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Royal Dutch Shell Unification

Verdict on Royal Dutch Shell CFO Simon Henry

Shell internal email correspondence irrefutably proves that Simon Henry was aware in March 2002 that “reserves bookings were made that should not have been made”. Walter van de Vijver, the “sick and tired” Chief Executive of Shell EP, gave the information directly to him. As can be seen in the email, Walter van de Vijver aggressively accused Mr Henry of setting targets that were near impossible to achieve. The question arises of whether Mr Henry was a culprit, an accomplice, or an innocent bystander.

By John Donovan

INTRODUCTION

We have published a series of articles about the starring role of Simon Henry in the Royal Dutch Shell reserves scandal.

Shell internal email correspondence irrefutably proves that Simon Henry was aware in March 2002 that “reserves bookings were made that should not have been made”. Walter van de Vijver, the “sick and tired” Chief Executive of Shell EP, gave the information directly to him. Walter van de Vijver accused Mr Henry of setting targets that were near impossible to achieve. 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.

Simon Henry feared Shell would ‘score an own goal’ on reserves

Simon Henry was at the heart of what was going on, conveying reserves data to the market while dealing with colleagues engaged in the fraud. We have to assume that none of them confided in him and that he was an innocent dupe. He was asking questions about accuracy of the reserves information, but some investors may feel that he should have been rather more inquisitive given the gathering warning signals of which he was acutely aware, that were already reaching the markets. Perhaps he did know, but was in a state of denial about what was going on? That seems to have been the case even after news of the reserves scandal made headlines around the world.

Shell was given advance sight of this article and the opportunity to point out any factual inaccuracy.

By John Donovan

In March 2002, Simon Henry, the current Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc was head of Investor Relations for the Royal Dutch Shell Group.

Mr Henry was responsible for gathering reserves data and ensuring the quality/accuracy of the data before it was disclosed to analysts and investors. It turned out that some of the data was not only inaccurate, but also fraudulent. 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.

How Shell’s Move To Revamp Culture Ended in Scandal

FROM OUR NOVEMBER 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

How Shell’s Move To Revamp Culture Ended in Scandal: “The root of the problem, however, goes significantly further back than Sir Philip’s reign, which began in 2001”: “These deeper roots are significant because the company has yet to make a full break with its past. Mr. van der Veer is a longtime Shell executive who sat on the committee that received — and dallied over — warnings about the accounting problems.”: “In addition to its ambitious plans to discover new oil and gas cheaply, Shell under Sir Mark was redefining how it counted existing reserves.”: “Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman from 1998 to 2001, remains on the board of Shell’s English parent… He declined to comment about reserves issues. And Shell still can’t seem to get a handle on its reserves.”

As New-Age Style Came In,
Geology Skills Lost Out;
Imitating Jerry Springer
Oilmen at a Rainy Playground

By CHIP CUMMINS and ALMAR LATOUR Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

November 2, 2004; Page A1

In late 2000, the head of the Dutch exploration unit at Royal Dutch/Shell Group asked his planners to deliver five-minute skits pitching ideas for discovering oil and gas.

In one skit, a naked employee ran on stage to catch the boss’s attention, say two people who attended. Another featured a mock episode of the Jerry Springer show, the incendiary daytime TV talk program. A third, after a bit of fun and games, promised to extract large quantities of natural gas cheaply from seemingly declining Dutch fields. 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.

How Shell’s Move To Revamp Culture Ended in Scandal

FROM OUR NOVEMBER 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

How Shell’s Move To Revamp Culture Ended in Scandal

Paddy Briggs, a retired Shell communications executive, recalls one event where he and about 40 executives were issued shovels and pick-axes and dispatched to a Dutch village to help it restore an old playground. The oilmen gave up around lunchtime amid heavy rain. Such gimmicks became the butt of jokes, “but nobody said, ‘Hey, have we lost our minds here?’ “says Mr. Briggs.

As New-Age Style Came In,
Geology Skills Lost Out;
Imitating Jerry Springer
Oilmen at a Rainy Playground

By CHIP CUMMINS and ALMAR LATOUR

Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

November 2, 2004; Page A1

In late 2000, the head of the Dutch exploration unit at Royal Dutch/Shell Group asked his planners to deliver five-minute skits pitching ideas for discovering oil and gas.

In one skit, a naked employee ran on stage to catch the boss’s attention, say two people who attended. Another featured a mock episode of the Jerry Springer show, the incendiary daytime TV talk program. A third, after a bit of fun and games, promised to extract large quantities of natural gas cheaply from seemingly declining Dutch fields. 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.

All the worst Shell traits – secrecy, haughtiness, inertia

 From our Shell News Archive Sunday 31 October, 2004

The fallout from the Shell reserves fraud continues…

The Independent On Sunday (UK): Business View: Shell’s real location problem is finding more black stuff: “The misreporting of reserves scandal showed all the worst Shell traits – secrecy, haughtiness, inertia.”: “So what’s the hurry? Was it because Shell had to admit that it had uncovered another 900 million barrels of doubtful crude in its reserves and was likely to uncover 600 million more?”

