FROM OUR AUGUST 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE
The Guardian: Solitary part-timer conducted group audit
“The FSA makes clear that Shell’s reserves difficulties began in 1997”
Terry Macalister
Wednesday August 25, 2004
The crucial auditing of Shell’s global oil and gas reserves was undertaken by one part-time engineer.
The revelation comes in the report by the Financial Services Authority, which describes group reserves auditing (GRA) of a key value indicator as “deficient and ineffective”.
Shell’s decentralised structure needed a robust internal reserves auditing function. Instead, it “had engaged as GRA a petroleum engineer – who worked only part-time and was provided limited resources and no staff – to audit its worldwide operations,” the FSA says.