July 9th, 2006:

There are many thousands of Shell employees around the world who strive to work honestly and very hard to comply with the Shell published Codes and Standards of business. They will be devastated to hear that a “Bandit” group of about six Managers, from the very top downwards, have been able to bypass all the checks and balances built in to prevent wrong doings and have been circumventing these controls for such a long time without detection. I think the message to them is “check your back yard and make sure the same thing is not happening to you “.
 
Did Shell allow a disastrous lapse in safety standards in the lead up to being audited by Shell International in 1999 and again between 1999 and 2003?  All indications are yes they did.
 
The results of the 1999 audit were accepted, but nothing was done and the modus operandi of non-compliance with the approved Safety Case continued until 2003 when two lives were lost. If the findings of Bill Campbell’s 1999 audit had been acted on in correctly, then all the Brent Platform would have been gleaming in every way possible by 2003. The 2003 post accident audit uncovered an even worse situation prompting massive budget allocation to “put things right”, an after the event or Company image damage limitation exercise. Decide for yourself after reading Bill Campbell’s “right of reply”
 
Bill Campbell whom I have known all of his 24 years in Shell is a person if you were in trouble he would help you in any aspect he could. His description in some of the media articles as a safe pair of hands does not do him justice. He is a greater man than I.
 
Following the BBC Scotland “The Human Price of Oil” screened on 14 June 2006 Shell issued statements to the media and world wide Staff inferring that Bill Campbell was disillusioned and emotional ex employee trying to undermine the Shell Groups good name. Shell went as far as threatening legal action against one media source if it published any more articles.
 
Following the Cullen recommendations implementation period, Safety Operational Management Cases were written, procedural documents were written and communicated to all levels of Staff on and offshore. Massive hardware changes were made to comply with the ALERP principles. Operating parameters were laid down with stringent procedures to guide us all on what we could do and not do. Variations had to be assessed and fully discussed and approved at the appropriate level before any changes were permitted. A fully traceable paper trail was in place for everything.
 
So what happened pre audit 1999, and in the period 1999 – 2003?
 
Management had changed, re-organisations had taken place, many Shell positions had been replaced by Contractors. The new Shell Europe was about to be created. At this stage staff had to re-apply for their jobs, and there were not enough jobs available for everyone. Who in this climate would stand up against an all-powerful “bandit” – no one it seems. Failure to comply with the Safety Case went unchallenged after all Brent had high up times and even were rated as best in class by a Mackenzie survey! Things were very good or were they. Many corroded and leaking hydrocarbon carrying pipes were temporally repaired with neoprene strips and hose clips called “patches”. Budget was refused time and time again. The patch which failed resulting in the September fatal release of hydrocarbons was on the job list for replacement during the summer 2003 shut down but was deferred. The offshore staff had long ago given up the fight and accepted the situation. A classic and well documented case of “Human reliance on defective equipment” (refer to the HSE 2001/53 report on this subject).
 
Bill Campbell even tried to get evidence to the Fatal Accident Enquiry but his attempt was judged very interesting but not relevant due to the time intervals. It appears that the Technical ability of the persons advising the Procurator Fiscal failed to make the importance of the connection between audits and refused to allow Bills contribution.
 
What next?
 
Shell clearly failed in its duty to operate its North Sea Assets according to the approved Safety Case. Shell has attempted to refute the contents of its own internal audits driven by the same “Bandits” who failed to take action when they should have done in 1999.
 
This group are despicable and dangerous men requiring external pressures to ensure they are brought to justice thus exposing them to the full force of the Law together with Public opinion not forgetting the wrath of the Shareholders influence. read more

To read the important statement made by Mr. Bill Campbell click on the link below:

http://shellnews.net/brent/shell-brent-scandal-statement-by-bill-campbell-published-8-july-2006.htm

To read evidence relevant to the Accident on Brent Bravo which was not heard by  the Sheriff at the Fatal Accident Inquiry, click on the link below. 

http://shellnews.net/brent/shell-brent-scandal-evident-not-heard-8-july-2006.htm

We thought it important to put the above documents into the public domain as a matter of urgency. A related news story will be published within the next 24 hours. read more

From TheBusinessOnline
09 July 2006 

FOR ALL his shortcomings as a leader, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has chosen a suitably heavyweight topic for the G8 summit which convenes this week in St Petersburg. Few issues on the global agenda are more pressing than energy security, which is becoming fused with national security. We may be about to witness the first summit in years not to be a complete waste of time.

This is the first time Russia has chaired the G8, and Mr Putin has chosen energy security not just because it is important in its own right but because it is one of the few areas of global concern in which Russia is still a major player. The core of the former Soviet Union generates just 2.6% of the world’s wealth but holds 32% of the world’s proven gas reserves. The rest of the G8 generate 40% of the wealth but just 4.4% of the gas. Russia is poor and in many ways does not deserve even to be part of the G8; but it is an energy superpower, a point Mr Putin will no doubt seek to emphasise during the G8’s deliberations. read more

From THE NEW YORK TIMES

TRONDHEIM, Norway (Reuters) – Hundreds of deaths caused by volcanic leaks of carbon dioxide from Cameroon to California are worrying experts seeking ways to bury industrial emissions of the gas as part of an assault on global warming.

Governments and companies are researching how to trap carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas released by burning fossil fuels in power plants and factories — and then entomb it safely in porous rocks deep below ground.

However, they have done little to explain the vast costs and the risk of leaks from projects that could end up burying billions of tonnes of gas and do more to slow global warming than a shift to renewable energies such as solar or wind power. read more

From TheBusinessOnline
By Ben Aris In Moscow
09 July 2006

THE People’s IPO appears to have got off to a good start as Russians across the country queued at banks to purchase up to $555-worth (£310, E450) of shares in state-owned oil company Rosneft. Trading in the shares is due to start in London and Moscow this week.

Although the bankers involved in the issue wouldn’t say how much of the $10bn-$14bn the general public had bought, there is little doubt from the length of the queues that sale has proved popular in Russian. Individuals can buy up to $555 worth of shares. read more

Lord Browne has turned the failing oil giant around, but as he prepares to step down old questions are resurfacing, writes Oliver Morgan

Sunday July 9, 2006
From The Observer/Guardian Online

It is difficult to picture it, but in the years before John, now Lord Browne, became chief executive of BP, the company was widely thought to be in terminal decline. His predecessor-but-one, the overbearing Sir Robert Horton, was forced out after presiding over a slump in performance that saw the company make its first quarterly loss, sparking rumours of an ignominious takeover by Hanson. Lord Simon, his successor, stabilised things but, by the mid 1990s when Browne took over, BP was still seen as a ‘two pipeline company’ raking in cash (circa $30bn of revenue) from the Forties field in the North Sea and Prudhoe Bay in Alaska – both discoveries of 20 years standing. read more