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March 9th, 2008:

Former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell throws down gauntlet to Shell Chairman, Jorma Ollila

BBC News image of Bill Campbell: Former Shell Group Auditor 

Republished from 02 July 2007

Printed below is an extraordinary email sent today by former Shell International Group Auditor, Bill Campbell (above) to Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chairman, Jorma Ollila and the Company Secretary, Michiel Brandjes.

It was also copied to: –

*Shell executives including Jeroen van der Veer and Malcolm Brinded
*Senior officials of The Health & Safety Executive
*Relevant trade unions
*The news media

Mr Campbell also supplied with the email documentary evidence in support of his serious allegations against Shell management. We have that evidence in our possession including a letter from Michiel Brandjes to Mr Campbell sent on behalf of Jorma Ollila.   read more

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.

OILC.Org: Letter from concerned (Shell) offshore workforce: ‘highly confidential’. A cry for help

BLOWOUT magazine: Voice of the offshore worker

Issue 77: 1st Quarter 2008

The Shell offshore staff crisis is reported on pages 6 & 7. In the course of 2007 a catalogue of safety concerns was passed on to the HSE by unions OILC and Amicus acting on behalf of members employed by Shell. The HSE investigated and found the allegations and complaints to be well founded.

Under staffing, overwork and operatives acting beyond their competencies in safety critical processes and the wholly inadequate training regime consisted the bulk of the complaints. Interestingly, some of the issues had been around for a while, years in some cases, but no complaints had previously been made. read more

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.

OILC.Org: SHELL: ‘This is a company when left to its own devices takes any short cut, bodges any repair and fiddles any statistic’

BLOWOUT magazine: Voice of the offshore worker

Extract from Editorial in Issue 77: 1st Quarter 2008

It is time to raise the game all-round and there are suggestions that the HSE may adopt a ‘no more mister nice guy’ approach. It has the tools to hand. A framework for proportionate enforcement of health and safety regulations is available to all HSE Inspectors as set out in the Enforcement Management Model (EMM). This guides Inspectors on actions to take when unsafe conditions or breaches of health and safety law are evident. read more

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.

SUNDAY HERALD: Sea Safety Flaws

Sunday 09 March 2008

Workers claim that lives are being put at risk as companies put profit before people

Judith Duffy

PIPER ALPHA remains the world’s worst offshore oil disaster after an explosion, followed by a fire, killed 167 men on July 6, 1988. Most of the victims suffocated in toxic fumes which developed after a gas leak set off the blasts and sparked the fire.

The platform, which lay 120 miles off the north-east coast, was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd and started production in 1976. It was the oldest and largest platform in the North Sea oilfield. read more

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.

SUNDAY HERALD: REVEALED: NORTH SEA SAFETY FLAWS

EXTRACT:  “The most frequent offender was the biggest and richest oil company in the North Sea, Shell, which received six notices covering five installations.”

THE ARTICLE

Remember Piper Alpha? Twenty years on, major oil companies are still committing serious safety breaches on North Sea rigs

By Environment Editor Rob Edwards

THE OIL companies guilty of a series of safety breaches on North Sea rigs have been named and shamed by the government’s health and safety watchdog – but only after a freedom of information request by the Sunday Herald. read more

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.

Shell North Sea platform safety allegations against Shell executives and the HSE by former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell

 By John Donovan

Below is the full content – every word – of a statement former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell sent to Shell, the HSE, the news media and other interested parties on 6 March 2008. Associated documents will be added ASAP to this article which was first published to coincide with a related report broadcast on TV Channel 4 News in the UK at 7pm on 6 March. Bill Campbell appeared on the report. Bill and I had discussions on the subject with a Channel 4 News Producer prior to the broadcast. read more

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.

Seeking Alpha: Is Oil Overpriced at $105/Barrel?

Seeking Alpha Graphic

Seeking Alpha: Is Oil Overpriced at $105/Barrel?

Posted on: March 09, 2008

BY ED KIM Bio & more articles

The price of crude oil closed at $105 Thursday, a record new high. As the price of oil continues to climb, people are questioning how high it will continue to rise. Traders are already betting on it reaching $125 by December 2008, as evidenced by the recent options market activity.

While there are groups of economists and financial managers publicly stating that the price of oil is already too high, that may not be the situation. read more

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.

alaskajournal.com: Candidates to debate, oil, gas and mining issues at ComFish

Sunday, March 9, 2008
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Key issues on the agenda for ComFish, scheduled for March 20-22 in Kodiak, include a congressional candidates’ fisheries debate, as well as oil and gas and mining development in prime fishing areas.

Incumbent Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, and five contenders will debate seafood industry issues the evening of March 20 in a two-hour forum to be broadcast live statewide via the Alaska Public Radio Network, from host station KMXT/Kodiak. read more

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.

The Sunday Times: Biofuels: Fields of dreams

Sunday Times image

March 9, 2008

We can run our cars on corn, sugar cane or wheat: limitless cheap energy grown on our doorstep. But are biofuels the answer to exhausted oil wells or just another nightmare scenario? By Richard Girling

John Anderson is motoring with chip fat. Sir Rob Margetts swears by fizzy drinks and chicken feed. George Bush is banking on corn. Everyone, from pub to parliament, knows we’re going to have to do something about transport fuel. Oil prices have already passed the threshold of pain, and emissions targets for greenhouse gases will not be met unless we wean ourselves off petrol. read more

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.

The Sunday Times: The top 10 Chinese firms that will challenge the West

China’s companies are building huge financial muscle and expanding abroad. Michael Sheridan picks out 10 that are likely to make an impact on the global economy and challenge western firms

March 9, 2008

The Chinese are coming; everybody knows that. From troubled Wall Street banks to derelict mines in Africa, the reviving effect of Chinese capital is changing the terms of trade. Some even talk of a historic shift in influence towards Asia and away from a tired, slow-growing West.

But as Chinese companies begin to strike out from their huge domestic base, which firms will wield most financial power – and who is at their helm? read more

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.

Daily Telegraph: Shell settlement rises to $470m

Friday, March 7, 2008

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $89.5m (£40m) to settle a lawsuit by US-based investors over the oil company’s 2004 restatement of oil and natural gas reserves.

Shell also will pay an additional $28.3m to investors in a European settlement, raising the company’s total payout over the restatement to $470m.

The scandal, in which Shell booked reserves it did not have, led to fines and the resignation of senior executives.

Shell said yesterday it had “made a huge step toward closing the chapter of legal disputes and controversies”. read more

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.