UPI

Shell safety consultant quits over ‘double-talk on climate’

By Sheri Walsh: 23 MAY 2022

May 23 (UPI) — A Shell safety consultant has resigned over what she calls the oil company’s “extreme harms” to the environment and “disregard for climate change risks.”

Caroline Dennett submitted her resignation to Shell executives and 1,400 employees Monday in an email and public video, accusing the U.S. company of “failing on a massive planetary scale” and blasting the oil giant’s plans to expand fossil fuel extraction. read more

EnergyVoice.com

Shell faces Dutch court ruling on global emissions

By Ed Reed: 24 May 2021

A court in The Hague will rule on May 26 on a climate case against Shell, led by Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie).

The environmentalist case demands that Shell cut CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030. Success for the NGO would see the corporation ordered to “reduce its emissions in line with global climate goals”.

The outcome, it said, should “impact climate policy and corporate accountability globally”. It does not seek compensation, rather a change to Shell’s business plan. read more

Shell Green Plans Under Scrutiny as Holders Seek More Action

Laura Hurst: Tue, May 18, 2021, 4:21 PM

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc has been under increasing pressure from investors to slash emissions and pivot toward cleaner energy, and the tension was on show at its shareholder meeting on Tuesday.

The company’s long-term energy transition plan, laid out to investors for the first time, received overwhelming support, but a competing resolution asking for stricter targets also garnered more votes than ever. Adding to the tension, shareholders were meeting as the International Energy Agency warned that all new oil and gas developments need to stop immediately for climate targets to be met. read more

REUTERS

Shell in talks with Nigeria to divest onshore oil stakes

May 18, 2021: Shell, the operator of the West African country’s onshore oil and gas joint venture SPDC, has struggled for years with spills in the Niger Delta as a result of pipeline theft and sabotage as well as operational issues. The spills have led to costly repair operations and high-profile lawsuits. Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting, CEO Ben van Beurden said that Shell can no longer be exposed to the risk of theft and sabotage.  read more

Shell Announces the Next Tranche of the Share Buyback Programme

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Royal Dutch Shell plc

Aug 01, 2019, 02:17 E

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Aug. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc (the ‘company’) (NYSE: RDS A) (NYSE: RDS B) today announces the commencement of trading in the next tranche of its share buyback programme previously announced on July 26, 2018. In the next tranche, the company has entered into an irrevocable, non-discretionary arrangement with a broker to enable the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares for a period up to and including October 28, 2019. The aggregate maximum consideration for the purchase of A ordinary shares and/or B ordinary shares under the next tranche is $2.75 billion. The company’s intention is to buy back at least $25 billion of its shares by the end of 2020, subject to further progress with debt reduction and oil price conditions. read more

APRIL 7, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – An activist group said it has withdrawn a shareholder resolution calling on Royal Dutch Shell to change its climate policy after the oil and gas company reached a broad agreement with investors on the issue.

The Anglo-Dutch energy company drew rare praise from investors and environmental activists in December when it set out plans to introduce industry-leading targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and link them to executive pay.

Nevertheless, Dutch activist group Follow This tabled several days later a resolution urging Shell to drastically reduce its spending on fossil fuel. read more

Nov. 19, 2018 1:04 PM ET

Summary

• Royal Dutch Shell has had a difficult time since the start of the oil crash. However, the company has an impressive portfolio and is executing on its plan.
• Royal Dutch Shell continues to earn tens of billions of dollars annually. The company is investing heavily in growth and buying back shares.
• I recommend interested investors take advantage of the current share prices given the company’s strength.

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) (RDS.B) is an integrated oil company, one of the largest in the world. The company has a market cap of more than $250 billion and pays investors a very respectable dividend in the high-single digits. As we will see throughout this article, Royal Dutch Shell’s asset portfolio, growth, and potential make the company a strong investment.

Royal Dutch Shell Asset Portfolio

Royal Dutch Shell has an incredibly strong asset portfolio that will provide it with both strong production and strong cash flow. read more

A quarter of Shell shareholders turned on Ben Van Beurden after he pocketed €8.9m (£7.8m)

Jillian Ambrose: 22 MAY 2018 • 2:02PM

The boss of Royal Dutch Shell has suffered a bruising shareholder revolt after more than a quarter of its investors voted against his multi-million euro payout for last year.

