Inside Shell’s Panic Room: The Secret Emails, the ‘Kill’ Order on a Sunday Times Story, and the Corporate Surveillance of Two Men with a Website

Shell’s internal communications—released to John and Alfred Donovan under UK Data Protection Act SARs—read like a field manual on corporate damage control: media manipulation, internal surveillance, Wikipedia “strategy,” security briefings, and a standing obsession with one website: royaldutchshellplc.com. Below is a guided tour of the most telling subjects, each backed by the actual documents.

---

1) “Try to kill the story”: Shell’s attempt to spike a Sunday Times piece

An internal memo notes Group media “are first trying to kill the story by pointing out that it is old news,” referring to reporting sourced from the Donovans’ site about Sakhalin/drilling emails. The author concedes it has a “slim chance” of success—yet the intent is explicit.

• Document: “Donovan – Sunday Times” (02 Feb 2007) → PDF.

• Index context: The DPA index also quotes Shell staff noting the Donovans later claimed a promised negative Sunday Times story didn’t run, while a Shell-friendly Ferrari advertorial did. See the index extract around 22 Mar 2007 and linked note: DPA Index page (search “Sunday Times”).

2) A dedicated internal “Focal Point” and issues brief on the Donovans

Shell created a standing “Focal Point: Issue: Mr. Alfred Donovan,” complete with “Key Messages,” AGM sensitivity, and a Q&A that even covers domain name disputes and the shuttered “Tell Shell” forum.

• Index extract (15 May 2006): “Focal Point: Issue: Mr. Alfred Donovan” → DPA Index page (search “Focal Point: Issue: Mr. Alfred Donovan”).

3) Security & concierge alerts when the Donovans leaflet outside Shell Centre

Internal emails discuss security coordination and alerting receptions/concierges about leaflet distribution at Shell Centre and The Hague, including attaching a “media response” pack.

• Index extract (3–5 May 2006): “Leaflet Distribution” → DPA Index page (top of page items “3/5 May 2006”).

4) “Do we shut the site down?” — explicit talk of closing the Donovans’ website

Email traffic records Shell lawyers “in contact with the Donovans re: closing the site down.”

• Index extract (24 Jun 2007): “Donovan site … lawyers have been in contact … closing the site down?” → DPA Index page (search “closing the site down”).

5) High-level monitoring of the Donovans’ blog and “RDS-focused” CAS/NCFTA resources

A “Privileged and confidential” note states: “CAS now has resources assigned to the NCFTA center that are RDS focused. … If we do find the person(s) communicating with his site and take any type of action, I suspect it will be posted immediately.”

• Document (17 Jun 2009): “RE: Donovan Blogs. Privileged and confidential → PDF.

• Index context: Multiple references to NCFTA (National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance), CAS involvement, “sensitive issue,” and no visible action to avoid “giving [Donovan] ammunition.” See DPA Index page (search “NCFTA” or “Privileged and confidential”).

6) “Initiated an IT project to monitor internal emails … and web traffic” to the Donovans

One internal note states that Shell “suspects employees (current and former) are communicating with him. In attempts to monitor this, [Shell] has initiated an IT project to monitor internal e-mails from Shell servers globally to Donovan and is also monitoring web traffic to determine internal traffic to their website.”

• Index extract (21 Mar 2007): “Donavan CONFIDENTIAL” (sp.) → DPA Index page (search “initiated an IT project”).

7) The News Management Committee and “pet journo” scenarios

An internal “News management” note logs: “Donovan … threatening new input … and intimating he has a pet journo ready to write the story. New responses have been prepared.”

• Index extract (2–9 Mar 2007): “News management Committee – note of meeting” → DPA Index page (search “News management Committee”).

8) Wikipedia “strategy” — do not edit, “give him no oxygen,” consider disclaimers

Emails weigh up a “strategy towards Wikipedia,” acknowledging the Donovans’ input on “Royal Dutch Shell Environmental and reputational issues” and discouraging staff from editing, while floating the idea of adding a Shell disclaimer on Wikipedia pages.

• Index extract (1–2 Mar 2007): “Wikipedia entries for Shell” thread → DPA Index page (search “Wikipedia entries for Shell”).

9) “Tell Shell” forum shut down— and staff migrate to the Donovans’ site

The brief explicitly addresses the suspension of Shell’s “Tell Shell” forum, while internal notes observe Shell staff/contractors discussing Shell matters on the Donovans’ website and traffic “increasing.”

• Index extracts: “Tell Shell Forum was suspended …” and “additional traffic … some obviously Shell staff/contractors” → DPA Index page (search “Tell Shell” and “additional traffic”).

10) AGM war-room: preparing “bridging” lines and central approval for any comment

Emails show a tight AGM playbook: new issue briefs, centrally-approved lines, “bridging,” and explicit instructions not to add fuel to the Donovans’ content.

• Index extracts (Mar 2007): “This is the subject of daily calls … updated for the upcoming AGM” → DPA Index page (search “AGM” / “daily calls”).

11) Media monitoring every time the Donovans post

Shell’s team circulates Donovans’ links (e.g., Brent Bravo safety posts) and flags when Bloomberg picks up stories originating on royaldutchshellplc.com.

• Index extract (30 Jul 2009): “Please note this negative Brent safety story … lifted by Bloomberg” → DPA Index page (search “Brent Bravo fatalities” / “Bloomberg”).

12) “Do you have a standing policy on how to deal with them?”

A blunt internal question asks whether Shell has a standing policy (up to and including shutting the website down) because “He claims to have supplied information … that obviously has cost the company many billions in lost revenue.”

• Index extract (2009): “Do you have a standing policy on how to deal with them?” → DPA Index page (search that sentence).

13) Global coordination (US, Malaysia, NL) on Donovan angles

Memos show coordination with EP, Malaysia, US Corporate Affairs, and discussions about Fox News, Iran, North Sea safety, and Shell history—plus a request to keep US business “distanced” from a “UK-originating” dispute.

• Index extracts (Mar 2007): Fox/“treachery in Iran” chain; “distance the US as much as possible” → DPA Index page (search “Fox News” / “distance the US”).

14) “We’re disappointed his campaign resurfaced” — the official line

Standard talking points paint the Donovans as long-standing critics whose claims were “fully investigated and more than fully settled many years ago,” while insisting Shell won’t comment on specifics.

• Index extract (Focal Point brief, 15 May 2006): → DPA Index page.

---

WTF Shell?

From “kill the story” to surveilling internal traffic to a news management committee scripting responses, the documents show not a company serenely confident in the truth, but one fixated on silencing, monitoring, and managing critics. When BlackRock and Vanguard—two of Shell’s biggest investors—publish ESG bromides about governance and stakeholder trust, this is the governance their money is buying: concierge alerts for leafleters, Wikipedia chess, and IT projects to trace leakers.

Pro tip for investors: if your portfolio champion needs a crisis team to track a pensioner and his son, maybe the “reputation risk” is no longer hypothetical.

---

Disclaimer

Warning: satire ahead. The criticisms are pointed, the humour intentional, and the facts stubbornly real. Quotes are reproduced word-for-word from trusted sources. As for authorship—John Donovan and AI both claim credit, but the jury’s still out on who was really in charge.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment.