Dec 5th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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LONDON (Reuters) – A Dutch law firm has asked the public prosecutor in the Netherlands to file a case against Royal Dutch Shell, its CEO and former executives of over what it says were criminal actions relating to a 2011 oilfield purchase in Nigeria.
The Dutch authorities are already investigating the oilfield deal, alongside Italian prosecutors, who want to take Shell and Italy’s Eni to trial over alleged corruption on the same oilfield.
Shell and Eni have denied any wrongdoing. Shell said on Tuesday it did not believe there was any basis to prosecute the company or any current or former employee.read more
Dec 5th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Specifically, the criminal complaint is aimed at Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell Petroleum N.V., and former or current directors Peter Voser, German Burmeister, Simon Henry and Ben van Beurden.
Prankken d’Oliveira, a group of Amsterdam-based lawyers, on Tuesday, submitted a criminal complaint against Shell and some of the company’s former directors in relation to Shell’s dodgy acquisition of the exploitation rights to the Nigerian oil block, OPL245, from Malabu Oil and Gas, a Nigerian shell company suspected to have been illegally awarded the licence to Mr. Dan Etete, while he was Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the lawyers on Tuesday.
BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORK: DEC 05, 2017
Prankken d’Oliveira, a group of Amsterdam-based lawyers, on Tuesday, submitted a criminal complaint against Shell and some of the company’s former directors in relation to Shell’s dodgy acquisition of the exploitation rights to the Nigerian oil block, OPL245, from Malabu Oil and Gas, a Nigerian shell company suspected to have been illegally awarded the licence to Mr. Dan Etete, while he was Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the lawyers on Tuesday.read more
Ben Van Beurden’s total pay and perks for his role as Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive, rose to €8.6 million for last yearERIC PIERMONT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Emily Gosden: Thursday 11 MAY 2017
Shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell have been urged to oppose “excessive” executive pay after the oil giant awarded its boss a 54 per cent pay rise.
Pirc, the investor group, criticised Shell’s remuneration report, which showed that Ben van Beurden’s total pay and perks rose to €8.6 million for 2016, up from €5.6 million in 2015. Pirc said this was “excessive at 453 per cent of salary” and urged shareholders to vote against the report at the annual general meeting on May 23.read more
In a huge u-turn, the company has now admitted it knew Mr Etete was involved.
Top executives at Shell knew that money they paid as part of a $1.3bn deal for a huge Nigerian oil field would end up in the hands of a convicted money launderer who awarded the asset to his own company when he was oil minister of the country.
Emails seen by The Independent and reported by anti-corruption campaign groups Global Witness and Finance Uncovered, show senior bosses at the UK’s biggest company had been informed that hundreds of millions of dollars could flow through former oil minister Dan Etete to be paid in bribes to former President Goodluck Jonathan and other political figures.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Current chief executive Ben Van Beurden has also been caught up in the investigation. He was not in position when the deal was complete, but after Shell’s Hague offices were raided in February last year, Dutch authorities wire-tapped a call between Van Beurden and then chief financial officer Simon Henry in which Van Beurden allegedly urged Henry not to disclose the raid to shareholders.
Wiretap: After Shell’s headquarters in the Hague were raided in February last year, ceo Ben Van Beurden urged chief financial officer Simon Henry not to disclose the raid to shareholders
Shell was last night accused of taking part in ‘one of the worst corruption scandals the industry has ever seen’ after buying an oil field in Nigeria.
The Anglo-Dutch giant joined forces with Italian rival Eni to acquire the site off the coast of the West African country for £1billion – giving it access to 9bn barrels of oil, worth nearly half a trillion dollars at today’s prices. But leaked documents suggest it knew much of this cash would fall into the hands of a convicted money launderer and be used to bribe government officials.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Published: Monday, 10 April 2017 18:54
When Shell was buying the OPL 245 oil field in Nigeria for US$1.3 billion, its executives knew that 1.1 billion will land in the pocket of former petroleum minister and convicted money launderer, Dan Etete, media reported Monday.