Ben Van Beurden pocketed €8.9m (£7.8m) for 2017 after trebling the company’s profits to $12.1bn (£9bn) as the oil giant staged an impressive recovery from a crash in prices.

But shareholders took against the FTSE 100 boss after an accident in Pakistan last year claimed the lives of more than 200 people in an explosion of a fuel tanker operated by one of the energy giant’s subsidiaries. read more

FILE PHOTO: Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell company, speaks during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Reuters Staff: May 22, 2018

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) shareholders on Tuesday approved the 2017 management remuneration, including Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden’s 8.9 million euro ($10.51 million) package, by a majority of 75 percent.

The 2016 remuneration resolution won the support of more than 92 percent of shareholders. read more

Ron Bousso: MAY 22, 2018

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Top investors in Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday stepped up pressure on the oil and gas giant to commit to hard targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to battle climate change.

Shell has set out “ambitions” to halve carbon emissions by 2050 and expand in renewables energy, which Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said were ground breaking for the oil industry.

To view a graphic on Shell emissions, click: reut.rs/2Iya7Hf

“Nobody else comes close, it is seriously ambitious,” van Beurden said of Shell’s plan at the company’s annual general meeting in The Hague. read more

Jillian Ambrose, energy editor: 20 MAY 2018 • 7:30PM

Britain’s largest shareholder advisory groups have called on investors in Royal Dutch Shell to reject growing demands for the oil giant to take full responsibility for its impact on the environment.

Shell faces a binding shareholder vote tomorrow to decide whether to adopt rigorous accountability standards to bring its operations into line with the Paris climate agreement. Glass Lewis and ISS have urged shareholders to reject the “unduly burdensome” and “problematic” proposal. read more

Alys Key: Retail and leisure reporter: Tuesday 15 May 2018

More shareholder rebellions are brewing as a summer of AGM revolts gets underway, with oil and gas companies the latest to face the music.

Shareholders in BP are being urged to vote against the “unacceptable” pay of chief executive Bob Dudley, whose remuneration is 48 times higher than the company’s average employee.

Advisory service Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) advised shareholders to oppose the company’s remuneration report at the annual general meeting on 21 May. read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc will face difficult questions at its annual general meeting next week after an investor-advisory group urged shareholders to challenge executive pay and the company’s response to a fatal accident in Pakistan. 

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., an influential adviser on corporate governance, has recommended investors reject Shell’s pay report at its AGM on May 22, saying it was initially “silent” on the Pakistan incident. ISS also said it could only offer “qualified support” to the re-election of the independent director looking after corporate social responsibility.  read more

Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden has the same message for activists seeking to bind Royal Dutch Shell Plc to deep emissions cuts, and investors concerned about the merits of shifting away from oil and gas: Trust me.

He advised shareholders on Monday to reject a resolution from climate group Follow This that would set clear targets for the company’s greenhouse-gas emissions, more specific than its current broad “ambition.” He also reiterated his intention for Shell to make most of its money from clean energy in 20 years, such as renewables, hydrogen or carbon capture in 20 years.  read more

Mar. 26, 2018 2:16 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

By REUTERS: PUBLISHED: 22:15, 21 December 2016

By Karolin Schaps

London, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Oil major Royal Dutch Shell is facing rising pressure from shareholders to shield its business from climate change threats and to play a bigger role in lowering global carbon emissions.

Activist shareholder group Follow This, representing some of Shell’s retail shareholders, will put forward a resolution at next year’s annual shareholder meeting requesting Shell to set targets for annual greenhouse gas emissions reductions, its founder told Reuters. read more

June 3, 2016: Samuel Ogundipe

The Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited, the Nigerian subsidiary of Dutch oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, on Friday confirmed militants’ claims that a major damage was done to its oil installations in Delta State in the early hours of Friday, saying the attack had forced it to shut down crude exports indefinitely.

The statement corroborates earlier statements by the Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group that has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on oil installations, in renewed hostilities across the oil-rich region. read more

By REUTERS: PUBLISHED: 16:01, 24 May 2016

By Ron Bousso

THE HAGUE, May 24 (Reuters) – Investor discontent with Royal Dutch Shell over multi-million euro pay packages for its top executives rose sharply at this year’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday.

