Posts from ‘June, 2019’

The top lawyer at Shell has already disputed irrefutable evidence and threatened legal action against me, but it has all proven to be empty bluster. The last thing Shell wants is for its Nazi past to be aired in open court. 

By John Donovan

Toxic ramifications from Nazi business connections continue to make news headlines several decades after the end of WW2.

Two weeks ago we published a story about Shell arising from a New York Times article published on 14 June 2019 revealing that billionaire descendants of a family who control a company which owns Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Pret A Manger and a number of other famous brands are grappling with the exposure of an unspeakable secret – a Nazi history. See No atonement from Royal Dutch Shell for its Nazi history read more

George Monbiot: Wed 26 Jun 2019

Don’t buy the greenwash. Shell’s initiatives, which have won over many conservation groups, are dwarfed by its investment in oil and gas

It is hard to believe it needs stating, but it does. The oil industry is not your friend. Whatever it might say about its ethical credentials, while it continues to invest in fossil fuels, it accelerates climate breakdown and the death of the habitable planet. You would think this point was obvious to everyone. But over the past few weeks, I have spoken to dozens of environmentalists who appear to believe that Shell is on their side. read more

Fossil fuel industry giants such as ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell are maintaining an outsized presence at global climate discussions, working to undermine scientific consensus and slow policy progress, according to findings released Wednesday…

Delegates from major oil companies have influenced international accords for decades.

By Luke McGrath: 24 June 2019, 10:00 BST

Fossil fuel industry giants such as ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell are maintaining an outsized presence at global climate discussions, working to undermine scientific consensus and slow policy progress, according to findings released Wednesday by an environmental monitoring organization.

The Climate Investigations Center (CIC) report claims that fossil fuel trade associations have sent more than 6,400 delegates to climate talks since 1995, including delegates from Shell, BP and ExxonMobil. read more

A verdict returned June 14 states defendants Shell Pipeline Co. and Alon USA Paramount Petroleum Corp. “acted with malice, oppression or fraud”…

BY JOHN COX jcox@bakersfield.com

A federal jury has awarded $40.6 million to Bakersfield developers who sued after discovering three petroleum pipelines under a property they were planning to turn into a logistics center just north of Meadows Field Airport.

A verdict returned June 14 states defendants Shell Pipeline Co. and Alon USA Paramount Petroleum Corp. “acted with malice, oppression or fraud” in connection with three pipelines found to have trespassed on land purchased in 2013 from Chevron USA Inc. by developers C&C Properties Inc., JEC Panama LLC and Wings Way LLC. read more

Swiss police found the documents in a briefcase they seized in April 2016 in an inquiry unrelated to the corruption case, and the source said Milan prosecutors believed the documents could be vital to their prosecution of Eni and Shell. But Italy’s request for the documents to be handed over has been blocked by Swiss courts after repeated legal challenges by the owner of the briefcase, Nigerian lawyer Emeka Obi, who was charged alongside Eni and Shell executives in the graft case.

By Reuters• last updated: 21/06/2019 – 13:04

MILAN (Reuters) – Italian prosecutors have complained to Switzerland about lengthy delays in obtaining evidence they have requested in an international corruption case involving oil firms Shell and Eni, a source familiar with the matter said.

Milan prosecutors wrote in April to the Geneva prosecutors’ office in a previously undisclosed letter, describing their three-year wait for documents to be handed over by Swiss authorities as “unprecedented”, the source said. read more

Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent: Thu 20 Jun 2019 07.00 BST

The UK’s largest energy companies have withheld support for a legally binding target to reduce the EU’s emissions to net zero by 2050, even while publicly backing the plans. Although BP and Shell have both voiced public support for the Paris commitments, neither backed the EU’s plans for a net zero carbon target by 2050 in their response to an official consultation. The companies’ decision to withhold support for the target has reignited criticism that major polluters are “greenwashing”… read more

The Shell Brent Bravo Platform and Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit vessel featured in this article both have a controversial history. Workers died in an avoidable accident on Brent Bravo after Shell management ignored the dire warnings and revelations of a “Touch F*** All” safety culture findings arising from a safety audit. Pioneering Spirit was originally named after a Nazi SS Officer, Pieter Schelte, the father of the owner of Allseas.

Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit has completed its second platform topsides removal in the North Sea in the last week, as the heavy lift and pipelay vessel removed the 25,000-ton Brent Bravo topsides. Allseas said in a statement that the operation took approximately four hours, from positioning the vessel around the platform to the moment of the lift.

