Posts from ‘July, 2009’

This self-explanatory email correspondence is published simultaneously with the article: "Former Shell Group Auditor says Shell is a hoodlum organisation"

The Times

Shell axes thousands of white-collar jobs

Robin Pagnamenta and David Robertson

Royal Dutch Shell accelerated its cost-cutting campaign yesterday, warning of further substantial job reductions as the oil giant feels the effects of the biggest slump in global demand for crude since 1980. read more

DAILY MAIL

By Sam Fleming
Last updated at 10:30 PM on 30th July 2009

Financial Times

By Jonathan Guthrie

Published: July 30 2009 21:27 | Last updated: July 30 2009 21:27

The scallop, a generally sedentary mollusc, is given to moments of panic when it flaps around like the wind-up false teeth sold in joke shops. A similar spasm is agitating managers at Royal Dutch Shell, which has the shellfish as its emblem. Incoming chief executive Peter Voser told an analysts’ meeting on Thursday: “We have too many people doing business with each other and not with the outside world.” One-fifth of senior executives have already gone. read more

PETER VOSER: "We are stripping away layers and overlaps that are of no value," he said as he announced half-year results yesterday before going on to accuse staff at the organisation of talking too much amongst themselves and not enough to the outside world.

Mr Voser has already overseen the introduction of a new restructuring programme in June, due to be completed by the end of the year, which includes a reduction of 20pc, or roughly 100 jobs, in senior management positions. The Shell boss said the programme was only the "beginning" of changes at the Anglo-Dutch company and that "substantial further staff reductions are likely".

DAILY TELEGRAPH: The traditionally reliable dividend of Royal Dutch Shell may be frozen this year after the oil giant revealed an aggressive cost-cutting drive amid slumping profits.

If investors remain unimpressed, it is perhaps because they have heard this before. Shell management has touted its "strategic cost leadership" since the 1990s but failed to deliver a permanently leaner business. At a forward earnings multiple of eight times, the stock trades at roughly a 10% discount to its peers. It has missed out on the 13% rally in the European sector this year, falling 9%. Mr. Voser will have to show much more for his restructuring efforts before that discount narrows.

Financial Times

By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor

Published: July 30 2009 09:05 | Last updated: July 30 2009 21:32

All the senior managers at Royal Dutch Shell have been made to re-apply for their positions and 150 of them have lost their jobs, the company revealed on Friday as it warned of substantial further job cuts spreading across the group. read more

(Also read related article… “Shell not a “hoodlum organisation” says its Company Secretary, Michiel Brandjes”)

Shell Brent Bravo fatalities – why a criminal investigation is in progress

By Bill Campbell, former HSE Group Auditor, Shell International

On the 3rd of September 1999 an Audit was carried out on the Brent Bravo installation.  Subsequently a further 6 audits were completed on other North Sea installations operated at that time by Shell Expro, a subsidiary of Shell UK Ltd.

The results of these combined audits was presented to Shell management on 22nd October 1999 and the opinion of the audit was that there were serious deficiencies in the management of health and safety offshore. read more

Two prominent Shell to Sea campaigners have been jailed today for four months each.

Maura Harrington and Niall Harnett have both been sentenced to four months in prison in connection with their continuing resistance to Shell in north Mayo.

Maura Harrington is expected to arrive at Mountjoy Womens Prison on the North Circular Road Dublin, at 6PM this evening. Demonstrators are expected to gather at the prison gates at this time.

In 2008, Harrington resorted to a hunger strike as part of the ongoing battle against Shell’s plans.
read more

The stock is down 12 percent this year, compared with a 3.8 percent decline for BP.

Comments posted on our Shell Blog this morning by two regular contributors in reaction to the 2nd Quarter 2009 results announced by Royal Dutch Shell Plc  at 7am today. Guest1 is a senior Shell insider. Paddy Briggs is a highly esteemed former Shell executive.

guest1
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 8:05 am

Just read: “We are in the middle of a programme to build 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe) of additional Upstream capacity”. But Brinded has been in the middle of building extra production capacity since many years. So why would we now believe Shell? If Voser has any sense he fires Brinded asap. And all the sycophants around him. Thereafter he may hear the truth and bad news occasionally…. read more

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Insecurity cost Royal Dutch Shell PLC's (RDBS.LN) Nigerian onshore and shallow water unit 90,000 barrels a day in the second quarter, the company said Thursday.

Times Online: Shell's performance was worse than BP's, which reported its second quarter results two days ago.

Financial Times

By Joshua Chaffin in Barendrecht

Published: July 30 2009 03:00 | Last updated: July 30 2009 03:00

Extracts

The new store at the Barendrecht shopping centre looks much like the neighbouring clothing shops and fast food chains, but it is much more exotic. Almost 2km below the shopping centre lies a nearly spent natural gas reservoir that Shell and the Dutch government were planning to pump full of carbon dioxide from a nearby refinery to test the technology.

Barendrecht residents cite concerns, from the dangers of living and working above tonnes of noxious gas to more banal worries about property prices. They have managed to delay Shell’s plans. They are braced for a tougher fight as the federal government prepares a final ruling on the project before the year-end. read more