Although Shell’s shareholders approved the oil and gas group’s remuneration report, including chief executive Ben van Beurden’s 5.14 million euros ($5.74 million) package, 14.17 percent of investors opposed it, up from 3.84 percent last year.

Royal London Asset Management, which holds Shell shares worth nearly 1 billion pounds, said it was “disappointed” that van Beurden received very close to the maximum possible bonus in a year when the firm’s overall financial performance was weak. read more

Eoin O’Cinneide  24 May 2016 13:15 GMT

Shell came under fire at its annual general meeting on Tuesday as a delegate led a photographic demonstration against the Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s deep-water drilling plans in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf Coast resident Monique Verdin turned up at the meeting at The Hague headquarters to display 10-foot prints of her photographs depicting what she says is the environmental and community impact of US Gulf drilling.

FULL ARTICLE

By REUTERS: PUBLISHED: 18:56, 23 May 2016

AMSTERDAM, May 23 (Reuters) – Dutch pension fund PGGM, a major shareholder in Royal Dutch Shell, criticised the company’s climate change policy on Monday, a day before Shell’s annual meeting.

“We are not yet convinced Shell has sufficiently internalised the consequences of climate change in its strategy and future plans,” the fund said in a statement published on its website.

But PGGM said it would not vote in favour of a resolution put on the shareholder meeting’s agenda by activist group “Follow This” directing the oil giant to transform itself into a “sustainable energy” company. read more

BOSSES at Royal Dutch Shell will face shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting tomorrow amid concern over the chief executive’s “unacceptable” £4million pay deal.

Investors have been urged to vote against the firm’s remuneration report in protest at Ben van Beurden’s pay for 2015, even though it marked a significant reduction from the £18.6million he was paid in 2014 in the wake of plunging profits.

Shell’s latest annual report revealed boss Mr van Beurden’s total pay for last year was £4.3million – a 77 per cent fall on 2014 after the tumbling cost of crude took its toll on the group. read more

Jillian Ambrose: 21 MAY 2016 • 7:47PM

Shell executives are braced for a shareholder backlash this week after influential retail advisor ShareSoc joined the growing rebellion against its multi-million pound executive pay.

The UK’s largest individual investor group will urge its 4,000 members to follow the lead of major Shell investor Royal London Asset Management and proxy institutional advisors in opposing Shell’s rising pay packet for boss Ben Van Beurden.

Mr Van Beurden is in line for a salary of £1.4m, a bonus of £3.5m, and a pension of £441,000 for 2015, despite reporting its steepest losses in 13 years and a planned job cull of 10,000. He has also received shares worth £9.7m, which vest in three years if he meets key performance targets. read more

Written by Keith Findlay – 18/05/2016 6:32 am

A representative of the native American Houma Nation Council will attend Shell’s annual general meeting next week to call on the board and investors to put an end to new offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

Monique Verdin, who lives on the Louisiana coast, is travelling to Tuesday’s gathering in the Netherlands with the support of both the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and UK Tar Sands Network (UKTSN).

IEN and UKTSN are pressure groups opposed to new drilling in the Gulf, claiming fossil fuel exploitation is causing major environmental damage in the region. read more

Rakteem Katakey: May 17, 2016

Two shareholder-advisory firms recommended investors vote against the Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden’s pay, saying his bonus is “excessive.” A third adviser said shareholders should give “qualified support.”

Van Beurden’s annual bonus, equivalent to 245 percent of his salary last year, was not acceptable, Pensions & Investment Research Consultants Ltd. said in an e-mail on Tuesday. Advisory firm Glass Lewis also said shareholders should oppose the pay deal. read more

“The peer group of four companies that Shell uses to benchmark its long-term incentive plans (L-tips) is too narrow and we remain concerned about the overly generous senior management pension plans.”

However, Royal London, which owns nearly £1bn of shares in Shell, said it acknowledged that the company had notched up several successes, including the completion of its £35bn takeover of BG.

Mr van Beurden stands to take home a salary of £1.4m, bonus of £3.5m, and pension of £441,000 for 2015. He also received shares worth £9.7m, which vest in three years if he hits a series of targets. read more

Translation of an article published 10 May 2016 by the Dutch Telegraph.

LONDON – The leading consulting firm Glass Lewis has criticized the bonus being paid to Shell CEO Ben van Beurden.

