March 10th, 2014:
Sasol ‘eyes Shell Karoo acreage’
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When Shell was forced to abandon $80 million Deep Mensa well
By John Donovan
In 2002, Royal Dutch Shell had a close call in the Gulf of Mexico when the oil giant was “forced to abandon drilling an $80 million well at a prospect called Deep Mensa in the Mississippi Canyon after the drill bit got stuck at nearly 28,000 feet attempting to drill through fractured rock.”
The event was described in a recent book by Tom Bower – “The Squeeze” – as a disaster.
He wrote: “Technicians monitoring the data witnessed the ‘crash out’ – the uncontrolled vibrations which smashed the drill as it struggled through fractured rock.”
Pioneer Flourishes in U.S. Shale Fields Where Shell Floundered
Extract from an article by Joe Carroll published 10 March 2014 by Bloomberg News
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD), the top energy stock in the S&P 500 last year, is tripling drilling in shale fields as international energy explorers five times its size recoil from losses on the U.S. oil renaissance. Pioneer’s wildcatting bucks the trend among bigger explorers including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) that are writing down U.S. shale assets and shrinking their footprints after drilling money-losing wells. For Shell, the world’s second-largest oil producer by market value, the dwindling value of its U.S. shale prospects contributed to a $2.7 billion writedown of its oil and gas portfolio announced in January. The Hague-based company said it would scale back drilling in those fields because of disappointing results. Shell’s global output dropped 1.9 percent last year to the lowest since 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Little known key role of Michiel Brandjes in Shell reserves scandal
However, unbeknown to Van de Vijver, Michiel Brandjes (right), who was alarmed by the findings of the report, sent a copy to a New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. This meant that events were no longer in the control of Shell. Instead, Shell’s most sensitive issue since its close association with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis several decades ago, had been disclosed to an outside firm, that had to consider and protect its own reputation.
By John Donovan
In May 2003, Frank Coopman, the then Chief Financial Officer of Shell EP, delivered bad news about Shell’s operations in Nigeria to the Chief Executive of Shell EP, Walter van de Vijver.
Van de Vijver sent Coopman back to Nigeria to investigate further.
The subsequent findings, set out in a status report, were even more devastating, revealing an overstatement of 1.1 billion boe.
Van de Vijver had instructed a team led by Coopman to work on the reserves issues.
The team included a top Shell lawyer, Michiel Brandjes, the then Company Secretary of Royal Dutch Petroleum.
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.
