Laurel Brubaker Calkins Bloomberg News
GALVESTON, Texas: BP chief tries to resist testifying in blast case
John Browne, the chief executive of the oil company BP, should not have to give sworn statements to workers injured in a 2005 blast at its Texas refinery, company lawyers have told the Texas Supreme Court.
But a lawyer for the plaintiffs, who are urging Browne to testify, said Thursday that the executive was “ultimately responsible” for the budget cuts that preceded the accident at a Texas refinery.
Neither the public statements of Browne nor the depositions of less-senior officials indicate that the chief executive had direct knowledge of the causes of the accident, BP said in papers filed with the court Monday. Browne, appealed a lower court order for him to testify and was granted an emergency stay by the Texas Supreme Court on Feb. 22, the day before he was scheduled to give a sworn deposition in London.
“Plaintiffs’ evidence reveals no facts of which Browne is aware that are not known by others in the operation,” Katherine Mackillop, a BP lawyer, wrote in the appellate filing.
BP, one of Europe’s top oil companies, set aside $1.6 billion to settle more than 1,750 claims arising from the March 23, 2005, explosion at its Texas City, Texas, refinery. The blast killed 15 and injured hundreds.
“We’ve interviewed probably 150 corporate officials, and we’ve worked our way all the way up the corporate ladder,” the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Brent Coon, said Thursday.
“He is the guy who was ultimately responsible for the budget cuts the Chemical Safety Board says was the root cause of the explosion, so that alone should be reason enough to depose him.”
Published: March 9, 2007
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.
