Shell News Friday 16 January, 2004
Evening Standard: The malaise afflicting Shell
Daily Telegraph: Investors in Shell seek shake-up of structure
News and information on Shell Plc
Shell News Friday 16 January, 2004
Evening Standard: The malaise afflicting Shell
Daily Telegraph: Investors in Shell seek shake-up of structure
Shell News Thursday 15 January, 2004
Shell News Wednesday 14 January, 2004
Shell News Tuesday 13 January, 2004
The Independent: Philip Watts to quit early as chairman of Shell
Daily Mail: Shell hopes to calm troubled waters
Houston Chronicle: Feds’ stance spurs Shell’s decision on reserves
Monday, January 12, 2004
The Australian: Shell chief faces the axe
Daily Mail: Heat is on Watts after Shell shock
The West Australian: Investors howl for Shell’s blood
London Evening Standard: Shell pledges faith in Gorgon
The Times: Investors demand changes at Shell
The Guardian: Shell debacle leads to call for outside audits
Sydney Morning Herald: Shell rubs out 4bn barrels
Financial Times: Life of Shell reserves cut by 3 years
Financial Times: Call for oil giants to detail fields
Shell News Archive Sunday, January 11, 2004
The Sunday Times: Ultimatum for Shell chief after oil reserves bombshell
The Sunday Times: Shareholders can no longer be sure of Shell
The Sunday Times: A broken Shell
The Times: How Shell blew a hole in a 100-year reputation
The Times (LONDON): Shell shock for investor confidence
Daily Telegraph: Shell drops ‘bombshell’ on reserves
Daily Telegraph: All Shell proves is that others do it so much better
THE SCOTSMAN: Market stumbles on Shell reserves news
THE SCOTSMAN: Shell’s massive miscalculation fuels fires of shareholder scorn
The Guardian: Sir Philip ducks out as Shell cuts its reserves
The Scotsman: wipes 7.5% off shares
The Independent: Reserves shock wipes £8bn from value of oil giant Shell
Shell News Archive Friday, January 9, 2004
BBC News: Shell shares dive as reserves cut
FT: Shell makes shock cut in oil reserves estimateREUTERS BOND NEWS UPDATE: Moody’s, S&P say may cut Shell ratings
January 9, 2004
LONDON (AP) – The Royal Dutch/Shell Group is downgrading one-fifth of its proved oil and natural gas reserves after reassessing the prospects of some of its projects.
Shell said Friday it was recategorizing 3.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent from proved reserves to “scope for recovery.” None of Shell’s Canadian reserves were affected by the change. The “scope for recovery” category means that although the same volume of hydrocarbons is believed to be present, the development of the projects is not mature enough for them to qualify as proved reserves.
Published: 2004/01/09 09:44:30 GMT
Giant oil group Royal Dutch Shell has said it is trimming its figures for proven oil and gas reserves by 20%.
Stunned investors promptly began a sell-off that knocked more than 7% off the Anglo-Dutch firm’s share price in both London and Amsterdam.
Shell said it does not expect the reassement to have any impact on its financial results, as 90% of the reserves involved remain undeveloped. But analysts were unconvinced. Shares in fellow oil firm BP also fell 2%.
Fri January 9, 2004 04:11 PM ET
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s on Friday said they may cut the top ratings for Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) (SHEL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , after Shell on Friday cut by 20 percent its estimates of how much oil and gas it was certain it could profitably extract from its fields.
Investors reacted to Shell’s announcement by criticizing management and punishing the company’s share price, which fell more than 7 percent.
Both Moody’s and S&P affirmed their short-term ratings for Shell.
But Moody’s said it may cut the group’s “Aaa” long term ratings, while S&P said it may cut the group’s “AAA” ratings, which in both cases are the highest possible ratings.
Many western oil companies are struggling to find new oilfields to replace maturing ones, which is crucial to assuring future earnings growth.
But in recent years, investors have perceived Shell as lagging in adding new fields.
By Joanna Chung and Gordon Smith
Published: January 9 2004 9:48
Royal Dutch/Shell, one of the world’s largest and most respected oil companies, shocked shareholders and rivals on Friday by slashing estimates of its proved reserves by 20 per cent.
The revelation that almost 4bn barrels of oil and gas would have to be reclassified to comply with US Securities and Exchange Commission rules triggered a drop of more than 7 per cent in Shell’s share price – knocking about £3bn ($5.5bn) off its market value and hitting shares across the sector.
Reserves are a key measure of an oil company’s health. Although difficulty of finding new reserves has become an industry-wide problem, Shell has been among the least successful of its peers in making new finds. Many of the company’s added reserves have come in the form of upward revisions of the capacity of fields already discovered – rather than through exploration successes. On Friday, Shell said its reserves would shrink again this year, with only 70-90 per cent of oil and gas extracted being replaced.
Although Shell said the decision would have no material effect on its financial statements, or the total volume of hydrocarbons in place, the news intensified pressure on Sir Philip Watts, its embattled chairman.
Sir Philip was head of Shell’s exploration and production division when the fields in question – the majority of them in Australia and Nigeria – were classified as proved. The revision suggests Shell took an unrealistic view of how quickly it could develop the fields. The company said the move would bring all its reserves up to “a common standard of definition”.
Leading UK shareholders said the news was the latest example of poor communication by the oil group. They were particularly angered by the absence of Sir Philip and other board members from a conference call explaining the revision to investors on Friday. One large UK shareholder said: “No one likes to deliver bad news but he should not have left it for others to do.”
Shell News Archive Wednesday, January 7, 2004
Tony Tighe
Global TV
January 7, 2004
Anyone who’s vehicle engine was damaged by a bad additive in Shell Gasoline 2 years ago, has until May 7th to apply for compensation.
In 2001 and 2002, Shell Bronze gas contained an additive that was clogging up fuel systems in some newer model vehicles.
Hundreds of drivers across Canada had to replace fuel pumps and fuel gauges or have their gas tanks and gas lines cleaned out.
Shell admitted the problem and agreed to pay for some of the repairs at the time but two car owners in Ontario and B.C. filed a class action lawsuit for more money.