK needs to be building bridges with states like Canada and the EU that will help deliver sustainable economic growth. There have to be serious questions around the Labour government's judgement over the offer of a state visit to Trump.' The latest row erupted over Canada's plans for a digital services tax. In a post on Truth Social, the president complained that he had 'just been informed' of the move, which could leave some American technology companies with large bills. Trump called the plans 'a direct and blatant attack on our Country.' 'They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also,' he wrote, added that as a result the US was 'hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately.' Trump later claimed the US has 'a great relationship with the people of Canada' but that its government, headed by the former governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, had made things 'very difficult'. He added: 'We don't want to do anything bad, but ... economically ... we have such power over Canada. I'd rather not use it, but they did something with our tech companies today, trying to copy Europe.'