Glass Lewis has recommended shareholders to vote against the remuneration of the Directors at the shareholders’ meeting, according to the business newspaper The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Van Beurden saw his salary drop by 8 percent over last year, but his bonus went up by 8 percent compared to 2014. read more

LONDON, April 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ —

Royal Dutch Shell plc (the “Company”)(NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) announces that its 2016 Annual General Meeting (the “AGM”) will be held at the Circustheater, Circusstraat 4, 2586 CW The Hague, The Netherlands at 10:00 (Dutch time) on Tuesday May 24, 2016. The Notice of Annual General Meeting (the “Notice”) can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.shell.com/agm.

The AGM will be webcast on the day so shareholders unable to attend in person can still follow proceedings. More information about the webcast arrangements can be found in the Notice and via the website referred to above. read more

FROM A CONCERNED SHELL SHAREHOLDER

SEE: Netherlands: Protecting Companies That Dare To Report Fraud To Authorities

Last Updated: 21 April 2015

Article by Richard van Staden ten Brink

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V.

Richard van Staden ten Brink, one of our criminal enforcement partners, wrote an op-ed article in Het Financieele Dagblad of 30 March 2015.

It can happen to any company. An employee commits fraud for the employee’s own personal gain, for the company’s benefit, or both. In this situation, a company has no other option but to start an internal investigation and impose disciplinary action. Often at this stage, the Public Prosecution Service is unaware of the investigation, and the company needs to decide whether to report the matter to law enforcement authorities. read more

By John Donovan

Trouble is brewing for Shell in the UK as Shell pensioners revolt against the proposed change of name of their association. The “Shell Pensioners’ Association” (SPA) is open to all Shell pensioners in the UK and arranges a raft of social and other events through its Branch network. It also publishes a quarterly magazine, “SPA News”.

With the latest edition comes an announcement of a plan to change the name of the Club to “Shell Pecten Association” – the rationale being that younger new Shell pensioners are put off joining the SPA because they don’t wish to be seen as pensioners! No evidence to support this claim is provided. read more

By John Donovan

The Groningen gas field is a giant natural gas field located near Slochteren in Groningen province in the northeastern part of the Netherlands. Discovered in 1959, it is the largest natural gas field in Europe.

It is operated by the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV (NAM), a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, with each company owning a 50% share. For decades all went well.

The venture was a money spinner for Shell, Exxon, the Dutch government and the local population. read more

LONDON, April 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ —

Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A) (NYSE: RDS.B) (the “Company”) announces that its 2015 Annual General Meeting will be held at the Circustheater, Circusstraat 4, 2586 CW The Hague, The Netherlands at 10:00 (Dutch time) on Tuesday May 19, 2015. The Notice of Annual General Meeting (the “Notice”) can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.shell.com/agm.

The AGM will be webcast on the day so shareholders unable to attend in person can still follow proceedings. Details of the webcast arrangements can be found in the Notice of Annual General Meeting. read more

The Church Commissioners and Church of England Pensions Board have announced this week that they are in the process of co-filing shareholder resolutions on climate change at the AGMs of two of world’s biggest oil and gas companies – BP and Shell.

Church investors file shareholder resolutions at BP and Shell

By Edward Mason, Church Commissioners Head of Responsible Investment

The Church Commissioners and Church of England Pensions Board have announced this week that they are in the process of co-filing shareholder resolutions on climate change at the AGMs of two of world’s biggest oil and gas companies – BP and Shell. This is one of the ways in which the Church of England’s national investing bodies are deepening and strengthening their engagement with the businesses in which they invest on the ethical issues that are of the greatest importance to the Church. read more

By John Donovan

I have provided a link to a 15 page document dated 3 October 2014, which Shell supplied to OSSL, the Irish company that has made serious allegations against Shell.

The information in the document may be of interest to some readers who have followed the long running saga and likewise newspapers and TV and radio stations who have covered the story.

