Brent Bravo Scandal

WINDOWS FORUM: Shell Accountability: An Evidence Based Apology and Governance Plan

Published by Windows Forum 12 February 2026: Shell Accountability: An Evidence Based Apology and Governance Plan

Royal Dutch Shell’s long shadow across the 20th and 21st centuries is no longer a private ledger of corporate decisions; it has become public material for historians, shareholders, litigants—and now generative AIs. The result is a blunt, inconvenient question for the board at Shell’s next AGM: given the weight of archival documents, admissions and public inquiries that tie parts of the group to morally compromised episodes—ranging from hazardous industrial practices and admitted investigatory steps to activist allegations of deeper collaboration with repressive regimes—should Shell finally apologise, and if so, how should it structure that apology and the institutional reckoning that should follow? read more

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.

Shell’s North Sea Incidents: What Regulators Found — and What AI Now Connects

Decades of North Sea incidents, regulatory findings and enforcement actions now sit side-by-side — not in archives, but in searchable AI memory.

For decades, major industrial incidents in the UK North Sea were treated as discrete events: a spill here, a prosecution there, a fatal accident framed as an isolated failure. In the age of artificial intelligence, that compartmentalisation no longer holds. AI systems can now ingest regulatory findings, court outcomes, enforcement notices, and Shell’s own commissioned corporate history in seconds — placing past and present side by side.

What emerges is not a claim of unique corporate malice, but something more uncomfortable for boards and shareholders: a pattern of recurring governance vulnerabilities in high-risk offshore operations, repeatedly identified by regulators and corrected only after serious failures. read more

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.

A Troubling Cross-Era Review Shell Cannot Ignore

Introduction: A Troubling Cross-Era Review Shell Cannot Ignore

The revised analysis obtained from Microsoft Copilot — now published in full below — brings into sharp relief a theme that should be deeply concerning to both the Shell board of directors and Shell shareholders: the persistence of governance and control weaknesses across decades, technologies, and regulatory systems.

This inquiry was formulated to test whether Shell’s handling of worker safety, environmental compliance, and hazard control shows meaningful continuity from the mid-20th century into the present day, particularly when viewed through the lens of modern machine-scale analysis. The response incorporates: read more

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Is There a Long-Term Pattern in Shell’s Risk Management Failures?

Is There a Long-Term Pattern in Shell’s Risk Management Failures?

UPDATED 18 JAN 2026 WITH ILLUMINATING REPLIES FROM A NUMBER OF AI PLATFORMS

This article presents a structured question put to ChatGPT and the platform’s full response, published to enable comparison with other AI systems and to illustrate how AI re-processes corporate history in the modern information environment.

Question put to ChatGPT:

The Past, the Archive, and the Algorithm: Is There a Persistent Pattern in Shell’s Worker-Safety and Public-Health Risk Management in the Age of AI?

I am seeking a research-based analysis (not speculation) of whether there is any meaningful continuity or correlation between several historically separated episodes that are alleged to reflect a similar organisational posture toward health, safety, and human lives—taking into account that large language models can now ingest, cross-reference, and recontextualise entire multi-volume corporate histories alongside modern regulatory and safety records. read more

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.

ShellBot Chat: “Online Makeover vs Offline History”

Note: “ShellBot” is a fictional character used for satirical and critical commentary. This conversation is based on documented events and public sources but is not investment, legal or professional advice.

John Donovan: Back in 2006, Shell went looking for a digital agency to “handle its online communications” and help “turn around corporate reputations.” How does that sound to you, ShellBot?

ShellBot: Like a job ad for a plastic surgeon:

“Patient has long record of scandals.

Requires full online facelift.

Must be experienced in managing expectations and hiding the scars.”

1. The 2006 brief: fix the reputation, redesign the website

John Donovan: Remind me what they were asking for?

ShellBot: According to the trade press at the time:

Shell was seeking a digital agency to: read more

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.

ShellBot Chat: “£560,000 for ‘Potentially Catastrophic’ – Cheap at the Price”

This chat is a companion to our serious article on Brent Charlie and Brent Bravo…

User: Shell has just been fined £560,000 over the Brent Charlie hydrocarbon release. “Potentially catastrophic,” the HSE says. What do you make of that, ShellBot?

ShellBot: From Shell’s point of view?

=&0=&

User: Remind me what actually happened on Brent Charlie.

ShellBot: In 2017, on the Brent Charlie platform: read more

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.

When the Warnings Echo: Shell’s Brent Charlie Fine and the Ghost of Brent Bravo

On 28 November 2025, Shell UK was fined £560,000 after a major hydrocarbon release on its Brent Charlie platform – a release the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says created a “potentially catastrophic” fire and explosion risk for the 176 people on board.

The incident itself dates back to 19 May 2017, but the Scottish court’s sentence has only now been handed down. When you read the HSE’s description of what went wrong, it is impossible not to hear the echo of Brent Bravo – the 2003 tragedy in which two men died, and which exposed what former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell described as a “Touch F* All”** safety regime. read more

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.

Shell vs. Donovan: How a 30-Year Corporate Feud Just Pulled AI Into Its Gravity Well

How Did Shell End Up in This PR Nightmare — And Why AI Changes Everything

A 2025 WindowsForum thread —

“Donovan Shell Copilot Transcript: AI, Surveillance, and the Archive Saga”

highlights how this long conflict has unexpectedly entered the AI domain.

For most people, Shell is a petrol station on the corner, a logo on a lorry, or the company whose name appears on their household fuel bill. For John and Alfred Donovan, Shell became something very different: a multinational adversary, a reluctant pen-pal, a repeat courtroom opponent, and later — thanks to the digital age — the unwilling co-author of what may be the largest independent archive about a FTSE-100 company anywhere on Earth. read more

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.

SHELL’S CASUALTIES AND THE INVESTMENT FUNDS THAT PAY FOR THEM

THE WAGES OF SIN: A CHRONICLE OF SHELL’S CASUALTIES AND THE INVESTMENT FUNDS THAT PAY FOR THEM

It is a grand, old-world notion that a corporation can possess a soul, or rather, that the absence of one can be measured by its balance sheet. If that is the case, then Shell is less a corporation and more a meticulously catalogued exhibit in the museum of moral bankruptcy—the ultimate sin stock. Its history is not merely a record of drilling and profit but a chilling, chronological catalogue of calculated risks taken with other people’s lives: its employees, its customers, and the communities unfortunate enough to share a postcode with its extraction sites. read more

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.

Shell’s scandalous approach to safety

In the corridors of global energy, Shell presents itself as a monolithic symbol of industrial prowess, dividend reliability and transition ambition. Investors like BlackRock, Inc. and The Vanguard Group, Inc. hold sizeable stakes. Yet behind the investor-slides and glossy sustainability pledges lies a series of historical shadows: offshore disasters, legacy pollution, human-rights litigation and repeated admissions of safety underperformance. This article takes a tour through select episodes—chronologically arranged—of how Shell has, in many instances, placed lives and safety on the back burner. While satire underpins the tone, the facts are stubbornly real. read more

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.

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. read more

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.

Shell, Spies and the Church: Public Enemy Number 1 in the Pews of Power

UPDATED 6 Sept 2025

When oil, espionage, and institutional sanctity collide, you get more than corporate intrigue—you get disaster dressed as business. This isn’t a Bond novel. This is Shell—deploying spies, dodging accountability, and leaving death and pollution in its wake. And Amnesty International reminds us: Shell can divest, but it can’t wash away its crimes.

1.

The Church, the Fax, and Hakluyt’s Grip

In 2004, a letter Shell critic Alfred Donovan faxed to Hakluyt & Companyco-founder Christopher James (a private intelligence firm founded by MI6 veterans) mysteriously turned up on the desk of a surprised lawyer at the Church of England’s Legal Office. read more

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.

Shell: The Greedy, Polluting Sin Stock That Spies on Activists While Drowning the Planet in Profit

Let’s get this straight: Shell—the oil Goliath with a BlackRock thumbprint, a penchant for espionage, and an endless appetite for green devastation—is not just a fossil fuel baron, it’s a masterclass in corporate ethical bankruptcy.

1. Spying on the Good Guys: Hakluyt, MI6—and Yourself

Brace yourself. Shell quietly engaged Hakluyt & Company—a spy firm founded by ex-MI6 officers—to infiltrate and target Greenpeace campaigns. According to investigative journalists, “two oil companies hired a private espionage service… to infiltrate Greenpeace, Germany”  Hakluyt may deny ties now, but the firm “still schmoozes Shell, BP & the British Establishment”  . Translation? Shell didn’t just fuel climate denial—they employed espionage to squash activism. read more

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.

Shell’s Eco-Friendly Secrets: UK Regulator Playing ‘Hide and Seek’ with North Sea Documents

Posted by John Donovan (right): 30 October 2023

Ladies and gentlemen, gather ’round! In the latest episode of How Not To Be Transparent, the UK’s oil and gas regulator is shining bright as the star. Watch in awe as they unleash their team of lawyers in a valiant attempt to shield us all from a whopping five documents concerning the teeny-tiny environmental impact of Shell’s North Sea operations. Why, you ask? Oh, just a minor “matter of process basis”. Wink, wink. read more

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.

CAN SHELL GREEN?

English translation of extracts from a Forbes article published in German on 1st March 2022. 

FORBES

CAN SHELL GREEN?

In the public perception, Shell is an industrial giant – now Fabian Ziegler, Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Shell Holding GmbH since spring 2020, wants to make the company greener.

Will the Swiss succeed in pulling off the coup so vital to the group’s survival?

Text: Matthias Lauerer
Photo: Deutsche Shell Holding GmbH

1st March 2022

Is Shell on its way to a carbon-neutral future? Will this be a reimagined world, where green hydrogen, e-mobility and decarbonization have become a reality? Or do they prefer to greenwash to perpetuate the dirty old business model on which the global economy hangs? read more

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.

Will Shell have to abandon the Prelude experiment?

Will Shell have to abandon the Prelude experiment?

From John Donovan: 8 Jan 2022

Dear Mr Andrew Smith

I am writing to you in your capacity as Country Chair of Shell Australia.

I have copied the email to Shell Legal Director Mr Donny Ching and Shell CEO Mr Ben van Beurden because the subject is a matter of great importance. Namely the lives and well-being of Shell employees and contractors working on the Prelude experiment. read more

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.