HOUSTON, May 9 (UPI) — Houston's Halliburton Corp. won four contracts worth about $100 million with units of Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
The deals with European units of Shell Exploration and Production companies in Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Ireland include the supply of “completion products” and associated services for five years with the potential for five single-year extensions, Halliburton said Tuesday.
Completion products refers to materials used to prepare a finished oil or gas well for commercial production. read more
Shell misses target for cutting oil spills09/05/2006 – 15:53:15
Royal Dutch Shell today blamed attacks by militants on pipelines in Nigeria and hurricanes in the United States for missing its goal of reducing oil spills in 2005.
Around 340 tonnes of oil flooded land in Nigeria during December after a key pipeline was blown up by rebels – an event that marked a series of attacks on assets owned by Shell in the country.
Shell added that spillages totalling 3,900 tonnes of oil took place in the United States last summer because of damage caused by two major hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.read more
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Tuesday oil spills at its facilities rose 50 percent in 2005 due to hurricane damage in the Gulf of Mexico and sabotage in Nigeria.
Shell missed its target to reduce spills, with discharges rising to 9,000 tonnes from 6,100 tonnes in 2004, the Anglo-Dutch company said in its annual Sustainability Report.
Shell lost 3,900 tonnes due to hurricane damage, while the bombing of a major pipeline in Nigeria by ethnic militants in December led to a 340 tonne spill, which reversed a downward trend in that country.read more
Nationalization of Bolivian natural gas is part of a broader global wave souring investment climate for international companies
Brad Foss
Associated Press Business Writer
First Russia. Then Venezuela. Now Bolivia.
Soaring energy prices are fueling a global wave of natural-resource nationalization that is souring the investment landscape for international oil companies and reshaping energy politics for years to come.
While it is anyone’s guess as to which energy-rich developing nation will be next to assert greater state control over its oil or natural gas assets, analysts say it is only a matter of time before the actions of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales inspire a copycat.read more
MEMBERS of Mayo County Council have reiterated their support for the Rossport Five, while simultaneously stressing the need to avail of the opportunities that the Corrib gas field offers.
Welcoming the publication of the Advantica report on the safety of the proposed gas pipeline at Monday’s monthly meeting, An Cathaoirleach Henry Kenny said that he hopes the report will represent ‘a stepping stone for communication and exchange of ideas’. “If the situation is not solved it will be a very black mark on our interests in inviting investors into the county.”
Fine Gael’s Paddy McGuinness highlighted how Cllr Kenny had stood his ground on behalf of the Council during his dealings on the issue. “I welcome the response of Shell,” he added. “It must be recognised that they have apologised and held out the olive branch.”
Cllr McGuinness also welcomed the response of the Rossport Five to the publication, particularly in the form of Micheal Ó Seighin. “You might even say they have secured a victory, but their fears about health and safety are sincerely held. This party won’t be part of any stampede to discredit their sincerely held views.”
Cllr McGuinness urged Mayo County Council to continue to contribute to an atmosphere of respect, trust and goodwill.
Fianna Fáil’s Pat McHugh commented that the Advantica report on the safety of the €900m project should be taken in context with ‘the times we are living in’. “By this I mean the increasing cost of energy and dwindling supply. That equation must concentrate our minds. The issue must be resolved in the interests of all. The common good demands that it be resolved, we can’t continue to rely on imported energy. It is untenable.”
Emphasising the importance of not exacerbating the situation, Cllr McHugh also highlighted the number of personnel that Shell now have on the ground ‘who are sensitive to the situation, and who have an empathy with the local community’.
Fianna Fáil election candidate, Cllr Frank Chambers, described the gas as “a natural and national resource important to the welfare of the State, with opportunities for Irish people into the future.”
However, he stressed that people’s health and safety should come first, but also urged the Government to avail of the current opportunity to deliver investment into the county and into north Mayo in particular.
Imperial not ready to speculate on reviving over-the-top option for Arctic gas
Gary Park
For Petroleum News
Cost pressures have not yet reached breaking point with the Mackenzie Gas Project, but could make the venture uneconomic, or force a rethinking of design and construction, Imperial Oil officials said.
Company chairman Tim Hearn said “we’re not close to pulling the plug,” but if costs get too high “we will have to reassess what we can do.”
“We can’t push billions beyond C$7.5 billion or I think we’ll have some pretty difficult decisions to make,” he said. read more
Herrera: Statistics point to peak production; prices likely to go higher
Alan Bailey
Petroleum News
It’s well known that U.S. oil production has been declining for many years. And, in Alaska, oil production is well past its peak. But has worldwide oil production peaked? And what impact might worldwide oil production capacity have on already soaring oil prices?
