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The following is understood to be an internal document circulated to new starters on MSQ’s Shell business. We cannot verify its authenticity, but we also cannot stop laughing.

In a move surprising absolutely no one who has watched the energy giant cycle through PR partners the way other companies cycle through printer ink, Shell has confirmed — or at least not denied loudly enough — that MSQ is now steering the wheel of its global reputation management. It is, by any honest measure, one of the more ambitious contracts in modern advertising history, roughly equivalent to being hired to do the PR for a house fire while the fire department is still deciding whether to show up. 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, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. ^*All created and supported by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

MSQ Unveils Brand New ‘Industrial-Strength Air Freshener’ Division Following Shell Appointment

Sep 21st, 2026

by John Donovan.

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LONDON — In a move hailed by branding experts as “the ultimate stress test for human optimism,” marketing and technology group MSQ has successfully landed a spot on Shell’s global agency roster. The agency group will reportedly deploy its finest minds to tackle the oil titan’s latest and most elusive challenge: convincing the public that decades of corporate controversies are actually just a vintage, artisanal mist. The appointment, which followed a grueling six-month competitive pitch process handled by the intermediary Booster, will see MSQ agencies like The Gate and MBAstack handling everything from digital marketing to influencer campaigns. Insiders report that the agency won the business after presenting a pitch deck codenamed “Project Chameleon.” The core strategy? Deploying high-frequency AI algorithms and TikTok lifestyle trends to ensure that if the future is rendered in a shiny enough gloss, the past becomes visually inaccessible.

The PR Roadblocks: A Scannable Overview

To construct its new global campaign, MSQ is reportedly dividing Shell’s brand liabilities into discrete narrative buckets, matching historical corporate friction points with modern marketing buzzwords:

The Nazi Germany Chapter (1930s): Rather than ignoring the reality that former long-serving Shell chief Sir Henri Deterding backed the Third Reich, creative teams are mapping out an “Extreme Longevity” campaign. The angle focuses exclusively on “early pioneering transport logistics,” using soft sepia filters to gently blur the distinction between Allied and Axis fuel supply chains.

The 2004 Reserves Scandal: When investigative reports from The Independent exposed a three-year plan to deceive shareholders by deliberately overstating proven oil and gas reserves by 3.9 billion barrels, exploration chief Walter van de Vijver famously emailed that he was “sick and tired of lying.” MSQ plans to reframe this via LinkedIn thought leadership as a pioneering corporate wellness moment where an executive felt safe expressing vulnerability. The missing oil will be rebranded as an early experiment in “Virtual Asset Architecture” and “Proactive Asset Manifestation.”

The Sakhalin-II Siberian Debacle: The massive liquefied natural gas project, which was heavily mired in environmental protests regarding whale populations before Shell ceded control, will be transformed into a luxury eco-influencer travel series titled “Siberian Whispers.” The content will focus entirely on beautifully rendered, digitally generated Siberian cranes nesting near deactivated drill bits.

The Worker Safety Record: Decades of friction with unions and watchdogs over high-risk offshore operations and community health impacts in regions like Ogoniland will be addressed via a high-concept employee wellness initiative. Branded VR headsets will overlay virtual tropical forests onto heavy industrial drilling platforms.

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 21 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 21st, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 21 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-064

The Sakhalin Papers LIV: The Russian LNG Contract That Survived — Shell Announced Its Exit in 2022. Its 2025 Accounts Still List the Novatek Deal

In March 2022, Shell announced that it intended to withdraw from all Russian hydrocarbons, including LNG. Yet a long-term contract signed with Novatek in 2015 survived the withdrawal from Sakhalin, survived the disposal of Shell’s Russian retail business, and was still being reported by Shell in its 2025 Form 20-F, published in March 2026. Shell confirmed in 2023 that it was continuing to receive Yamal LNG cargoes under the agreement. The latest accounts confirm that the contract still exists — but do not establish whether Shell is still physically taking cargoes today. New European and British restrictions now place a significant regulatory deadline at the beginning of 2027.

