Corporate Spies in the Boardroom: Hakluyt and Shell Deepen Their Transatlantic Footprint

Hakluyt, the London-founded corporate intelligence consultancy with a reputation for attracting former MI6 operatives, has announced the opening of its new North American headquarters in New York.

For those unfamiliar:

• Hakluyt was co-founded in the mid-1990s by former MI6 officers.

• Its early private-sector patrons included senior executives at Royal Dutch Shell.

• It has been widely described in media and governance circles as the “commercial arm of MI6.”

To Shell critics, none of this is surprising.

Shell and Hakluyt have been intertwined since day one.

This latest expansion simply moves the operation closer to one of Shell’s largest revenue theatres: the United States, where Shell owns:

• Thousands of Shell-branded filling stations,

• Multiple petrochemical and refining facilities,

• And recently, a massive plastics and petrochemical complex in Pennsylvania, which environmental observers have called an air pollution time bomb in waiting.

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The Spy Company Shell Helped Build

Hakluyt’s origin story is not rumour — it is documented.

Two of Shell’s former senior directors, Sir Peter Holmes and Sir William Purves, were closely involved in early guidance and governance of Hakluyt.

The company’s role in monitoring activists, NGOs, and internal dissenters became public when The Sunday Times reported that Hakluyt operatives had conducted undercover intelligence for Shell.

Meanwhile, former Shell CEO Ben van Beurden, in a wiretapped phone call released during investigations into corruption in Nigeria, casually acknowledged Shell’s recruitment pipeline:

“We have good people from MI6, we have people from the security services.”

— Ben van Beurden, Shell CEO (recorded conversation, 2015)

It was not denial. It was not embarrassment.

It was a point of pride.

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So Why Expand in America Now?

Because America is where the future fights will be:

• Environmental regulations

• Plastic waste controls

• LNG infrastructure battles

• Fossil-to-electrification policy war

• Corporate accountability litigation

And Shell knows it.

When a resource war shifts, the intelligence infrastructure shifts with it.

Hakluyt’s press release frames the relocation in the gentlest possible language:

“Our new headquarters reflects our growth and commitment to supporting clients across North America.”

One does not require an intelligence background to translate:

“The battlefield is here now.”

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And the Money Behind Shell?

Shell’s largest institutional investors include:

• BlackRock

• Vanguard

• Norges Bank Investment Management

These firms manage trillions and make decisions at planetary scale.

When Shell shifts posture,

When Shell shifts narrative,

When Shell shifts geography,

It is because shareholder power demands strategic advantage — not ethics.

Investors don’t care if Shell works with ex-spies.

They care that profits are protected.

Intelligence is just another profit-preservation tool.

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In Plain Terms:

Shell builds infrastructure in steel and fuel.

Hakluyt builds infrastructure in influence and information.

One drills into the Earth.

The other drills into people.

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References

• https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hakluyt-opens-new-north-american-headquarters-302607276.html

• Public corporate registry data on Hakluyt governance and investors

• Documented remarks of Ben van Beurden (2015 wiretap transcript, Nigeria corruption case)

• The Sunday Times reporting on Hakluyt undercover operations for Shell

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