Mar 21st, 2023
by John Donovan.
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Shell Energy Broadband Reviews recently posted on broadband.co.uk
Reviewer Ryan: Location Doncaster: Date 2023-02-27
Comments
They offer you 6 months free broadband as an existing energy customer, but it isnt free, they bill you for the first month at least out of your bank account, how on earth is that free? avoid these scammers
Reviewer ClareH: Location Lynton: Date 2023-02-27
Comments
Absolutely appalling service.They took over my Post Office account, without my knowledge, and stopped taking any money – then they land me with a HUGE bill. Sorted that in November and I set up a Direct Debit with them expecting them to take monthly…NOPE I contacted them after 3 months to ask why they had not taken it to find they now expected me to pay another HUGE bill, in my reckoning it should have been less than £60, 3 months at £18.99 but they tell me I owed over £370!!! So I ask for an explanation…nope they took it out of my account the same day...I am still waiting for an explanation and will be looking for an alternative provider….steer clearread more
Three anti-corruption groups have applauded the appeals lodged by Milan prosecutors against the acquittal of Shell, Eni and 13 other defendants accused of corruption in the acquisition of Nigeria’s OPL 245 offshore oilfield.
Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA), Re: Common, and Corner House described the development as a welcome development in their joint statement on Tuesday.
The statement was signed by Lanre Suraj of HEDA, Nicholas Hildyard of The Corner House, and Antonio Tricarico of Re: Common.read more
May 26th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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The Guardian
Court orders Royal Dutch Shell to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030
Daniel Boffey: Wed 26 May 2021 15.25 BST
A court in the Hague has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared to 2019 levels, in a landmark case brought by Friends of the Earth and over 17,000 co-plaintiffs.
The oil giant’s sustainability policy was found to be insufficiently “concrete” by the Dutch court in an unprecedented ruling that will have wide implications for the industry.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A-0.1%) says it has begun restarting operations at its 3.6M mt/year Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility offshore Western Australia, which has been offline since February due to technical problems.
The suspension of cargo loadings at Prelude followed an order from Australia’s upstream regulator to carry out additional work following three safety incidents at the plant between September and January.
The regulator recently accepted Shell’s proposal to develop the 2.2T cf Crux gas field in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia, which is expected to provide backfill gas for Prelude.
The gas giant Gazprom is no longer in the spotlight after the US Treasury sanctioned Rosneft, the Russian national oil company, most probably triggering the collapse of the OPEC+ agreement and bringing about an unexpectedly low pricing environment for March 2020 within both the oil and gas segments. Having launched Power of Siberia to China, Gazprom is now intent on bringing Nord Stream-2 online before the end of the year, moving its own pipe-laying vessel from the Russian Far East to the Baltic region to deliver on all its major promises from the 2010s. Yet there is one project that has had significant problems starting up, combining in itself all the deficiencies of modern-day Russia.read more
Jun 12th, 2019
by John Donovan.
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Parliamentarians voted on Tuesday to establish an expert commission to examine how to make taxing multinationals “more fair” after Netherlands-based Shell recently acknowledged it had paid virtually no Dutch corporation tax in 2018. Royal Dutch Shell refused to release details of its unique advance tax ruling with the Dutch government at a recent hearing of a parliamentary panel on taxation.
By Reuters
By John O’Donnell and Toby Sterling
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Dutch lawmakers have launched an inquiry into how to make multinationals pay their fair share of tax, after public criticism that government reforms do not go far enough.
Scores of multinationals use the Netherlands to pare their tax bills but the Dutch, who bore tax hikes after the financial crisis, are growing increasingly hostile to minimising company tax, which is legal and has gone unchallenged for decades.
Parliamentarians voted on Tuesday to establish an expert commission to examine how to make taxing multinationals “more fair” after Netherlands-based Shell recently acknowledged it had paid virtually no Dutch corporation tax in 2018. Royal Dutch Shell refused to release details of its unique advance tax ruling with the Dutch government at a recent hearing of a parliamentary panel on taxation.read more
Apr 5th, 2019
by John Donovan.
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April 5, 2019
Environmental activists take Shell to court on Friday to try to stop the Anglo Dutch oil giant drilling for gas and oil, and to ensure it meets climate change targets.
Some 17,000 people and six organisations have signed up to Milieudefensie’s call for co-defendants in the case, which the green group hopes will lead to a judge ‘forcing Shell to stop being a major cause of climate change.’
The 2015 Paris agreement on climate change included a commitment to leave oil, gas and coal in the grounds as much as possible, the lobby group says. ‘These three fuels are major causes of global warning and this is why we have to stop our dependence on them as soon as possible. ‘read more
Mar 15th, 2019
by John Donovan.