On May 1 Petroleum News discussed these topics with Alaska oil industry consultant Roger Herrera.
“I really have to believe that the world is very close to, if not past, peak oil,” Herrera said. read more
Liamy McNally on the matters of fact and the facts of the matter
De Facto
Clearing the Corrib fog
To coin a well-used phrase, ‘They haven’t gone away, you know.’ The phrase can be applied to any or all sides in the Corrib gas debate. All hands are still on deck, even if things are still a little hazy. The fog horn still sounds along the route of the Corrib gas project. Fog horns serve a positive purpose, there is hope on the horizon.
Advantica
Last Wednesday, almost four months after he received the final Advantica report, Minister Noel Dempsey released it. Of course the release was ‘managed’ – RTE received the first copy to allow them to ‘prepare’ for a television interview. They are the national broadcaster pleaded the Minister when the unfairness of it was pointed out to him. The rest of us received the report at 1pm and an interview with the Minister at 1.05pm. Speed reading comes with the job! It is just another example of the arrogance of power when dealing with people. The previous Friday certain politicians and quasi-politicians could advise journalists to ‘be ready’ for Tuesday or Wednesday. How is it that the chosen few (always) know what is about to happen?
Wednesday heralded the much-awaited Advantica report. No surprises. It lined up well alongside the draft report from last December. It was being sold by the Minister as a safety review, which it was not, it was a selective review. And, as expected, Shell will accept the findings.
Apologia
Then things started to run like an express train. Rather than spin out the reaction to the Advantica report, Shell ran away into new territory. It issued an apology. It put all the reports in the halfpenny place as the company’s Managing Director, Andy Pyle, admitted that Shell had made mistakes and apologised for the hurt caused to the men who were imprisoned for 94 days and their families. The apology was accepted, with hopes that progress would be next. Then Shell said, in a somewhat roundabout fashion, that all options were on the table. What has been known by many and acknowledged by a few (including some Shell personnel) emerged – Rossport is really out of the picture as a route for the upstream pipeline. The adjacent bay is an option as are other routes. With some reading between the lines the offshore option is on the table, albeit most unwillingly, and probably as a discussion tactic at best. This option has a choice between the deep water and shallow water option. The shallow water option would be a bonanza for Belmullet but too many people were too quick to accept the much-hated land-based option, as proposed at Bellanaboy. There is another land site on the west of Belmullet that would be more suitable from a (human) safety aspect but this was not properly examined as the Coillte site in Bellanaboy was the proverbial gift horse, or so it seemed at the time.
Vindication
Let’s go back! Advantica is a vindication of the stance taken by the Rossport Five, their families and supporters and by the opponents of the Bellanaboy site. They rejected this site and its associated routes as the best option for the terminal many years ago. What the Advantica report does is point out in black and white the serious inadequacies of Shell’s upstream pipeline proposal, along with the serious flaws attached to the Petroleum Affairs Division of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. The Rossport Five have done Erris, Mayo and the country a service that will never be recognised in the short term. Through their campaign they have ensured, not that the rules are re-written, but that they are written up in the first place. They have ensured that there are rules. Up to now it was a free for all for the oil and gas companies. Now responsibility for upstream pipelines rests with the Commission for Energy Regulation. This is major development. A reduction in the capacity of the Shell pipeline to a maximum of 144 bar is another major victory. Let the Shell apologists stop saying that the maximum pressure going through the pipeline is 120 bar. Let them check the Shell Environmental Impact Statement, if they find the correct one because there were so many.
The debt
And the quasi-politicos and all who are interested in ensuring that the west gets its fair share also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Rossport Five and their families. While there will be a queue to claim the place at the top table for ensuring that CER changed their criteria for providing a gas supply to towns along the gas grid, the reality is that it was the Rossport Five crisis that ensured that these regulations were changed. In effect, the Rossport Five campaign will ensure that Mayo towns receive gas, the flawed project as proposed is less flawed and responsibility for upstream pipelines will now be assumed by a statutory body. To think that no statutory body had responsibility for upstream pipelines before this makes a mockery of this whole project. It also highlights the serious inadequacies within a Department that is charged with encouraging exploration on the one hand and policing it on the other hand. It even raises questions about the role of the local authority, Mayo County Council, in such a project.
The Rossport Five campaign has been a success on all fronts. Their campaign was based on a ‘justice for all’ policy, not a ‘gains for a few’ policy.
