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From our Shell News Archive Monday 1 November 2004

Monday 1 November, 2004

Compliance Reporter: Royal Dutch/Shell Merger Plan Called ‘Inadequate’: ““It is a timid, inadequate step forward,” said attorney William Lerach, who in June sued executives and board members of the firms, demanding that they be held accountable for the huge fines and excessive bonuses resulting from repeated fraudulent claims of the companies’ proven reserves.”: “They are proposing to go from a very bad, very dysfunctional corporate governance structure to a conventionally bad single corporate governance arrangement,” said Lerach.”

iwon.com/Dow Jones Newswires: Shell Delays Repairs To Mars Platform To 2005 1Q: “Repairs to the mammoth Mars oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico will be postponed from the originally scheduled date of this coming week until the first quarter of 2005, according to Shell Exploration & Production Co.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL/DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: Shell To Form Research Center To Boost Yields

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL/DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: Shell’s Nigeria Crt Action Doesn’t Target NLC Strike – Co: “Royal Dutch/Shell Group Monday denied it was trying to stop a nationwide strike planned Nov. 16 by Nigeria’s leading union, that is threatening to target oil exports.”

BLOOMBERG: Netherlands Buys Gas Pipes From Exxon, Shell Venture (Update4): “Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer plans to sell assets worth as much as $12 billion, after the company admitted in January it had misled investors for six years about its oil and gas reserves.”

FORBES: Shell Try to Block Nigeria Oil Strike: “Federal Justice Abdullahi Mustapha in the commercial capital, Lagos, held only a brief hearing Monday on Shell’s attempt to block the strike, postponing the case until Nov. 18. Mustapha rejected a request from Shell to forbid wildcat strikes or other union action in the interim.”: “Crude prices internationally hit an all-time intraday high of $55.67 on Oct. 26, driven up partly by fears of Nigerian supply disruptions…”

Daily Express (UK) Shell execs to win big bonuses: “The group’s previous bonus scheme, now scrapped, was widely discredited because it was controversially linked to increases Shell made in booking reserves.”

Daily Express (UK): Shell reflects ups and downs of the oil trade: “At the start of the year, Shell was forced to reduce its proven oil reserves an incredible four times and agreed to pay more than £80million in penalties to settle inquiries by the regulators. Perhaps the most embarrassing episode came when Shell sold its stake in a 50/50 joint venture in an Indian oilfield to its partner Cairn Energy for a mere £4million — the field proved to have enough oil in it to increase Cairn’s share price by 300 per cent and propel it into FTSE100.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shell’s Auditor Had Outside Support: ““KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers affiliates have been named in investor lawsuits alleging negligence and professional malpractice, among other charges.”: “In a sign the shake-up isn’t likely to put the reserves issue fully behind the company, Shell also said last week that it may have to remove another big chunk of reserves from its books. That triggered Standard & Poor’s to say Friday that it again was reviewing Shell’s long-term double-A-plus credit rating.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL/DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: Data Providers Differ on Classing Shell Unification: “…the deal is a true merger — or rather a mere internal restructuring — has touched off a heated debate among investment bankers and data providers.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL/DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: Shell, Oil Unions Open Court Battle Over Nigeria Strike: “Oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD, SC) Monday opened court action to try to block a strike targeting oil exports in the world’s No. 7 crude exporter -but failed in a first-round bid to block any unrest by unions in the meantime.”

BARRONS’Online: Russia’s Gazprom: the Big Ugly Duckling: WHAT’S THE LARGEST ENERGY COMPANY in the world? Guess Gazprom and you’re right, but few American investors probably realize that. Not well-known here, the Russian state-controlled natural-gas monopoly has more hydrocarbon reserves than ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, Total and Conoco Phillips put together.”

Financial Times: Revamped Shell set to boost executive pay: “Last week Malcolm Brinded, head of exploration and production at Shell, said the group could be forced to unbook a further 900m of its 14.35bn barrels of oil reserves, and left open the prospect of further revisions”

The Times (UK): Corporate hotshots may go down as well as up: The power 100: “A few short months ago, the chairmanship of Shell, the world-famous oil company, was one of the most desirable jobs going. The title bought status and influence, not to mention a bulging pay packet. That was before a large part of Shell’s oil and gas reserves mysteriously evaporated.”

Daily Telegraph (UK): Nigerian unions put Shell in dock: “Nigeria’s union leaders yesterday declared embattled oil business Shell to be an “enemy of the Nigerian people” and called for protests against the company.”

Daily Mail (UK): Bonus bonanza for Shell bosses

The Times (UK): Shell gains £968m from sale of gas stake: “The sale comes amid soaring gas prices which have prompted increases in customers’ bills and an inquiry by Ofgem, the UK energy regulator. Ofgem last month urged a European Commission investigation into whether gas companies had withheld supplies to Britain, exacerbating a supply squeeze caused by declining North Sea production.”

Financial Times: Nigerian unions aim to halt oil exports: “Mr Oshiomhole said the Federal High Court was due today to hear a case brought by Shell, which accounts for almost half the country’s daily oil output, in an attempt to stop industrial action by its workers.”

AFX Asia (Focus): Shell and Esso to get 2.78 bln eur from Dutch govt in gas ops ownership rejig

AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW: Nigerian unions brand Shell as enemy: “Union leaders singled out Shell, Nigeria’s largest petroleum producer, which they accused of planning to try to block the strike in the courts. “We have resolved to declare Shell an enemy of the Nigerian people,” Adams Oshiomhole, leader of the main Nigeria Labour Congress, told reporters.”: “Shell officials could not immediately be reached for comment.”

USAToday: Nigerian unions declare Shell the ‘enemy’, call for strike: “LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Unions declared the top oil multinational here, Royal Dutch/Shell, “an enemy of the Nigerian people” on Sunday and called a Nov. 16 nationwide strike…”: “The threats in the world’s No. 7 oil exporter — the source of one-fifth of U.S. oil imports — appeared likely to send new shocks through the global oil price market.”

BBC NEWS: Nigeria strike call targets Shell: “Adams Oshiomhole, leader of the NLC, told the BBC that this time the strike would be indefinite and total, and would affect both the production and export of crude oil. “Shell has decided to side with the government to oppress our people and to mix themselves into Nigerian internal politics”.

The Scotsman: Shell coy on bosses’ performance-related pay: “Shell, which announced it was ditching its complex dual corporate structure last week in a partial bid to put its oil reserves scandal behind it, yesterday refused to confirm or deny it wanted to bring remuneration for its five executive directors in line with rivals such as BP.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Did Shell Merge? Big Banks Argue the Point: ”The huge corporate reorganization of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group is one of the year’s largest financial transactions. But is it really a merger?”

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