The BBC claims to have seen emails obtained by anti-corruption charities, Global Witness and Finance Uncovered, which say that Shell representatives were negotiating with Etete for a year before the deal was finalized.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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A trove of internal Shell emails seen by the Financial Times and dated between 2008 and 2010 leave no doubt that senior people within the company knew that most of the $1.3bn paid together with Eni for OPL 245 was destined for Malabu, and that much of the money would end up with Mr Etete and associates. Shell had previously said only that the money was paid to a Nigerian government escrow account.
In the intercepted phone call with Mr Henry, Mr van Beurden acknowledged Shell’s own investigation uncovered “unhelpful” and “stupid” email exchanges among former UK intelligence agents hired by the company to help negotiate the OPL 245 deal.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Top executives at Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) last year were worried that a controversial Nigerian oil deal may have violated an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department and would prompt an investigation, according to a recorded phone call between CEO Ben van Beurden and Simon Henry, the company’s CFO at the time.
In the call, van Beurden said he was worried that Shell’s own investigators had discovered internal emails that could cast the company in a negative light and widen the investigation by drawing in U.S. authorities; the call was recorded and has now been made public.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Jonathan Webb, CONTRIBUTOR. I write about the supply chain and corruption: 10 APRIL 2017
A recent publication of leaked emails has found evidence that Shell knowingly bribed ministers in the Nigerian government. Global Witness, an anti-corruption NGO, described the episode as “one of the worst corruption scandals in the history of the oil industry”.
The affair relates to OLP 245, an offshore oilfield in Nigerian waters that is estimated to hold nine billion barrels of oil, valued at over half a trillion dollars at current prices.read more
LONDON — Just hours after the Dutch police raided the offices of Royal Dutch Shell last year as part of an investigation into a controversial $1.3 billion Nigerian oil deal, Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of the oil giant, placed a worried call to its chief financial officer.
The investigators were “quite forceful and brusque” and “rattled a few people,” Mr. van Beurden told the finance chief at the time, Simon Henry, when Mr. Henry returned his call. But Mr. van Beurden said he was also worried about something else: Shell’s own investigators had discovered internal emails that could cast the company in an even more negative light and widen the investigation by drawing in the United States law enforcement authorities.read more
Apr 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Eni (ENI.MI) reiterated on Monday that neither they nor their personnel had been involved in any wrongdoing in Nigeria, including improper payments to Nigerian officials.
The comments follow media reports alleging how hundreds of millions of dollars from the two companies were used for illicit payments.
A joint investigation by BuzzFeed News and Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore on Sunday claims to show transactions worth $1.3 billion made in 2010-2011 that Shell and Eni paid to acquire an exploration licence for an offshore oil block known as OPL 245.read more
Apr 9th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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What Shell CEO Told Colleague About $1.3 Billion OPL 245 Scandal
Mr. Van Beurden is heard on the intercept warning Henry not to volunteer any information that is not requested if approached by the police and discussing the ramifications for the company’s share price.
By Lionel Faull, Ted Jeory and Nick Mathiason
The boss of one of the world’s biggest corporations was placed under secret surveillance as part of a pan-European corruption investigation into the way the firm paid $1.3 billion for an oil block in Nigeria, explosive documents leaked to Finance Uncovered reveal.
The leak includes a recording of a wiretapped telephone conversation between Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, and his then chief financial officer, Simon Henry, in the immediate aftermath of a raid by Dutch financial police on the corporation’s headquarters in The Hague.read more
Feb 21st, 2017
by John Donovan.
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By Craig Trudell , Yuki Hagiwara , and John Lippert
20 February 2017, 20:30 GMT: 21 February 2017, 00:21 GMT
Royal Dutch Shell Plc will build seven fueling stations for hydrogen cars in California through a partnership with Toyota Motor Corp., laying down their latest bet on the demise of the internal-combustion engine.
