Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. Instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan

It is worth bearing in mind that Mr Campbell correctly predicted the tragic avoidable disaster that cost the lives of workers on the Shell Brent Bravo North Sea platform.  Shell ignored his chilling forecast put in writing that a fatal accident was inevitable.  read more

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN Business

Updated 1819 GMT (0219 HKT) February 15, 2019

London (CNN Business)Royal Dutch Shell is making a bet on home battery storage as it tries to boost its sustainable energy business. The oil giant announced Friday that it has purchased Sonnen, a German startup that makes residential battery systems that store energy generated from solar panels. The move puts Shell in direct competition with companies such as Samsung (SSNLF), LG (LPL) and Tesla (TSLA), which makes a home battery system called the Powerwall. Full Article read more

Esther Kiobel poses with a picture of her late husband, one of nine men executed by Nigeria’s military government after a peaceful uprising against Shell in 1995. Photograph: Amnesty International

By John Donovan

I heard from a major news organisation that Esther Kiobel brought up my name several times during an interview at the Dutch court hearing yesterday, kindly expressing her thanks for my help.

Esther approached me after the US Supreme Court decision that thwarted on jurisdiction grounds her attempts to sue Shell in the USA for complicity in the murder of her husband, Dr Barinem Kiobel. It took over a decade of litigation to arrive at that decision. read more

By John Donovan

I became aware today of a letter (see below) which a director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre sent to Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden on 5 February 2015. The communication stemmed from my campaigning activities that ended with Allseas renaming the worlds largest ship. I will shortly be supplying the Simon Wiesenthal Centre with a trove of evidence about Shell’s Nazi history including its close partnership in Nazi Germany with IG Farben, the chemical giant which manufactured the gas used to exterminate several million Jewish people in the Holocaust. Dutch Directors of the Royal Dutch Shell Group including Sir Henri Deterding helped finance Hitler and the Nazi Party.

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE – EUROPE

Tel. +33-147237637 – Fax: +33-147208401

E-mail: [email protected]

“Annul Shell’s dealings with Allseas – a company which apparently celebrates Nazi crimes by glorifying a perpetrator”

“It is interesting to note on the Shell portals’ list of associated countries, the conspicuous absence of Israel”

Paris, 5 February 2015

In a letter to Royal Dutch Shell CEO, Ben van Beurdon, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted, “Shell has contracted from the Swiss-based offshore pipeline installation and subsea construction company, Allseas Group, their crane-ship Pieter Schelte, to service Brent oil platforms on the British continental shelf.” read more

Mike Corder 12 Feb 2019

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The widow of a Nigerian activist executed by their country’s government more than two decades ago accused oil giant Shell of complicity in his death at a civil case in a Dutch court Tuesday.

“Shell came into my life to make me a poverty-stricken widow,” Esther Kiobel told judges at a one-day hearing.

“With this case I seek justice for my murdered husband so that he can be exonerated from a crime he never committed,” she added. read more

ESTHER Kiobel, one of the widows of the nine environmental activists that were hanged by the Nigerian Military government in 1995, has given testimony in the court case she filed against Shell, an international oil company, over the killing of her husband.

Kiobel and three other widows whose husbands were also among those executed accuse Shell of complicity in the execution of their husbands, and they want the Netherlands-based oil giant to pay them compensation.

Following her husband’s execution, Kiobel said she had to flee to the United States under a refugee programme later became a citizen. The three other women joining her in the suit were not granted visas to travel to attend the court proceedings. read more

That letter followed the public release of a trove of documents by the Dutch news organization De Correspondent showing that for decades, Shell has been aware of the impact of burning fossil fuels on the climate. Like ExxonMobil, Shell had studied the problem and acknowledged the danger in internal documents, yet publicly downplayed the risk while funding climate denial groups.

By Dana Drugmand

Seven environmental and human rights organizations in the Netherlands announced on Tuesday they are prepared to sue Royal Dutch Shell if the oil giant refuses to align its business model with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

The groups, led by Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Milieudefensie, Greenpeace Netherlands and ActionAid Netherlands have gathered more than 13,000 signatures from Dutch citizens backing the forthcoming lawsuit. If Shell fails to meet their demands, they plan to deliver a court summons to the company at its headquarters in The Hague on April 5. This would be a new legal approach in battling climate change, the first lawsuit to directly challenge the business model and growth strategy of an oil company. read more

The Prelude project will be fired up 475 kilometres north-east of Broome, ready to liquefy natural gas straight from the ocean floor and ship it around the world.

Shell’s Prelude floating LNG vessel will come into production when it is safe to do so, and not before, Australia chairwoman Zoe Yujnovich told the Melbourne Mining Club today.

Ms Yujnovich also called for Australia to reconsider a carbon price as she discussed political, economic and social tensions in Australia.

In what may be an attempt to lower expectations about when first production will occur, Ms Yujnovich said the 488m-long giant was simple in concept but complex in execution. read more

By Umar Ali: 12 FEBRUARY 2019

Judges in The Hague, Netherlands will begin hearing a case against Shell on Tuesday, with the oil company facing allegations of complicity in a number of human rights violations in Nigeria.

They will hear testimonies from four women of the Ogoni people, who hold Shell partly responsible for the execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military in 1995.

Nine men, including protest leader Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed by the Nigerian military regime. The “Ogoni Nine” were outspoken critics of Shell’s operations in Ogoniland, a 1,000km² kingdom in southern Nigeria, and the plaintiffs claim that Shell encouraged the Nigerian Government to unlawfully detain and execute these men. read more

By Kelly Gilblom: 12 February 2019, 17:35 GMT: Updated on 13 February 2019, 00:01 GMT

*Hague court hearing if Shell was complicit in Nigeria killings

*Widow of executed Nigerian man brings a case to the Netherlands

A two-decade fight over whether Royal Dutch Shell Plc contributed to the execution of nine Nigerian oil-industry critics has landed at the company’s doorstep.

