‘Big Oil’ poring over troubled waters
By Mark Robinson, 17 April 2015
The severity of crude oil’s collapse meant that its effects were always likely to be felt far beyond petrol station forecourts. Reduced assumptions on future pricing convinced oil and gas majors, already given over to renewed capital discipline, to also accelerate the reduction in exploration and appraisal commitments.
The effect on valuations for oil companies and their ancillary industries has been well documented by the Investors Chronicle, but the trouble doesn’t end there. The fall-away in valuations across the wider industry has also made tertiary finance more difficult to attain for mid-tier and smaller oil companies. It also means that secondary capital issues are more expensive to complete – even for oil companies with existing production. The end result is that there are a lot of distressed energy assets up for grabs at knockdown prices.
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.