The stations will nudge the state closer to its goal of having 100 retail sites by 2024 where hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles can fill up. The California Energy Commission is considering $16.4 million in grants toward the stations, with Shell and Toyota contributing $11.4 million.read more
Feb 10th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Euronews/Reuters: Rio Tinto recruits three energy executives to board, including Simon Henry
By Karolin Schaps: REUTERS 10/02/201
LONDON (Reuters) – Rio Tinto has appointed three former senior managers from the energy industry to its board as non-executive directors, including Shell’s departing CFO Simon Henry, the mining company said on Friday.
Henry, who is stepping down as Chief Financial Officer at Shell after seven years on March 9, will join Rio Tinto on July 1. Former Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw and ex-Sasol CEO David Constable will take up their non-executive posts immediately, Rio Tinto said.read more
Feb 6th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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Emily Gosden, Energy Editor:
Royal Dutch Shell’s chief financial officer has criticised rules requiring old oil and gas platforms to be removed from the North Sea, claiming that they will result in taxpayers “spending money unnecessarily”.
Simon Henry said that regulations enshrined in the international Ospar convention should be reviewed because they “could actually create more of an environmental issue by disturbing certain things in the removal process” and should be reviewed.read more
Feb 4th, 2017
by John Donovan.
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MATT CHAMBERS Resources reporter: Melbourne4 Feb 2017
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell is looking to invest in Australian solar plants that can switch to gas when needed to deliver baseload power supply as debate rages over renewable energy security in the wake of South Australia’s crippling power outages.
Shell, which is Australia’s biggest LNG exporter and one of the world’s largest oil companies, has revealed that Australia was one of three global locations, along with Oman and Brunei, where it was studying pairing renewable energy with gas, after last year flagging “new energies” would be a potential major source of growth for the fossil fuel company beyond 2020.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC.N) are renegotiating their five-year-old joint venture in the Permian shale basin in Texas, Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said on Thursday.
The 50-50 JV in the Delaware basin, which expires this year, will likely see the operatorship of the asset “consolidated in a different way”, Henry said in an earnings presentation to analysts.
Henry also said that Shell’s position in the Haynesville basin to the east of the Permian, which it acquired through its takeover of BG Group last year, “won’t necessarily stay in our portfolio.”read more
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) is making “significant progress” on selling another US$5 billion worth of assets, chief financial officer Simon Henry said on Thursday after the oil supermajor reported 2016 profits below analyst expectations.
Shell’s current cost of supplies (CCS) – a key measure comparable with net income – came in at US$1.8 billion, excluding identified items, compared with US$1.6 billion for the fourth quarter 2015, the company said today. Full-year 2016 CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding identified items dropped to US$7.2 billion from US$11.4 billion in 2015.read more
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is close to selling assets totaling $5 billion to cut debt following its acquisition of BG Group, the oil major said on Thursday as it reported its lowest full-year earnings in more than a decade.
Dealmaking in the oil and gas sector has been muted for more than two years due to collapsing oil prices, but as crude prices recover buyers and sellers are starting to agree on price tags.
For Shell, disposals of $3 billion in the fourth quarter helped shave $4.5 billion off its net debt and increase cashflow by 8 percent in the last three months of the year, Europe’s largest oil and gas company said.read more
Investors monitoring the fourth quarter results of Shell and BP must look beyond the top line figures to get a good reading of the firms’ vital signs.
Iain Armstrong, divisional director at Brewin Dolphin, said the fourth quarter was notoriously hard to predict as oil and gas deliveries tended to be down.
Mr Armstrong said the two majors’ headline figures could be disappointing, unless strong demand from China gives them a boost.
