This archive article relates to a discussion on our Shell Blog
Daily Telegraph
By James Moore
Published: 12:01AM BST 23 Apr 2004
Former Shell boss Sir Philip Watts was sacked in a face-to-face meeting with his fellow directors and then escorted from the building by security, it was reported yesterday.
Reuters news agency, citing insiders at the company, said the meeting was held at the company’s Shell Centre, on the south bank of the River Thames in London.
The insiders did not know whether Sir Philip was aware of what was going to happen.
The report came amid mounting speculation that the US Department of Justice could be preparing to file charges over Shell’s admission in January that it wrongly booked nearly 4billion barrels of oil as “proved reserves”. Since then it has twice increased the number, which on Monday had reached 4.35billion barrels – more than 22pc of its reserves.