Alarm Bells: Shell Hydrocarbons continue getting out the box

John Donovan: Hello LondonLad.

Good to see that you still visit. Hope you are well. Glad you have felt sufficiently motivated to post a comment again, the first one since 2013 if I recall correctly.

Under your former alias as MUsaint and your current alias LondonLad we have argued extensively about Shell's track record in Nigeria.

I know you speak with authority given your own years in a senior position with Shell in Nigeria.

Suffice it to say that Shell has already paid out over £15 million in compensation to some relatives of the Ogoni 9 and millions more in fines relating to Shell corruption in Nigeria.

The posting of articles and other evidence dating back to those days have emerged from the current Dutch litigation against Shell brought by Esther Kiobel and two other Ogoni 9 widows who have yet to be compensated for the loss of their beloved husbands. Most of the archived articles supplied to me via Amnesty International have never been posted online. There are more to follow.

I note your mention of Greenpeace, the unfortunate subject of undercover activity by Shell's cherished MI6 hires via Hakluyt & Company. No doubt that situation continues.

RELATED INFORMATION

Shell to pay $48m Nigerian bribe fine: Daily Telegraph 4 November 2010

Extract

These companies, including Shell, admitted they “approved of or condoned the payment of bribes on their behalf in Nigeria and falsely recorded the bribe payments made on their behalf as legitimate business expenses in their corporate books, records and accounts”.

SHELL IN BRIBERY FINE: Daily Express 6 November 2010

Extract

Shell must pay a $30million “criminal penalty” over charges it paid $2million to a sub-contractor “with the knowledge that some or all of the money” would be used to bribe Nigerian officials to allow equipment into the country without paying duty. Shell, which has not admitted guilt, must pay a further $18million to repay profits and interests.

U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission Cease and Desist Order: Shell Corruption in Nigeria

Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing: The Guardian: 9 June 2009

Bonus Group: Hi London Lad great to have you back! How was Mykonos? A bit chilly at this time of year? How much residual oil is left in the legs of Brent Bravo? See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-50040803 https://phys.org/news/2019-10-germany-crisis-shell-north-sea.html

LondonLad: Oh, and while I'm on my soapbox why don't those idiots at Greenpeace learn from their mistakes? Now claiming that various Shell North Sea production platforms contain this and that amount of crude should trigger someone in the German Government to question their numbers. Greenpeace were completely wrong with their figures quoted for Brent Spar.

LondonLad: Jeeeez Mr.D you really are scraping the barrel. Articles from the "Tempo" dating from 1996 with still unproven (so one might assume false) claims about corruption in Ogoniland. Have to say that it's still clear that Nigerians remain convinced that the best way to extort money is by attacking Shell (SPDC/SNEPCO) rather than the real culprits which still remain as the State Government, DPR, NAPIMS etc. etc.

Bogus Group: https://www.accdocket.com/articles/tips-and-insights-a-world-class-combination.cfm Sarah Franklin, Shell’s Associate General Counsel for Safety & Environment and her new team still don’t appear to have a focus on “complex safety matters”. As noted in the article, she would still appear to be “getting her Shell sea legs” despite being in the role for nearly 3 years. Yesterday’s announcement that the HSE had issued Shell with an Improvement Notice for failing to ensure that the Temporary Refuge on the Gannet Alpha Installation was capable of remaining effective in an emergency, must question the validity of Shell’s focus on safety. TR compliance is not complex, it’s a fundamental prerequisite for the safety of the installation’s personnel in the event of an emergency, anything less is tantamount to dereliction. If they can’t get basic safety requirement’s right, what chance have they with something more complex. Word of advice to Shell, employ more technically competent people who disclose and address safety concerns and fewer lawyers who suppress them.

Bonus Group: National Theatre to end Shell funding https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49936748

Floundering at Scotford: The most profitable downstream site, we are losing good leader after leader, and we can’t figure out why? Maybe having mangers that say people get paid too much and don’t work hard enough and driving morale into the tank is the problem? When you actively devalue people, what do you expect? Now you throw a 5% raise at us? Really? What a disaster!

Bonus Group: Further to my post about how seriously Rob Jager takes his role as VP Prelude, his profile on LinkedIn shows him as being a Non Executive Director for Air New Zealand above being a Shell VP for Prelude. He is clearly a high flyer. Do Air New Zealand do Airmiles?

Bonus Group: Shell, Eni Relax After Major Investigation Comes Up Empty https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Shell-Eni-Relax-After-Major-Investigation-Comes-Up-Empty.html

John Donovan: Oliver, regarding your message, please contact me via [email protected]

singapore love: Rumor on the street is the Shell Vito project is over a year behind schedule, AND Shell plans to double down and award Whale to the same contractors in the coming weeks. Must be some serious love going on between the Singaporeans and Shell decision makers....

Bonus Group: To uscitizen, BRAZIL: 'PS - Shell is investing 2 billion a year into Brazil and already paying off'. Assuming $2Bn (you did not quote currency), that would just about cover Shell's share of the costs of replicants, operating expenses and of course managers' BONUSES! $2Bn would represent approximately 10% of Shell's income in 2018. https://reports.shell.com/annual-report/2018/consolidated-financial-statements/statement-of-cash-flows.php FPSO unit cost: our initial case ($91bn total capex) assumed a cost of $2.5 billion for each of 13 FPSO units. However, our research shows a wide range of possibilities for this cost depending on the vessel configuration; plus the fact that Brazilian shipyards should get better at building them so the cost could reduce over time. Also the project might choose to lease rather than buy the FPSOs outright, which could improve economics for the consortium depending on the lease terms. http://openoil.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/OO_br_Libra_narrative_1.0_161104.pdf

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