He also said Shell should be in a position to sell more of its North Sea assets, thanks to improved oil prices and the BG Group acquisition showing signs of fruition.read more
Dec 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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“Shell finance boss Simon Henry sold stock worth £1m just days before he suddenly left the firm. Shell would not say why the £3.2 million-a-year boss was leaving…” (From a Daily Mail article by Rachel Millard)
Posted on our Shell Blog Friday 16 December 2016
SMELLS: Interesting comment published in the Daily Mail today Friday, by City Editor Alex Brummer under the heading: “Shell game”:
“EXTRAVAGANT praise by Shell chairman Charles Holliday for departing finance director Simon Henry only fuels suspicion the Anglo-Dutch oil major is not revealing all.”read more
A finance boss at Royal Dutch Shell who was tipped to take over the top job has suddenly left – just days after he sold stock worth £1million.
Credited with leading the firm’s £41billion takeover of oil and gas group BG last year, Simon Henry was a key lieutenant of chief executive Ben van Beurden.
But the 55-year-old’s departure was announced yesterday to the shock of the markets. Relatively unknown internal finance executive Jessica Uhl has been appointed in his place.
It emerged Henry sold more than £1million of shares on December 1, within 24 hours of the historic Opec deal to cut production that then sent the price of oil soaring.read more
Dec 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell executive Jessica Uhl has been elevated to chief financial officer for global operations.
Uhl, the current executive vice president of finance for integrated gas, begins her new post in March and will continue to work at The Hague. She will replace CFO Simon Henry, who will assist with the transition through June.
Before joining Shell in 2004, Uhl was a director of project development and later a vice president of corporate development for Enron in Houston and Panama.
Uhl also will serve as an executive director of Shell and sit on the executive committee. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden praised Uhl’s promotion.read more
“I have been privileged to spend the past 34 years working with great colleagues, in a great company,” said Henry.
“Together we have made a difference in an industry that really matters to so many people around the world. I wish Jessica every success in the role, and am confident that she and Shell will deliver a world class investment, in the most responsible and sustainable way.”read more
Dec 20th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will replace Simon Henry as chief financial officer on March 9, 2017 with Jessica Uhl, a financial executive in Shell’s gas business, the company said on Thursday.
Henry will remain available to the company until June 30, 2017, Shell said. It gave no reason for his departure.
“Jessica combines an external perspective with broad Shell experience and is a highly regarded executive,” Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said.
Uhl joined Shell in 2004 and was previously employed at Enron and Citibank in the U.S. and Panama.read more
LONDON–Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s RDSA Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry is stepping down next year and will be replaced by Jessica Uhl, who is currently executive vice president finance for the integrated gas business.
Mr. Henry will remain on the board until March 9 and remain available to assist with the transition until June, Shell said Thursday.
Dec 5th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell’sfinance boss took advantage of the jump in the company’s share price immediately following OPEC’s decision to cut its output to sell some of his holdings in the oil producer.
According to a statement issued by the company, Simon Henry unloaded 50,000 B-shares at an individual price of 2163p, allowing him to pocket £1,081,500.
On 11 November, and in remarks to The Wall Street Journal, the firm´s executive vice president for deep-water, Wael Sawan, said Shell would invest $10bn more in the country, on top of the $30bn already deployed in South America´s largest economy.read more
With December’s silly season now underway, brokers are left with precious few trading days to launch any significant placements and block trades.
But one stake remains at the top of every firm’s watchlist: Shell’s 13.3 per cent stake in Woodside Petroleum.
Firstly, there’s a motivated seller. The oil giant’s chief financial officer Simon Henry classified the $3.4 billion stake as “available for sale” when he informed investors in August of a change in how Shell classifies its stake in the Australian oil and gas producer.read more
Nov 19th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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PUBLISHED NOV 19, 2016, 5:00 AM SGT
LONDON • Royal Dutch Shell is more than US$4 billion (S$5.71 billion) short of its asset-sales target for the year, prompting credit ratings agencies to warn that its record debt will not start shrinking soon enough.
