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March, 2012:

Shameless, unrepentant and corrupt, Bertie Ahern

So there you have it. An Irish Prime Minister who has a track record of corruption associated with planning matters and a greedy ruthless oil giant, also with a track record of corruption. A true meeting of like minds.

By John Donovan

Earlier today the The Mail Online reported an announcement by the corrupt, disgraced former Irish Premier Bertie Ahern, that he is quitting Fianna Fáil, the political party he joined some 40 years ago and led for 14 years.

He left knowing that he was about to be ejected from the party after Mahon Tribunal judges, investigating allegations of corrupt payments to politicians, relating mainly to planning decisions, said they did not believe any of the evidence he had given to them. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell scrambles to pay huge bill for Iran oil

“Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC,” said an industry source, who requested anonymity. “It’s very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions.”

By Richard Mably and Peg Mackey

LONDON | Sun Mar 25, 2012 11:18am BST

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.

Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Job Application Farce

Shell has been prepared to put up with the ignominy of its “No1 Enemy” receiving private communications meant for the company. Several years ago Mr Michiel Brandjes (right), Company Secretary & General Counsel Corporate, gave us written permission to vet incoming mail on behalf of Shell, using our discretion to remove and destroy what we consider to be spam and pass on to Shell what we decide they ought to see!

By John Donovan

Because Royal Dutch Shell Plc petulantly decided to keep trading under the name Royal Dutch Shell Plc  despite knowing that my father, Alfred Donovan, had registered the RoyalDutchShellPlc.com domain name, a certain amount of unforeseen confusion was probably inevitable.

Shell tried to escape humiliation by attempting to seize the domain name, issuing proceedings against him. Shell lost the case and did not bother to appeal against a unanimous verdict, which resulted in yet more embarrassment.
read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Sued in U.K. Over ’Massive’ 2008 Nigerian Oil Spills


By Erik Larson – Mar 23, 2012 5:02 PM GMT

A unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, was sued in Britain by 11,000 Nigerians who say their land, rivers and wetlands were spoiled by two “massive” spills in the Niger River delta in 2008.

The lawsuit against Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary was filed in London today by residents of the coastal Bodo community after talks failed to produce a deal, the group’s law firm Leigh Day & Co. said in a statement. While Shell admits liability for the leaks, it claims local people spilled most of the oil. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Toxic pay spotlight shifts beyond bank bosses

Whatever the measure, some question whether a CEO deserves the credit for the outcomes for which he or she is rewarded. Peter Voser, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest company by market capitalization, enjoyed a doubling in his pay in 2011 to 11.7 million euros, largely thanks to a three-year bonus scheme linked to cashflow.

However, the rise in cashflow was tied to three giant projects sanctioned by Voser's predecessor, Jeroen van der Veer - who famously declared that he would not have performed any better or worse had he been paid more or less - and devised by van der Veer's predecessor, Phil Watts.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Nigerians sue Shell in London over Delta pollution

Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:46pm EDT

* Multi-million-dollar claim filed for 11,000 Nigerians

* Shell accepts responsibility for two spills in 2008

* Says it cleaned up but criminals caused more pollution

* Case could set precedents for other oil companies

By Estelle Shirbon

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) – A group of 11,000 Nigerians launched a suit against Royal Dutch Shell at the London High Court on Friday, seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation for two oil spills in 2008 that they say destroyed their livelihoods. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Concerns over ‘insanity’ of Shell South Africa fracking plans

Western Cape, South Africa (CNN) — South Africa has an energy deficit on its hands. Too many people want fuel for their cars and electricity for their homes, and the country is struggling to keep up with demand.

To help ease this perceived crisis the big companies want to start drilling for natural gas using a controversial drilling technique called fracking. Under the plans the drilling will be done in one of the most remote and beautiful places in South Africa, the Karoo. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

11,000 Nigerians sue Shell in London Courts today, Friday 23 March 2012

“It is hard to believe that Shell would have acted in this way if a spill had occurred in any of their other pipelines on other continents. I have little doubt that in the minds of the Shell executives there is one law for Africa and another law for the rest of the world.”


By John Donovan

On 3 August 2011, The Guardian newspaper published an article announcing that: “Shell accepts liability for two oil spills in Nigeria

It said that Shell faces a potential payout running to several hundred millions of dollars as a result of a class action law suit brought on behalf of communities in Bodo, Ogoniland.

The magnitude of the oil spill was allegedly comparable with the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.

If Leigh Day & Co – the lawyers acting for the plaintiffs – thought Shell’s admission meant that Shell intended to act honorably and that the case could therefore be settled quickly, they were sadly mistaken. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Lawsuit Against Environmental Organizations Courts Disaster

…Shell also settled a case charging them with collaborating with the Niger military to kill environmental activists who led the protests.

