Cynthia Barnett, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Environmental Journalist-in-Residence, is the author of the opinion column “Will Shell’s Oil Future Outlast Its Ocean Namesakes?” published in the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 9.

On Dec. 10, Royal Dutch Shell will ask its shareholders to approve moving the headquarters from Netherlands to Britain, and drop “Royal Dutch” from the name.  Barnett chronicles the history of Royal Dutch Shell and it’s rise from a small shell shop in the East End of London to a global oil company. The company uses shell names for their tankers including the marine mollusk Murex.

“After the Murex successfully hauled 4,000 tons of Russian kerosene through the Suez Canal, the company launched 10 other tankers. All were named for seashells: the Conch, Clam, Elax, Bullmouth, Volute, Turbo, Trocas, Spondilus, Nerite and Cowrie. The tradition endured after Shell’s merger with Royal Dutch Petroleum in 1907. Today, Royal Dutch Shell is on its fifth Murex, a 100,000-ton tanker that hauls liquified natural gas across the global seas,” said Barnett.

However, now the namesake mollusk is in danger due to warming seas from climate change.

She adds, “Earlier this year, scientists who study marine mollusks discovered the world’s worst climate-driven loss of marine life to date in the Mediterranean Sea. Along the coast of Israel, not far from where Shell’s first SS Murex entered the Suez Canal in 1892, researchers found mollusk populations in the soft shallows have collapsed by nearly 90% in recent decades, unable to tolerate ocean warming caused by the fossil fuels carried in those holds.”

A Dutch court has ruled that Shell must deepen greenhouse gas emission cuts. To help avert catastrophic warming, the company must not exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius goal.

“The restructuring may help Murex ships continue to sail into the future. There is no such assurance for the living murexes, or all the other life that depends on the seas,” said Barnett.

Posted: December 9, 2021
Category: Alumni News, College News, Uncategorized
Tagged as: Cynthia Barnett, Los Angeles Times