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“Contract workers at Shell Nigeria are living in poverty, with no job security and poor healthcare that is costing workers’ lives. Contract workers face dismissal if they join a union or ask for a pay rise. They lack safety equipment and risk death in the field.”
Royal Dutch Shell violations against contract workers in Nigeria came under scrutiny at the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
Royal Dutch Shell violations against contract workers in Nigeria came under scrutiny today at the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
In a joint statement to the General Assembly of the Human Rights Council, IndustriALL Global Union and Swiss organisation, Europe-Third World Center (CETIM), said:read more
Jan 16th, 2019
by John Donovan.
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EXCLUSIVE: TV chef who previously campaigned for green causes is facing a major backlash
The TV chef has launched Jamie Oliver deli by Shell (Image: PA)
Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria.
Jamie Oliver has sparked fresh fury after trying to defend his £5million food-to-go deal with Shell.
The TV chef, 43, yesterday launched his range for the oil giant, despite campaigning for action on climate change.
He said he had “thought a lot” before agreeing to it, adding: “There are pitfalls working for any client, they all have their own baggage.”
But campaigners hit out at his reasoning, which comes after Jamie told of a cash crisis at his company.
Shell, whose profits hit £4.3billion last year, is in the top 10 global carbon dioxide emitters. It is also involved in a corruption trial over dealings in Nigeria.read more
Dec 10th, 2018
by John Donovan.
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Dutch group Follow This may also target Exxon Mobil, Chevron
Resolutions ask companies to align business with Paris accord
The activists who rankled Royal Dutch Shell Plc by filing climate-change resolutions for three straight years now are targeting other oil majors.
Follow This, a Dutch group that accumulates shares in oil companies in order to press them over greenhouse gas emissions, has filed another resolution against Shell for 2019. It also filed its first resolution against BP Plc and may target Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. in the same way.
The group, led by former journalist Mark van Baal, has been a source of frustration for Shell management, even though its resolutions have gone down to defeat. Van Baal stood up at the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s May 2018 shareholder meeting and said Shell was misleading its investors by saying it was on track to meet global climate targets, prompting CEO Ben van Beurden to angrily retort that wasn’t the case.read more
Jan 16th, 2015
by John Donovan.
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“Brent futures are set to fall to as low as $31 a barrel by the end of the first quarter from about $48 now.”; “People know these prices are unsustainable,” he said, and they will lead to large-scale layoffs and cuts in maintenance spending, which will eventually sharply reduce overall output. BP’s announcement of layoffs was just the start…; “Just a few months ago, analysts predicted the price would bottom out at $70 a barrel, and then $60. Now it’s at $46, and many have given up trying to guess when the bottom will come.”
From an article by Will Kennedy and Firat Kayakiran published on 16 January 2015 by BloombergBusinessweek under the headline:
“Big Oil Companies Get Serious With Cost Cuts on Worst Slump Since 1986”
Major oil companies are awaking from their slumber and facing up to the magnitude of the crash in crude prices.
From Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) canceling a $6.5 billion project in Qatar to Schlumberger Ltd. firing about 9,000 people and Statoil ASA (STL) giving up exploration in Greenland, the oil industry this week concluded that the slump is no blip.
And there’s certainly more unwinding to come. For most of this month, crude oil has traded below $50 a barrel, a level few predicted even two months ago when OPEC signaled it wouldn’t cut production to defend prices. If the market stays this depressed, global spending on exploration and production could fall more than 30 percent this year, the biggest drop since 1986, according to forecasts from Cowen & Co.read more
Jan 13th, 2015
by John Donovan.
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From an article by Alan Soughley published by BloombergBusinessweek 13 Jan 2015 under the headline:
“European Stocks Decline; Shell, Total Lead Energy Shares Lower”
Extracts
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA led energy-related companies lower…
A gauge of energy stocks slid 1 percent today, for the worst performance of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx 600. Oil extended losses to trade below $45 a barrel amid speculation that U.S. crude stockpiles will increase, exacerbating a global supply glut that’s driven prices to the lowest in more than 5 1/2 years.
From an article by Clifford Krauss published by The New York Times (NY edition) 13 Jan 2015 under the headline:
“Oil Prices Fall to Lowest Since 2009”
Extracts
HOUSTON — Oil prices took another sharp turn downward on Monday to levels not seen since the depths of the 2009 recession. Several international banks predicted even lower prices later this year because of an oversupplied global crude market.read more
Jan 6th, 2015
by John Donovan.
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From an article by Joe Carroll and Tara Patel published 6 Jan 2015 by BloombergBusinessweek under the headline:
“Oilfield Writedowns Loom as Market Collapse Guts Drilling Values”
Shell, Europe’s largest energy producer, may have as much as 5 percent of its capital tied up in money-losing projects.