Shell piled up borrowings following its biggest acquisition, the purchase of BG Group, and needs to hit disposal targets to help pay for it and stave off rating reviews, according to the agencies. The company sold US$1.7 billion of assets in the first nine months of this year, according to a Nov 1 statement, well short of its US$6 billion to US$8 billion guidance.read more
If you are looking forward to the oil industry recovery, you shouldn’t break out the champagne just yet.
Over the past eight days, the world’s largest listed oil companies have released third quarter earnings reports. From all of them, the message was that while the worst might be over, they were still facing a long hard road ahead.
It is, therefore, an appropriate moment to look back on a directly related forecast made in January 2008, by the then Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer. He forecast that demand for oil and gas would outstrip supply within 7 years, meaning by 2015. The hopelessly inaccurate prediction was based on an assessment from the Shell Scenarios team. No doubt many of the same geniuses now advising Simon Henry.read more
Nov 2nd, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Royal Dutch Shell is selling two small land packages in the U.S. Permian Basin but will also consider acquisitions in the oil-rich West Texas province, Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said on Tuesday.
Shell, which is in the midst of a $30 billion disposal program to pay for its $54 billion acquisition of BG Group, will remain a key future engine of growth, Henry said on an analysts call.
“The Permian is the crown jewel. Not just in terms of value and quality of the asset but also the capability that is being developed there,” he said.read more
It seems that now when an oil company’s earnings increase, financial pundits say it “rocketed” upwards or some other hyperbole like that. Sure, Royal Dutch Shell’s (NYSE:RDS-A) (NYSE:RDS-B) third-quarter results were better than the past few quarters thanks to the BG Group deal, but the devil’s in the details. Let’s take a look at the company’s results and why they improved, as well as peek into Shell’s near-term future as 2017 comes into focus. read more
Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s biggest takeover, the subject of intense investor scrutiny during crude’s collapse, is starting to pay off as Europe’s largest oil company chalks up its highest profit in five quarters.
The cash now generated by BG Group Plc — acquired by Shell for $54 billion in February — outstrips its spending, while production has risen by about a third in two years, Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said Tuesday. The integration of its assets has been completed “well ahead of time,” he said.read more
Nov 1st, 2016
by John Donovan.
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THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, Nov. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire: Dutch Shell plc: 3rd Quarter 2016 Unaudited Results
Royal Dutch Shell’s third quarter 2016 CCS earnings attributable to shareholders were $1.4 billion compared with a loss of $6.1 billion for the same quarter a year ago.
Third quarter 2016 CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding identified items were $2.8 billion compared with $2.4 billion for the third quarter 2015, an increase of 18%.
Compared with the third quarter 2015, CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding identified items benefited from increased production volumes mainly from BG assets, lower operating expenses more than offsetting the increase related to the consolidation of BG, and lower well write-offs. This was partly offset by the decline in oil, gas and LNG prices, and increased depreciation mainly resulting from the BG acquisition, and weaker refining industry conditions.
Third quarter 2016 basic CCS earnings per share excluding identified items decreased by 8% versus the third quarter 2015.
Cash flow from operating activities for the third quarter 2016 was $8.5 billion, which included favourable working capital movements of $0.7 billion.
Total dividends distributed to shareholders in the quarter were $3.8 billion, of which $1.1 billion were settled by issuing 44.1 million A shares under the Scrip Dividend Programme.
Gearing at the end of the third quarter 2016 was 29.2% versus 12.7% at the end of the third quarter 2015. This increase mainly reflects the impact of the acquisition of BG.
A third quarter 2016 dividend has been announced of $0.47 per ordinary share and $0.94 per American Depositary Share (“ADS”).
Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden commented:
“Shell delivered better results this quarter, reflecting strong operational and cost performance. But lower oil prices continue to be a significant challenge across the business, and the outlook remains uncertain.
