Ann Pickard, who has transformed Royal Dutch Shell into the most aggressive oil and gas player in Australia, is set to leave her powerful Perth-based post to look after the Anglo-Dutch giant’s ambitions in the Arctic Circle.

Shell is thought to have informed staff overnight that the well-regarded Ms Pickard would quit Perth in June and move to the US, most likely Houston, to take up a newly created role as executive vice-president, Arctic.

The new role reflects Shell’s view that Ms Pickard is well suited to tackling the myriad technical and environmental challenges of operating in the Arctic Circle, based on her track record in Australia and before that Nigeria. Shell, which is due to report its first-quarter profit result on Thursday, yesterday would not comment on Ms Pickard’s move. read more

30 April 2013

Anglo-Dutch company Shell has beaten France’s Total to a multi-billion-pound deal to develop a gas field with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

The two companies will develop the Bab field, a potentially tricky project because it contains so-called sour gas, a poisonous and foul smelling product.

The project, which could be worth about $10bn (£6.5bn), requires highly sophisticated technology to develop.

Prime Minister David Cameron said it was a “fantastic outcome” for Shell. read more

By James Paton:April 29, 2013

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, plans to name Ann Pickard as head of its Arctic operations, moving her from the helm of the Australian business, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Pickard, a former Shell executive in Nigeria who became chairwoman of Shell’s Australian business in 2010, is set to start in the new position on June 1, according to the person who asked not to be named because the details haven’t been made public. Andrew Smith, vice president of Shell’s refining and marketing business, will replace Pickard in Australia, the person said. read more

I have provided links to secret US cables/articles exposing Shell’s infiltration of the supposedly sovereign Nigerian government and the involvement of Pickard in all manner of murky goings on, including trading intelligence information with the Americans.  Ann Pickard will be arriving with more baggage than a Samsonite factory.

By John Donovan

Ann Pickard, currently the chairman of Shell Australia, is being sent to resuscitate Shell’s Arctic plans and rescue its reputation.

She is being appointed as Group Executive Vice President of Exploration & Production in the Arctic, replacing the disgraced Lawrence of Alaska.

Peter Voser must have concluded that she is a safe pair of hands.

I beg to differ.

Has he forgotten the debacle over her indiscreet bragging to the Americans about Shell’s sinister corrupting activities in Nigeria, including infiltrating Shell agents into every Nigerian ministry? read more

I last wrote to you on 1st March 1999. I did so in the knowledge that your esteemed family is one of the largest single shareholders in Shell. I warned you about what I described as “a culture of deception and cover-up deeply ingrained at the highest levels of Shell”.

FINANCIAL TIMES

EXTRACT

Joanna and the other demonstrator, Hans Maessen of the Dutch Republican Association, were arrested by agents several minutes later after she tried to hoist an expletive-laden sign attacking the royal family for their holdings in Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil company.

FULL FT ARTICLE

EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER WE SENT TO QUEEN BEATRIX ON 21 APRIL 2004 ABOUT THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL RESERVES FRAUD

21 April 2004

HM QUEEN BEATRIX OF THE NETHERLANDS                                 
Huis ten Bosch Palace
The Hague

Your Gracious Majesty

THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP

I last wrote to you on 1st March 1999. I did so in the knowledge that your esteemed family is one of the largest single shareholders in Shell. I warned you about what I described as “a culture of deception and cover-up deeply ingrained at the highest levels of Shell”. read more

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3WmL2ft-vU

(Video: Includes a warning by Superintendent John Gilligan at 4.40 on the dangers of alcohol – amusing presentation glitch at 4.15)

“If I do not receive a response on Monday 29 April, I will assume that you do not wish to comment and I will publish this email on Tuesday. If you need more time to consider the matter, please let me know tomorrow when I can expect a reply. If there is no denial, people will be entitled to draw their own conclusions.”

From: John Donovan <john@shellnews.net>
Subject: Shell Corrib Gas Scandal: email to Detective Superintendent John Gilligan
Date: 28 April 2013 08:10:57 GMT+01:00
To: john.gilligan@garda.ie

Dear Detective Superintendent John Gilligan

As I am sure you are aware, we have over the past several several months published a series of articles (headlines below) relating to the supply by Shell E&P Ireland of free alcohol to the Irish police, on what we have described as being on an industrial scale. We understand that the legitimate retail cost in Ireland for the river of free booze could approach €100,000 euros. So it’s not small beer. read more

• Barry FitzGerald
• From: The Australian
• April 30, 2013 12:00AM

THE number of powerful business women on the local scene is to become even more sparse with the return of Shell’s boss for Australia, Ann Pickard, to her native America, where she will become executive vice-president of Shell’s environmentally controversial exploration and production interests in the Arctic.

