By John Donovan: 1st November 2021

Below are screenshots from the webpage generated this morning when performing a search for Royal Dutch Shell on Microsoft Bing.

The map section shows the Shell Centre HQ in London.

The contact section displays the address and telephone number.

The website address displayed is royaldutchshellplc.com and the various Shell images, including the main top left one (with the Nazi theme), all come from the royaldutchsellplc.com website.

Royaldutchshellplc.com is the top-level domain name for Royal Dutch Shell Plc which Shell failed to seize in legal proceedings many years ago. Shell now has to live with the consequences of losing the action. read more

Javier Ferrandis: Follow: Researcher: Published December 8, 2020

Extracts from an extensive article by former Shell Petroleum Economist Javier Ferrandis:

The CARLYLE-MUBADALA ALLIANCE: A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR OIL AND GAS BRIBERY

Information about the nine-year period Javier Ferrandis spent at Shell can be found at the foot of this article.

I would argue in this article that the overvalued and questionable purchase of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala owned CEPSA by the Carlyle group in 2019 was part of a USA government-sponsored bribery operation connected to the transfer of large Oil & Gas concessions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into the hands of Chinese National Oil Companies and other oil companies based in countries that collaborated with the 1MDB operation and that happen to be main recipients of UAE crude oil exports. The timing of the 1MDB operation and specifically the purchase of Coastal Energy by Abu-Dhabi owned CEPSA and the 1MDB Chinese middleman Jho Low was chosen to coincide exactly with the historic expiration of the 75 years old Abu-Dhabi oil concessions. read more

EXTRACTS FROM AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF AN ARTICLE AUTHORED BY INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS BAS VAN BEEK, ALEXANDER BEUNDER, JILLES MAST AND MEREL DE BUCK.

This article is part of the Shell Papers, a joint research project conducted by Platform Authentieke Journalistiek and Follow the Money, into the ties between the Dutch government and the oil giant. In April 2019, we filed a total of 17 FOIA requests, demanding copies of all Shell-related documents from nine ministries, three provinces and five municipalities. As of March 2020, the FOIA procedures are still ongoing. You can track their progress here: read more

In 2008, the then Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer (above) forecast that “Demand for oil and gas would outstrip demand within 7 years

By John Donovan

According to an article published by the Houston Chronicle – Is peak oil demand coming soon – Royal Dutch Shell now forecasts that crude oil demand will crest in the late 2020s.

It is salient to note that in 2008, the then Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer forecast that “Demand for oil and gas will outstrip demand within 7 years… see below. read more

John Donovan in 1999

Extracts from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally)

Extracts from pages 155 to 164 inclusive

We receive insider information about Shell from a number of different sources.

The first is from Shell itself.

Shell has supplied Shell internal documents and internal emails directly to me in compliance with a series of SAR applications.

The internal documents revealed that Shell secretly set up a counter-measures team and mounted a global spying operation in a determined, but unsuccessful bid to stop the flow of Shell insider information to me.

Another source is from disgruntled Shell employees who have supplied insider information and Shell internal documents and internal emails. read more

Extract from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally)

(BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT SHELL’S EPIC 25 YEAR FEUD WITH JOHN DONOVAN – which puts the extracts below in overall context.)

Extract below from pages 55, 56, 57 & 58 consisting of an informed damning judgement (in June 2004) on Shell management by Dr. John Huong a Shell Production Geologist. He blew the whistle internally on the reserves fraud that resulted in the forced merger of Shell Transport and Trading and Royal Dutch Petroleum, into Royal Dutch Shell Plc in 2005. He was fired for being a person man of high integrity. Eight companies in the Shell group jointly sued him for defamation, but eventually, six years later, settled that action along with his claim against Shell for wrongful dismissal.

Extract Begins

CONTENT OF A LEAFLET PUBLISHED ON OUR WEBSITE AND CIRCULATED IN JUNE 2004 AT THE SHELL CENTRE, LONDON. ALL EXTRACTS FROM COMMENTS MADE BY DR. JOHN HUONG

“I will supply for publication further informed comment and revelations in the run up to Shell’s AGM on 28 June. It will include examples of the toxic combination of arrogance, greed, dishonesty, and blatant disregard for all ethical norms by Shell Management, that has culminated in the current shame heaped upon the once proud Shell name.” read more

Malcolm Brinded – ethically challenged President of the Energy Institute and Chairman of the Shell Foundation. 

By John Donovan

I recently received an email asking how it is possible that the Energy Institute could have a crook as its president. A reference to Malcolm Brinded, alleged in the email to have a “history of quasi psychopathic behaviour towards hundreds of offshore workers put at risk for years to protect Brinded’s personal ambitions.”

Brinded was elected as President of the Energy Institute on 4 July 2017. Equally astonishing is the fact that Brinded also remains Chairman of the Shell Foundation. read more

“Shell is very different from Enron. We were criticized for that some time ago and I’’m glad we have a absolutely rock-solid way we do business. It’s all completely transparent, as far as Shell is concerned.”

By John Donovan

Following publication of my article Shell false pledges of transparency and openness contributors to this website have been accused of hating Shell. That is not the case.

