25 Sept 2018

• Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden says $80 oil is not “unreasonable” and will help fuel spending on oil and gas infrastructure after a period of underinvestment.
• The Trump administration’s steel quotas are beginning to impede some of Shell’s construction projects in the United States, van Beurden said.
• Shell has not yet canceled any construction due to the trade barriers, and it is driving down the cost of its offshore projects.

Tom DiChristopher | @tdichristopher

The Trump administration’s steel quotas present a challenge to building new oil and gas infrastructure in the United States, but rising crude prices help fuel investment, Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden tells CNBC.

International benchmark Brent crude hit a nearly four-year high above $81 a barrel on Monday as the market braces for U.S. sanctions on Iran that threaten to wipe about 1 million barrels a day off the market. Brent’s multiyear high came after OPEC, Russia and other oil producers declined to boost output to tackle rising prices. read more

By HUGO DUNCAN FOR DAILY MAIL

Shell boss Ben van Beurden

The boss of Royal Dutch Shell said his £47bn swoop for BG Group was not just about the collapse in the oil price – but admitted cheaper crude did play a part.

Ben van Beurden insisted the deal was an opportunity for Shell to beef up its operations – particularly through greater exposure to liquefied natural gas (LNG) where BG is a major player.

But he added that the fall in the oil price – from around $115 a barrel last summer to less than $60 last night – and the subsequent fall in the BG share price was a factor. read more

Picture Caption: John Donovan in 2009. On his website, this former adman has posted more than 25,000 items on oil giant Shell.

Thanks to a network of “moles” inside the company, this early retiree from Britain is posting on his website reports on shortcomings inside the world’s largest oil group. It’s a dogged pursuit that has already cost the Anglo-Dutch giant several billions.

Christoph Giesen

The enemy is on his way. Waking early, he drives to London, leaves the car around the corner in a parking garage, and heads to York Road and the entrance of the Shell Centre, the headquarters of the most powerful oil company in the world. The Centre is a huge gray concrete block right by the River Thames. When the oil executives look out their windows, they see the British Parliament and the London Eye, Europe’s largest Ferris wheel. And now and then, peering down at the entrance, they can see John Donovan, the early retiree from Colchester in East Anglia. The man who is costing Shell billions. read more

Photograph of senior Shell official Richard Wiseman, right, was kindly offered and supplied by him for display on this website.This happened when he was still fond of us.

LEAFLET DISTRIBUTED TO SHELL EMPLOYEES AT THE SHELL CENTRE LONDON TODAY, MONDAY 13 DECEMBER 2010

As notified in advance to Mr Richard Wiseman, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, we today distributed leaflets (example below) to Shell employees at the Shell Centre in London.

Within minutes of arriving, a Shell security guard tried to move us on. When we politely refused, explaining that we were on public property and had notified Mr Wiseman of our intention, the security guard said he had never heard of Richard Wiseman and that we were not allowed to remain outside the main staff entrance. When we again declined to leave, he reported to a colleague that three people were issuing leaflets. I advised him that only two of us were doing so, the third person was a journalist from a daily newspaper. read more

News articles generated by royaldutchshellplc.com and its Shell insider sources in 2009

I note from the Shell internal documents supplied to my son that Shell has engaged in some wishful thinking regarding my age (I am now almost 93). Unfortunately for Shell, I am still very much alive and kicking.

From: John Donovan <[email protected]>
Date: 28 November 2009 10:16:41 GMT
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Data Protection Act 1998 – SAR

Dear Mr White.

Thank you for your email dated 27 November.

I note that you ignored my question about what, in Shell’s view, constitutes a “reasonable interval” between SAR applications from the same applicant. A response on that matter will be made after I receive the delivery of the promised information on or before 1st December i.e. by next Wednesday. read more

10 YEARS ON AND NOTHINGS CHANGED

RIGGED SHELL CONTRACT TENDER

THE SHELL “SMART” HIGH COURT TRIAL

Shell offshore workers died as a result of a “Touch F*** All” safety regime

SEX, DRUGS & CORRUPTION SPONSORED BY SHELL

Domain name battle for Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com (guess who lost)

Date: 10 November 2009 20:33:38 GMT
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Data Protection Act 1998 – Subject Access Request

Attention of Mr Gavin White, Company Secretarial Department, Shell International Limited

Dear Mr White

You are of course aware of our SAR Application lodged on 4 September 2009 via Mr Brandjes and my subsequent correspondence with you on the matter.

Bearing in mind that no information has yet been supplied, could you please include within the current application, any relevant Shell documents/information/communications/notes/instructions etc right up to date, so that recent events are dealt with now, rather than having to submit a further SAR application. read more

John Donovan: Royal Dutch Shell Plc.com

LEAFLET GIVEN TO SHELL EMPLOYEES AT SHELL CENTRE, LONDON FROM MONDAY 2nd NOVEMBER 2009

LEAKED EMAILS LOST SHELL BILLIONS ON SAKHALIN-2 

By John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com: Nov 2009

At first glance the headline appears to be a ridiculous claim. However, it happens to be supported with independent verifiable evidence from reputable sources and has been published, unchallenged by Shell, in magazine and newspaper articles, including half-page features in The Sunday Times and The Guardian. 