Our investment plans and portfolio actions are focused firmly on reshaping Shell into a world-class investment case at all points in the oil-price cycle, through stronger returns and improved free cash flow per share. We are making good progress towards this aim in spite of current challenging market conditions.read more
Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of chemicals conglomerate Ineos, will bid for Shell’s Buzzard oilfield in the North Sea valued at around US$2.2 billion (GBP 1.8 billion). The sale is part of Shell’s debt reduction plans, following its multibillion acquisition of gas major BG Group earlier this year. Total proceeds from asset sales are seen at up to US$30 billion (GBP 24.6 billion).
For Ratcliffe, if his bid wins, the deal would represent a much sought-after expansion into the energy industry of the country. His bid for Buzzard is the latest in the North Sea, after last year, Ineos acquired all the gas fields operated by German DEA Group in the U.K. North Sea shelf. The Buzzard field became property of Shell after the acquisition of BG Group. Ineos is also the owner of the only oil refinery in Scotland.read more
Aug 31st, 2016
by John Donovan.
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* Shell lines up large North Sea asset sale
* In talks to sell out of Gabon, NZealand, Thailand, Tunisia
* Gulf of Mexico deal sets deal value at $60/bbl
* Shell seeks to sell $6-$8 bln of assets in 2016
By Ron Bousso: Wed Aug 31, 2016
LONDON, Royal Dutch Shell’s first oil field sale after its $54 billion BG Group acquisition bodes well for its disposal talks in the North Sea, Gabon and New Zealand, according to sources, signalling buyers will meet its expectations on value.
The $425 million deal in the Gulf of Mexico is welcome news for the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas giant which has struggled to kick off its plan to dispose of $30 billion of assets by 2018 or so in order to pay for the February deal and maintain a generous dividend policy amid soaring debt.read more
Investment companies backed by some of the world’s biggest private equity groups have expressed interest in Royal Dutch Shell’s (LON:RDSA) North Sea assets, the Financial Times has reported. The Anglo-Dutch oil major has unveiled plans to sell some $30 billion worth of assets across its global portfolio over the next three years or so is it looks to shore up its balance sheet in the wake of its acquisition of BG Group which completed earlier this year.read more
Aug 7th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Andrew Ward, Energy Editor: August 7, 2016
Extracts relating to Shell…
Royal Dutch Shell… says it is working on 17 potential disposals as it seeks to reassure investors that its target for $30bn of asset sales by 2018 is achievable.
This balancing act is especially tricky for Shell as disposals are crucial to reduce debts after its £35bn takeover of BG Group, completed in February.
“Shell is going to have to be flexible on price if it is to move forward with some of these deals,” said one energy banker. “They cannot just sit back and wait for oil prices to come back.”read more
Aug 6th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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“On the debt, it may go up before it comes back down,” Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry told investors last week. “And the major factor is the oil price.”
When commodity prices crashed in late 2014, oil executives could look at their mining counterparts with a sense of superiority.
Back then, the world’s biggest oil companies enjoyed relatively strong balance sheets, with little borrowing relative to the value of their assets. Miners entered the slump in a very different state and some of the world’s largest — Rio Tinto Plc, Anglo American Plc and Glencore Plc — had to reduce dividends and employ draconian spending cuts to bring their debt under control.read more
It’s unlike the CFO of an oil major to be imprecise when it comes to accounting classifications of assets.
Unless maybe he doesn’t mind causing a bit of mischief for a joint venture partner with whom relationships have been less than rosy of late.
Shell finance director Simon Henry set the hares running last week during a second-quarter earnings call when he declared the company’s 13.3 per cent stake in Woodside Petroleum had been reclassified first as “held available for sale” and then “held as an asset for sale”.read more
Royal Dutch Shell looks to be heading for an exit from Woodside Petroleum sooner rather than later, after reclassifying its remaining $3 billion stake in the Australian oil and gas producer as an “asset for sale”.
