News and information on Shell PLC
16 July 04
KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the auditors of Royal Dutch/Shell, the oil giant, have come under scrutiny over allegations that they were sent copies of internal reports that revealed the concerns of an internal Shell auditor that the group’s booking of oil and gas reserves did not comply with US Securities and Exchange Commission rules.
By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor
July 16, 2004
SHELL’S external auditors, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, have come under scrutiny over allegations that they were warned by the oil giant’s group reserves auditor in 2002 that reporting of Shell’s reserves was questionable.
Internal reports critical of the Anglo-Dutch group’s reserves booking were allegedly sent to the outside auditors by Anton Barendregt, a former reserves auditor.
Shell revealed in January that a fifth of its oil and gas reserves were misreported, a scandal that has led to the removal of three senior directors, including the chairman, Sir Philip Watts.
Auditors at Shell warned that an internal bonus system might encourage reserves levels to be inflated, two years before Shell said it had overstated its “proven” barrels by 23pc, the Wall Street Journal claims.
July 15 (Bloomberg) — Former Royal Dutch/Shell Group Chairman Philip Watts, who resigned in March after the company said it had overstated its oil reserves, said he acted “appropriately” in his role at Shell, the British Broadcasting Corp. said, citing a statement by Watts.
“I remain confident that I acted appropriately and the ongoing investigations will arrive at the same conclusion,” Watts told a BBC2 documentary about Shell’s reserves.
Watts and other top executives were ousted after Shell hurt investors’ confidence earlier this year by saying it had overstated its proved oil and gas reserves by 23 percent.
David Gow
Friday July 16, 2004
Shell admitted yesterday that it had been warned about inflated reserves before it was forced to issue the first of four downgrades this year.
The latest mea culpa came after the Wall Street Journal reported that an internal auditor at the energy group had notified outside auditors of potential problems in 2002.
Shell said issues about a number of fields or regions had been identified earlier than January 2004 when it first downgraded its proven reserves. The downgrades now amount to 4.47bn barrels, 23% of Shell’s previously claimed reserves. The group said the earlier warnings had come when it was believed that any differences would be offset by potential adjustments in other areas. The combined effect was to leave reported volumes unaltered.
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor
16 July 2004
The spotlight in the Shell reserves scandal fell on the oil giant’s external auditors yesterday after reports that company insiders had alerted them to the possible need for downgrades two years ago.
According to documents quoted by the Wall Street Journal, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers – Shell’s joint auditors – were warned in 2002 by the company’s internal auditor about potential problems with its reserves bookings.
Shell’s internal reserves auditor, Anton Barendregt, is said to have highlighted systemic problems with the company’s reserves reporting procedures.
MARTIN FLANAGAN CITY EDITOR
Fri 16 Jul 2004
TROUBLED Shell was involved in fresh turbulence yesterday as it stonewalled questions about a report alleging that external auditors were warned the oil major was inflating its energy reserves two years before it owned up, early in 2004.
The warnings to affiliates of KPMG International and PricewaterhouseCoopers International were said to be contained in Shell documents reviewed by a newspaper.
However, a Shell spokesman said yesterday: “We will not comment on leaked and unverifiable documents. We have submitted a full report to the regulators.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell-focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.website publishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal. 
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission website etc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
