Posts from ‘September, 2009’

From our archives 2 February 2006…

FROM A SHELL INSIDER

Hello Alfred

Below is the crap we receive from our ‘leader’. It continues to baffle me that these politicians keep finding hollow words for their messages that never change. This cowboy from Wyoming expects a few things to be different this year (see bullet points at the bottom). This means in his eyes:

– We are NOT honest to each other.

– We do NOT learn quickly from mistakes

– There are gaps in the Operating Model (actually his personal invention) read more

CALGARY, Alberta, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Greenpeace activists who occupied mining equipment at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's (RDSa.L) Canadian oil sands project ended their protest on Wednesday after 1-1/2 days and were escorted away without facing charges, the environmental group said.

Visitors to this website, which is self-evidently focused on the activities of Royal Dutch Shell, may wonder why we are drawing attention to current news involving BAE Systems and the UK  Serious Fraud Squad (and the parallel corruption investigation by the US Justice Department).

All will be revealed very shortly…

FINANCIAL TIMES

By Michael Peel and Jeremy Lemer

Published: September 30 2009 14:33 | Last updated: September 30 2009 14:33

EXTRACTS

Corruption investigators were on Wednesday poised to press criminal charges over BAE Systems’ arms deals as the long-running probe into one of the country’s most-politically charged cases finally comes to a head, the Financial Times has learned. read more

Bloomberg has published a revised version of its article “Shell Output Set to Pass BP With $40 Billion Spent on Projects“.

The arms giant BAE tonight appeared to be ready to defy an ultimatum from the Serious Fraud Office to accept a plea deal over corruption allegations, or face prosecution. (ROYAL DUTCH SHELL INVOLVEMENT IN BAE SYSTEMS AL-YAMAMAH OIL FOR ARMS - SAUDI CORRUPTION SCANDAL)

BLOOMBERG.COM

By Paul Burkhardt and Kaipin Yee

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc will employ about 1,100 contractors at its Deer Park, Texas, plant, as it begins a planned shutdown of an olefins unit at its chemical plant.

“The number of contract workers at Shell will peak at approximately 1,100 workers in late September and will decline as the projects are completed in mid-November,” the company said in a statement, explaining that the activity at Deer Park will snarl local traffic.

Shell announced the shutdown of a light/heavy olefins unit in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. read more

Tuesday 29 Sept: Important Shell internal telecast today…?

Monday 28 Sept: Whisper from a worried engineer:

We hear that the 3 musketeers Marvin, Matthias and Malcolm are unable to reach agreement on whether everyone in jobgroup 2 and above has to re-apply for a job in Shell.

Matthias as a good Swiss with a Teutonic streak wants to go for the ‘Endlösung’ and have it all over with soon by forcing a date for re-application to all jobs by end October.

But now for once the big brain of Malcolm, the mother of all micro managers, starts to feel nervous since he realises that HR cannot cope with the enormous load. Even HR can do overpromise-underdelivery!!! read more

Voser, meanwhile, who took over the CEO post at Shell in July, is orchestrating a major revamp at the Anglo-Dutch oil giant that includes job and cost cuts.

It is notable that although Bloomberg routinely make their articles permanently accessible on the Bloomberg website, the article that was the subject of postings by our contributors below – “Outsider” and “Insider” – has been deleted by Bloomberg without explanation or apology. It is of course impossible to do the same with newspaper articles which were published based on the Bloomberg article.

REVISED POSTING ON SHELL BLOG BY “Outsider”

How much did Shell pay Bloomberg to misquote their production forecasts? read more

In future, Shell will present its financial results in three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Corporate & Minority Interest, the company said.

BAGHDAD — Iraq risks missing a one-year deadline to strike a deal with energy giant Royal Dutch Shell for a four-billion-dollar gas production deal in southern Iraq, a government spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.

Alarmingly, despite the growing belligerence of Iran’s government, Europe seems more anxious than ever to make new energy investments in Iran. European energy firms such as Shell and Spain’s state-owned Repsol recently confirmed a $10 billion investment in Iran.

Whisper from a worried engineer:

We hear that the 3 musketeers Marvin, Matthias and Malcolm are unable to reach agreement on whether everyone in jobgroup 2 and above has to re-apply for a job in Shell.

