ShellNews.net: Letter faxed to Senator Dianne Feinstein following email received from her

Jose Valente: To concerned employee et al: it is amazing how much crap people can write on this blog. I can only presume these are a bunch of losers, that did not make it at Shell. Frustrated, desillusioned - but still with their snouts in the Shell trough, slurping away their salaries AND bonuses. Have at least the guts to leave Shell.

Aidos: Bill & Concerned Employee, The business integrity problems have always been dormant under the surface (since the last integrity crisis at least) and despite the efforts to improve its public image, the problems were bound to keep returning like a bout of gonorrhoea. I wasn’t really surprised when I read the horrendous internal company note blaming Robinson. Shell has form. It seems only yesterday when the Shell turrets turned towards Bill Campbell when he exposed Brinded, Bayliss et al for supporting and encouraging a narcissistic cavalier culture towards safety. Despite all the internal BS to deflect blame and external PR campaign to falsely portray that Shell as caring deeply for the environment and business integrity, internally staff are fully aware that management are only interested in profits, and that staff should be grateful for their jobs and speak out at their own peril. I suspect that the only regret the EC privately have is that their generals were incompetent enough to get caught out with respect to OPL, but unfortunately Robinson is a gift for them and does make a rather convenient scapegoat. In a Shell world where for the majority of my colleagues its all about bonuses, promotions and job survival, I can understand (but in no way condone) why colleagues are more prepared to cross the integrity line. And if caught they will get a slapped wrist over a coffee meeting and no-one other than (the unashamedly corrupt) HR will know (only to raise it up against you when needed). I genuinely believe that Ben van Beurden is a decent man and appears to have a good heart, but his weakness in dealing with the army of internal rogue corrupt dictators and getting control of the HR mafia has already cost him his legacy. OPL is causing a lot of additional stress and gloomy faces in the office corridors and alarming gossip around the coffee machines. Thankfully we have our incompetent lawyers, unscrupulous finance staff, dishonourable HR, shameless spin doctors and ineffective (un)ethics and compliance colleagues at hand to make the OPL problem disappear. Or maybe not.

Yet Another Concerned Employee: Behind the glossy facade of its brightly coloured filling stations and shiny reflective glass towers, Shell is truly a dark malevolent force. It is not only the Church of the poisoned mind, but also home to the parasitic mind which snatches thoughts from others and presents them as its own. Experience and being correct are not recognised, only 'Process'. Many, through either bitter experience, incompetence or ignorance have learned to hide behind process and can no longer think for themselves. Merit is trodden under heel into the mud. Often one bad decision after another results in a predictable squandering of shareholders' money, not by the millions or tens of millions of dollars, but by the hundreds of millions of dollars. Lessons learned are written down then forgotten as the machine moves forwards. This is rewarded by large bonuses. Reality plays little part in the daily running of the business, the public image of the 'Brand' must be protected at all cost.

Concerned employee: I share your sentiments wholeheartedly Bill. The company has been caught with its pants down, with senior staff most likely involved in kickbacks. How could this have got through the numerous assurance including Integrity teams, Auditors etc who all form part of the checks and balances to ensure this is easily picked up (particularly in Nigeria). Either the company is full of incompetence, or there has been a blind eye turned to such corruption. I say (a lot of) both. The amounts of money involved is not loose change. I say this problem is endemic in many of the hardship countries we do business in. Shell is dark, corrupt and dirty and I am beginning to question if I am working for a far more sinister company than I originally thought. And this is playing on my mind.

The Truth at Last: A Goodfriday CRUXIFIXCTION ...took place to day in Mayo ...4 Irish Shell booze cops and a Mayo Co Co officer heard from OSSL that that the oil giant Shell has unambiguously stated that " bribery and corruption " does take place in their orginisation ...the Mayo police and county council gentlemens " who me " stance is not looking to good now ...this is not small " potatoes " one guy demanded and got 280k Euro spent on his house ...watch this space .

Bonus Group: TotallyHackedOff. To pick-up on your comment, most large Oil and Gas corporations comprise two main elements, to use a nautical analogy: the Leadership Team (The Flotsam: debris in the water that was not deliberately thrown overboard) and the Technical Staff (The Jetsam: debris that was deliberately thrown overboard). The Flotsam can usually also be found in a septic tank! BG Group was run on processes parallel to those of Shell. There were Shell 'plants' in the Management Team to ensure that there could be a seamless takeover; it was insidious. BG spent the three years before the takeover bid was announced aligning themselves with Shell. After all if things were to go 'tits-up' and you were the CEO who had come from Shell in the first place, you would want an escape plan to protect your reputation and the shareholders.

Bonus Group: Further to Bogus Group's post on 14th December concerning Neil McCulloch's departure from Enquest, it has not taken long for him to land a plum job as Technical and HSE Director at Spirit Energy where Chris Cox, late of BG is CEO. The storm clouds are beginning to gather as fast as the nepotism allows. Chris is rapidly building on his mandate to develop Spirit Energy (previously Centrica's oil and gas assets, now rebranded) to a level where it can be assimilated by Shell, as the third of the companies spun-off by the British Gas privatisation in the '80s and long stalked by Shell.

Bogus Group: Further to my post on this blog, 28 August'17, there may be some interest an an article in yesterday's Upstream "Trial set for clash of LNG players".

TotallyHackedOff: Shell - as I am sure with many global super majors- is heavy with narcissists at all levels. Lots of people like Trump rollicking around- get in their way and you’re a gonner! See you later Rexy baby!

TotallyHackedOff: In reply to Bonus Group and Another Concerned Employee- its clear reading from your posts that Shell and BG shared many business cultural similarities making the tie-up an obvious one. I know of a few Shell employees who resigned, joined BG and are now back at Shell again- it stinks of a plant/trojan horse ending! It is well known that Shell has an 'inner circle' and if you find yourself outside that as many of the technical folk do, you don't stand a chance. Its all a bit wink, wink nudge, nudge. I even remember one manager (now a VP of something) telling me how I needed to 'read between the lines' which made me think it was all a load of bollocks and how the politically adept arse kissers rose through the ranks blissfully unaware of how their actions impacted their colleagues. The alpha men and women were all the same- keen to get ahead at anyones expense and doing secret backroom deals. Its one ginormous playground and the bullies will win as they are keeping the other bullies in place.

Bonus Group: 'Another Concerned Employee'talks about Shell's 'scooby-doo' business priciples, BG's were just as opaque. If you asked someone in HR about policy you would be deflected to 'The Portal' and left to fend for yourself. Often the policies conflicted with each other and had no foundation in law. This was reflected in the hypocritical management 'do as I say, not as I do' policy. The closest experience most of BG Senior Management had of oil rigs and platforms was reading about them in comic books. The Brasil Asset was a complete shambles with its 'Simple Simon' approach to geoscience and cappuccino lifestyle. Unfortunately, most of these overpaid sociopaths migrated to Shell and are waiting, mouth's open for their next bonus. Shell must be trying hard to find ways to cover up grotesque errors in reserves booked by this Asset. Hopefully, Shell's assurance process is better than BG's with its £2Bn failure.

Yet Another Concerned Employee: Carillion, for whom the bell tolls! Remarkable that a Shell Executive should have a finger in this pie with its aggressive auditing practices. More 'pulling the wool' over the shareholder's eyes. Were the auditors asleep at the wheel when this was happening? There should be a full investigation, and those responsible made accountable. Perhaps, sunny Brunei is a safe haven? I wonder what the extradition treaties between the UK and Brunei are?