The Guardian: Shell had early reserves warning
“Shell admitted yesterday that it had been warned about inflated reserves before it was forced to issue the first of four downgrades this year.”
David Gow
Friday July 16, 2004
Shell admitted yesterday that it had been warned about inflated reserves before it was forced to issue the first of four downgrades this year.
The latest mea culpa came after the Wall Street Journal reported that an internal auditor at the energy group had notified outside auditors of potential problems in 2002.
Shell said issues about a number of fields or regions had been identified earlier than January 2004 when it first downgraded its proven reserves. The downgrades now amount to 4.47bn barrels, 23% of Shell’s previously claimed reserves. The group said the earlier warnings had come when it was believed that any differences would be offset by potential adjustments in other areas. The combined effect was to leave reported volumes unaltered.
The internal auditor, Anton Barendregt, reportedly identified a 1% overstatement of proven reserves for 2002. Industry sources said this was unlikely to ring alarm bells.
Company officials said it was not until late 2003 that audits pushed the difference well beyond “the materiality threshold”, meaning the company could no longer rely on offsetting against other areas.
Shell refused to comment on what it said were leaked and unverifiable documents but, according to the WSJ, these highlighted potentially serious systemic problems with Shell’s reporting of reserves.
They also reportedly show that these problems were repeatedly brought to the attention of more executives and directors than previously disclosed. Ousted exploration director Walter van de Vijver has claimed he first reported them in September 2002.
Mr Barendregt told the auditors, KPMG and PwC, that Shell’s bonus scheme may have encouraged the inflation of reserves but a spokesman said that exploration and production executives typically got no more than 5% of salary in their bonuses because of extra reserves.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1262365,00.html
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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.
