Vidya Ram, 06.15.07, 2:00 PM ET
LONDON – Royal Dutch Shell proved on Friday that its shares are well slicked against the problems plaguing its Nigerian operations.
Shares in the Anglo-Dutch energy company ended the day up, despite a published report that it would cut spending in its operations in Nigeria to combat spiraling costs and lost revenue.
The company’s A shares closed up 42 pence (83 cents), or 2.1%, to £20.02 ($39.58), while its B shares closed up 49 pence (97 cents), or 2.5%, at £20.40 ($40.34) in Friday trading, both comfortably above the market average. The FTSE 100 closed up 82.50 pence, or 1.2%, at 6,732.40 points.
A Shell spokeswoman said that in Nigeria the company would be taking “a series of measures aimed at improving performance” as part of a wider global strategy for boosting performance that will be rolled out over the next three years. However, she said it was “too early to give further detail and any specifics at this stage.”
Royal Dutch Shell (nyse: RDSA – news – people ) wants to cut over $100 million in spending and more than 200 jobs over the next three years as part of the cost-cutting exercise, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The rumors may well be true, given the ongoing problems the company has been facing in Nigeria. Its facilities there have been subject to attacks by anti-government rebels, who have kidnapped employees and blown up pipelines, disrupting production. But these problems do not necessarily spill over into other operations.
The cutbacks in Nigeria could be viewed as a positive for the company. A series of kidnappings in the war-torn country were partly responsible for the decline of 6.4%, or 80,000 barrels a day, in Shell’s oil production for the first quarter.
Shell’s year got off to a good start. In May, the company announced that its first-quarter net income rose 5.7%, to $7.3 billion, from $6.9 billion in the similar period in 2006. Shell was one of the only oil producers that managed to record a profit for the quarter. Although, like its competitors, its profit was dented by a fall in the price of oil, it offset this problem with an increase in its earnings from refining.
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.
