Posts from ‘August, 2009’

By John Viljoen

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser expressed support for Australia’s planned emissions trading system at a meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Australian Financial Review reported.

Voser met with Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan in Canberra on Aug. 12 to discuss the carbon pollution reduction system and plans to invest in Australian energy projects, the Review said, without saying where it got the information.

Voser told Rudd and Swan that Shell favored the system because it wanted policy certainty as it prepares to expand Australian operations, the report said. The Shell chief’s position appears to contrast those of LNG rivals who have argued that Rudd’s proposed system would impose an unfair burden on Australian gas producers in favor of overseas projects.

The Senate yesterday blocked the emissions reduction system from becoming law. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the legislation will be resubmitted for a fresh vote before the end of the year.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Viljoen in Sydney at jviljoen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 13, 2009 19:52 EDT

SOURCE ARTICLE

Illustrating the growing importance Australia is taking in Shell’s portfolio, newly installed chief executive Peter Voser has been visiting Canberra and Perth in recent days.

For whatever reason inside me, something compels me to continue revisiting the post made by Uncle Tom

In an article published on 8 August by the Mail on Sunday, the UK company Hakluyt & Company Limited is described as a “corporate investigations spy firm“.

Hakluyt, founded and heavily populated by former MI6 officers, has been closely associated with its client Shell, at one point sharing common directors and major shareholders.

Sir William Purves and the late Sir Peter Holmes, a former Group Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Group, were the ultimate spymasters at Hakluyt when it carried out undercover work on behalf of Shell in many Countries.

Sir William was Chairman of Hakluyt & Company Limited and Sir Peter, President of the so called oversight organisation, The Hakluyt Foundation.

Hakluyt is viewed by many Members of Parliament as the commercial arm of MI6.

More information here.

Related Articles

Private Spies – Corporations rogue SUBVERSIVES (“Phil Carroll” is a former Shell Oil CEO)

Hakluyt & Company Limited

Arrow and Shell have both said previously that they’ve held talks about Arrow selling more gas to Shell. It would hardly be surprising if a potential takeover transaction came up in conversation.

AMSTERDAM, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) will build a new plant costing $500 million at its Pernis refinery in the Netherlands to increase production of cleaner fuels, it said on Thursday.

Arrow Energy

By Xi Chen in Hong Kong

Published: August 13 2009 07:46 | Last updated: August 13 2009 07:46

POSTING ON OUR SHELL BLOG BY A WELL INFORMED REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR: IT4me

1 Million dollars a day. That is roughly the sum that Downstream continues to spend on its “GSAP” system, IT flagship of the “Downstream One” (globalisation) project. So how is it going ?

GSAP was launched in 2004 to the dismay of many experienced IT people. Here was an IT project straight out of the 1980s, with a sprawling bureaucracy, 10 year plans, propagandist newsletters, and all the baggage of the mainframe era. RISK factors were off the scale: a massive IT build, a revolution in the business, experimental offshoring, and no fallback plan ! Hadn’t we learned to stop doing things this way ?

Well, no, we hadn’t. And 5 years on, we are still doing it – but the business keep on signing the cheques (so they must be happy) and dissent has largely faded away.

So I was surprised in a recent corridor conversation to hear a contrary view. I was talking to a senior person outside of Downstream – someone with specific intelligence about EXXON MOBIL and their Global SAP system (which I understood we had set out to copy). The view being expressed was that GSAP had been a monumental blunder.

A blistering critique followed, the gist of which is as follows:

(1) EXXON MOBIL realised many functions are best kept LOCAL; we instead GLOBALISED almost everything.
(2) THEY kept their SAP system simple; WE built a huge data warehouse using SAP “BW” (a notorious piece of “bloatware”).
(3) THEY deployed their SAP system all over the world. WE can barely afford to get halfway.
(4) Because of our “SAP BW” decision, we are quietly having to build a lot of (non-SAP) gap-fillers…

…and so on. Not only was this said out loud, but the tone was rather “doesn’t everyone know this ?”

Well, no, they don’t. Back in Downstream, the newsletters are still flowing, and the business are still contentedly signing the cheques. But I do wonder if we may be at a turning point ? With COST CONTROL now back after a 5 year holiday, might we see an end to this kind of IT project ?

Anyone have any insights into this ? Can it really be true that we set out to copy Exxon Mobil, only to get it so fundamentally wrong ?

By John Donovan

The following is a self-explanatory email I sent earlier today to Robert (Bob) Pease, President & Chief Executive Officer of Motiva Enterprises LLC, which is jointly owned by a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco and Shell.

From the Motiva Website:

Formed in 1998, Motiva Enterprises LLC operates primarily in the eastern and southern United States. Its operations include nearly 7,700 Shell-branded gasoline stations, three refineries with a combined capacity of 740,000 barrels per day, and ownership interest in 41 refined product storage terminals with an aggregate storage capacity of approximately 19.8 million barrels.

MY EMAIL TO MR BOB PEASE

Dear Mr Pease

I am writing to you in your capacity as President and Chief Executive of Motiva Enterprises LLC.