Matthias as a good Swiss with a Teutonic streak wants to go for the ‘Endlösung’ and have it all over with soon by forcing a date for re-application to all jobs by end October.

But now for once the big brain of Malcolm, the mother of all micro managers, starts to feel nervous since he realises that HR cannot cope with the enormous load. Even HR can do overpromise-underdelivery!!! read more

From the Shell to Sea Campaign front line…

Opposition to the Corrib Gas Project in Ireland continues…

The 2006 policy of “no arrest” has been replaced with a policy of arrest, charge and get campaigners in jail out of the way. The abuse of the court system has been rampant with local retired teacher Maura Harrington jailed 4 times this year for alleged incidents during protest against the project. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94011

Niall Harnett has also been targeted and jailed for alleged obstruction and assault on a Garda – despite video evidence shown in court which suggests otherwise. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93525 read more

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL WITHDRAWAL FROM GREECE

From a royaldutchshellplc.com contributor…

Responding to the comment that RDS is withdrawing from downstream, as evidenced by the withdrawal from Greece.

The Greece assets were acquired in 2000 in a swap with parts of the UK portfolio such as a terminal and unwanted (‘tail’) stations, the real driver for the deal was a local management desire for increased scale and to get a ‘seat at the table’ in the then SEOP organisation. the internal justification process – 501/502 as it was then known – was flawed in that the economics of the deal were questionable and the proposals put forward did not add up properly. There was a significant mistake in the analysis which omitted the actual opportunity cost of losing the UK assets. read more

UPDATED DECEMBER 2010

A BAE Systems insider from the AL-Yamamah and AL-Salam Projects in Saudi Arabia, is supplying internal BAE, Saudi, and UK MOD documents to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) which is carrying out an investigation into alleged corruption.

The samples we have seen include correspondence between high ranking officers in the British and Saudi military responsible for administering the Al-Yamamah oil-for-arms barter deal.

One example is a letter marked”SECRET” from Brigadier General Prince Turki Bin Nasser Bin Addul Aziz, Royal Saudi Air Force Al-Yamamah Project Officer, to an MOD Air Marshal within Project Al-Yamamah.

Extract from a Guardian newspaper article “Prince Turki: The man with everything“:

“The man who allegedly received most from BAE’s £60m slush fund, Turki bin Nasser, is a rich man. He has nearly 200 classic cars, a £20m private Boeing business jet, a large yacht called the Sarah, a sumptuous mansion in Beverly Hills and houses in Barcelona, Riyadh, Dharan and London. His London home is in Sussex Square, near Hyde Park.” read more

POSTING ON SHELL BLOG BY “Outsider”

How much did Shell pay Bloomberg to misquote their production forecasts?

It is unbelievable that two of Bloomberg’s journalists have put out a story, reprinted around the world again and again, which is completely false. Shell’s own forecast in the Deutsche Bank presentation is that they will be producing 3.2 MMBOE/day in 2012, while BP expect to produce 4.1 MMBOE/day.

Shell overtaking BP? I don’t think so. Some of the articles even attribute yesterday’s increase in Shell’s share price to the claim that Shell will increase their production by 30% – could it be that someone is deliberately trying to manipulate the share price? read more

London Evening Standard

Shell is close to overtaking BP as Britain’s biggest producer, research showed today.

Held back by seven years of falling production, Shell’s output levels are about to erupt way beyond those of its arch-rival as a host of new investments in projects start to pay off.

Chief executive Peter Voser spent a record amount last year on expansion around the world, ranging from a massive oil sands development in Canada to the Sakhalin II project in Russia.

As a result, oil and gas output will be up a third, or 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2012. At those breakneck levels, Shell will be pumping out 4.25 million barrels against BP’s 2012 estimate of 4.1 million. read more

By John Donovan

Rumors posted earlier today confirmed

A leaked email dated 25 September 2009 sent on behalf of Tom Purves (Royal Dutch Shell Vice President Manufacturing US Gulf Coast and Motiva Vice President of Manufacturing), announces senior staff changes involving the Motiva Norco Refinery, the Shell Norco Chemicals Plant and the Motiva Convent Refinery.