Archive reference: SLF-2007-064
Collection: The Sakhalin Papers
Principal authenticated records: NOVATEK contract announcement, 4 June 2015; Shell Russia statements, February–March 2022; Shell Annual Reports 2022–2025; UK sanctions regulations and guidance; EU REPowerEU gas regulation
Contemporaneous reporting: Reuters, Interfax and Argus
Evidence standard: The existence of Shell’s long-term Novatek contract is established by Shell’s latest SEC filing. Continued physical receipt of Yamal LNG was confirmed by Shell in February 2023. No public evidence located for this instalment establishes that Shell continues taking individual Yamal cargoes in September 2026. Those are separate propositions and are treated separately below. read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 20 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 20th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 20 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-063

The Sakhalin Papers LIII: The Missing LNG Cargoes — Shell’s Contract Was Supposed to Run Until 2028. Then It “Stood Terminated”

Shell entered the Sakhalin LNG business as both shareholder and buyer. Public agreements envisaged long-term deliveries through 2028. After Russia transferred Sakhalin II to a new domestic operator in 2022, Shell stopped receiving the cargoes. In February 2023 it said it was considering its legal options. Its subsequent annual report went further: Shell said the old Sakhalin Energy company had failed to perform, had thereby renounced the LNG purchase contract, and that the contract “stood terminated.” No public record located for this file establishes that Shell has since received compensation for the lost deliveries.

Archive reference: SLF-2007-063
Collection: The Sakhalin Papers
Principal authenticated records: Shell Annual Report and Accounts 2022; Shell Form 20-F 2023; Shell Form 20-F 2025
Contemporaneous reporting: Interfax, Reuters, Energy Intelligence and S&P Global
Related legal record: Russian restructuring of Sakhalin II and the continuing Moscow proceedings examined in the previous instalment
Evidence standard: Shell’s characterisation of contractual renunciation is attributed to Shell. It is not presented as a judicial finding. No inference is made that the absence of a publicly identified damages award proves that no confidential arbitration, negotiation or settlement process ever existed. read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 19 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 19th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 19 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-062

The Sakhalin Papers LII: The Type-C Account — How a 2022 Rouble-Payment Dispute Became a €1.5 Billion Claim Against Shell

Russia’s Prosecutor General is seeking approximately €1.5 billion from Shell Energy Europe over disputed 2022 gas payments — and wants approximately 94 billion roubles set aside for Shell’s Sakhalin compensation used against the claim. The two sums arise from different transactions. Moscow has joined them together in one closed-door lawsuit. Shell says liability remains uncertain. As of July 2026, the next reported hearing was not due until January 2027.

The previous instalment followed the 94.8 billion roubles attached to Shell’s former Sakhalin II interest.

The money did not simply reach Shell.

Instead, approximately 94 billion roubles became trapped inside Russia’s post-2022 financial machinery and subsequently appeared in a lawsuit concerning an entirely different commercial relationship:

pipeline gas supplied by Gazprom Export to Shell Energy Europe for Germany.

That distinction is essential.

The Russian claim now links:

Shell’s withdrawal from Sakhalin II; read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 18 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 18th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 18 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-061

The Sakhalin Papers LI: The Billion-Rouble Exit Price — Novatek, Gazprom and the US$1 Billion Shell Still Could Not Simply Collect

In April 2023, the Russian government put a precise price on the 27.5% Sakhalin II interest Shell had declined to take in the replacement Russian operator: 94.8 billion roubles. Novatek was approved as purchaser. Shell’s response was immediate — no money had been received and its legal rights remained intact. Eleven months later, Moscow cancelled the Novatek arrangement and substituted a Gazprom-owned company at exactly the same price. The stake changed hands. The cash did not simply pass to Shell. By 2024, the 94 billion-rouble pot had become entangled with restricted-account rules and a much larger Russian claim against Shell. The corporate exit announced in February 2022 had become a battle over who was entitled to the exit proceeds.