The claim was also mentioned in a newsletter published in July 2007 by the One World Trust, an independent think tank and research organisation affiliated with the UK Houses of Parliament and the United Nations.  read more

(Unanimous decision by World Intellectual Property Organisation expert panel)

LEAFLET BEING DISTRIBUTED AT SHELL CENTRE, LONDON, WEEK COMMENCING 26 OCTOBER 2009

Domain name battle for Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com (guess who lost)

By John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com: Oct 2009

Only Shell could end up in the humiliating position of its arch critics owning the dotcom domain name for the unified parent company Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Richard Wiseman, currently RDS Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, has publicly boasted that he was the conductor of the legal orchestra responsible for creating the unified company from the ashes of the Shell Transport/Royal Dutch structure destroyed by the reserves fraud.

Unfortunately, he forgot to ensure that the top-level domain name for the new company was secured before the name of Royal Dutch Shell Plc was publicly revealed. Imagine the shock and horror when Shell executive directors discovered the identity of the party who had beaten them to the precise dotcom domain name for the company: my father, Alfred Donovan (now 92 yrs old). read more

SEX, DRUGS & CORRUPTION SPONSORED BY SHELL

By John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com: October 2009

Shell senior management pretends that it stands resolutely behind the anti-corruption pledges in the Shell General Business Principles.

This scandal had it all; bribes, drugs, sex and oil. As can be seen from the supporting evidence and articles below, Shell was a prime sponsor of the immoral and illegal activities, which also breached Shell’s claimed ethical code. Further proof that Shell General Business Principles are a complete fraud.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of The Interior and the Office of Inspector General initiated an investigation in 2006 after receiving allegations from a confidential source that improprieties were occurring within the Royalty in Kind Program (RIK). The following extracts in italics, not necessarily in original order, are taken directly from the official report. read more

Rise of the gripe site

Extracts from Prospect Magazine Article “Rise of the gripe site”: February 2007
By Derek Brower, senior correspondent Petroleum Economist

How two men and a website in Colchester humbled one of the oil industry giants

It is not the kind of place you would expect to find at the centre of a global energy war. John Donovan’s office is in a modest house in a suburb of Colchester. No electronic maps of Europe adorn his walls, as they do the walls of Gazprom’s Moscow control room. And nor are there any butlers bringing cups of tea and expensive biscuits, as you find at Shell’s head office on the Thames. There is just Donovan’s 89-year-old father, Alfred, in the room next door.

But it is the home of www.royaldutchshellplc.com. a website which can claim to have cost Shell billions of dollars-and helped Vladimir Putin score another victory over western energy interests. This is how. read more

LEAFLET CURRENTLY BEING GIVEN TO SHELL EMPLOYEES OUTSIDE SHELL CENTRE

Shell offshore workers died as a result of Brinded’s “Touch F*** All” safety regime

Published by John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com Oct 2009

A criminal investigation is currently underway in Scotland relating to alleged corruption allegations involving Shell and officials of the Health & Safety Executive. The investigation follows an email a retired former HSE Group Auditor of Shell International sent to over 600 UK Members of Parliament.

Bill Campbell explained in his email (reprinted below) how the lives of Shell employees working on the Brent Bravo oil platform in the North Sea were lost after Shell senior management put production and profits before safely. read more

THE SHELL “SMART” HIGH COURT TRIAL

By John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com: Oct 2009

Some Shell employees may be puzzled why our leaflets are being distributed at Shell Centre a decade after a trial regarding the origin of the Shell SMART loyalty card had ended, supposedly in “stalemate”, with me withdrawing all allegations of impropriety against Shell in a so-called “joint statement”. In reality the “stalemate” announcement was a face-saving fabrication conjured up by Shell lawyers.

Shell settled the litigation in the midst of the cross-examination of a dishonest Shell manager AJL at the heart of all of our four High Court actions. Shell had already settled our first three claims. Scrutiny of his diaries and other documents released to us in discovery revealed that he was a disgruntled employee on the make. He had masterminded a corrupted tender process for our multi-partner loyalty card scheme, had stolen confidential IT property from numerous parties, including us, and funnelled them all to an agency with whom he had a close personal “private” relationship. read more

Two men and a website mount vendetta against an oil giant

Extracts from Sunday Times article: 19 July 09

By Danny Fortson

Shell has taken some big knocks in the attack by a father and son in Essex

By his own admission, John Donovan is “truly obsessed”. Standing in his kitchen, the 62-year-old proudly opens the cabinets to reveal shelves stacked not with food but piles of papers and ring binders.

“We don’t cook much,” he said with a chuckle. “Every cupboard in this house has papers in it. It’s the same in my bedroom; the garage is full as well. I have built up so much information so when we put something into print, we can back it up.” read more

RIGGED SHELL CONTRACT TENDER

By John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com

Although this story relates to events that occurred years ago, it reveals the hypocrisy of two people at the top of Shell, Malcolm Brinded and Richard Wiseman.

Both have made speeches proclaiming the importance of Shell’s General Business Principles pledging honesty, integrity and transparency in all of Shell’s dealings.

Wiseman stated in an anti-corruption speech:

“A reputation for integrity is a priceless asset which can vanish or be severely tarnished by a single error of judgment. Shell Core Values: Honesty, Integrity and Respect for People underpin everything we do and are the foundation of our Shell General Business Principles.” read more

10 YEARS ON AND NOTHINGS CHANGED

By John Donovan of royaldutchshellplc.com

A decade ago we had a team outside Shell HQ handing out leaflets every week on a regular basis.

At the time, thousands of loyal experienced Shell employees were being ruthlessly culled. Shell later paid a high price for hiring contractors to replace lost skills. Is the same short-termism being repeated now?

“Transformation” under Moody-Stuart, “Transition 2009” under Peter Voser; different buzzwords, same outcome. Staff working at the coalface treated like disposable non-entities, while greedy and ruthless executive directors pump up their obscene, bonus and stock option packed, fat cat “compensation”. read more