As will be seen, Shell repeatedly states that OSSL has demanded money from them when all claims by OSSL against Shell have, according to Shell, already been settled.  read more

Extract from a Daily Post article by Victor Azubuike published 28 May 2014

The people of Ogoni are calling on the Federal Government to set up a structure to help facilitate the implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, report following a new revelation by Shell. “Following last week’s surprise announcement by Shell’s new CEO, Ben Van Beurden that the $1billion dollar take off fund for Ogoni clean up was waiting in a dedicated account, Social Action and other British and Nigeria NGOs have demanded that Shell stop playing games with the pains and misery of Ogoni people who are dying in their thousands because of non implementation of UNEP Report.  read more

Swathes of land and waterways in the Niger Delta are once again blighted with oil only months on from Shell’s clean-up efforts…

Extracts from a This is Money article by Rob Davies published 26 May 2014

Shell’s efforts to contain spills in Nigeria are making stuttering progress, with supposedly restored sites still mired in oil, a new report warns. Difficulty with stopping spills, often caused by oil theft from pipelines, further illustrates why Shell has opted to sell four major onshore blocks in Nigeria. Swathes of land and waterways in the Niger Delta are once again blighted with oil only months on from Shell’s clean-up efforts, claims campaign group Platform. The firm faced protests from several campaign groups over its Nigerian operations at its recent annual meeting. read more

Extract from a business times.com article by Ronnie Lim published 22 May 2014

FORMER StanChart Singapore CEO Euleen Goh and chairman, CEO and president of US-based Archer Daniels Midland Company, Patricia Woertz, were unanimously voted in as new Royal Dutch Shell directors earlier this week, bringing the total number of women on its 12-member board to the group’s targeted 25 per cent.

FULL ARTICLE

Peter Voser

Extract from a Financial Times article by Michael Kavanagh published 20 May 1014

A sharp fall in the pay of outgoing chief executive Peter Voser last year failed to quell discontent among some investors at Royal Dutch Shell over rewards offered to its top staff.

FULL ARTICLE

Royal Dutch Shell plc (the “Company”) announces that its 2014 Annual General Meeting will be held at the Circustheater, Circusstraat 4, The Hague, The Netherlands at 10:00  (Dutch time) on Tuesday May 20, 2014. The Notice of Annual General Meeting  (the “Notice”) can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.shell.com/agm

The AGM will be webcast on the day so shareholders unable to attend in person can still follow proceedings. Details of the webcast arrangements can be found in the Notice of Annual General Meeting. read more

By Rob Davies: PUBLISHED 22 May 2013

Investors joined environmental protesters in giving Royal Dutch Shell a slap on the wrists, as a tenth of them failed to back the oil giant’s pay arrangements.

In what is likely to be chief executive Peter Voser’s last annual meeting before he retires, some 10 per cent of shareholders snubbed the remuneration report.

The vote comes just days after Shell’s London offices were raided in a European Commission investigation into oil price fixing. read more

Bonus awarded to outgoing chief executive Peter Voser prompts 8% of shareholders to vote against remuneration policy

Bumper £8m pay package for Shell boss Peter Voser (Daily Mail Article)

• Rupert Neate
• The Guardian, Tuesday 21 May 2013 18.38 BST

Shell suffered an embarrassing 10% shareholder rebellion against its executive pay report on Tuesday.

Almost 8% of the investor base voted against the company’s remuneration policy, which handed its outgoing chief executive Peter Voser a €3.3m (£2.8m) cash bonus in a year when profits dropped by $1.6bn (£1.05bn) to $27bn.

A further 2% of investors abstained from the vote at Shell’s annual meeting in The Hague.

The bonus took Voser’s total salary package to €5.1m, down from €5.2m the previous year, although this is still more than double the $2.7m package given to BP boss Bob Dudley last year. Dudley received no bonus as the company continues to deal with the consequences of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. read more

If you couldn’t travel to the Hague to protest, you could always attend the live link-up in London. But now you can’t even do that

Rupert Neate: The Observer, Sunday 19 May 2013

Angry about the oil giants allegedly fixing the price of petrol for more than a decade? You’ll have a chance to harangue Shell – its offices were raided by European Union officials investigating the claims last week – at its annual general meeting on Tuesday. But only if you get on a plane to the Hague.

