By Dino Mahtani in London
Published: February 15 2008 02:00 | Last updated: February 15 2008 02:00
Royal Dutch Shell yesterday suspended plans to cut the costs of running its Nigerian operations, a move prompted by the government’s desire to discuss ways to pay its share of investment in oil and gas joint ventures.
Shell last year announced plans to cuts jobs and streamline its three businesses in Nigeria to overcome the government’s funding shortfalls in Shell Petroleum Development Company, its joint venture with Nigeria’s state-owned oil company.
Shell has blamed the government for risking the survival of the company by not stumping up its yearly cash obligation.
A Shell official said the discussions in progress had shown “signs that the government was ready to make more funding available”. Executives at Shell and other multinationals operating in Nigeria say that the government falls short by $4bn (€2.7bn, £2bn) a year in its funding obligations towards all joint ventures.
Officials at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, the state-owned group that holds a 55 per cent stake at SPDC, could not be reached, but were reported as having said they had not been given a chance to voice their own concerns over Shell’s restructuring plans and wanted more dialogue.
Shell employs about 12,000 staff and contract workers in Nigeria. It had not formally announced how many workers it would sack, but industry sources expected about 2,000 employees to lose their jobs if the company reorganised its operations.
Through its equity position and taxes, the Nigerian government takes about 90 per cent of the value of the oil barrel produced from the joint venture. Last month it announced it would use $4.97bn from its 2008 budget to invest in the joint ventures, and was seeking $3.8bn in financing from international and local banks. The dispute is likely to continue until financing is arranged, analysts say.
Shell has lost 189,000 barrels per day of its production because of militant attacks and has suffered billions of dollars in funding shortfalls over the past few years. At its peak, Shell pumped 1m barrels of oil per day and was Nigeria’s largest producer, a position it has lost to ExxonMobil.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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.
