DAILY MAIL
By Sam Fleming
Last updated at 10:30 PM on 30th July 2009
Royal Dutch Shell will axe thousands more jobs as it grapples with the deepest downturn in oil demand for almost three decades.
The oil giant’s new chief executive Peter Voser struck a resoundingly grim tone as he unveiled a 70 per cent crash in secondquarter profits to £1.4billion.
He will hack capital spending by 10 per cent and push through ‘substantial’ cuts to the firm’s 102,000-strong workforce.
Gloomy outlook: Shell has seen its profits plunge and plans more redundancies
That follows reductions of 17,000 people between 2003 and 2008 and a cull of a fifth of the firm’s top managers this year.
‘We simply don’t know when the global economy will recover, and we have to plan on the basis that this downturn could last quite some time,’ said Voser.
World oil demand will fall by over 2million barrels-a-day this year, the sharpest fall since 1980, says Shell.
Coming at a time when supplies are rising by an annual 10 per cent, this is proving a toxic combination for oil titans.
This time last year, firms were riding high on the back of oil prices that peaked at $147 a barrel.
But the global recession pushed prices below $40 early in 2009.
Since then, prices have recovered to the mid-$60s, but BP this week played down the chances of a further rally in the short term.
BP’s second-quarter profits fell 57 per cent to £1.9billion. US rival Exxon said yesterday its profits tumbled 66 per cent to £2.4billion.
Unlike BP, which pegged its dividend this week, Shell managed to deliver a 5 per cent uplift to 42 cents a share (25.5p). ‘A’ shares in Anglo-Dutch Shell rose 12p to 1,600p.
But finance chief Simon Henry said the firm could freeze the payout at that level as it responds to low inflation and the grim backdrop.
Shell’s woes in Nigeria helped push oil and gas output down by over 5 per cent in the quarter.
Voser sounded particularly downbeat on the African country, where Shell has been plagued by rebel attacks in the Delta region.
Asked whether he could withdraw altogether, Voser said: ‘This is an environment where we will have to be very careful how we are operating our assets going forward, but I think that is as far as I want to go at this stage.’
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.