The Brent field started production in 1976. At its peak in 1982, the four platforms in the field were producing more than 500,000 BOPD. The field has produced approximately 3 billion boe since 1976. Shell announced its plans to decommission parts of the field in 2015. read more

JUNE 19, 2019

MELBOURNE, June 19 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell sees more opportunities for floating liquefied natural gas projects, but not necessarily like its $17 billion Prelude operation off Australia, which shipped its first cargo last week, over two years behind schedule.

Shell Australia Chair Zoe Yujnovich said on Wednesday that it was too early to tell whether Prelude, one of two floating LNG (FLNG) projects in the world, would be replicated in future, as the company was still commissioning the project. read more

Associated Press:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A Dutch court has fined oil giant Shell 2.5 million euros ($2.8 million) for breaching Dutch labor and environmental laws in a case linked to two explosions and a gas leak at a chemical plant south of Rotterdam.

The East Brabant court ruled Monday that Shell did not take sufficient precautions to prevent two blasts and a subsequent fire that injured two workers when the company restarted two reactors at a chemical plant in the village of Moerdjik on June 3, 2014. read more

Robert Finn, the Shell Director who was a vitally important functionary of the Nazi WW2 economy

Finn worked for Shell’s Nazi-infested German subsidiary Rhenania Ossag in the years before WW2. More significantly, during WW2, Finn directed the vitally important German lubricants supply. After WW2 Finn returned to Shell as a director of a Shell chemical company in Hamburg. Shell was apparently happy to reward him with a promotion. 

By John Donovan

A spotlight was shone on the Nazi past of the German Robert Finn after a Hamburg Sports Club Hall was to be named in his honour. Finn was a former chairman of the sports club.

Following a renovation of the hall in 2006, a major re-inauguration ceremony in honour of Finn was organised – with numerous prominent guests from sports and politics (who were informed about Finn’s role in the Nazi war economy) with his sons as guests of honour. 

There was also controversy about clubhouse design elements, including symbols of the Nazi regime, such as swastikas, to be on open public display. read more

JUNE 17, 2019 / 2:17 PM

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch court on Monday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to pay a 2.5 million euro ($2.8 million) fine for failing to prevent an explosion at its Moerdijk facility in 2014 and for breaching emissions limits at the plant.

The district court in Den Bosch said Shell had not done enough to prevent an incident on June 3, 2014 which resulted in a series of explosions and a large fire at the Moerdijk chemical plant.

“The factory, employees, the surroundings and the environment were subject to great danger that day”, the court said. “This justifies a significant punishment.” read more

Its employees — there are 180,000 around the world — have reported that customers accuse them of “working for Nazis.” There have been boycott threats…

By John Donovan

A New York Times article published on 14 June 2019 reveals that billionaire descendants of a family who control a company which owns Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Pret A Manger and a number of other famous brands are grappling with the exposure of an unspeakable secret – a Nazi history. 

Extracts:

Decades after World War II, Benckiser evolved into one of the largest consumer goods conglomerates on the planet. Known today as JAB Holding Company…

For decades, they say, they did not know about their father’s Nazism and the abuses that took place at the company they inherited: read more

Miles Costello: June 14 2019

An energy provider set up to challenge the dominance of the Big Six and now owned by Shell has agreed to compensate thousands of customers after breaching the government’s price cap.

Ofgem has ordered the former First Utility — known since last year as Shell Energy Retail, after it was taken over by the oil and gas group — to repay 8,800 individual customers who were overcharged after the cap came into force in January.

It must also pay tens of thousands in compensation and contribute £200,000 to the regulator’s fund to help vulnerable gas and electricity customers. read more

(Reuters) – Shell Energy Retail’s top boss apologised to customers after Britain’s energy regulator ordered the utility to compensate around 12,000 customers it overcharged on default tariffs after a price cap was introduced this year.

Shell Energy Retail Ltd, previously known as First Utility, will pay 200,000 pounds ($253,520) in addition to the refund to its consumer redress fund, bringing the total payment to 390,000 pounds.

This is the first such action against a company for overcharging since the price cap on default energy bills came into force on Jan. 1. read more

The utility company overcharged 12,000 customers on its default tariffs after the energy price cap was introduced on 1 January

By Wale Azeez, business reporter: Friday 14 June 2019 09:24, UK

Shell Energy Retail has been forced to pay £390,000 compensation and refunds after overcharging customers.

Energy watchdog Ofgem made the ruling after the supplier overcharged some 12,000 customers on its default tariffs when the energy price cap was introduced in January.

Ofgem’s price cap monitoring found that in the three months to March 2019, around 12,000 electricity and gas customer accounts were charged a total of £100,736.63 above the price cap. read more