Sunday Express (UK): Shell boardroom changes backfire on reserves news: “ONE OF the world’s most influential financial firms has given the thumbs down to an announcement from Shell it is to end its 97-year-old dual board structure.”: “…financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said it had adjusted Shell’s investment rating downwards to “creditwatch negative”, a status which implies there may be more bad news to come from the company.”

Mail on Sunday (UK):  Shell bosses in a charm offensive: “The Board, headed by Jeroen van der Veer, will see thousands of staff to explain the proposed changes and shore up the mood of the employees damaged by scandals over Shell’s inflated oil reserves.”: “Last week, Shell was forced to downgrade its estimates of proven oil reserves for the fifth time this year. Reserves are now a third lower than originally thought” 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 stuns City with revamp

From our October 2004 Shell News Archive

London Evening Standard: Shell stuns City with revamp

“The troubled group wants to draw a line under its devastating oil and gas reserves crisis earlier this year by creating a new £100bn holding company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.”: “Buried deep in the results statement, Shell said it was considering yet another downgrade after a review of 8bn barrels of reserves for the year to December.”

Steve Hawkes,

28 October 2004

ANGLO-DUTCH giant Shell stunned the City today by unveiling plans to scrap its century old corporate structure and create ‘one company, one board and one chief executive.

The troubled group wants to draw a line under its devastating oil and gas reserves crisis earlier this year by creating a new £100bn holding company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

It will effectively take over the British and Dutch arms, which came together in a joint venture in 1907 with Royal Dutch owning 60%. The new group will be based in the Netherlands but listed in London. 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 to merge

From our October 2004 Shell News Archive

Royal Dutch/Shell to merge

Netherlands HQ ‘not a victory for the Dutch’: “Yet Shell’s governance scheme wasn’t without a few surprises, chiefly that the headquarters will be based in The Hague, Netherlands along with two of the group’s three main businesses.”

By Emily Church,

Oct. 28, 2004

LONDON (CBS.MW) — Oil major Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday said it plans to merge its Dutch and U.K. companies, breaking close to a hundred year tradition as a dual Anglo-Dutch group.

The move was expected and follows shareholder outrage after a shock downgrade of proven oil reserves in January. Yet Shell’s governance scheme wasn’t without a few surprises, chiefly that the headquarters will be based in The Hague, Netherlands along with two of the group’s three main businesses. 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 ROBBERS AND RASCALS

FROM OUR SEPT 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL ROBBERS AND RASCALS

“…Shell shareholders have to foot the bill for lawyers fees run up in the course of defending fat cat crooks, such as Sir Phillip Watts, the disgraced former Group Chairman of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. Sir Phillip ended up with a $18 million USD pension pot AND with all his ongoing legal fees being paid by Shell shareholders. This was after he had LIED AND COVERED UP THE TRUTH ABOUT SHELL’S RESERVES, AND IN THE PROCESS, DESTROYED SHELL’S REPUTATION”

By Alfred Donovan: Monday 12 Sept 2005

The press is having a field day in devising colourful headlines about the scandal ridden Royal Dutch Shell Group. An article in “The Sunday Times” yesterday had a story under the headline: “Shell move robs UK investors”. It reported on the horrendous tax implications for UK Royal Dutch shareholders resulting from the recent Royal Dutch/Shell unification and the dubious way in which Shell has dealt with the controversy thus far.

Yesterdays “Independent on Sunday” used the term “Clever Rascals” about Shell in a headline relating to the Sakhalin project in Russia and the potential ramifications in respect of the critically endangered western grey whale. For the record, the Encarta Online Dictionary definition of a “rascal” is: “dishonest person: somebody, especially a man, who is dishonest or otherwise unethical”. 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 still wrestling with its moment of shame

FROM OUR AUGUST 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

The Independent: Shell still wrestling with its moment of shame

“Shell is bluntly accused of making false and misleading statements about its oil reserves over a five-year period, of doing so despite internal warnings that the statements were false”

JEREMY WARNER

United Kingdom; Aug 25, 2004

SHELL CAN only hope that yesterday’s parallel statements from the Financial Services Authority and the US Securities and Exchange Commission on the reserving debacle that threatened to engulf the company earlier this year finally closes the chapter on one of the darkest and most disreputable periods in its history.

The statements themselves make humiliating reading for a company that invests so heavily in public trust. Where once you could be sure of Shell, there seems very little you can be sure of now. Shell is bluntly accused of making false and misleading statements about its oil reserves over a five-year period, of doing so despite internal warnings that the statements were false, and then of blithely failing to correct the misleading impression given. 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.