Royal Dutch Shell, the British part of which was founded by Lord Bearsted in 1897, has been regularly holding its meeting in the Dutch city most famous for trying war criminals. read more

By John Donovan

Peter R. Voser, the man ultimately responsible for Shell’s screw-up in the Arctic – a farce befitting a low budget Monty Python production, the man on whose watch Shell’s market capitalization has sunk below Chevron, making Shell the third largest of the Western oil majors, not number 2, and also the man responsible for robbing UK Shell shareholders of a UK forum for this years AGM, has been named Petroleum Executive of the Year 2013.  Under the circumstances – his transformation of Royal Dutch Shell into a humiliated third rate oil company – the credibility of this annual award has been severely dented. read more

Press Release 15 March 2013: The Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) challenges Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) to have greater transparency in its forthcoming AGM arrangements and increased commitment to ensuring the voices of UK shareholders are heard.

UK investor coalition ECCR has expressed deep dissatisfaction with Shell over its plan to restrict access to its 2013 AGM to shareholders who are present in The Hague and the ramifications this decision has for British shareholders in the company. In previous years’ AGMs the company has allowed British shareholders to participate from London via a live audio-visual link.

ECCR has voiced concern for how the new arrangements – made without consultation with ECCR or other regular UK AGM attendees – will limit the ability of British shareholders to fully exercise their rights as owners of the company. A proposed replacement event – a presentation in London by the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer – is inadequate as non-executive directors such as the Chair of the Remuneration Committee will not be present therefore drastically limiting the range of questions that can be asked and adequately answered. read more

“The decision not to have an audio/visual link to London for this years RDS AGM means that for the first time in history British based shareholders will not be able to attend a Shell AGM in the UK. At the time of the demise of Shell Transport and Trading and the formation of the new Royal Dutch Shell plc. it was stated that this did not mean that Shell was becoming a more Dutch, and less British, company. This was not true…

By John Donovan

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has published shareholder information about its 2013 AGM that includes the following shocking announcement confirming utter contempt for its UK investors:

“There will not be an audio-visual link to a satellite meeting place in London this year.”

COMMENT FROM A WELL INFORMED INSIDER SOURCE

“The decision not to have an audio/visual link to London for this years RDS AGM means that for the first time in history British based shareholders will not be able to attend a Shell AGM in the UK. At the time of the demise of Shell Transport and Trading and the formation of the new Royal Dutch Shell plc. it was stated that this did not mean that Shell was becoming a more Dutch, and less British, company. This was not true and the latest decision just confirms that the inevitable move to total Dutch control is almost complete. It is likely also that Shell will move to a single Head Office in The Hague before too long. Shell Centre in London is virtually deserted and most of the site is being redeveloped. Insiders say that Shell will not return to Shell Centre when this is completed (from their “temporary” offices in Canary Wharf). Shell Centre will be sold and Shell will gradually move all but a few functions to The Netherlands. This is a complex process and will take time but it is likely to be completed well before the expiry of the 10 year rental arrangements in Canary Wharf.” read more

By John Donovan

Stumbled across this interesting correspondence conducted publicly via the letters page of the Financial Times several years ago between Sir Mark Moody-Stuart of Shell and Mr Tony Juniper, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, London. As can be seen, Sir Mark scored a spectacular own goal. Got his facts wrong.

FROM OUR JUNE 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

Shell Director Sir Mark Moody-Stuart & Tony Juniper, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, exchange fire  via the letters page of the Financial Times

Financial Times: Enjoy a free trip and get to ask Shell a question: By Sir Mark Moody-Stuart

Thursday 30 June 2005

By Mark Moody-Stuart

From Sir Mark Moody-Stuart.

Sir, Attending my last annual meeting of Shell as a director, I was interested to note that almost half of the 20 or so questions asked came from individuals from areas in the neighbourhood of Shell operations in Sakhalin, Brazil, Nigeria, the Philippines and the US. According to Craig Bennett of Friends of the Earth (FoE), who summed up their concerns, these people had been brought to England by FoE to reflect locally held views. read more

Financial Times: Scarcely a whimper as Shell votes for unification

Wednesday 29 June 2005

By Ian Bickerton in Scheveningen

Dutch shareholders bade farewell to nearly a century of history in less than 45 minutes on Tuesday, overwhelmingly approving the unification of Royal Dutch and Shell, the two arms of the energy group.

Shortly afterwards shareholders in London also backed the unification plan.

The proposal prompted barely half-a-dozen gentle inquiries in the Netherlands, from elderly investors seeking reassurance that the company would continue to have its headquarters in the Netherlands and that they would be able to ask questions in Dutch at its annual meeting. read more

ARTICLE FROM OUR 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE