Royal Dutch Shell Plc  .com Rotating Header Image

Time for cost-cutting at Shell – again!

Times of economic difficulty are the times that the macho micro-managers in Shell like best of all. Because then they can show their machismo by wielding cost-cutting axes almost with impunity – it’s happened many times over the years and it always follows the same pattern. First there is an announcement unusually couched in slogans about the need for “greater efficiency” or “More focused business” or “delayering” then we get the call to arms and the “challenges” – these are pretty unsophisticated – usually with some finite value target such as “reduce costs by 15% minimum”. Then reality kicks in with the realisation that reducing costs means employing less people as much of the rest of the cost base is not very suitable for more than a bit of cosmetic trimming on the margin. Maintenance and repair budgets always suffer so the petrol stations start to look a bit dowdy and the repainting schedule at installations gets extended again. Expenditure that protects Heath and Safety should be immune from these attacks – but as we have seen over the years there are too many shocking examples of where Health and Safety has been put at risk because maintenance budgets have been cut.The buzz word that is often used when the cost-cutting imperative comes to the fore is “discretionary” expenditure. As the term suggests this is supposed to describe things that you would perhaps like to spend your money on but don’t absolutely have to – at least in the short term. This tends not to be the bonuses of the high priced help, although it certainly should mean these. It very often does mean expenditure for which the benefit is difficult to quantify in the short term and for which the payback may not be easily expressed in monetary terms. Advertising and other communications expenditure is a classic example of this. read more

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

Sorry Jeroen it just won’t do…

A friend who knew that I have been a rather vocal critic of Shell’s corporate advertising over the past few years asked me if I felt vindicated by the admissions in George Monbiot’ s recent interview with Jeroen van der Veer: Of course for Jeroen to admit:

“If we are very big in oil and gas and we are so far relatively small in alternative energies, if you then every day only make adverts about your alternative energies and not about 90% of your other activities I don’t think that – then I say transparency, honesty to the market” read more

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

Getting blood from the Shell Investors’ stone!

One of the knock-on effects from Shell’s dysfunctionality over their declaration of fictitious hydrocarbon reserves was that they were obliged by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to pay $120million to investors. All investors who bought shares between 8th April 1999 and 17th March 2004 were entitled to a share of the payout. As a (very) small investor I qualified for this – in theory anyway.

When the initial wodge of papers arrived from the “Settlement Administrators” I tried hard to understand them and eventually worked out that I would need to know the precise dates of all purchase and sales of Shell shares over this period. I don’t bother to keep such records and all of my purchases were under a staff savings scheme anyway. Not a lot of money in my case so my inclination was not to bother with the claim. read more

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

Ensuring our energy futures – don’t leave it to the oil companies!

The eyes of the world are not focused too closely on Shell and the other western oil multinationals at the moment – but they should be. Whilst the dysfunctionality, incompetence, voracity and self-interest of the financial sector, and the utter failure of finance associated regularity systems, is top of the mind the oil sector is escaping much attention – except amongst the pressure groups and NGOs who specialise in this area. But in reality, and if we take a long term view, the actions of multinational oil companies ought to be just as closely monitored and controlled as those of the banks and finance houses whose dysfunctional management is the major cause of our current global malaise.For any economy to function successfully there need to be solid checks and balances on the free market sector. It was the almost total absence of such controls on the likes of Lehman Brothers and Madoff that allowed them to lie, cheat and defraud at will. Part of the reason was the global nature of these businesses. Lehman Brothers, for example, had offices in more than 30 countries and it was able to finesse its financing both to minimise tax liabilities and to frustrate regulators – whether the whole story will ever emerge remains to be seen. In the oil sector there is a directly comparable focus on optimising the income streams, minimising tax and creating smokescreens around some behaviours and activities. read more

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

Will Voser close Shell Centre? Don’t bet against it!

New top men in Shell, at least in recent times, have wanted to “do something” to imprint their style and authority on the organisation. From Cor Herkstroter onwards successive CEOs have talked of change, usually with buzz words like “transformation”. In the 1990s and into the new millennium the argot at the top often talked about “New Shell” and “Old Shell” with those of us with thirty years or more service often being seen as prehistoric relics of the “Old Shell” era. New Shell was to be different. Lighter on its feet, more responsive to the world around and, above all, less burdened with unnecessary costs. When this type of imperative comes from the top then there can be only one result – ruthless cost-cutting measures in the middle and the lower tiers of the organisational hierarchy. It was this ideology which led inexorably, in the downstream, to the reduction of staffing in operating company offices around the world and the greater centralisation of decision-making. Death by a thousand cuts. read more

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

Shell pensioner Poverty

A reliable source confirmed today that of the approximately 30,000 Shell pensioners in the UK some 5,000 (17%) worked for Shell for 20 years or more, but are in receipt of pensions of £10,000 per annum or less. (In addition they will mostly be in receipt of the State pension and some may get additional State benefits). It is likely that a substantial proportion of these Shell pensioners will have total incomes below the statutory UK minimum wage which is currently approximately £12,500 per annum. read more

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

Shell scores low in “The Good Companies Guide”

Of the 350 companies in the FTSE350 index I suspect that Royal Dutch Shell probably spends more on corporate advertising than most. Over the past few years there was been a steady stream of advertising messages which seek to persuade, in particular, that Shell is driven to a large extent by its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However the result of the recent study by the (London) Observer newspaper together with “Co-operative Asset Management” shows that the rhetoric in no way matches the reality. read more

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

Nationalisation of ExxonMobil and the rest as the spoof “New York Times” said? It could happen!

A few weeks ago I argued on Blogger News Network that there was a growing case for extensive intervention by Western Governments in the energy sector in general and in the oil industry in particular.

The candidates in the US Presidential Election all said that America must move towards energy independence and here in Western Europe, including the United Kingdom, there is a similar urgent need for the development of a comprehensive long term energy plans. The United States is currently highly dependent on oil supplies from countries which offer limited guaranties of continued reliable supply and no guarantees at all in respect of price. As the crude oil price has fallen in recent weeks OPEC has announced that it will curb production in order to try and boost prices, something that the ailing western economies need like a hole in the head – but no doubt a few Saudi palaces need their gold to be burnished so America and the rest of us will have to pay. read more

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

Taking on the Oil Barons – an early task for President Obama!

I wonder if the senior management of Shell and the rest of the western oil multinationals are quaking in their shoes following the election of Barack Obama. They should be!

From my own experience I know that Shell was a supporter of George W Bush and his malevolent regime from the start, although they will of course deny that that was the case! One of the many hypocrisies of Shell’s “Business Principles” was the one that said that they did not support political parties. In fact Shell in the US was a contributor to the Republican Party during the Bush years – albeit that this support was not transparent. I was told in Houston that donations were made to Republican front organisations not just by Shell but by all of the Houston based energy corporations – hardly surprising of course as they were all “palling up” , to coin a phrase, to the Bushes, themselves oil men of sorts, for years. Many of the American leaders of Shell were fully paid up Country Club Republicans and they were enthusiastic supporters with their fellow members of the Oil Barons Club (like the Enron crooks) with the Republican Party in Texas and elsewhere. read more

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

Leave petrol retailing to the professionals not to the oil men

Tesco they do know what retailing is all about...

Tesco they do know what retailing is all about...

Alastair Darling’s (30th October) call for Shell and the other oil majors to reduce the pump price of petrol reveals an ignorance of how the oil business really works. There is little modern case for Shell, BP or the rest of the oil companies to be involved in petrol retailing at all. There are no vertically integrated benefits any more – every internal transaction (from wellhead to pump) is done at a market value related transfer price. So Shell’s petrol station business in the UK receives its product at an open-market determined price – exactly the same price basis as an independent (like Tesco) would pay to a refiner or trader. That price is precisely linked to Crude Oil prices. The resultant pump price (before duty and tax) is determined by this acquisition cost and influenced on the margin by competition in the local trading area. read more

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

Oil multinationals in “Renewable Energy” – it makes no sense.

We continue to be deluged with corporate advertising claiming that the multinational oil companies are in the vanguard in promoting the benefits of renewable energy. The latest ads from BP, the “beyond petroleum” company, are a case in point. They say that a combination of Oil+Gas+Wind+Solar+Biofuels will give the world a “dependable energy future”. True of course, although they conveniently miss out nuclear power – presumably because there is certainly no chance that BP will go nuclear. read more

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

The origins of Shell’s “Greenwash” were back in 1997

In this article former Shell executive Paddy Briggs explains the background to the oil company’s predilection for “Greenwash

Greenwash is in the news again as the oil companies are pilloried for the disingenuous corporate advertising they propagate in a naïve effort to boost their reputations. Shell has been twice criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority and BP and others have also outraged the environmental lobby by the sheer effrontery of many of their claims. But where did it all begin? Take a look first at this video on YouTube, and then I will explain! read more

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

Shell and its Advertising Agency need to think again…

The decision of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to castigate Shell (again!) for it’s misleading corporate advertising is further evidence that Shell is utterly slipshod in its monitoring of copy and creative proposals from its advertising agency. Having managed Advertising Agencies for Shell in various locations around the world over the years I know that the client MUST ensure that the copy is legal, decent honest and truthful – you cannot leave that to the Agency. This is not to criticise agencies, but to clearly define what is their role – and what is the client’s. read more

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

The day that we demolished a childrens’ playground

I’ve told this story before – but ten years on it may be due a retelling! Back in 1998 Shell was going through a top down generated change management process. This one was called “BFI” but I can’t for the life of me remember what the initials stood for. It had two main elements. The first was about measuring the business and trying to improve performance. The idea was that you “drilled” down to examine the business in minute detail to try and find your business strengths and weaknesses. Where did the money come from – or where did it go. It was a bit dull and a bit accountant led and rather micro in scale – but it wasn’t totally daft. The totally daft bit came from the other part of BFI. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Comment Rules

  • Please show respect to the opinions of others no matter how seemingly far-fetched.
  • Abusive, foul language, and/or divisive comments may be deleted without notice.
  • Each blog member is allowed limited comments, as displayed above the comment box.
  • Comments must be limited to the number of words displayed above the comment box.
  • Please limit one comment after any comment posted per post.