News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
THE SUPREME Court has quashed Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.’s attempts to stop the Bureau of Customs (BoC) from collecting the corresponding amount for the P209 million worth of allegedly fraudulent tax credit certificates, or TCCs, it used in 1997 and 1998.
Click to continue reading “Supreme Court tells Shell to pay P209M in duties”
The lawsuit centers on claims by Sentis Group Inc., and owner Alan Barazi, regarding a contract with Shell Oil Co. to operate 29 mini-mart gas stations in Kansas City. Barazi disputed Shell’s expense and profit figures and sought $28 million in damages for alleged fraud and breach of contract under the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act. Sentis Group Inc. v. Shell Oil Co., No. 07-2308 (8th Cir.)
Click to continue reading “Controversy in U.S. fraud claim brought against Shell Oil”
MANILA, Philippines – A giant oil firm has been defrauding the government of some P21 billion in taxes and penalties involving the importation of a component of unleaded gasoline since 2006, the Bureau of Customs has claimed.
Click to continue reading “Shell owes gov’t P21B in back taxes says Bureau of Customs”
A former oil executive accused of diverting more than $1 million from a Shell Deepwater Development contract for his personal use has pleaded guilty to income tax evasion and mail fraud.
Click to continue reading “Former oil executive pleads guilty in fraud scheme”
SFO chief Richard Alderman has visited the US to meet Department of Justice investigators who are probing BAE’s controversial multi-billion pound al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
Click to continue reading “SFO investigators set to force BAE’s hand”
The shock waves have however been such that Clive Mather, Chairman of the trustees of the Shell Contributory Pension Fund, has felt it necessary to send a message of reassurance to Shell UK pensioners. Dutch Shell pensioners will no doubt find it informative to contrast their uncertain situation with that of their UK counterparts.
Click to continue reading “Dutch Shell Pension Fund Scandal: Negligent Administration?”
A Shell spokeswoman said: “Shell has been supportive of the police, Apacs and the card service provider in their ongoing investigations into this serious form of organised crime and identity theft.”
Click to continue reading “Card cloners hit hundreds on Shell forecourts”
The problem first came to light two months ago when customers who had been to the Shell garage in Mayfield Road, Easthouses, near Dalkeith, reported cash going missing. Days later, motorists who had used the Shell petrol stations in Crewe Toll and Craigleith Road began reporting stolen money. The next to be hit were people using the ATMs at the Shell garages beside the Lizzie Brice roundabout on the A71 and next to St John’s Hospital in Livingston.
Click to continue reading “Hundreds of card holders hit by another cloning scam at Shell stations”
HARRISBURG – Attorney General Tom Corbett announced a $120 million settlement of a U.S. class action lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell, which was accused of overstating oil and natural gas reserves and artificially inflating stock prices over a five year period, from April 1999 to March 2004.
Click to continue reading “22 June 2008: AG Announces $120 Million Settlement with Shell”
Mr. Birkenfeld’s testimony, the centerpiece of a widening investigation into UBS and its wealthy American clients, blew a hole in the wall of secrecy surrounding the world of Swiss banking. Under pressure from the authorities, UBS has been considering disclosing the names of thousands of its wealthy clients in the United States.
: Paying over 7 mln $ to get rid of this monster of a woman shows how deeply Shell has sunk. She was a stealer of ideas. She was the ultimate token woman, a disgrace to her gender and it has put off many high quality women to pursue a career in Shell. Her disgusting behaviour of being the slave of Watts was evident to all. This latest scandal makes it clear she should never have been promoted to were she ended up. Another costly mistake of Shell. And the top echelon? They know no shame anymore and carry on with more spin stories as usual.
: Perhaps Voser will pull the same trick on Brinded as Watts did on v.d.Vijver. Watts announced that reserves would grow by 5% and that Walter would explain how.... The rest is history. I can only hope that history will repeat itself and Brinded finally gets fired for his gross underperformance and sustained bullshit. Perhaps I have said so before: never trust a man with facial hair.... I shall be watching the announcements how they will increase production with great interest.