1. A price finally appeared

The previous instalment followed Shell out of the operating Sakhalin II project.

By April 2023, Moscow had reached the next stage.

Russian Government Order No. 890-r, dated 11 April 2023, approved the sale of the unclaimed 27.49999998621683%interest in the new Sakhalin Energy LLC for:

94.8 billion roubles

and designated Novatek Moscow Region LLC as purchaser. Interfax reported that the order had been published through Russia’s official legal-information system. (Interfax)

At the exchange rate quoted in contemporaneous Reuters reporting, that amounted to approximately US$1.16 billion. (Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com) read more

Shell Warns the World Is Running Out of Energy “Shock Absorbers” — 36 Million Tonnes of LNG Already Missing

Sep 18th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Shell’s chief economist says global energy markets have so far absorbed an extraordinary loss of oil and LNG supply from the Middle East. But the mechanisms that cushioned the blow — weaker demand, inventory drawdowns, spare infrastructure and rising American production — are wearing thin. Europe enters winter with unusually low gas stocks. Asian buyers are already retreating from expensive LNG. And Shell warns that even reopening disrupted trade routes would not immediately restore normal conditions. read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 17 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 17th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 17 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-060

The Sakhalin Papers L: The Exit — Shell Walks Away, Moscow Rewrites the Ownership and Sakhalin II Enters a New Era

On 28 February 2022, Shell announced that it would leave Sakhalin II. Within weeks its directors had resigned from the venture and its managerial and technical personnel were being withdrawn. Then the legal structure itself changed. A Russian presidential decree transferred the project’s licences, rights and obligations from the Bermuda-incorporated Sakhalin Energy Investment Company into a newly created Russian company. Shell declined to join it. The Japanese shareholders stayed. More than four years later, Shell still records an interest in the old Bermuda company — and the financial and legal consequences of the exit remain the subject of litigation in Moscow.

1. Four days that changed Shell’s Russian strategy

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Four days later, on 28 February, Shell plc announced that its Board intended to withdraw from its joint ventures with Gazprom and related Russian entities.

The announcement specifically included:

Shell’s 27.5% minus one share interest in Sakhalin II;

its 50% interest in Salym Petroleum Development;

the Gydan Energy venture;

and its involvement in Nord Stream 2.

Shell said the decision had been taken in response to the invasion and that it would work through the commercial and energy-supply consequences while complying with sanctions. (Shell) read more

Shell’s $95 Million Monaca Explosion: US Safety Board Finds Preventable Hazards Behind Furnace Blas

Sep 16th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has completed its investigation into the June 4, 2025 explosion and fire at Shell Polymers Monaca in Pennsylvania, an incident that caused extensive damage to the giant petrochemical complex and could, under slightly different circumstances, have had far more serious consequences.

The central finding is troubling: a known potentially catastrophic hazard was being controlled largely through procedures and human intervention when an engineered safeguard could have provided a stronger line of defence. read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 16 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 16th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 16 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-059

The Sakhalin Papers XLIX: “Unfinished Business” — Seventeen Years, 639 Recommendations and the End of the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel

In November 2021, the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel met for the last time. Its seventeen-year experiment in independent scientific oversight had changed pipelines, seismic-survey procedures, vessel management and corporate environmental practice. An independent evaluation concluded that it had materially reduced risks to the whales. Yet when the Panel closed, essential questions about prey, data access, cumulative impacts and long-term monitoring remained unresolved. Then Russia invaded Ukraine. Shell and Exxon began withdrawing. The institutional structure that had held companies, scientists, lenders, regulators and NGOs around the same table abruptly entered a different world.

1. The final meeting

The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel held its 22nd and final meeting at IUCN headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, in November 2021.

It was the end of an experiment begun in 2004, when an Independent Scientific Review Panel was convened to assess the potential effects of Sakhalin II Phase 2 on the gray whales feeding off north-eastern Sakhalin.