In a move that is expected to be confirmed today, Ms Pickard will be replaced as Shell’s Australian chairman and its executive vice-president for exploration and production activities here by Australian Andrew Smith. read more

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on April 29, 2013, on page A21 of the New York edition

By ARNON GRUNBERG

EXTRACTS

ON April 30, 1980, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was succeeded by her daughter Beatrix. That day was marked by violent rioting in Amsterdam.

My parents, German Jews who fled to Holland in the 1930s, were not exactly what you’d call royalists. But my mother had a certain weakness for royal families, and especially for the scandals that go hand-in-hand with monarchies.

And when it came to Queen Juliana, my mother got her fill of scandals. Juliana’s husband, Prince Bernhard, was a notorious philanderer who sired any number of illegitimate children and was accused of accepting bribes from Lockheed in the 1970s, forcing him to surrender his status as inspector general of the Dutch armed forces. read more

A vote in the EU has paved the way for the European Commission to restrict the use of pesticides linked to bee deaths in scientific studies.

There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations.

Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators.

But many farmers and crop experts argue that there is insufficient data.

Fifteen countries voted in favour of a ban – not enough to form a qualified majority. According to EU rules the Commission will now impose a two-year restriction on neonicotinoids. read more

I have in my possession a vast array of what I believe to be authentic communications and correspondence relating to this matter. There is so much, that it will take some time to organise it all into date order in pdf files. All of the evidence comes from a firm working for Shell, the OSSL Company.

EMAIL SENT TO IRISH MINISTER OF JUSTICE, MR ALAN SHATTER TD

From: John Donovan <john@shellnews.net>
Subject: CORRUPTION ENGULFING SHELL CORRIB GAS PROJECT
Date: 29 April 2013 09:20:43 GMT+01:00
To: INFO <info@justice.ie>

Dear Mr Brennan

You will recall the email correspondence earlier this month when you kindly passed on to Alan Shatter TD, the Minister for Justice & Equality, information I supplied in relation to alleged widespread corrupt practices, involving the Garda and other parties, all instigated by Shell in relation to the controversial Corrib Gas Project. read more

Three Oil Giants Suspend Chukchi and Beaufort Sea Drilling Plans read more

By DOMINIC JEFF
Published on 28/04/2013 00:00

HIGHER natural gas prices in the United States should help Shell rebound from its lacklustre performance at the end of last year when it presents first quarter results on Thursday.

Prices have almost doubled since America’s shale gas revolution pushed prices through the floor last year, proving a drag on Shell’s recent results.

The oil major has already promised to increase its quarterly dividend by 5 per cent, confident that last year’s investment in liquefied natural gas projects in the Middle East will start paying off. read more

By John Donovan

I have sent an email to Detective Superintendent John Gilligan of the Irish Police (the Garda) concerning corruption allegations surrounding the Shell led Corrib gas project in Ireland, that were the subject of my recent correspondence with the Irish Justice Ministry.

Shell corruption scheme operated in Ireland on an industrial scale?: 6 April 2013

If no response is forthcoming, we will publish the content of the email.

I understand that Shell lawyers are on a quest to shut us down. read more

By BENJAMIN ALTER and EDWARD FISHMAN

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on April 28, 2013, on page SR5 of the New York edition

JUST as the world was writing off America as a declining power, the country now finds itself on the cusp of realizing one of its longstanding goals: energy independence.

A wave of new technologies has made it possible to extract oil and gas from shale rock formations, and the results have been astonishing. By some estimates, the United States is on track to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer as early as 2017, start exporting more oil and gas than it imports by 2025, and achieve full energy self-sufficiency by 2030. read more

 This article appeared in print under the headline “Nowhere to run…”

29 April 2013 by Fred Pearce

• Book information
• Just Business: Multinational corporations and human rights by John Gerard Ruggie
• Published by: Norton
• Price: £14.99

EXTRACT

Other examples he discusses include the toxic solvents and child labour used to make fashionable Nike sportswear in the 1990s, and the 60-year battle of the impoverished Ogoni people in Nigeria against Royal Dutch Shell, whose shareholders made billions as the Ogoni forests were poisoned by oil. read more

Financial Post Staff | 13/04/26

Three workers at a Shell Canada refinery in Sarnia, Ontario were sent to hospital Friday morning following a hydrogen sulphide exposure at the facility.

“Shell can confirm the three workers were exposed to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) while cleaning equipment at the refinery,” a company statement said. “The workers are in local hospital in stable condition.”

FULL ARTICLE