Treading softly
There is an opportunity now for all sides to be honest with each other. The Shell to Sea campaign has wound up many local people because of the actions of a few people. This should not deter from the bigger picture which is about ensuring that the gas is brought ashore safely and that Mayo benefits. This is about a long term goal not a short term gain. An apology for wrongdoing also carries with it a duty for reparation. The Corrib gas project can be a win-win project. It is only such a pity that such pain, tears and aggression had to be experienced first.
SHELL E&P Ireland Ltd has been accused of sending out ‘mixed messages’ and ‘playing games’ with the people of Mayo, in the wake of last Wednesday’s publication of the Advantica report on the Corrib gas pipeline.
Following the positive reaction to comments made by Mr Andy Pyle on Thursday, when he appeared to suggest that an alternative route would be considered for the controversial pipeline, Shell’s Managing Director subsequently retreated from this position, describing the possibility of an alternative route as ‘speculation’ on Friday. Mr Pyle also appeared to rule out definitively the off-shore option pursued by Shell to Sea campaigners, during a media briefing on Friday, when he also indicated that the company would continue to pursue injunction hearings against anyone protesting against the location of the pipeline at Rossport.
“Shell seems to be playing games once again,” said Dr Jerry Cowley, TD yesterday. “They seem to be pulling back in a perverse way on the other options and orchestrating events. They owe an explanation to the people of Mayo.”
This sentiment has been echoed by Shell to Sea spokesperson Dr Mark Garavan who has described an apology by Andy Pyle for Shell’s part in the imprisonment of the Rossport Five as ‘a tactical decision’.
Dr Garavan has identified the mediation process between Shell and the five men as the most likely avenue for progress. “When you balance up what they’re actually doing with what they’re saying, you begin to see there are mixed messages from Shell,” he said.
“We’re at a point now where we have an opportunity to get this thing done right and in a way that everybody wins. Nothing has happened with the Corrib gas pipeline on shore, it’s easy to re-configure it.”
Speaking to The Mayo News on Monday, Shell spokesperson Susan Shannon agreed that mediation provides the most likely means of a breakthrough, particularly in light of ground rules laid out by Mr Peter Cassells.
“These state that all development concepts and all routes will be considered in the process,” explained Ms Shannon.
“We are willing to consider all concepts and all route options. Having said that the current route was selected for good reason, and from an environmental and safety point of view we still believe that it’s the best option. But we’re willing to consider all others, certainly if someone can show us a better one we are willing to consider that.”
05/09/2006: Press Release from Royal Dutch Shell plc
Shell: Sustainability At The Heart Of Our Business (CSRwire) Royal Dutch Shell plc today released its ninth annual report on its environmental and social performance. The report underlines the company's commitment to help meet the world's current and future energy needs in environmentally and socially responsible ways.
The Shell Sustainability Report 2005 discusses at length the energy challenge facing the world over the next half-century, which will require governments, energy users and producers to do three things simultaneously: meet the increasing demand for energy; keep supplies secure; and reduce energy's environmental and social impacts. read more
VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Crude-oil futures hovered around $70 a barrel Tuesday as persistent concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions were tempered by expectations of rising U.S. gasoline stocks.
Oil prices have risen in recent weeks on anxiety that Iran, the No. 2 producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, could cut supplies because of international pressure to modify its nuclear program.read more
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BRITAIN'S Department of Trade and Industry has approved 10 offshore oil and gas projects and six hydrocarbon developments so far this year, writes Martyn Wingrove.read more
Shell Canada bids $2.4-billion for BlackRock: Hefty offer will boost oilsands reserves at petroleum giant
Financial Post – Canada; May 09, 2006
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CALGARY – Shell Canada Ltd.'s $2.4-billion friendly offer for BlackRock Ventures Inc. is probably high enough to keep competing bids at bay and signals Shell's hunger to make more reserves-boosting acquisitions in Canada.read more
A Commodity Crunch Boosts Prices and Profits May 9, 2006 6:47 a.m.
The Earth itself seems to be playing an ever-growing role in its inhabitants' economic affairs, as global manufacturing growth exceeds the current human capacity for extracting needed commodities from the sea and soil. Resulting market speculation only magnifies the problem.
Just this morning, platinum prices reached a new record in European trading, rising 1.6% to $1,205 an ounce, as Reuters reports. This comes ahead of a key report due next week on the precious metal out of London, but platinum is hardly alone in its escalating price. Last month, investors and speculators held more than $120 billion of what Bloomberg describes as “bets in U.S. commodity markets” — the second-highest amount on record, according to Citigroup. Natural gas and oil accounted for 47% of those bets, but gold and copper also figured strongly as investors try to beat the returns of stocks and bonds by seeking out commodity-linked indexes and futures whose values have been bolstered by concern about shortages of raw materials, as Bloomberg notes.read more
Exxon's Pile of Cash Keeps Growing, Adding Fuel to the Ire Over Oil Prices
By DAVID REILLYMay 9, 2006; Page C1
Move over, Microsoft Corp. Here comes a new cash king.