You may be aware of the fact that the website royaldutchshellplc.com is serving as a public platform for stakeholders in Shell/Motiva refineries who have made allegations against Mr Tom Purves, your Vice President for Downstream Manufacturing on The Gulf Coast.

Allegations of rampant cronyism and much worse have been made against Mr Purves and his alleged “henchman”, including Mr Jeff Funkhouser and Mr Forrest Lauher.

I have sent emails to Mr Purves and Mr Funkhouser offering them the right of reply, promising to publish on an unedited basis, any comments they wish to make. Thus far, the invitations have not been taken up, thereby leaving serious allegations unanswered. The lack of any denial will likely give credibility to the allegations.

I would respectfully suggest that you read my emails to these gentleman and the “Shell Blog” comments accessible on this link. A quick glance through the postings over recent months might be enlightening.

There are many similarities with the Sakhalin 2 project before it came to grief with the forced takeover by Gazprom, the Russian energy giant controlled by the Putin regime.  The so called “Kremlin attack dog”, Oleg Mitvol, publicly acknowledged the pivotal role we played in those events. Mitvol turned out to be a genuine campaigner for his ideals.

Many stakeholders in the Sakhalin 2 project, including concerned contractors and employees, contacted us and posted allegations on our website about improper practices, SEIC management generally, and in particular, the Deputy Chairman of SEIC, a Shell MD, Mr David Greer. He subsequently resigned as a direct result of an internal email from him which was leaked to us.  The main difference is that Mr Greer had many supporters posting comments in his defense. I cannot recall any contributor trying to defend Mr Purves.

I note that in the USA market Shell is in bed with another unsavory regime, this time the Saudi Royal family, who have already drawn Royal Dutch Shell into what has been described as the *Scandal Of The Century”.  We have posted declassified UK government documents revealing Shell’s money laundering role in the Al Yamamah/ BAE Systems “oil for arms” deal. The power of the Saudi regime is such, that it ordered UK PM Tony Blair to stop an investigation by the UK Serious Fraud Office into the multibillion dollar corruption scandal on the grounds of national security. Blair did as he was told.

Returning to current events, it seems to me that if your company sticks by Mr Purves and his associates, then your company should provide legal support to protect their reputation and the reputation of Shell/Motiva.

In the interests of transparency, this email and any correspondence flowing from it, will be published in its entirety on our website.

Best Regards

John Donovan

shellmotiva.com

*Ironically a similar description was used in relation to the Royal Dutch Shell reserves securities fraud revealed in 2004.

cc.

Mr. Tom Purves, Shell/Motiva VP for Downstream Manufacturing on The Gulf Coast.

Mr. Michiel Brandjes, Company Secretary and General Counsel Corporate, Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Mr. Richard Wiseman, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Real name and contact information supplied.

By “Jo Blow”

These are notable times in not only in the History of Royal Dutch Shell oil company, but also in the role of consumer awareness and corporate watchdog type forums.  It is unprecedented in terms of the volume of people that are riveted to the current debates taking place on royaldutchshellplc.com.  I understand the website is experiencing record traffic.

Certainly there are some comments on the site that are inflammatory and not well positioned, however in large there are a high number of quality and factual remarks surfacing day in and day out.  Shell may choose to dismiss this as disgruntled employees, however in my opinion this has grown beyond that stage.  I can’t speak for everyone, but I will tell you that I hold Shell in high regard, I think it has been and can be again the greatest company in the world.  Before that can happen the senior leaders of this once great company will have to muster the courage to acknowledge where they have been, commit to living the values they have endorsed, and listen to what the people are saying, because people are our most valued resource.

I have read and listened to what the senior leadership is laying out in terms of a vision for the company moving forward.  All good stuff, can’t really dispute that. If successful, I expect that the companies market position and growth will be much improved.  The piece that I question is will the senior leadership lead the company to that point.  The fact that a man or woman attains the level of CEO or Senior Executive of a company does not make him or her a leader.  He or she will only be a leader when people follow their direction because they want to.  Certainly any CEO or executive can give direction, and for the most part people will do what they are told to do, but in that scenario free thinking goes out the window, initiative falls by the wayside, etc.  This type of leadership is most often referred to as a “Dictatorship”, and history has shown that most Dictatorships fall to rebellion.  I know that sounds far fetched, but I remind you of the Stock Holder uproar recently regarding executive pay.  For Mr. Voser to accomplish his goals in revamping Shell to better position it for the times ahead, he and his leadership must establish credibility and gain the respect of the employees, and shareholders, otherwise Shell will most certainly lose its top talent.

I will close this piece with an Acknowledgment of Respect for the Donovans efforts.  I know that Shell see’s them as a thorn in their side. I tend to look at them as an opportunity to help Shell understand both what is good, and what is bad about the company.  Without this site and the Donovans exhaustive efforts in bringing to the forefront the truth in regards to the activities of Shell and its leaders, Shell people would have no forum to express their thoughts.  The truth may not always be the most comfortable thing to live with, the reality is you can’t change it, you can only learn from it and move forward with your new found knowledge.

To Mr. Voser and the EC-1,  I sincerely wish you the best in your transition, I hope you take the time to understand the good and bad comments that surface on this site and that you learn from them.

Many Thanks,
“Jo Blow”