The later WGWAP arrangement was unusual.

Sakhalin Energy helped finance the process.

IUCN administered it.

Independent scientists produced the recommendations. read more

From 106 Known Spills to an Entire Polluted Region: Shell Faces a Much Broader Nigeria Trial in 2027

Sep 16th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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High Court ruling allows Bille community to argue that Shell is responsible for all relevant oil pollution in the region — including pollution that cannot be traced to one of 106 individually identified spills

A major new dimension has emerged in the long-running litigation over Shell-related oil pollution in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.

On 10 September 2026, Mrs Justice Lambert handed down judgment in Alame & Ors v Shell Plc & Anor [2026] EWHC 2332 (KB).

Much attention has understandably focused on another part of the ruling: allegations that Shell witnesses knowingly relied upon false or misleading factual assertions during the company’s earlier jurisdiction challenge are now to be dealt with as the litigation moves towards trial. read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 15 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 15th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 15 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-058

The Sakhalin Papers XLVIII: “A Philosophical Difference” — When Regulatory Compliance Was Not Enough for the Scientists

In November 2020, Sakhalin Energy and its independent scientific advisers arrived at an unusually candid point of disagreement. The company could satisfy Russian regulatory requirements and still fail to satisfy the evidential standards expected by the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel. The meeting record captured the difference in a phrase rarely encountered in corporate environmental reporting: there would always be a “philosophical difference” between conservation scientists and an oil company.

1. A meeting held in exceptional circumstances

The 21st meeting of the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel — WGWAP — took place by videoconference from 17 to 19 November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By then the Panel had spent well over a decade advising Sakhalin Energy on the protection of the endangered gray whales feeding off north-eastern Sakhalin.

Shell’s own Sustainability Report 2020 described WGWAP as an independent scientific panel established by IUCN to help mitigate environmental impacts. Shell stated that the Panel continued to advise Sakhalin Energy, in which Shell then held a 27.5% interest, and that WGWAP was preparing its final conclusions for release in 2021. (Shell) read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 14 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 14th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 14 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-057

The Sakhalin Papers XLVII: The Feeding Ground Was Losing Its Food — WGWAP’s 2019 Benthos Alarm

For fifteen years, oil companies operating off north-eastern Sakhalin financed a programme that measured the tiny bottom-dwelling animals on which gray whales depended. Then something changed. Amphipod biomass in the nearshore Piltun feeding ground began falling sharply in 2013 and reached the lowest level in the entire monitoring series in 2016. That same year, the industry-sponsored benthic programme ended. Three years later, the independent Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel issued an unusually stark public warning: the whales’ traditional nearshore feeding ground might be losing the capacity to support them.

1. The problem was beneath the whales

Much of the Sakhalin controversy had been visible above or within the water column.

Platforms.

Pipelines.

Ships.

Dredging.

Seismic airguns.

Fishing nets.

But the next warning came from the seabed.

Gray whales are benthic feeders. Off Sakhalin, they descend to the seafloor and consume large quantities of small invertebrates living in or immediately above the sediment.

In the shallow nearshore feeding area around Piltun Lagoon, one of the principal prey species was the amphipod Monoporeia affinis. read more

Why the Independent Shell Archive Matters

Sep 13th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Beyond the Shareholder Verdict: Four AI Systems Examine Who Gains, Who Loses — and Why the Independent Shell Archive Matters

By John Donovan

The original question was deliberately simple:

Are Shell plc shareholders better off with or without royaldutchshellplc.com?

Claude, Grok, Gemini and use.ai all ultimately reached the same broad conclusion: shareholders are better off with the independent archive than without it.

But the exercise did not end there.

