April 11th, 2007:

April 11, 2007, 2:33PM EST
By TOBY STERLING
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Wednesday it has offered to settle damage claims stemming from the company’s 2004 oil reserves scandal with investors outside the United States for $352.6 million (euro263.8 million) and hopes to settle with U.S. shareholders for an additional $80 million (euro60 million).

Shell general counsel Beat Hess said in a news conference that the offer to shareholders who bought stock from April 1999 to March 2004 was agreed to by major investors, subject to approval by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals. read more

April 12, 2007
Steve Hawkes and Michael Herman

An American law firm will make £24 million in fees after securing an historic $450 million (£228 million) compensation payout for thousands of Shell shareholders following the oil group’s reserves scandal in 2004.

An insider at the Anglo-Dutch group told The Times yesterday that it was paying the Delaware-based Grant & Eisenhofer an amount equal to about 10 per cent of the settlement. This will come on top of the money earmarked for investors. read more

April 11, 2007

Steve Hawkes
You can be sure of Shell.

Just as investors prepare to attack Lord Browne of Madingley, the BP chief executive, over his pay packet, Shell reminds everyone of the reserves scandal that means it will be struggling in BP’s wake for years to come.

The fiasco wiped billions of barrels of oil and gas off Shell’s book of proven reserves, and the group is still trying desperately to fill the gaping holes left in its production pipeline as a result.

The £180 million compensation agreed by the oil giant represents possibly the biggest settlement in a class action brought by shareholders in Europe. read more

By MARY JACOBY
April 11, 2007 2:34 p.m.

BRUSSELS — In a legal milestone, American trial lawyers have reaped their first big payday in Europe: $47 million in fees from settling a securities-fraud case with Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Europe’s largest oil company by market capitalization said Wednesday it would pay $352.6 million to settle claims brought in the U.S. by European shareholders, who accused Shell of defrauding them by overstating its reserves. The Netherlands-based oil giant also agreed to pay attorneys’ fees to three American law firms that represented the European investors. read more

US law firm Grant & Eisenhofer (G&E) scored an advisory role on the first-ever pan-European class settlement of securities fraud claims.

G&E, representing a European investment group of more than 50 investors, including some from the UK, agreed to resolve claims against Royal Dutch Shell over the company allegedly having reported an “overstatement” of its oil and gas reserves.

The settlement is still awaiting approval from the Dutch courts, but when finalised the agreement is expected that the shareholders will receive $450m (£228.12m). read more

Graeme Wearden
Wednesday April 11, 2007
 
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $352.6m (£178m) to settle legal action brought by shareholders after it admitted overstating its oil and gas reserves.

The proposed settlement has been accepted by several institutional investors based outside the US and a group that represents individual shareholders, it said. They lodged claims against the oil giant after it announced in early 2004 that it was downgrading its reserves by 20%.

Shell said it had reached the proposed agreement “without admitting any wrongdoing”. It will pay $340.1m to investors based outside the US who bought shares in the company between April 8 1999 and March 18 2004, plus $12.5m to be divided equally among all shareholders who have submitted a valid claim. A further $6.25m will be provided to groups that help individual investors prepare compensation claims. read more

Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:52 AM BST
By Mark Potter

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell agreed to pay $352.6 million to non-U.S. investors on Wednesday as it seeks to put behind it the reserves overbooking scandal that rocked the oil giant in 2004.

The second-largest Western oil company by market value also said it would offer $80 million to settle claims from U.S. investors.

Shell shocked investors in 2004 by slashing its proven oil and gas reserves by 20 percent in a scandal that cost three top executives their jobs, sparked a probe by U.S. regulators and sent its shares plunging. read more

James Ashton,
11 April 2007

Russia’s bully-boy business tactics risk becoming as familiar an export as vodka and furs as the former Soviet state looks to become a player on the world stage. 

Even those at the icy heart of the Kremlin acknowledge its companies have to reform, or at the very least brush up their public relations, to woo allies and investment.