Certain information has been removed to protect our insider source.

THE LEAKED SHELL/MOTIVA INTERNAL EMAIL

From: Deroche, Liz O MOTIVA-DMM/60
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2009 8:33 AM
Subject: Senior staff changes involving the Motiva Norco Refinery, the Shell Norco Chemicals Plant and the Motiva Convent Refinery read more

It is no secret that Shell is planning major job cuts.

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Pete Voser first warned of job cuts months ago but has not been forthcoming on details.

The long delay has led to numerous press articles on the subject. Just days ago the Times reported that up to 10,000 jobs are expected to go.

This has all naturally led to speculation and rumor.

Here are some currently in circulation…

Some people apparently are whispering about cullings of 20-30% in Rijswijk and head office in The Hague… read more

COMMENTS BY “OUTSIDER”

(Please note some pdf links contain multi-page docs and may take a while to download)

The Bloomberg article of September 25th seems to echo a very familiar concept from the Watts/Enron era – promises, promises and more promises. But where is the additional production promised by Brinded repeatedly over the past few years?

A remarkably prescient presentation entitled “overpromise underdelivery” was published on this site a few years ago. We seem to be repeating the process. Shell is shedding staff precisely because it does not have enough projects to justify current staffing levels. In the medium term a lack of development projects can only lead to a decline in production. read more

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc, held back by almost seven years of falling production, is set to overtake BP Plc after about $40 billion of investment from Qatar to Brazil.

Shell is friends again with Mr Putin, but only three years ago it was given an almighty kicking for its arrogance.

In 2006 Shell was forced to give up control of Sakhalin, a big liquefied natural gas project in Eastern Siberia, ceding half of its interest to Gazprom after a dispute over costs and alleged environmental violations.

Shell Fraudster, Sir Phillip Watts

From a Shell Insider

Nice hoax on the Pectina Devastatis!

But do not forget it was true then and it still is true today! And history always repeats itself, also in Shell.

Remember the heady days in the early 2000s when Reservoir Engineers were deemed to be a bunch of overly conservative intellectuals and evil Watts and his bully boys were going to sort them out and teach them what ‘real’ business meant. The process of rewarding promise and penalising realism was implemented with great vigour. We all know what happened next. Watts fired in disgrace but with a handsome pension. Huge fines by the SEC etc. One would hope we had learned from this. But not so. Of late bad man Bichsel is sending out his hit squads to all operating units to sort out those same stupid Petroleum Engineers who are not increasing the reserves quick enough. read more

About 700 Shell gas stations to change hands

Gazprom operates Russia's only LNG project, the Sakhalin-2, located on the Pacific island of Sakhalin. Shell was forced by Russian authorities to cede control of the project in 2007 - a move that scared off many investors, who saw it as a sign of the Kremlin's attempt to renationalize its energy resources.

Over two decades later Rapmund's family was contacted by a fellow crewmember at the time of the tragedy who wanted to clear his conscience about his knowledge of what really happened. Basically he revealed that Leo Rapmund had been murdered and there were many eyewitnesses to the crime. The family claim that when they contacted Shell in 1995 with this alarming news, Shell and its lawyers (the most prestigious and expensive law firm in the Netherlands, De Braauw, Blackstone & Westbroek) denied any knowledge or responsibility and treated them in a disgusting and arrogant manner. All responsibility and accountability were rejected. The family was fobbed-off...

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser

Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:32am EDT

SALEKHARD, Russia, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is prepared to undertake a feasibility study of a project to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the northern Russian region of Yamal, Chief Executive Peter Voser said.

Voser made the statement on Thursday at a meeting between Russian officials and foreign energy executives.

(Reporting by Gleb Bryanski, writing by Robin Paxton)

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Arrow Energy Ltd., Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Australian coal-seam gas partner, will start drilling in Indonesia and may expand in Europe and Southern Africa as it pursues a 10-fold jump in production by 2015.

The laugh is on us this time…

The information in the article below is an elaborate hoax supplied from a Dutch Shell source…

(no such author or book actually exists)

Content of the email received:

Subject: Anyone out there taking bets on how long Shell will exist?