Many of us do, however, take great exception to the hypocritical claims made by successive RDS Chairman and CEO’s over many years that Shell operates within an ethical code – the General Business Principles – which includes a pledge of transparency.

Shell Group Chairman Sir Mark Moody-Stuart preached transparency while conspiring with senior colleagues to hide information from Shell shareholders. read more

Bill Campbell comments on OPL 245 Statement by Shell Legal Director Donny Ching

Chronology is important is it not!

The international law firm reported to the RDS board in July 2016 but the emails confirming Shell knew money was going to individuals was not exposed till April 2017 a year later and was confirmed by the statement from the Shell spokesman to be an accepted fact in his 10th April 2017 press statement.

So did the international law firm who we are to assume gave a positive message to the Board have no knowledge of these emails in 2016?

Ching seems to be living in the world of alternative facts, his statements in the article above that Shell had no visibility into all this and payments were made without their prior knowledge or authorisation by Shell totally contradicts what RDS has already admitted on record in April this year. read more

A few days ago, more than $43m (£34m) in cash (above) – proceeds of unidentified unlawful activity – was seized by the Nigerian anti-corruption authorities from a flat in Nigeria’s main city, Lagos. Is the find connected to OPL 245?

By John Donovan

The name of former Shell General Counsel Keith Ruddock (right) has popped up in leaked Shell internal emails relating to the OPL 245 corruption scandal. 

I note in this regard a comment by Mr Ruddock in an interview by GC Magazine: read more

Over 50 books contain references to our Shell focussed websites, or our founders Alfred and John Donovan.

One example is a book published in 2010 entitled “United States Trademark Law.”

Chapter 11 of the book is devoted to the website royaldutchshellplc.com

The following are extracts. The entire chapter can be read here.

What is stated is not entirely accurate. We sued Shell four times for stealing ideas and Shell settled ALL of the claims, each time involving a confidentiality agreement that Shell later contravened. We also successfuly sued Shell twice for libel. read more

UPDATED WITH POSTING BY BILL CAMPBELL, RETIRED HSE GROUP AUDITOR, SHELL INTERNATIONAL

By John Donovan

I warned Shell for over a decade that Malcolm Brinded (above) has no scruples. Indeed, in 2009, I published an article under the headline: Royal Dutch Shell Fat Cat Malcolm Brinded: Big Brain but no scruples.

Brinded was an executive director of Royal Dutch Shell Plc until 2012 and is still Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Shell Foundation.

It is, therefore, interesting, to say the least, that he is named in an Italian prosecutor’s report as one of the senior Shell executives involved in the $1.3 billion OPL 245 deal, said to be a massive scam. read more

A number of articles have been published today reporting a forecast by Shell CFO Simon Henry, that “Peak Oil” could be just 5 years away. e.g.

Oil Demand Peak Could Be Just 5 Years Away: Shell

Oil falls after Shell warns peak demand ‘five years off’

Shell makes a jaw-dropping statement on peak oil

It is, therefore, an appropriate moment to look back on a directly related forecast made in January 2008, by the then Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer. He forecast that demand for oil and gas would outstrip supply within 7 years, meaning by 2015. The hopelessly inaccurate prediction was based on an assessment from the Shell Scenarios team. No doubt many of the same geniuses now advising Simon Henry. read more

I would have thought that Simon Henry’s position as CFO should now be untenable, in view of the apparent lack of effective financial governance in Nigeria while he was CFO. 

By John Donovan

A large number of press articles have appeared recently mentioning Ben van Beurden. 

Since these articles are presumably fed to the press by Shell’s PR team, and Shell is not a one-man company, I checked to see whether other Shell directors have appeared recently in press releases.

The results are somewhat curious. For example, searching for Matthias Bichsel on Google News shows that articles were published about him at least weekly until October last year, but the articles then stopped abruptly. References to Simon Henry seem to have dried up a few weeks ago – until mid-March there were articles on Henry on an almost daily basis, but recently there has been nothing. Harry Brekelmans seems to have had a low profile since his appointment, so it is harder to see whether any change has occurred. Andy Brown has almost as many press articles as Ben van Beurden.  read more

Van der Veer was the chief executive officer at Royal Dutch Shell from 2004-2009, when he retired. Van der Veer then continued as a non-executive director on the board of Shell until 2013. He started to work for Shell in 1971 and has experience within all sectors of the business. In addition, Van der Veer is the chair of the supervisory boards of ING Bank and Royal Philips Electronics and member of the supervisory board of Boskalis Westminster Groep, and has significant competence within corporate governance. read more

By a regular contributor

Only one member of the EC is directly involved in North American activities, Marvin Odum. 

Perhaps worth noting is that investment decisions on the scale of the recent Shell write-offs would have required approval by the entire EC in the Hague long before BvB was around. Few of the EC members who made those decisions are still present. 

It seems strange that so many of the huge projects which have been abandoned are in North America, and serious questions need to be asked about why approval was given by the EC for these huge projects. Only one member of the EC is directly involved in North American activities, Marvin Odum.  read more