The West Australian: Anger at Shell’s slow review pace
JOHN PHACEAS
28 June 2004
Today looms as D-Day for troubled oil giant Royal Dutch-Shell, with shareholders expected to vent their spleen over the reserves write-down fiasco when they gather for this year’s annual meetings in London and The Hague.
Shell has been under intense pressure since admitting in February that it had over-estimated its oil reserves by 25 per cent, or 4.4 billion barrels. The move wiped billions off the market value of the Anglo-Dutch group, and forced three senior executives, including chairman Sir Philip Watts, to resign.
In particular, institutional investors have demanded widespread change of the group’s ungainly twin-board structure to make management of the group more transparent and accountable. Shell had hoped that some of the heat would be taken out of today’s meeting by its commitment last week to initiate a wide-ranging review.
“A number of possible structures, and improvements to decision-making, accountability and enhancement of effective leadership, are under active consideration,” Shell said. “Amongst other alternatives, forms of unified boards, to which a CEO would report, are being studied. Nothing is ruled out at this stage.”
While any move to overhaul its archaic structure was welcomed, big shareholders remain angry that the review will not be completed until November, and that any actual change will be put off until after next year’s annual meeting.
In a letter to Shell last week, US pension fund Calpers, one of Shell’s biggest shareholders, said the review should be accelerated by at least two months and that not all “remedial measures” should be put off until after next year’s annual meeting.
Calpers said it also intended to take an active role at the today’s meeting, suggesting it would be pressing hard for more information about the review.
Similarly, two major British investment groups – the National Association of Pension Funds and Association of British Insurers – are expected to also make their presence felt.
Peter Montagnon, investment affairs head at the ABI, told WestBusiness that the November deadline for the review would at least ensure some “momentum” but that his association believed shareholders needed to have more direct involvement in the process.
The NAPF said it also expected the review to include some consultation with shareholders.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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.
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: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