: THE ARTICLE "Donovan email to Gavin White, Shell International Limited: 10 March 2010" has been updated with a self-explanatory email reply received on 11 March from Richard Wiseman, Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
: The Forbes article implies that by stopping sales of gasoline to Iran, Shell is complying with US sanctions. Shell's investments in the upstream sector in Iran are not mentioned, even though these are of far greater significance for both Shell and the Iranians.
: Amnesty International has been an informed and courageous critic of Human Rights abuses around the world for many decades and they are certainly not adverse to criticising governments in Nigeria, Burma, Zimbabwe and all around the world. The point about international companies like Shell is that they have a choice. They are not obliged to operate anywhere if they find that the local conditions are in conflict with their principles. Amnesty’s recent criticisms of Shell have certainly been strong and I am aware that in Shell there is a feeling that they have been unfair and to some extent uninformed. So a dialogue between Amnesty and Shell is very much to be welcomed. Amnesty is a highly respected organisation – indeed a former top executive of Shell, Sir Geoffrey Chandler, was a senior officer of Amnesty in his post Shell years.
: Same old, same old. Amnesty International and their human rights again go for the soft underbelly of the international companies rather than the real problem in Nigeia which is their corrupt Government. Good on Shell for attending and agrreing to being questioned. BUT, surprise, surprise nobody from the Nigerian Government (perhaps they didn't get enough of a bribe to appear or perhaps Amnesty knew they would get nowhere with them). Pollution in the Niger Delta remains a problem, albeit that conditions are slowly improving. Living conditions, infrastructure and most other normal day-to-day things should be the responsibility of the corrupt Government not international oil companies. These evil governments such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Burma need to be bought down by the UN so that their people might have a better chance of a reasonable life.
: Very polite correspondence between Wiseman and the Donovans. I estimate Wiseman's hourly internal tariff at around 500 U$ per hour (his salary plus support plus extensive overheads). Over the years Shell must have spent a fortune discussing the Donovans, putting the most expensive lawyers on the case, and developing policy how to battle them. It becomes Churchillian: 'we will fight them on the web, and in the courtrooms, and in their own offices and on the streets. But we wil NEVER surrender. With unlimited funds this maybe so, but it is wasting shareholders money and it solves nothing. I do not see the Donovans give up anytime soon. So perhaps a new paradigm needs to be developed? Any ordinary man or woman at the coalface would solve this problem within minutes and for less money than what is being burned now. But the Shell kings are no ordinary people, they live in cloud cuckoo land. I will keep following with great interest how all this develops, it is even better than the daily Dilbert!!!
: W.E. Pratt knew it already a hundred years ago when he said "Oil is found in the minds of men" But he was one of the founders of the Standard Oil company, whereas the people who try to make us believe that IBM can come to the rescue of Shell appear to be only good at getting rid of their most experienced minds.
: Oh dear, regarding this collaboration between Shell & IBM - it does not appear to have started off very well if I read the press announcement. I refer to the following: "Shell can reduce the educated guesswork and extract natural resources with more certainty and efficiency, thereby optimizing the recovery of oil and gas". Shell used to employ geoscience & petroleum engineering expertise. Is reserve estimation and production forecasting now in the hands of "educated guess workers"? That ought to really worry shareholders. The fundamental lack of understanding of the business gets even better with comments on geophysics: "For example, geophysicists must examine time-lapse seismic data from subsurface rock formations; reservoir engineers receive well and laboratory data, and geophysicists receive information - sound waves - covering wide spaces between the wells". Errr - what's the difference between the two geophysical activities quoted? Is this some IBM person speaking who has just bought a book "E&P for beginners", or is it the level of understanding within Shell now much of the real technical experience and expertise has been cleared out?
: Agree completely with Guest1. IBM once bought (and subsequently sold at a huge loss) a company called Tigress, and had plans for integrated Corporate Data Bases based on POSC. Unfortunately Schlumberger and Landmark know that part of the business rather better than IBM ever will. If Shell can't find oil with the help of Schlumberger and Landmark, what hope do they have with IBM?
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