January 9, 2004

LONDON (AP) – The Royal Dutch/Shell Group is downgrading one-fifth of its proved oil and natural gas reserves after reassessing the prospects of some of its projects.

Shell said Friday it was recategorizing 3.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent from proved reserves to “scope for recovery.” None of Shell’s Canadian reserves were affected by the change. The “scope for recovery” category means that although the same volume of hydrocarbons is believed to be present, the development of the projects is not mature enough for them to qualify as proved reserves. read more

Stunned investors promptly began a sell-off that knocked more than 7% off the Anglo-Dutch firm’s share price in both London and Amsterdam.  

Shell said it does not expect the reassement to have any impact on its financial results, as 90% of the reserves involved remain undeveloped. But analysts were unconvinced. Shares in fellow oil firm BP also fell 2%.   read more

Fri January 9, 2004 04:11 PM ET
 
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s on Friday said they may cut the top ratings for Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) (SHEL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , after Shell on Friday cut by 20 percent its estimates of how much oil and gas it was certain it could profitably extract from its fields.
 
Investors reacted to Shell’s announcement by criticizing management and punishing the company’s share price, which fell more than 7 percent.
 
Both Moody’s and S&P affirmed their short-term ratings for Shell.
 
But Moody’s said it may cut the group’s “Aaa” long term ratings, while S&P said it may cut the group’s “AAA” ratings, which in both cases are the highest possible ratings.
 
Many western oil companies are struggling to find new oilfields to replace maturing ones, which is crucial to assuring future earnings growth.
 
But in recent years, investors have perceived Shell as lagging in adding new fields. read more

By Joanna Chung and Gordon Smith
Published: January 9 2004 9:48
 
Royal Dutch/Shell, one of the world’s largest and most respected oil companies, shocked shareholders and rivals on Friday by slashing estimates of its proved reserves by 20 per cent.
 
The revelation that almost 4bn barrels of oil and gas would have to be reclassified to comply with US Securities and Exchange Commission rules triggered a drop of more than 7 per cent in Shell’s share price – knocking about £3bn ($5.5bn) off its market value and hitting shares across the sector.
 
Reserves are a key measure of an oil company’s health. Although difficulty of finding new reserves has become an industry-wide problem, Shell has been among the least successful of its peers in making new finds. Many of the company’s added reserves have come in the form of upward revisions of the capacity of fields already discovered – rather than through exploration successes. On Friday, Shell said its reserves would shrink again this year, with only 70-90 per cent of oil and gas extracted being replaced.
 
Although Shell said the decision would have no material effect on its financial statements, or the total volume of hydrocarbons in place, the news intensified pressure on Sir Philip Watts, its embattled chairman.
 
Sir Philip was head of Shell’s exploration and production division when the fields in question – the majority of them in Australia and Nigeria – were classified as proved. The revision suggests Shell took an unrealistic view of how quickly it could develop the fields. The company said the move would bring all its reserves up to “a common standard of definition”.
 
Leading UK shareholders said the news was the latest example of poor communication by the oil group. They were particularly angered by the absence of Sir Philip and other board members from a conference call explaining the revision to investors on Friday. One large UK shareholder said: “No one likes to deliver bad news but he should not have left it for others to do.” read more

Shell News Archive Wednesday, January 7, 2004 

Canada.com: 90 days to file Shell gas claims: “vehicle engine was damaged by a bad additive in Shell Gasoline 2 years ago”: “Shell Bronze gas contained an additive that was clogging up fuel systems”

Tony Tighe
Global TV
January 7, 2004

Anyone who’s vehicle engine was damaged by a bad additive in Shell Gasoline 2 years ago, has until May 7th to apply for compensation.

In 2001 and 2002, Shell Bronze gas contained an additive that was clogging up fuel systems in some newer model vehicles.

Hundreds of drivers across Canada had to replace fuel pumps and fuel gauges or have their gas tanks and gas lines cleaned out.

Shell admitted the problem and agreed to pay for some of the repairs at the time but two car owners in Ontario and B.C. filed a class action lawsuit for more money. read more