Thanks to soaring oil prices and record earnings, global energy titan Exxon Mobil Corp. appears to be on track to amass a cash mountain even taller than Microsoft's. That would give Exxon, the world's biggest company by stock-market value, bragging rights to one of the largest cash piles at a nonfinancial company.
Exxon's bank still isn't as big as Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s. Neither is Microsoft's. But Berkshire boss Warren Buffett doesn't pay out dividends or repurchase stock. Had Exxon followed the same policy in the past three boom years, its cash pile would be about double that of Berkshire. Instead, Exxon these days pays out more than $2 billion a month to shareholders.read more
Crude-oil futures fell slightly and ended below $70 as traders responded to reports of a feelings-soothing letter from Iran's president to President Bush. Here is today's well of news about oil and fuel prices.
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SHELL BUYS BLACKROCK: Shell Canada Ltd., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, agreed to buy Canadian bitumen producer BlackRock Ventures Inc. for about $2.17 billion. Shell and other major oil companies have been scrambling to pump more oil and natural gas out of the ground. BlackRock (not to be confused with the famous New York private-equity firm) specializes in squeezing bitumen, a low-grade, sticky crude oil, from oil-sands deposits in Alberta. While turning oil sands into crude is a costly and difficult process, it has become an increasingly attractive alternative as oil prices have skyrocketed along with political tensions in parts of the world where crude comes easier.read more
Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent Irish Times; May 09, 2006
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A Mayo group of residents and business people who support the Corrib gas project has forwarded a modified route for the pipeline to Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey, which, it says, would break the “current deadlock”.read more
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Madam, – Firstly I would like to congratulate you for the unbiased and open view you have taken on the Corrib project so far and hope that this continues.read more
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I read with great amusement Minister Noel Dempsey's and Shell's sentiments stressing the importance of the Corrib gas to the Irish nation.read more
Shell hopes Anne-1 will lead to Pakistan's first offshore oil output
Results of deepwater exploration in Indus basin are keenly awaited in nation dominated by onshore production, writes Bruce McMichael, Lahore Lloyds List; May 09, 2006
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PAKISTAN'S energy sector is dominated by onshore gas production but one oil major is hoping to find hydrocarbons offshore.read more
We would like to apologise for the website being unavailable for 24 hours from Sunday 7th May. This was due to a lack of bandwidth to cope with an unprecedented number of visitors.
The site has now been upgraded to the maximum bandwidth on offer from our website hosting company. If this proves insufficient the website will be moved onto a dedicated server.
In the meantime we apologise for any inconvenience.
The leaflets issued at the Shell Centre on Thursday 4th May 2006 contained extracts from an article published on ShellNews.net almost two years ago under the name of famed Shell geologist Dr John Huong, who was a Shell employee for almost 30 years.
The article, along with two others, is currently the subject of a High Court Restraining Order and Injunction obtained by EIGHT Royal Dutch Shell companies against Dr Huong.
The litigation escalated dramatically in recent weeks with the same companies issuing a flood of further proceedings against Dr Huong. Shell has preferred to ignore the facts known to them since July 2004 regarding who was actually responsible for the publication of the articles in question (and all subsequent publications which happen to the subject of ALL of the subsequent Shell legal proceedings). read more
Shell Canada's oil sands gambleBy Thomas Catan Published: May 9 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 9 2006 03:00
Royal Dutch Shell's Canadian unit yesterday published a C$2.4bn (£1.16bn) cash offer for BlackRock Ventures; its latest decision in a multi-billion dollar bet on Canada's oil sands.
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Shell Canada, 78 per cent owned by Shell, offered C$24 per share for the small Canadian oil sands producer – a 27 per cent premium over Friday's closing price of $18.88. The board of BlackRock unanimously approved the transaction and will recommend it to shareholders. “This acquisition will augment our overall oil sands portfolio,” said Clive Mather, president and chief executive of Shell Canada.read more
SHELL Canada is digging deeper into Canada’s oil sands. It has agreed to buy BlackRock Ventures for C$2.4 billion (£1.1 billion) — the second investment in two months by Shell in Alberta’s bitumen deposits.
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The quoted Canadian subsidiary of the Dutch multinational has secured the agreement of BlackRock’s management to an offer of C$24 per share. The bid represents a 27 per cent premium on the closing price of BlackRock shares last week, but the stock has soared amid the frenzied activity by energy investors in Alberta’s muskeg wilderness.