A court in The Hague, Netherlands heard its first arguments on Tuesday, as part of determining if Shell played any role when the military dictatorship ruling Nigeria convicted nine men, including well-known activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, of murder and then executed them in 1995. read more

Amnesty International sign: Esther Kiobel standing outside Dutch Court building 12 February 2019

Declaration of Esther Kiobel

Hon. (Dr) Barinem Nubari Kiobel was a man with a prodigy with refined heart that cared for others. A kind-hearted man that was selfless. He was a wonderful husband, a God-fearing man, good Father, brother and a best Friend. He was the finest definition of refinement, consummate technocrat and upright character. He has been very much missed and will always be remembered. read more

Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch Financial Times, Financieele Dagblad.

Shell invests money in Google’s energy flyer

Makani prototype system at a test location in Hawaii. Photo: Makani

Bert van Dijk

ShellRDSA € 27.98 + 0.65% has taken an interest in Makani, a start-up of Google parent company Alphabet, which has developed a kite with which electricity can be produced. That is what Makani CEO Fort Felker announced on Tuesday. Makani is now being further developed as an independent company outside Alphabet.

The investment is made by Shell New Energies, Shell’s business unit that deals with new forms of energy, such as wind and solar energy. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Great ambition

“Shell has great ambitions to expand renewable energy activities and we see great potential in floating offshore wind technology,” said Dorine Bosman, vice president Shell Wind Development in a press statement. According to Shell, Shell wants to further develop and test the energy-flyer technology together with Makani at sea.

It is Shell’s second investment in a company that can generate electricity using kite technology. Previously Shell already invested money in the Scottish Kite Power Systems through its investment arm Shell Ventures. Makani has developed a lightweight wing with eight propellers attached. The kite is released via a cable, after which it flies in circles in the air. Electricity is generated here, which is led back to the ground via the cable. read more

Graeme Gallagher | Contributor: 21 Feb 2019

The Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company is on trial for complicity in the death of four Nigerian activists over 20 years ago, according to Amnesty International.

The wives of those four activists — Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula — are all demanding compensation and an apology for the death of their husbands in a civil case that started on Tuesday in The Hague, Netherlands.

The four husbands were part of nine activists who were hanged by the military regime due to their massive protests against oil pollution in the Nigerian Ogoniland in 1995. The case brought by the four women accuses Shell of being complicity with the executions.

“These women believe that their husbands would still be alive today were it not for the brazen self-interest of Shell, which encouraged the Nigerian government’s bloody crackdown on protesters even when it knew the human cost,” said Mark Dummett, business and human rights researcher at Amnesty International.

The four plaintiffs are accusing Shell of the unlawful detention of their husbands, the violation of their husbands’ integrity, the violation of the right to a fair trial and to life, and their own right to a family life, according to the Amnesty report. In addition, the plaintiffs are calling for the court to order Shell to hand over more than 100,000 related documents to the case.

The Dutch-based oil company has denied these allegations.

“We have always denied, in the strongest possible terms, the allegations made in this tragic case,” Shell said in a statement. “The Shell Petroleum Development Company did not collude with the authorities to suppress community unrest, it in no way encouraged or advocated any act of violence in Nigeria, and it had no role in the arrest, trial and execution of these men.”

Kioble and Victoria Bera were in court today, with the other two being unable to make it due to denied visas.

“The abuses my family and l went through are such an awful experience that has left us traumatized to date without help,” wrote Kiobel in a written statement.  “We all have lived with so much pain and agony, but rather than giving up, the thought of how ruthlessly my husband was killed … has spurred me to remain resilient in my fight for justice.”

Kiobel has been fighting since she first filed her case in 2002. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled that it had no jurisdiction in the case in 2013, in which the court never fully examined the allegations. Amnesty International has helped Kiobel’s legal team bring the case to the Netherlands in 2017.

“It’s time to bring an end to decades of impunity for Shell,” said Dummett, “These women’s courage, resilience and determination to clear their husband’s names and bring Shell to account is inspirational. They have the support of Amnesty International activists all over the world.” read more

Rod Austin: Tue 12 Feb 2019

Four Nigerian women at the centre of a long-running legal battle against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell saw their historic case reach the Hague on Tuesday.

The company is accused of complicity in the state execution of nine Ogoni protesters and human right abuses dating back to 1993. The allegations concern the 1990s violent government crackdown in Ogoniland, in the oil-rich Niger delta region, where oil spills inflicted environmental damage on a huge scale.

The Netherlands court will decide whether a case can proceed after hearing arguments from both sides on Tuesday. read more

By MIKE CORDERPublished February 12, 2019 EnergyAssociated Press

The widow of a Nigerian activist executed by their country’s government more than two decades ago accused oil giant Shell of complicity in his death at a civil case in a Dutch court Tuesday.

“Shell came into my life to make me a poverty-stricken widow,” Esther Kiobel told judges at a one-day hearing.

“With this case I seek justice for my murdered husband so that he can be exonerated from a crime he never committed,” she added. read more

12 Feb 2019

The widow of a Nigerian activist suing oil giant Shell over the execution of her husband says his death left her “traumatised” and “poverty-stricken”.

Esther Kiobel is testifying in court in The Hague, demanding compensation from the Netherlands-based firm.

She is among four women who accuse Shell of being complicit in the hanging of their husbands by Nigeria’s military in 1995. Shell denies the allegation. read more