Extracts
Tumbling crude prices will trigger a flood of oilfield writedowns starting this month after industry returns slumped to a 16-year low, calling into question half a decade of exploration.
With crude prices down more than 50 percent from their 2014 peak, fields as far-flung as Kazakhstan and Australia are no longer worth pumping, said a team of Citigroup Inc. (C:US) analysts led by Alastair Syme. Companies on the hook for risky, high-cost projects that don’t make sense in a $50-a-barrel market include international titans such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and small wildcatters like Sanchez Energy Corp.read more
Nov 5th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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“I didn’t know Shell was sponsoring this conference when I agreed to do it, but I’m glad for the chance to say in public that Shell is among the most irresponsible companies on earth. When they write the history of our time, the fact that Shell executives watched the Arctic melt and then led the rush to go drill for oil in that thawing north will provide the iconic example of the shortsighted greed that marks the richest people on our planet.”
FROM A REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR
A Bloomberg Businessweek article by Ben Elgin has identified the blatant and self-serving hypocrisy by Royal Dutch Shell regarding climate change. Shell says one thing for public and media consumption, while quietly doing the exact opposite.
Extracts
Shell, on paper, may be one of the most progressive oil giants on climate issues. Last month, it joined a group of businesses calling on European leaders to target a 40-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. And in April, Shell signed the Trillion Tonne Communique, which urges governments worldwide to significantly cut carbon emissions in order to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.read more
Earthquakes linked to extraction in the area have led to a public backlash and a new production plan for the field will be presented by July 1, 2016. The venture has set aside 100 million euros for claims and has paid out about 50 million euros so far.
Extracts from a BloombergBusinessweek article
The Slochteren field is operated by the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV, or NAM, the Dutch gas-production venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and ExxonMobil Corp.
Earthquakes linked to extraction in the area have led to a public backlash and a new production plan for the field will be presented by July 1, 2016.
The venture has set aside 100 million euros for claims and has paid out about 50 million euros so far.
The government will also need to spend about 1.2 billion euros to compensate for houses and buildings damaged by temblors in the area of the field.read more
Other vulnerable international operators include Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s second-largest energy company by market value. Multiple investments by The Hague-based company in Russia include ventures to use advanced reservoir-management techniques to revive and increase crude output from Soviet-era fields and to explore some of the nation’s vast, untapped shale formations. “We are continuing to review the latest sanctions to assess the potential impacts on our business, and engaging with the respective authorities to gain further clarity,” Kayla Macke, a Shell spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. “We are taking action to ensure we comply with all applicable sanctions or related measures. We’re keeping the situation under close review.”read more
Sep 6th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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The news that BP may be fined up to $18bn for the oil spill in the Gulf-of-Mexico as a result of a ruling by a US federal court that BP acted with “conscious disregard of known risks” and that BP’s “conduct was reckless,” may have very serious implications for other oil companies.
By John Donovan
The news that BP may be fined up to $18bn for the oil spill in the Gulf-of-Mexico as a result of a ruling by a US federal court that BP acted with “conscious disregard of known risks” and that BP’s “conduct was reckless,” may have very serious implications for other oil companies.
The ruling stands as a milestone in environmental law given that this was the biggest offshore oil spill in American history, legal experts said, and serves as a warning for the oil companies that continue to drill in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where high pressures and temperatures in the wells test the most modern drilling technologies.read more
Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden has admitted to the Wall Street Journal that he cannot deny that investor returns are too low. He has also reportedly stated: “We don’t have a [production] volume or capital-employed target. What I want to show is that we can grow free cash flow.”
According to Oil and Gas Insight, Royal Dutch Shell is ending its joint venture (JV) with Saudi Aramco for the Kidan gas development project in the Empty Quarter. This continues a string of disappointments following the opening of Saudi Arabia’s upstream to foreign participation in a bid to boost domestic gas exploration and production. Now, with Shell’s looming exit, Aramco’s ambitious efforts to draw foreign players into development of the Kingdom’s gas reserves seem set to fail.read more
Jul 23rd, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Extracts from a BloombergBusinessweek article by James Paton and Rebecca Keenan published 23 July 2014
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, defended a plan to buyback about $2.7 billion of stock from Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) amid concern investors may reject the deal.
Woodside’s buyback is part of last month’s $5 billion deal in which Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, will trim its 23 percent stake in the Australian company. It’s possible that Woodside investors voting on the transaction Aug. 1 will block the buyback, according to Macquarie Group Ltd.read more
Jul 22nd, 2014
by John Donovan.
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At one point the largest foreign investor in Russia, Shell declined to comment on whether its business would be affected after the downing of the plane. The company lost four employees in the incident, it said yesterday.
BloombergBusinessweek article by Celeste Perri, Maud van Gaal and Fred Pals published 22 July 2014
For centuries, the fortunes of the Netherlands, the wind-swept country carved out of North Sea wetlands, have relied on preserving the peace with its global trading partners. Last week’s downing of an airliner carrying 193 Dutch nationals is testing one of its most important relationships, involving companies from Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to Heineken NV. (HEIA)
The Netherlands was Russia’s third-biggest trading partner last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Dutch, home to the busiest container port in Europe and the region’s biggest energy company, send dairy products, meat and machinery to Russia, which the U.S. says is complicit in the attack.read more
Jul 21st, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Extract from a BloombergBusinessweek article by Carol Matlack published 21 July 2014
The Netherlands, a nation of traders, generally doesn’t like to let politics interfere with business. The death of 193 Dutch nationals in the Malaysia Airlines jet crash could change that.
Major Dutch companies with business interests in Russia also are drawing fire for their relations with President Vladimir Putin. “In April of this year, when the crisis over Crimea was at its height, [Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer] Ben van Beurden made a point of visiting Putin and saying that no matter the political situation, Shell and Russia had great plans for the future…” read more
Jun 20th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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BloombergBusinessweek article by Jeremy Hodge published Friday 20 June 2014
A Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) subsidiary said it won a preliminary ruling in a U.K. court against thousands of Nigerians who say their land, rivers and wetlands were spoiled by two oil spills in the Niger River delta in 2008.
Judge Robert Akenhead ruled today that a Nigerian law, the Oil Pipelines Act, is adequate for compensating for spills, limiting the scope of the U.K. litigation to an assessment of actual damages caused, the company said in a statement today.
The lawsuit against Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary was filed by residents of the coastal Bodo community in 2012 after two spills on the Bomu-Bonny Pipeline in 2008, Shell said.read more
Jun 3rd, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Extract from a Bloomberg/Businessweek article by Ladka Bauerova and Will Kennedy published 3 June 2014
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) has halted drilling for shale gas in eastern Ukraine to protect its personnel from clashes between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army. Shell is taking a “time-out” on exploration work after drilling two wells since the Hague-based explorer signed a production-sharing agreement last year, Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in London. “We obviously need to assess the future security situation as it develops because the safety of our own people is our first priority,” Henry said. “There’s no pulling out, but we take a time out on the actual drilling activity on the ground.”read more
May 21st, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Extract from a BloombergBusinessweek article by James Paton published 20 May 2014
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer, scrapped an agreement to buy a quarter of Israel’s largest natural gas field for as much as $2.6 billion after talks to complete the deal collapsed.
May 19th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Extracts from a BloombergBusinessweek article by Lynn Doan published 19 May 2014 under the headline: “Shell Considers Permanent Coker Shutdown Amid Shale-Oil Boom”
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s biggest oil company, is considering retiring one of two coking units at its only refinery in California as the company seeks to run lighter crude at the plant. Shell is considering the shutdown as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling unleash record volumes of light oil from shale formations… “The reality is that we are looking at each individual refinery and making economic decisions as to what is the most optimal feedstock,” John Abbott, downstream director for The Hague-based Shell, said in an interview…read more
May 2nd, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch multinational, runs two major operations in Brunei as a joint venture with the Brunei government. A spokesman, Jonathan French, said the company would not comment on the possible impact on its employees.
Extracts from an article by Andrew Buncombe published 30 April 2014 by The Independent
The Sultan of Brunei, an absolute monarch who pays for a garrison of British troops to be stationed is his oil rich nation, will on Thursday dismiss the concerns of human rights campaigners and start imposing sharia law. Many of the laws, which include the dismemberment of limbs and stoning to death, will apply to both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Royal Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch multinational, runs two major operations in Brunei as a joint venture with the Brunei government. A spokesman, Jonathan French, said the company would not comment on the possible impact on its employees.read more
Sir Henri was fanatically anti-Soviet as a result of the confiscation of Shell oil fields in Russia. Might be best if Ben does not mention this past history to his new chum, Vlad the Bad, who is rather keen to restore the Soviet empire. “Had Putin asked ‘and now you kiss my ass’, I am sure van Beurden would have complied.”
18 April 2014
By John Donovan
There are a number of news reports about a meeting earlier today between President Putin and Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden, in which the sensitive subject of Ukraine was discussed.
Interesting to note that the same subject was also discussed at a high level by Shell in the 1930’s, on that occasion with Hitler, who like Putin, also had territorial ambitions.
Printed below are extracts from a book, “Hitler As Frankenstein” by Johannes Steel (born Herbert Stahl,1908-1988), the son of a German-Dutch landowner. When the Nazis took power in Germany he fled to the USA working as a journalist for the New York Post. Because of his prescience, which included predicting World War 2, he became widely followed as a popular radio commentator in the U.S. during the war. (Information taken from Wikipedia)read more
Mar 18th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Extracts from an article by Dan Murtaugh published 17 March 2014 by BloombergBusinessweek
Phillips 66 and Royal Dutch Shell Plc walked away with about 3.3 million barrels of the 5 million that the Energy Department sold in what will be the first release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve since 2012. Phillips 66 purchased 2.04 million barrels at an average price of $100.23 a barrel. Shell bought 1.22 million for $97.53.
Mar 14th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Extracts from a Bloomberg article by Eduard Gismatullin published on 14 March 2014
Seplat Petroleum Development Co., the Nigerian oil producer raising $500 million from investors, said it had “absolutely no” theft in Nigeria, where Royal Dutch Shell Plc lost almost $1 billion due to sabotage in 2013. Seplat in July 2010 bought three licenses from Shell onshore Niger Delta, which had been idled for about 18 months, and is bidding for stakes in two more, said Chairman A.B.C. Orjiako. The company developed the “Seplat model” of engagement with communities by hiring locals to provide services and oilfield security, he said. “We haven’t employed the thieves and criminals, but we made things difficult for them to operate in the area,” Orjiako said in a phone interview March 11. “Today we are very happy to see that Seplat has absolutely no incidents or disruptions due to community unrest.”read more
Feb 13th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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By Brett Foley, Andy Hoffman and Jesse Riseborough: February 12, 2014
Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG) and Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) dropped out of bidding for Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s Australian oil refinery and filling stations, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The assets Shell is selling include storage terminals, filling stations and an oil refinery in Geelong, south of Melbourne. Shell is stepping up asset sales after new Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden promised last month to cut capital spending following the company’s first profit warning in a decade.read more
Feb 4th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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By Brian Swint February 04, 2014
BP follows Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Exxon Mobil Corp., the two biggest oil companies by market value, in reporting lower earnings as the cost of drilling rises, refining profits slump and oil prices stagnate.
Shell and BG Group Plc (BG/) both issued profit warnings for the fourth quarter. BG today reported the first loss since 2000 on output disruptions from Egypt and higher exploration costs. Shell said last week it will accelerate asset sales to offset investment after capital spending reached a record in 2013.read more
Jan 28th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is seeking to sell a stake in its Houston-to-Houma crude oil pipeline, which Europe’s largest oil company recently reversed and renamed, people familiar with the matter said. Shell is working with Barclays Plc (BARC) to solicit offers for a stake of as much as $1 billion… Shell on Jan. 17 warned fourth-quarter earnings fell to the lowest level since 2009 due to rising losses in the Americas and deteriorating refining markets.
By Matthew Monks January 27, 2014
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is seeking to sell a stake in its Houston-to-Houma crude oil pipeline, which Europe’s largest oil company recently reversed and renamed, people familiar with the matter said.
Shell is working with Barclays Plc (BARC) to solicit offers for a stake of as much as $1 billion in the conduit, which is known as the Ho-Ho system and valued at about $3 billion in its entirety, said one of the people, asking not to identified because the matter is not public.read more
Alaskan coastal drilling by oil companies including ConocoPhillips (COP:US) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) may be further delayed after a U.S. court revived conservation group claims that the government acted illegally in opening almost 30 million acres on the continental shelf to energy exploration.
By Karen Gullo January 22, 2014
Alaskan coastal drilling by oil companies including ConocoPhillips (COP:US) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) may be further delayed after a U.S. court revived conservation group claims that the government acted illegally in opening almost 30 million acres on the continental shelf to energy exploration.
Sierra Club and other organizations sued the government after the $2.6 billion sale of development leases for the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska in 2008, saying the amount of oil from the leases was far higher than the 1 billion barrels the U.S. Interior Department had estimated in an an environmental review.read more
Jan 17th, 2014
by John Donovan.
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By Brian Swint and Eduard Gismatullin Friday January 17, 2014
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) said profit plunged because of deteriorating refining markets and mounting losses in the Americas, surprising investors with an early earnings report that wiped out $10 billion in shareholder value.
“It’s a shock,” Jason Kenney, an analyst at Banco Santander SA in Edinburgh, said today by telephone. Shell had “to pre-announce to get the market to reality, but even so it’s a very weak set of results.”read more
Dec 24th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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The biggest question mark for 2014 is whether Shell Oil Co. will continue to explore the possibility of building a huge natural gas processing plant in western Pennsylvania. In March 2012, Shell chose a possible site about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh for the so-called ethane cracking, or cracker, plant. Shell’s option to buy the site expires at the end of the year, but it could easily be renewed. Shell spokesperson Kimberly Windon said last week there’s no update on the plant.
By Kevin Begos: December 24, 2013
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The natural gas industry and environmentalists in Pennsylvania both had reasons to cheer and jeer in 2013 over the boom in Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.