The move appears to be driven by technical reasons because of Shell’s reduced representation on Woodside’s board. But at the same time it may signal a firmer intention to dispose of the circa 13 per cent stake, which Shell has for some time declared as a non-strategic holding.read more
Jul 28th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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Net debt increased to a record $75 billion at the end of June from $70 billion three months earlier, Shell said Thursday as it reported a slump in second-quarter earnings. Additional borrowing drove up the ratio of net debt to capital, or gearing, to 28.1 percent — more than double the year-earlier level.
“We’re close to the maximum level and it could go up still with the oil price where it is,” Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said on a conference call. “Thirty percent is an upper limit to where we can describe our position as comfortable.”read more
Jul 8th, 2016
by John Donovan.
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By Ron Bousso and Freya Berry:08/07 11:41 CET
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, has told investors that Britain’s decision to exit the European Union could slow its $30 billion (23 billion pounds) asset sale plan, especially in the North Sea which had struggled to attract buyers for years.
The comment, made during an investor and analyst event at the Wimbledon tennis tournament this week, came as Shell mandated Bank of America Merrill Lynch to find buyers for several key assets in the North Sea, including its stake in the lucrative Buzzard oilfield, hoping the sale would raise at least $2 billion.read more
Oil majors Shell and Total are said to be considering building terminals and power plants in new markets.
The move comes after companies have invested billions in plants to help produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) in place such as the US and Australia.
Laurent Vivier, president for the gas division of Total, said the company was ready to go downstream “as much as it takes” to unlock gas demand.
He said: “We need to be present in downstream ourselves, to create demand and unlock bottlenecks along the chain including regasification, pipeline and power plants.”read more
Energy giants such as Royal Dutch Shell and Total are looking to build terminals and power plants in new markets to soak up the industry’s rapidly burgeoning supply.
Companies have invested billions in plants to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) in places such as Australia and the United States.
But gas demand growth is slowing, prices are down and the LNG volumes companies are set to produce will exceed those even major buyers such as China and Japan can absorb.
That has turned attention to the downstream market and opportunities to create new markets from Ivory Coast to remote Indonesian islands by building gas-fired power plants, pipelines, regasification and storage terminals.read more
Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) $30B asset disposal plan put in place after its takeover of BG Group likely will drag on beyond 2018 if oil prices remain depressed, Financial Times reports.
Shell is planning to sell off a large chunk of its portfolio because the BG deal significantly increases the combined group’s debt load, but people involved in the sale process tell FT that while that timeline is still in place, the deadline could be pushed back if Shell cannot secure what it thinks the assets are worth.read more
Oil giant Shell may be about to announce further cost cutting and a possible delay to its plans to offload assets, a report said yesterday.
Chief executive Ben van Beurden is under “increasing pressure” to justify the firm’s £35billion takeover of BG Group in the middle of a severe oil and gas industry slump, it added.
Shell is holding a capital markets day for investors tomorrow and it is thought it may update on its sale plans and fresh cost-cutting then.
Last month, Shell chief financial officer Simon Henry said cost levels in the North Sea needed to come down “substantially”.
Action already taken to integrate BG within Shell’s operations, including job cuts, were “probably about it for now” but he did not rule out further headcount reductions.read more
After its $54 billion acquisition of BG Group, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) had its credit rating cut after the huge increase in debt. Now it has reportedly entered into talks with interested parties in order to raise about $30 billion from the sale of assets, according to Bloomberg, citing sources not wanting to be identified.
The report said the bulk of the assets in question are from the BG acquisition, with the majority of the assets located in the high-cost North Sea region. In March, other unidentified people said Shell was also shopping assets in India and Trinidad and Tobago, along with the U.S. pipelines.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 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 …
Big Oil Goes Green: Shell Acquires VoltaFebruary 9, 2023 06:03Law Street MediaIn Big Oil’s latest foray into green energy, Shell has announced its acquisition of Volta, Inc. for $169 million.
Expected to close during the first half of 2023, the all-cash deal “builds on the momentum in electric mobility by combining one of the …
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?