Shell’s Shocking Share of the Groningen Earthquake Costs
By a Regular Contributor
The Dutch government does not seem to be very pleased with Shell: it’s action to reverse the burden of proof in Groningen cases seems to imply that Shell cannot be trusted…
For each of the 250,000 potential claimants to take Shell to court individually and give Shell the opportunity to drag things out, produce dubious experts, and essentially bankrupt everyone before they can obtain redress would also create a legal nightmare (out of which Shell would probably emerge essentially unscathed)
You can imagine the scenario, when a plaintiff sues because his house has fallen down, and Shell produces experts to say that the house was badly built, or was still habitable, or that no earthquake had occurred under the building in question…
Each plaintiff would need to find enough money (probably more than the repairs for which he has already paid) to fund his legal bills.
As soon as Shell won a case, they would use the successful case to justify refusing all the others… A bit like the Monty Python parrot sketch (Norwegian Blue)
Having said that, when NAM has been involved in accidents in the past, they have actually paid out very quickly. A leak of poisonous gas (H2S) once wiped out a herd of cattle but the farmer’s silence was assured when he accepted an immediate and generous payout. If any humans had been downwind of the leak, they would also have been killed, but fortunately there were none.
One comparison which should be made is the costs to Shell and Exxon of subsidence and earthquakes in Groningen and the well documented costs of BP’s Macondo blowout. Both involve sums estimated at about $40 billion. BP has emerged from Macondo chastened and much reduced in size. When combined with their other recent financial debacles, Shell’s share of the Groningen costs will result in a similar total exposure.
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