Environmentalists were heartened by a state Supreme Court ruling at the end of the year that rejected significant portions of industry-friendly legislation. The state’s highest court ruled that Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration had gone too far in passing a law that gives the industry the right to operate almost anywhere it wants to, even if local municipalities object.read more
Dec 11th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Crude oil traders including Morgan Stanley and Royal Dutch Shell Plc lost a bid to temporarily block disclosure of millions of trading records and other documents from a six-year U.S. probe while an appeals court hears the case. The files include e-mails, depositions, trading records and audio files.
By Bob Van Voris: December 10, 2013
Crude oil traders including Morgan Stanley (MS:US) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) lost a bid to temporarily block disclosure of millions of trading records and other documents from a six-year U.S. probe while an appeals court hears the case.The federal appeals court in New York today denied the request, lifting a temporary stay on the disclosure entered Nov. 20. The court today also denied the oil traders’ request that it hear their appeal on an expedited basis.U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley on Oct. 25 ordered the documents, originally gathered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as part of a probe begun in December 2007, to be given to a group of private plaintiffs claiming price-fixing in the crude-oil market. Pauley restricted access to the most sensitive material.The files include e-mails, depositions, trading records and audio files.The CFTC on May 24, 2011, accused Parnon Energy Inc., which is controlled by billionaire John Fredriksen, of manipulating the prices of West Texas Intermediate crude. Two days later, a private plaintiff sued Parnon, seeking to represent a class of everyone who traded in WTI derivative contracts from Dec. 1, 2007, until at least May 31, 2008.
Pauley hasn’t yet ruled whether he’ll let the case proceed as a class action.
The case is In Re Crude Oil Commodity Futures Litigation, 11-cv-03600. The CFTC case is U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Parnon Energy Inc., 11-cv-3543, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). The appeal is U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Parnon Energy Inc., 13-04206, Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at [email protected]read more
Dec 5th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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By Stephan Nielsen and Lucia Kassai December 04, 2013
Raizen Energia SA, Brazil’s biggest ethanol exporter, is the sugar-cane processor most at risk from a U.S. plan to cut biofuel mandates, threatening the South American country’s $6.4 billion export market.
The joint venture between oil producer Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Cosan SA Industria & Comercio produced 2.32 billion liters (612.1 million gallons) of ethanol in the 12 months through March. More than half was exported and most of that was shipped to the U.S., according to Salim Morsy, a New York-based analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance.read more
Nov 22nd, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Companies including Syncrude Canada, Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil affiliate Imperial Oil are running out of room to store the contaminated water that is a byproduct of the process used to turn bitumen—a highly viscous form of petroleum—into diesel and other fuels. By 2022 they will be producing so much of the stuff that a month’s output of wastewater could turn New York’s Central Park into a toxic reservoir 11 feet deep…
Canada is blessed with 3 million lakes, more than any country on earth—and it may soon start manufacturing new ones. The oil sands industry is in the throes of a major expansion, powered by C$20 billion ($19 billion) a year in investments. Companies including Syncrude Canada, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS/A), and ExxonMobil (XOM) affiliate Imperial Oil are running out of room to store the contaminated water that is a byproduct of the process used to turn bitumen—a highly viscous form of petroleum—into diesel and other fuels. By 2022 they will be producing so much of the stuff that a month’s output of wastewater could turn New York’s Central Park into a toxic reservoir 11 feet deep, according to the Pembina Institute, a nonprofit in Calgary that promotes sustainable energy.read more
On Geoje Island, off the coast of South Korea, as many as 5,000 workers have been building the largest vessel ever constructed. With a deck the size of seven football fields and containing three times as much steel as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Prelude will spend years anchored above a natural gas field off Australia, pumping fuel from under the seabed and turning it into a liquid that can be shipped to Asian customers.
Led by Royal Dutch Shell (RDS/A), the project could transform the global gas industry. Until now, liquefied natural gas projects, which chill the fuel until it turns into a liquid that can be transported on tankers, have relied on giant onshore plants. Putting an LNG facility on top of a ship will open up dozens of fields once considered too remote or too small to be viable. “It’s a very crucial technology,” says Shell Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser, who rates approving the project as the single most important decision he’s made while running the Anglo-Dutch company. “This will be a solution that works for many, many fields.”read more
Nov 14th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Platts’s oil-price reporting system “could be prone to collusion or distortion,” according to the European Union official in charge of the benchmark probe that led to raids on the premises of BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Statoil ASA. The EU probe is still examining two areas of concern — abuse of dominance and unlawful collusion, Gauer said.