In 2004 the Dutch author Cor Houtenboer published exclusively in Dutch in a only very limited edition his book ”Pectina Devastatis” (”Shell decay”).

Unfortunately I only have the summary page of an online bookshop and a newspaper article on this book.

Houtenboer analyzed the decay of Shell up to the spring of 2004 and predicted the total dismantling of Shell somewhere in 2008.

In my view, the credit crunch retarded this process, but with the upcoming reorganization the downfall will resume critical momentum. read more

Within 48 hours of the O’Donnell incident gardai announced unequivocally that “they have found no evidence to support claims by a prominent Shell to Sea protester that armed commandos sank his shellfish boat off the coast of Mayo last week.”

Posting on Shell Blog by a Shell Insider (a reliable high level source known to us)

Having seen all the EC-1 and -2 appointments and from many discussions I have with colleagues, it has become clear to me that Voser and Brinded et all want to get rid of critical thinking people in general and Petroleum Engineers in particular, i.e. just the people who have know-how on essential matters such as reserves and production forecasting.

The reserves reporting is now solidly in the hands of lawyers so easy to manipulate for Brinded (above). The overoptimistic production forecasting, a great hobby of our beloved and surpreme leader in Upstream, will now go unchallenged by people with genuine know-how. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Fat Cat Malcolm Brinded: Big Brain but no scruples, 28 May 2009

Toxic ethical ranking of Royal Dutch Shell, 17 Feb 2009

Royal Dutch Shell Pension Fund Meltdown, 21 Dec 2008

Royal Dutch Shell in U.S. Courts accused of more IP theft, 12 Aug 2008

Shell’s Shocking Track Record of Unethical Trading in USA, 12 Apr 2008

Shell Oil Under Investigation By U.S. Department of Justice For Potential Violations of U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 17 Mar 2008

THE SADISTIC SACKING OF SHELL CHIEF EXECUTIVE WALTER VAN DE VIJVER, 16 Nov 2007 read more

dailybreeze.com

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich (right) has agreed to pursue litigation against Shell Oil Co. for contaminating a Carson housing tract.

Shell recently discovered elevated levels of methane and benzene underneath the Carousel neighborhood. The contamination has been traced to underground oil tanks the company operated on the site until the 1960s.

Girardi and Keese, the law firm that works with Brockovich, held a meeting with about 300 residents Saturday in Carson to recruit clients for a lawsuit against Shell, which could be filed as soon as November. read more

The department’s conduct has been called into question several times during the past several years, including a controversial oil payment scheme, and a corruption investigation of George W. Bush’s Interior chief Gale Norton over her support of oil-shale exploration by a Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary months before the oil giant hired her as a legal counsel.

The statement that "Shell has never been involved in “atomic” or “nuclear” research at the Thornton site or elsewhere in the U.K." appears to be at odds with allegations made by former Shell employee James Featherstone, in a letter he sent on 2 May 2009 to Detective Inspector Nick Sumner c/o Homicide & Serious Crime Command at New Scotland Yard.

Issue Date: CSP Daily News, September 21, 2009

“RVIe maintains the core branding colors in a refreshed and modernized look to ensure that Shell continues to express fuel leadership yet it can naturally integrate with the existing network of RVI sites,” he told CSP Daily News. “Additionally, RVIe reduces costs to the business through the simplification of the Shell curviness to more modern proportions and angles which is easier to implement and manage.”

Highlights of the RVIe Design are: read more

MOSCOW, Sept. 21 (UPI) — The newly appointed head of Royal Dutch Shell met with a delegation from Russian gas monopoly Gazprom to discuss liquefied natural gas developments.

Alexei Miller, the chief executive at Gazprom, met with Shell’s Peter Voser to discuss progress at the Sakhalin-2 project.

Voser took the reins at Royal Dutch Shell in July.

Gazprom and Shell signed a 20-year deal on gas pipeline development and liquefied natural gas purchases from Sakhalin facilities in April. That deal followed the first LNG shipments from Sakhalin-2 to Asian markets. read more

HOUSTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell Energy North America (Canada) Inc., a subsidiary of Shell Energy North America (US), L.P. (Shell Energy), today announced it closed on its acquisition of the Canadian natural gas and power customer contract portfolio of Integrys Energy Services of Canada Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrys Energy Services, Inc.

