The Scotsman: Shell tight-lipped on claim
“TROUBLED Shell was involved in fresh turbulence yesterday as it stonewalled questions”
MARTIN FLANAGAN CITY EDITOR
Fri 16 Jul 2004
TROUBLED Shell was involved in fresh turbulence yesterday as it stonewalled questions about a report alleging that external auditors were warned the oil major was inflating its energy reserves two years before it owned up, early in 2004.
The warnings to affiliates of KPMG International and PricewaterhouseCoopers International were said to be contained in Shell documents reviewed by a newspaper.
However, a Shell spokesman said yesterday: “We will not comment on leaked and unverifiable documents. We have submitted a full report to the regulators.
“US government authorities have allowed us to publish an executive summary of that report and we are continuing to co-operate fully with them and can’t comment further.”
The fresh controversy, following a report in the Wall Street Journal, came as John Tiner, the chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, Britain’s financial regulator, confirmed that the status of the FSA’s investigation into the Shell reserves overstatement was “ongoing”.
Shell stunned investors in January with news that it had overbooked oil and gas reserves by 20 per cent.
However, the Shell spokesman did say: “Although certain issues surrounding a number of fields had been identified earlier than January 2004, at the time these warnings were raised it was believed that any differences between the reserves classified under Shell internal guidelines and those under SEC rules would be offset by potential reserves adjustments in other areas.”
It is understood that Shell therefore thought the reported total volumes continued to be, in the aggregate, materially accurate. However, insiders say audits completed in late 2003 pushed the difference well beyond this equation and much of the reliance on offsets subsequently proved to be unfounded.
The newly revealed warnings, by then top internal reserves auditor Anton Barendregt, said only a small part of Shell’s reserves were at risk of being overstated – about 1 per cent of total company reserves for 2002, for example, the WSJ said.
A KPMG spokesman said: “We stand by the quality of our auditing work.” PriceWaterhouseCoopers said: “We never talk about any work we do for clients.”
( Posted here by John Donovan of http://royaldutchshellgroup.com/ )
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.