The four AI systems were subsequently asked to look much deeper: at trust in Shell management and corporate PR, at evidential reliability, and finally at the interests of other stakeholders including employees, directors, regulators, trade unions, journalists and the general public. read more

Shell plc unofficial website

Sep 13th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Shell plc unofficial website

The primary independent and critical unofficial website monitoring Shell plc is Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com

Key details about the site

Ownership: The website is owned and operated by John Donovan, who has maintained a decades-long public record concerning Shell and the long-running Donovan–Shell dispute.

Content: It publishes critical commentary, current Shell news, historical research and extensive documentary archives concerning Shell’s business activities, corporate governance, litigation and controversies. read more

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES — 12 SEPTEMBER 2026

Sep 12th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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THE SHELL LEAKS FILES — 12 SEPTEMBER 2026

Archive reference: SLF-2007-055

The Sakhalin Papers XLV: From Critically Endangered to Endangered — What the Whale Recovery Did, and Did Not, Prove

By 2016, Shell could point to a genuinely encouraging development off Sakhalin: the western gray whales feeding near its giant oil and gas project were increasing in number. Shell’s own Sustainability Report recorded an estimated rise from 115 animals in 2004 to 174 in 2015. Independent conservation organisations reported the same trend. Two years later, the IUCN changed the western gray whale’s status from Critically Endangered to Endangered.

That was real progress. But the documentary record does not establish that Shell caused the recovery, that industrial disturbance had ceased to matter, or that the whales were safe. In fact, the independent scientific record becomes more complicated precisely at the point where the headline numbers begin to look most reassuring. read more

30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.
Extremely slow broadband for 10 months, not fixed. I have had slow broadband well below the guaranteed speed for 10 months and Shell Energy have not been able to fix it. They have tried sending about 4 or 5 engineers but have not fixed the problem. Gurps, who I have been dealing with most recently, has been friendly and polite, alth… Read more

Extremely Slow Shell Broadband

Environment

The following is understood to be an internal document circulated to new starters on MSQ’s Shell business. We cannot verify its authenticity, but we also cannot stop laughing.

The PR Roadblocks: A Scannable Overview

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 21 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-064

The Sakhalin Papers LIV: The Russian LNG Contract That Survived — Shell Announced Its Exit in 2022. Its 2025 Accounts Still List the Novatek Deal

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 20 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-063

The Sakhalin Papers LIII: The Missing LNG Cargoes — Shell’s Contract Was Supposed to Run Until 2028. Then It “Stood Terminated”

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 19 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-062

The Sakhalin Papers LII: The Type-C Account — How a 2022 Rouble-Payment Dispute Became a €1.5 Billion Claim Against Shell

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 18 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-061

The Sakhalin Papers LI: The Billion-Rouble Exit Price — Novatek, Gazprom and the US$1 Billion Shell Still Could Not Simply Collect

1. A price finally appeared

94.8 billion roubles

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 17 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-060

The Sakhalin Papers L: The Exit — Shell Walks Away, Moscow Rewrites the Ownership and Sakhalin II Enters a New Era

1. Four days that changed Shell’s Russian strategy

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 16 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-059

The Sakhalin Papers XLIX: “Unfinished Business” — Seventeen Years, 639 Recommendations and the End of the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel

1. The final meeting

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 15 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-058

The Sakhalin Papers XLVIII: “A Philosophical Difference” — When Regulatory Compliance Was Not Enough for the Scientists

1. A meeting held in exceptional circumstances

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES: 14 SEPTEMBER 2026

SLF-2007-057

The Sakhalin Papers XLVII: The Feeding Ground Was Losing Its Food — WGWAP’s 2019 Benthos Alarm

1. The problem was beneath the whales

Beyond the Shareholder Verdict: Four AI Systems Examine Who Gains, Who Loses — and Why the Independent Shell Archive Matters

Shell plc unofficial website

Key details about the site

THE SHELL LEAKS FILES — 12 SEPTEMBER 2026

The Sakhalin Papers XLV: From Critically Endangered to Endangered — What the Whale Recovery Did, and Did Not, Prove

Sir Henri Deterding, resurrected!

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30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

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