Shell is suing 12 environmental organizations to preempt legal challenges to exploration in the Arctic Ocean. The environmental groups include, among others, the Center for Biological Diversity, the National Audubon Society, Oceana (full disclosure: Oceana is a source for CSRHub ratings) and the Sierra Club. Crazy isn’t it, Shell, a $378 billion company, attacking the National Audubon Society? It’s a bully image that can only hurt, and Shell should know better because it’s happened to them over and over again. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Southern Illinois village takes on Shell over pollution claims

By Associated Press 10:48 a.m. CDT, March 21, 2012

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A village in southern Illinois is suing Shell, ConocoPhillips and a local refinery, alleging they released millions of pounds of cancer-causing pollutants.The (Alton) Telegraph reports (http://bit.ly/GD7iDv ) the lawsuit was filed in Madison County on Tuesday on behalf of the village of Roxana, northeast of St. Louis.The lawsuit cites 18 incidents over several years in which the village claims benzene and other pollutants were spilled into the air, water and soil. It seeks damages to recover the costs of removing pollutants from water and limiting damage to public health.Shell Oil Co. spokeswoman Kayla Macke says the company hasn’t been given a copy of the lawsuit and can’t comment. WRB Refining LP referred calls to parent company ConocoPhillips, where a spokesman didn’t immediately return a message Wednesday.___Information from: The Telegraph, http://www.thetelegraph.com read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Corporate Social Responsibility – what it really means

…if Shell had been treating an oil field in the U.S. or Europe in the way that it has its assets in the Niger Delta, where 2,000 major spillage sites have never been cleaned up, then the political and media fallout would be similar to what BP is now struggling with in the United States.

By Paddy Briggs

The calamity of BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster continues to put corporate reputation as a subject very much in the spotlight and, hardly surprisingly, many commentators contrast BP’s past attempts to claim the moral highground on environmental matters with the stark reality of what happened in the Gulf of Mexico. The idea that corporations should be “socially responsible” whilst fashionable is not new – and it remains an extremely controversial concept. Let me try and delve into what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) really means – and explain that all too often CSR has been just a tool of a company’s reputation management/Public Relations activities rather than something that sets strict behavioural norms. In all too many cases CSR reports are selective, partial and glossy window-dressing – leading to charges of “Greenwash” – rather than true reflections of a corporation’s actual non-financial (Health, Safety, Environment etc.) performance. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

U.S. Gulf Fuel Rises After Texas Refinery Reports Outage

By Aaron Clark – Mar 21, 2012 8:34 PM GMT

U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline strengthened after Motiva Enterprises LLC reported a power failure at its Port Arthur refinery in Texas.

“Operations followed stabilize, slow down, and shutdown procedures to minimize emissions” after an electrical storm knocked out power, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The failure caused emissions from a fluid catalytic cracker, the filing showed. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Local Push Global Pull: The Untold History of the Athabaska Oil Sands

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Dear John

I have in the past viewed your web site and have always found the items interesting.  Thus, I am being so bold to tell you about a book that I have written on the early oil sands history in which I have included a chapter devoted to Royal Dutch Shell that some of your visitors might find to be of interest.

The chapter centres around three separate requests that Shell put forth before the government of Canada that was greatly opposed when news of the request was leaked.  The year 1917.  The request – sole concession of the northern half of the province of Alberta and an even larger portion of land along the Mackenzie River in the NWT.  In total, the concession amounted to 75,000 square miles larger than the whole of Alberta. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Tramples Our Civil Rights

Yesterday, in a small courtroom in Alaska, David met Goliath once again. Greenpeace USA’s small team of lawyers came face to face with representatives from Shell, the multinational oil company seeking one of the broadest legal injunctions ever sought against an entirely peaceful environmental group. The judge’s decision will resonate far beyond Anchorage and help determine the future of activism in this country.

A little backstory is needed here. In a desperate attempt to shore up its proven reserves, Shell is betting the ranch on new drilling in Arctic waters. Its executives purr reassuringly about ‘energy independence,’ as if one more hit of the black stuff will be enough to lower gas prices, ease our financial pain and bring back the dreamy nineties. Rather than seeing melting sea ice for what it really is — a flashing warning sign of continental proportions — this increasingly desperate company wants to drill for more of the fossil fuel that is causing the problem in the first place. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Royal Dutch Shell in Deal for China Shale Gas

March 21, 2012

By WAYNE MA

BEIJING—Royal Dutch Shell RDSB -1.33% PLC has signed the first-ever production-sharing contract to explore, develop and produce shale gas in China, a move that fits in with China’s overall strategy to bring technical and operational know-how to the development of its untapped reserves of the unconventional fuel.

Although Shell didn’t specify contract details in a statement Tuesday, the pact marks a milestone in China’s development of shale gas, which has been hindered by the lack of a template showing how production-sharing contracts between foreign and local companies would work. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell to pay $25M to Nigerian communities

Published: March. 20, 2012 at 10:39 PM

OSHODI, Nigeria, March 20 (UPI) — Shell Petroleum Development Co. was ordered by a Nigerian court to pay more than $25 million to five communities in Imo state for a 1997 oil spill.

The communities sued Shell for compensation for immediate direct losses to their means of livelihood caused by the oil spill, The Guardian in Oshodi, Nigeria, reported Tuesday.

In 1997, a Shell pipeline ruptured along the Egbema-Assa delivery line and a large volume of crude oil became trapped underground until the soil became saturated with water, causing the oil to travel to the surface. The oil damaged swamps, streams and forests of the Umudike, Alimiri Umudike, Ekpe Agah, Ukpazizi Ekpe Mbede and Etekuru communities. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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