Royal Dutch Shell is a company with sham business principles and no scruples. It plotted to exploit the 9/11 attack for commercial purposes, adopted a Touch F*** All approach to the safety of offshore operations costing the lives of Shell offshore workers, and even defrauded its own investors. Is the U.S. government really going to allow this thoroughly discredited blundering company to continue with its jinxed Arctic folly?
By John Donovan
Shell has revealed that the grounding of the Kulluk in Alaskan waters has already cost the company $90 million for salvage and other costs. This does not include any repairs. There is no mention of making any insurance claim, because Shell was apparently unable to obtain contingency cover. Lloyds underwriters correctly decided the venture was too risky to the extent that it was impossible to quantify the potential financial consequences of a disaster that could bankrupt even a company as big as Royal Dutch Shell Plc. So Shell has been recklessly maneuvering its fleet, including a converted antiquated rust bucket, in stormy unpredictable Alaskan/Arctic waters without insurance, other than questionable self-insurance for a potential liability that it might not be able to cover. The ill fated voyage of the Kulluk, which ended on the rocks, was prompted, as Shell has admitted, by a tax dodging motive.