Leonid Reiman, telecoms minister and a key ally of president Vladimir Putin, admits: ‘There are quite a few companies who have this aggressive and negative appearance. They understand themselves that they have this problem and they are trying to work with it.’ read more

Gunther reports

By Marc Gunther, Fortune senior writer
April 11 2007: 6:17 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Fortune) — Here’s yet another sign that the debate over climate change has shifted decisively: ConocoPhillips today becomes the first U.S.-based oil company to support mandatory national regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

In so doing, ConocoPhillips breaks ranks with the two biggest U.S. oil companies – ExxonMobil (Charts) and Chevron (Charts) – as well as with the Bush administration. With revenues of $188 billion in 2006, ConocoPhillips (Charts) operates in 40 nations around the world from its headquarters in Bush country – Houston, Texas. read more

By REUTERS
Published: April 11, 2007
Filed at 4:09 a.m. ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has agreed to pay $352.6 million to settle claims from European and other non-U.S. investors related to a reserves overbooking scandal, the Anglo-Dutch firm said on Wednesday.

Shell shocked investors in 2004 by slashing its proven oil and gas reserves by 20 percent in a scandal that cost three top executives their jobs, sparked a probe by U.S. regulators and sent its shares plunging. read more

Shareholders in the UK and Europe are to benefit as Shell draws another line under the 2004 reserves scandal

April 11, 2007
Steve Hawkes

Royal Dutch Shell is paying thousands of shareholders a total of $352.6 million (£180 million) in compensation for the reserves scandal that sparked the worst crisis in the oil giant’s century-long history.

The group today said that “without admitting any wrongdoing” investors outside of the US, mainly Europe and the UK, would be paid compensation under a series of settlements with shareholder groups. read more

By Neil Dennis
Published: April 11 2007 09:17 | Last updated: April 11 2007 09:17

European equity markets were a little higher on Wednesday, with oil companies picking up from recent weakness after Royal Dutch Shell settled claims from investors over its reserves restatement.

In early trade, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.2 per cent higher at 1,550.77, Frankfurt was flat at 7,166.60, while the CAC 40 in Paris gained slightly to 5,767.35 and London’s FTSE 100 was little changed at 6,418.2.

The Eurofirst 300 was just 2 points shy of the six-year high hit in late February, before equity markets suffered a sharp, three-week correction. read more

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it has agreed to pay at least 353 mln usd to settle the claims lodged by European and other investors outside the US relating to the shock oil reserves downgrade in 2004.

The Anglo-Dutch oil group said it is entering into the agreement ‘without admitting any wrongdoing.’

It signed the arrangement with certain institutional investors led by Dutch pension funds ABP and PGGM, the Shell Reserves Compensation Foundation, and the Vereniging van Effectenbezitters (VEB), which represents individual Dutch investors. read more

STATEMENT BY ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC: 11/04/2007
 
Royal Dutch Shell plc today announced the proposed settlement of claims outside the US related to the 2004 restatement of reserves. 
 
Without admitting any wrongdoing, Shell* agreed to pay $352.6 million, plus administrative costs, to investors covered by the settlement. They include non-US investors who purchased their shares outside the United States. The parties to the settlement agreement include certain institutional investors including ABP, PGGM, the Vereniging van Effectenbezitters (VEB) an organization representing individual shareholders in The Netherlands and similar organisations, and the Shell Reserves Compensation Foundation, a settlement foundation representing all shareholders covered by the settlement agreement. read more

By Stephen Voss

April 11 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, said it proposed a settlement of European and other non-U.S. investor claims related to its 2004 restatement of oil and gas reserves.

“Without admitting any wrongdoing, Shell agreed to pay $352.6 million, plus administrative costs, to investors covered by the settlement,” the company, based in The Hague, said today in a statement distributed by PR Newswire.

The agreement depends on the Amsterdam Court of Appeals declaring the settlement binding for the shareholders it covers and is subject to opt-out provisions, Shell said. read more

By Dick Morris 

How should the United States respond to the proliferation of deadly roadside explosives in Iraq manufactured and developed in Iran?

And how to react to the capture by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard of 15 British Marines and sailors in Iraqi territorial waters?

What should we do about Iran’s continued refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program even in the face of twice-imposed United Nations sanctions?

We should pass — and the president should sign — the Dodd-Lantos bill mandating economic sanctions on any foreign company that aids Iran’s energy industry. Domestic companies are already prohibited from such investments. read more