Ed O’Keeffe Photography

An offsite meeting is being held this week to bring all Shell Stanlow employees – union and non-union – up to date with what the Unite Union has been doing since news of the Shell Strategic Review was leaked.

It will also be an opportunity for them to listen to some guest speakers, ask questions and raise any concerns they may have.

Speakers include:

·        Andrew Miller,  MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston

·        Graham Daley, Full Time Official (Unite the Union) read more

John Donovan

In an email dated 11 November 2005, Shell International General Counsel Richard Wiseman (now the Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc) dismissed our website in the following words:

“The extraordinary tolerance shown to your internet activities ought to demonstrate better than anything else the fact that we are uninterested in, and unmoved by, your current activities.”

Wiseman’s bravado was undermined by the fact that we already had evidence to the contrary from an email about us that he sent on 24 June 2004 to Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer and his fellow Executive director, Malcolm Brinded. Wiseman informed them that he was contacting Sir Mark Moody-Stuart (a former Shell Group Chairman) about us. Wiseman’s email (supplied to us by a high level insider source) also confirmed that Shell “PX” was briefed and ready to react behind the scenes to our activities. read more

Industry sources said invitations had gone to the chief executives of Total, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, StatoilHydro, ONGC, Petronas as well as Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom and local gas and oil firms.

From a Shell insider

How timely from Dilbert. It might just be that Gale Norton was hired this way. Two stomps of the hoof: hire her. Three stomps of the hoof: sign-on bonus, retention bonus and guaranteed exit bonus.

But knowing Shell, there has to be a process with records, protocols, tickmarks in square boxes and all these things leave traces.

And all this nonsense to get access to some acreage that will never be used because it simply is too costly and devastating on the environment. But that was another department…. read more

The lack of development has left many young people unemployed and frustrated. In August, a new militant group emerged. It calls itself the Urhobo Revolutionary Army, after the ethnic group based primarily in the Delta. The group has taken credit for the August bombing of a Shell-run gas plant.

Gale Norton investigation: the Stink of Royal Dutch Shell Corruption: 17 September 2009

Job Cut Rumors Circulating Inside Royal Dutch Shell…: 16 September 2009

Shell Job Cuts Torture: 13 September 2009

Shell’s Ruthless Exploitation of Gas Station Operators: 10 September 2009

Stanlow Refinery Workers Ready to Fight Shell: 10 Sept 2009

Massive Shell Job Cuts, Again: 6 September 2009

Shell EP staff to be cut by 15%?: 4 September 2009

Scottish Authorities deepen investigation into alleged Shell Corruption: 25 August 2009 read more

Justice targets Bush Cabinet official in probe

By JOHN HEILPRIN AND DINA CAPPIELLO

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether former Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton illegally used her position to steer lucrative oil leases to Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the company she works for now, officials with both departments confirmed to The Associated Press.

The criminal investigation is focused on a 2006 decision by the Interior Department to award three oil shale leases on federal land in Colorado to a Shell subsidiary. Oil from the leases could eventually earn the company hundreds of billions dollars. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

SEPTEMBER 18, 2009, 12:28 P.M. ET

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)–Russian natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) may expand cooperation on the shelf off Russia’s Sakhalin Island, Gazprom said in a statement Friday, following a meeting of Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Royal Dutch Shell CEO Peter Voser, Prime-Tass news agency reports.

Voser and Miller have agreed to set up a working group to work on issues related to the development of the Sakhalin deposits, Gazprom said. read more

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

September 18, 2009, 9:08 AM ET

By Ashby Jones

Gale Norton, a secretary of the interior in the Bush Administration, now works as an in-house lawyer in Denver for Royal Dutch Shell. In 2006, while she was still in office, her department granted three tracts in Colorado to a Shell subsidiary for shale exploration. Also while in office, she reportedly had conversations with the oil company about future employment.

Was her discussing potential job opportunities at the time illegal? The Justice Department is investigating. Click here for the NYT article, here for the WSJ story, here for the LA Times piece that broke the story. read more