Oil companies are flocking to the Canadian province, enticed by the huge resource, reckoned by some to be as large as Saudi Arabia.
read more
Royal Dutch Shell moved further into the exploitation of unconventional oil reserves yesterday after agreeing to pay C$2.4bn (£1.2bn) for a Canadian oil sands company.
The acquisition of BlackRock Ventures will strengthen Shell's presence in the Alberta region of Canada where it already produces 84,000 barrels a day from oil sands and has an estimated 865 million barrels of reserves.
The deal will add 12,000 to 14,000 barrels a day to Shell Canada's production and provide it with an additional 209 million barrels of probable and proven resources. BlackRock's Peace River and Cold Lake fields in the Canadian state of Alberta are estimated to contain a total of 1 billion barrels of oil. Shell's fields in the Athabasca and Peace River regions contain an estimated 17 billion barrels.read more
Spending £1.2bn on the acquisition of another company is loose change to a business the size of Shell (less than 1pc of its market capitalisation), but the acquisition of BlackRock Ventures tells us two things about Shell's thinking.
First, that it believes the oil price will not return to its 1990s level of under $10 a barrel for many years. Digging out sticky tar sands in Canada and then extracting the black gold is not cheap and Shell's valuation for BlackRock Ventures is assuming a long-run oil price of at least $50 a barrel. If the Anglo-Dutch oil giant cannot find cheaper ways to extract the oil, then the acquisition is essentially a £1bn punt on the price of a barrel of crude – the kind of bet that only companies the size of Shell can make.read more
Shell pays £1.2bn to develop oil sands interests in Canada By Christopher Hope, Industry Editor (Filed: 09/05/2006)
Royal Dutch Shell is betting that the price of oil will stay above $50 a barrel, after paying C$2.4bn (£1.2bn) for Canadian oil sands business BlackRock Ventures.
The acquisition is Shell's first notable deal since it paid £3.5bn for Enterprise Oil in 2002. It comes months after Shell's chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said acquisitions up to $10bn were back on the agenda.read more
FOR those stewing about the big profits of the big oil companies, the best revenge may be to invest in them. These companies offer safety for conservative investors, with their combination of refining and exploration businesses. When oil prices fall, they tend to produce more consistent earnings than pure plays on exploration, services or refining.
Several years into this mega-run for energy-related stocks and oil prices, shares in some of the largest integrated oil and gas businesses sport decent valuations. Solid returns on capital employed are especially desirable as the industry faces criticism for hoarding cash in these profitable times. And a winning company is likely to offset exploration with refining and chemicals businesses. Then a drop in energy prices and refining margins won’t hurt as much.
Research by investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey (FBR) shows that some stocks look cheaper, or have heralded managements, but Exxon Mobil, the largest and best-known of them all, is less sensitive than competitors to energy price swings. And Exxon has the juiciest returns.
“Exxon’s returns on capital are over 25% greater than its peer group, which is substantial,” says Frank Holmes, chief investment officer at US Global Investors in San Antonio, Texas. “That tells you that management is better at making economic energy decisions.” Holmes added to his Exxon position in the first quarter, shortly after Exxon’s longtime chairman Lee Raymond retired. Raymond’s handpicked successor, Rex Tillerson, is a Texas native who has been at Exxon for three decades and blazed a trail as an Exxon executive in Russia in the 1990s.
The transition has been seamless, though Tillerson has sidestepped the subjects of global warming and alternative energy that pitted the outspoken Raymond against environmentalists. Tillerson’s diplomatic skills will be key to ventures with state-owned oil companies around the world and to expanding deep-water and liquefied natural-gas (LNG) projects. Already, he has cemented agreements in the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. Last year,
Exxon’s oil and gas production fell 3.6%. But spending is picking up and new fields under development should boost Exxon’s oil and gas production 13% in 2006 and 2.7% in 2007, according to Tina Vital, a Standard & Poor’s analyst.
Exxon gets about three-quarters of its earnings from its E&P business and about 10% from chemicals, a profitable business many integrated oil companies exited. Most of the rest comes from refining.
Meanwhile, Exxon has an enviable cash position. In the first quarter, Exxon made share repurchases valued at $5bn, more than the combined buybacks of Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Royal Dutch Shell and Total, according to FBR. The buyback and 2% dividend yield should put Exxon shareholders ahead about 8% this year, says Jacques Rousseau, an FBR analyst.read more
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.websitepublishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.
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.
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Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
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(JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
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:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
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.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
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 websiteetc. 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.
John Donovan, the website owner
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
JOHN DONOVAN, THE OWNER OF THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER SHELL FOCUSSED WEBSITES
SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.