By Gaspard Sebag November 14, 2013
Platts’s oil-price reporting system “could be prone to collusion or distortion,” according to the European Union official in charge of the benchmark probe that led to raids on the premises of BP Plc (BP/), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Statoil ASA. (STL)
“The mere set up could be prone to collusion or distortion because it doesn’t take much to basically have strange reporting” by companies that participate in the pricing system, Celine Gauer, director at the European Commission’s antitrust unit for the energy industry, said today at a conference in Brussels.read more
Nov 14th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Jonathan French, a London-based spokesman for Shell, confirmed the company’s existing credit line expires in 2015. He declined to comment on the new debt facility.
By Stephen Morris November 14, 2013
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is seeking a $6 billion credit line to replace an existing loan as banks cut borrowing costs for Europe’s largest companies to the lowest in more than five years.
Europe’s largest oil and gas producer is offering to pay an interest margin of 12.5 basis points, or 0.125 percentage point, more than the benchmark rates on the five-year loan, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the terms are private. Barclays Plc is helping to arrange the financing for the company based in The Hague.read more
Nov 13th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc is gearing up to sell about $15 billion of assets as Europe’s largest oil company accelerates disposals to offset the cost of projects from Australia to Canada. While Voser didn’t put a figure on disposals, Shell needs to raise at least $15 billion over the next two years to meet its financial targets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
By Eduard Gismatullin November 12, 2013
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is gearing up to sell about $15 billion of assets as Europe’s largest oil company accelerates disposals to offset the cost of projects from Australia to Canada.
Asset sales will allow Shell’s net capital investment, spending on projects adjusted for acquisitions and disposals, to fall from this year’s record $45 billion, Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser said in an interview. A raft of new projects coming on stream gives room to sell oil and natural gas fields, he said.read more
Sep 25th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) will suspend exploration drilling off French Guiana until 2015 after three unsuccessful wells…; Kirsten Smart, a spokeswoman in London at Shell, declined to comment…
By Eduard Gismatullin September 25, 2013
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) will suspend exploration drilling off French Guiana until 2015 after three unsuccessful wells, according to a partner in the project.
A Shell-led venture is still drilling the GM-ES-5 well, due to be completed in November, Keith Bush, chief executive officer at partner Northern Petroleum Plc (NOP), said yesterday by phone. The partners may design a new drilling program in 2015, he said.
“Post this, there is going to be a lot of work done on the integration from the well data,†Bush said. “Whether this well is a discovery or not, we will need to look at where we want to be once the work program’s being conducted next year.â€read more
Sep 18th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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The oil-market investigation became public in May when European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, who is also pursuing price-fixing allegations related to the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, sent investigators to seize computer records and documents from Platts offices, and raided BP Plc (BP/), Statoil ASA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), three of Europe’s largest oil companies,
By Asjylyn Loder and Lananh Nguyen16 September, 2013
By the time Jorge Montepeque came to London in January 2002 to revamp Platts energy-price benchmarks amid a series of manipulation scandals, he’d already earned a reputation as the company’s troubleshooter.
During a decade in Singapore leading the company’s Asian editorial operations, Montepeque brought more transparency to the $6 trillion global energy market. He ordered reporters to stop using anonymous tips to determine fair values of fuels, pushed traders into a system that sent bids and offers to subscribers around the world and made it more difficult to manipulate prices of Dubai crude.read more
Sep 13th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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By Edward Klump: September 12, 2013
Texaco Inc. geologist Robert Ryan didn’t suspect he was helping change the energy future of the Gulf of Mexico when he gave the go-ahead for a well that would break the world record for deep-water drilling.
The project known as BAHA, undertaken in 1996 by Texaco and its partners, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Amoco Corp. and Mobil Corp., was a dry hole. That normally would’ve made it a flop. Instead, BAHA’s discovery of oil-rich sands where none were thought to exist was the first step in unlocking a $1.5 trillion trove of crude that’s revived the prospects of a body of water many thought had long ago given up most of its fossil-fuel riches.read more
Sep 7th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Critics of offshore Arctic drilling say $1.1 million in fines levied against Royal Dutch Shell for air pollution violations show that the petroleum giant is not ready to safely drill off Alaska’s northern coast. A Shell spokesman says the fines are part of learning how to operate complex equipment in a harsh environment.
By Dan Joling September 06, 2013
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Critics of offshore Arctic drilling say $1.1 million in fines levied against Royal Dutch Shell for air pollution violations show that the petroleum giant is not ready to safely drill off Alaska’s northern coast.
A Shell spokesman says the fines are part of learning how to operate complex equipment in a harsh environment.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that Shell subsidiaries agreed to pay fines as part of a settlement for air quality violations last year from two drill vessels or their support fleet. The Noble Discoverer worked in the Chukchi Sea and the Kulluk drilled in the Beaufort Sea for nearly two months starting in September 2012.read more
Sep 2nd, 2013
by John Donovan.
