Royal Dutch Shell plc .com Rotating Header Image

Posts under ‘The Observer’

You can’t be sure of seeing Shell’s AGM

If you couldn’t travel to the Hague to protest, you could always attend the live link-up in London. But now you can’t even do that Rupert Neate: The Observer, Sunday 19 May 2013 Angry about the oil giants allegedly fixing the price of petrol for more than a decade? You’ll have a chance to harangue [...]

A word in your Shell-like

FROM OUR FEBRUARY 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE: “…we learned last year that the company leadership had been systematically lying to itself, its shareholders and wider stakeholders about the size of its oil reserves.”: “for years Shell lied about its sustainability as a business while preaching principles that it was betraying.”: “Shell had knowingly overstated its [...]

Shell plays a blinder

From our November 2004 Shell News Archive Once again, you have to hand it to Shell for foresight, intuition and perspicacity. Alone among the world’s big oil companies, Shell managed to end up on the losing side of the American election, giving more to the Democrats than it did the (winning) Republicans, according to the [...]

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’s pipeline costs overflow to $22bn

From our October 2005 Shell news archive The Observer: Shell’s pipeline costs overflow to $22bn “The financial crisis has prompted Gazprom, the state-owned Russian energy giant, to delay rubber-stamping a deal that would see it take a 25 per cent stake in Sakhalin-2.”: “Shell is desperately trying to secure bank loans to help finance Sakhalin-2, [...]

Shell attacked over four-year delay in Niger oil spill clean-up

Energy firm’s attempts to clear pollution resulting from two large spills in 2008 described as ‘amateurish’ by assessors Two large crude oil spills from Shell pipelines in the Niger delta four years ago have still not been cleaned up by the company despite an outcry by the UN, Amnesty International and the Nigerian government about [...]

Environmentalist fury over oil spill at Shell pipeline site

FROM OUR SEPT 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE The Observer: Environmentalist fury over oil spill at Shell pipeline site “Shell’s £6 billion Sakhalin oil pipeline has not even been built yet, but it has already caused a damaging oil slick that has enraged environmentalists and could force potential lenders to pull funds.”: “Refusal to support the [...]

Why Libya’s ‘sweet’ crude oil is not enough to tempt BP or Shell

Libya is now producing 1.5m barrels of high-quality oil a day. But with exploration by BP and Shell so far disappointing, British involvement in the country remains slow Terry Macalister: The Observer, Sunday 26 August 2012 A decade ago Libya was at the centre of dramatic stories alleging cloak-and-dagger diplomacy between then-BP boss Lord Browne, [...]

The Observer: Ethical funds dump Shell shares

FROM OUR 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE The Observer: Ethical funds dump Shell shares Nick Mathiason and Oliver Morgan Sunday June 27, 2004 Leading institutions are selling shares in Shell over concerns about the way the company deals with environmental issues associated with its activities in Africa, the United States and Sakhalin Island off the Russian [...]

Pensions anger as even profitable firms cut benefits

Phillip Inman The Observer, Sunday 22 January 2012 When even successful companies such as Shell and Unilever are taking an axe to staff retirement packages, is the outlook bleak for everyone? Unilever, the maker of everything from Pot Noodles to Dove soap, has infuriated its staff by cutting pension payouts – despite being highly profitable. [...]

Shell’s battle for the heart of Ireland

Ed Vulliamy: The Observer, Sunday 29 May 2011 This land is our land: pipeline protesters Willie and Mary Corduff at the quay at Rossport. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Observer If the sea is calm, you can hear the traffic in New York,” goes the local introduction to the breathtaking beauty of Erris, in the [...]

Anger grows across the world at the real price of ‘frontier oil’

Far from the Gulf of Mexico, campaigners are accusing energy companies of destroying land and livelihoods in the search for increasingly scarce resources A woman hurries away from the heat of a gas flare near a flow station belonging to Shell in Warri, Nigeria. Photograph: George Osodi/AP Richard Wachman and John Stibbs Sunday 20 June [...]

Problems with big oil that won’t go away

The Deepwater Horizon spill, which is threatening swaths of the Gulf of Mexico’s coast, again raises questions about how rigorously safety and environmental regulations are enforced Tim Webb The Observer, Sunday 2 May 2010 Washington, 5am, Tuesday: a tired Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP, was finally patched on to the conference call. At the [...]

Shell and BP face onslaught from tar sands campaigners

Lobbyists bid to turn RBS, BP and Shell annual meetings into green referendums

Shell accused of abandoning solar power buyers in the developing world

Row over responsibility for sold-off systems has left Sri Lankan communities unable to replace faulty equipment Terry Macalister The Observer, Sunday 3 January 2010 Shell is at the centre of a row over warranties for solar power systems sold to the developing world. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images Shell has become embroiled in a major row [...]