An oil giant’s road from Rajasthan to ruin

 FROM OUR AUGUST 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE…

Michael Harrison’s Outlook: An oil giant’s road from Rajasthan to ruin

“Shell, by contrast, has endured the most humiliating, torrid and damaging period in its 100-year history. It is hard to think of a more spectacular fall from grace or a more abject example of management failure.”: “The deeper it dug itself into this hole, the more Shell was forced to lie” 

Fortunes; Failure; Scramble

14 August 2004

It is a long way from the arid deserts of Rajasthan to the Shell Centre on London’s South Bank. But two events this week provide a link.

One was the announcement by Cairn Energy that it had made yet another significant oil discovery in a region of India hitherto better known for its sumptuous pink palaces and backpacking tourists. The other was the disclosure that Shell’s former head of exploration and production, Walter van de Vijver, is to receive a £2.5m pay-off after being sacked for his part in the company’s reserves scandal. 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 loses Royal Dutch Shell PLC Domain Name Battle

FROM OUR AUGUST 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE…

ShellNews.net: Shell loses Royal Dutch Shell PLC Domain Name Battle

As a result of their gross incompetence this *scandal ridden multinational finds itself in a highly embarrassing position. It has publicly laid claim to the domain name and will consequently suffer a considerable loss of face with its shareholders, the public and its competitors, as a result of the unanimous verdict.

Friday 12 August 2005: 01.35am ET

Unanimous verdict against Shell in Royal Dutch Shell PLC Domain Name proceedings

By John Donovan

A three person administrative panel appointed under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organisation has given a unanimous decision in favour of ShellNews.net website owner, Alfred Donovan, in respect of three Shell related domain names, including www.royaldutchshellplc.com

The WIPO decision document: http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2005/d2005-0538.html 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 News Archive Saturday 17 December 2005

Shell News Archive Saturday 17 December 2005

 
The Scotsman: Shell in North Sea cuts after tax hike: “ENERGY giant Shell has slashed investment in its future North Sea drilling programmes by a third – less than two weeks after Chancellor Gordon Brown levied his controversial tax hike on fuel production.”: Saturday 17 December 2005: READ

 

Gulf Times: Shell will settle rest of buyout: The proposed buyout price of 52.21 euros a share, which Royal Dutch Petroleum shareholders approved at an extraordinary shareholders meeting in The Hague yesterday, is still subject to arbitration by the Court of Appeals in Amsterdam sometime next year, Shell said in a statement.”: “The court is expected to rule on the case later in 2006.”: Published: Saturday, 17 December, 2005, 09:18 AM Doha Time: READ 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 News Archive Friday 16 December 2005

Shell News Archive Friday 16 December 2005

Friends of the Earth: Shell accused of contempt of court over continued illegal gas flaring: “The ruling recognizes that gas flaring is a serious human rights violation”; Friday December 16, 2005: READ

 

Green Consumer Guide: Rare whales face oil project threat: “It is a scandal that UK taxpayers’ money is being earmarked for a scheme that will lead to a massive increase in climate changing gases and which could push the Western Gray Whale into extinction. The EBRD should completely review its funding policies. Public money should be spent on projects that will protect the environment – not ones that destroy it.”: Friday 16 December 2005: READ 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 News Archive Monday 12 December 2005

Shell News Archive Monday 12 December 2005

REUTERS: Hedge fund challenges Royal Dutch Shell in court: “The merger was aimed at restoring confidence in Shell after a damaging reserve-overbooking scandal last year which was partly blamed on the group’s complicated dual management and ownership.”: “Dutch corporate law experts said if the court ruled in favour of Trafalgar, Shell might be forced to abandon the planned internal merger and go for a Dutch statutory squeeze out to obtain the remaining minority shares in Royal Dutch.”: Mon Dec 12, 2005: READ 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 News Archive Sunday 13 November 2005

Shell News Archive Sunday 13 November 2005

Sunday Business Post (Ireland): Cassells meets Shell and Mayo protesters to seek mediation: Shell mediator Peter Cassells held his first informal meetings with Shell management and action group Shell to Sea last week, The Sunday Business Post has learned.”: Cassells travelled to Mayo last Tuesday evening to meet Shell management and the five local men who spent 90 days in prison for refusing to undertake not to obstruct the Shell pipeline.”: Sunday 13 November 2005: READ

Sunday Business Post (Ireland): Shell strike could hit oil supply: “More than a quarter of Ireland’s total oil supply could be affected by a planned strike at Irish Shell next week, The Sunday Business Post has learned.”: Sunday 13 November 2005: READ 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 NEWS SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2005

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL NEWS SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2005

Daily Telegraph: Resistance pays off for Shell rebels: “Rebel Shell shareholders who refused to accept the terms of the the oil company’s restructuring, because it left them with big tax bills, look to have been rewarded for their resistance.”: “More than 1,000 British shareholders who accepted the terms are now considering suing Shell to claw back the money to pay the tax bill.”: Saturday 5 November 2005: READ

BBC Monitoring Service – UK: Amnesty International blames violence in troubled Nigerian region on oil firms: “Amnesty International has indicted the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria and Chevron Nigeria Limited for continued outbreak of violence in oil-rich Niger/Delta area.”: Posted Saturday 5 November 2005: READ 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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