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By James Paton: September 02, 2013
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Australia’s second-largest oil producer, said its partners in the Browse project support a plan to use Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s floating liquefied natural gas technology.
Woodside expects to consider starting engineering and design work on the LNG venture in 2014, the Perth-based company said today in a statement. PetroChina Co., BP Plc (BP/), Shell, Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. (8058) are partners.
The offshore option will cost an estimated $46 billion over the life of the Browse project, compared with about $70 billion for an onshore development on the coast of Western Australia, Mark Greenwood, a Sydney-based analyst at Citigroup Inc., said today by phone.read more
Aug 21st, 2013
by John Donovan.
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By James Paton: August 21, 2013
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Australia’s second-biggest oil producer, is waiting for an Israeli court decision later this year before completing a deal to invest in the Leviathan natural gas project.
Israeli’s high court is expected Sept. 17 to consider whether the cabinet’s gas export plan, which affects the Leviathan project, needs to be approved by the parliament, Woodside Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman told analysts today on a call. A court decision after the hearing is expected in the second half of 2013, he said.read more
Aug 6th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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European Union regulators aim to finish their antitrust probe into alleged manipulation of oil prices by companies from BP Plc (BP/) to Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) “as quickly as possible,†the bloc’s antitrust chief said.
By Stephanie Bodoni: August 06, 2013
European Union regulators aim to finish their antitrust probe into alleged manipulation of oil prices by companies from BP Plc (BP/) to Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) “as quickly as possible,†the bloc’s antitrust chief said.
The length of the investigation “depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of the case, the extent to which the undertakings concerned cooperate with the commission and the exercise of the rights of defense,†EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a written response to a European Parliament lawmaker.read more
Aug 6th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s oil spill plans for drilling in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas don’t violate environmental laws, a federal judge in Anchorage ruled in rejecting a challenge by conservation groups.
By Karen Gullo: August 06, 2013
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s oil spill plans for drilling in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas don’t violate environmental laws, a federal judge in Anchorage ruled in rejecting a challenge by conservation groups.
The U.S. Interior Department’s approval process wasn’t flawed or based on erroneous assumptions and the approvals don’t violate the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act or other environmental laws, U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline ruled yesterday.read more
OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES
See our link list of over 500 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of over 100 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website owner A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
JOHN DONOVAN, THE OWNER OF THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER SHELL FOCUSSED WEBSITES
SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER
The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.
The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.
GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170 page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.
This is not a Shell website. That fact should be abundantly plain from the overall content of this home page and our sister Shell focussed websites, including shellnazihistory.com. Click on the Disclaimer link at top of this page for more information. You Can Be Sure Shell does not endorse or approve of this website. There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations. It is an entirely free to use website drawing attention to the negative side of Shell while also publishing positive news about the company. The Shell logo image with the white text used on this website, as per the above example, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired and its author is anonymous. It can be found on WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Our shellenergy.websitepublishes Shell Energy customer complaints posted on Trustpilot where there is an ample supply. Use this link for Shell’s own website.
Shell Breaking News
Shell Renewables Head to Leave Amid Fossil Fuel ShiftJune 30, 2023 14:49Financial PostBreadcrumb Trail Links PMN Business Shell Plc’s European renewable power boss Thomas Brostrom has decided to leave the company as the oil supermajor revises its strategy to focus more investment into fossil fuels. Author of the article: Bloomberg News …
Shell and BP take a beating as bank woes hit crude pricesMarch 15, 2023 17:36Proactive InvestorsBP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) shares have taken a hit, dropping over 8%, due to a sell-off in the banking sector.
The natural resources market has been volatile, with Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate falling by 4- …
Shell CEO Pay Up 50%March 9, 2023 21:23Manufacturing Business TechnologyCEO of Royal Dutch Shell Ben van Beurden speaks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Shell paid outgoing Chief Executive Ben van Beurden a total of 9.7 million pounds ($11.5 million) in 2022 as the …
Former Shell CEO's pay jumped 53% to $11.5m in 2022March 9, 2023 11:17Gulf NewsBen van Beurden, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell, speaks during the 26th World Gas Conference in Paris, France, June 2, 2015
Image Credit: Reuters
London: Shell's former chief executive, Ben van Beurden, received a pay package of 9.7 …
SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL
Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of 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.
MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.
Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)
Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders. (JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER) For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell": WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed. NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer. We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party". MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]
SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY
EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."
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:
THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:
Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.
Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.
My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.
As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.
I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.
When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.
Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.
Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).
Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.
I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.
My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.
However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.
At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.
Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell
ENDS
(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)
SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004
Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits. Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.
Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
SHELL CONTROVERSIES
selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.
WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.
Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?