Last Thursday’s ruling of a UK high court rejecting a request by the Ejama-Ebubu community in Tai Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State has put a wedge in the attempt by the Rivers State government to acquire a stake in a disputed mining lease in Ogoniland.
The lease located in the oil mining concession OML 11 is operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). It has been the subject of prolonged litigation by the community and Shell.
The community had accused the Dutch firm of responsibility for a massive 1969/70 oil spill allegedly from a ruptured oil pipeline in its facility.read more
Shell Wins Ruling Blocking Nigerian Spill Case Enforcement
By Eddie Spence: 5 December 2019, 12:33 GMT
Nigerian court award for 1969 oil spill won’t apply in the U.K.
Appeal will be brought by affected Niger Delta community
Royal Dutch Shell Plc units won a U.K. ruling preventing London courts from enforcing a $516 million Nigerian judgment for damages caused by an oil spill half a century ago.
Judge Jason Coppel on Thursday overturned an attempt to carry over a 2010 ruling by a Nigerian court to the U.K., saying that those proceedings were unfair because Shell was denied an opportunity to present a defense.
Shell’s Nigerian units have been beset by lawsuits, many of them in U.K. courts, for their part in oil spills on the Niger Delta. The oil conglomerate has often sought to transfer the cases to Nigeria, with one even going to the U.K. Supreme Court to decide its jurisdiction.read more
A lawyer to a former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke – Mike Ozekhome (SAN) said on Wednesday that an Abuja court has scheduled hearing for December 12 this year in a motion his client filed against the charge pending against him.
Ozekhome noted that the charge now pending before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in respect of which Adoke was currently being detained by the Interpol in Dubai, was initiated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by misrepresentation.read more
Bloomberg: By Olivia Konotey-Ahulu: 4 December 2019, 13:12 GMT
Protesters banned from 500-meter safety zone around platforms
Greenpeace activists boarded North Sea platforms in October
Royal Dutch Shell Plc won a court ruling preventing environmental protesters from boarding unmanned oil installations in the North Sea.
Greenpeace activists in October boarded two of Shell’s offshore platforms in the Brent field to protest decommissioning plans they claimed will leave “hazardous oily sludge” in the sea. A judge in Edinburgh, Scotland, said that the protesters had no right to enter the installations, and are now banned from going within a 500-meter (1,640-feet) safety zone around the platforms.read more
Greenpeace had claimed an order would breach its right to protest, and described the ruling as a “setback” – but said a possible appeal would be considered.read more
These are challenging times for residents of Nigeria’s Niger Delta area. Many leaders in the communities feel a high level of concern about travelling to Port Harcourt through the East-West Road due to the high level of banditry, kidnappings and killings recorded in recent weeks. Indeed, there is a heightened feeling of insecurity in Rivers State, and other Niger Delta communities, as elsewhere in the country. The situation may have gotten worse in the build-up to, and the aftermath of the 2019 General Election.read more
Printed below is an English translation of an article published 25 November 2019 by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad.
Shell is taking Greenpeace to court
From our editor: 25 November 2019
Oil company Shell demands a ban on Greenpeace protests at its Brent oil field.
The step follows earlier actions by the environmental group in the North Sea. In mid-October, protesters climbed the abandoned remains of a drilling platform.
Greenpeace demands that Shell remove these parts. According to Greenpeace, there are still more than 11,000 tonnes of oil in the structures, which will eventually come into the sea if they are left behind.read more
In an Italian case, prosecutors accuse former and current executives of Eni and Shell of paying bribes to secure the licence, and allege roughly $1.1 billion of the total was siphoned to agents and middlemen.
UPDATE 1 – Nigeria’s ex-attorney general arrested in Dubai over $1.3 bln oil deal
ABUJA, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s former attorney general Mohammed Adoke has been arrested in Dubai, his lawyer said, seven months after Nigeria’s anti-graft agency issued a warrant for his arrest as part of an investigation into one of the oil industry’s biggest suspected corruption scandals.
Adoke’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, said Adoke was arrested by Interpol on Monday 11 Nov., after travelling to Dubai for a medical appointment.
The investigation by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency relates to the $1.3 billion sale of a Nigerian offshore oilfield known as OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011.read more
Mr Curless was a senior legal counsel at Shell International Limited from January 1990 until he was made redundant in January 2017. He suffers from Type 2 diabetes and obstructive sleep apnoea. He brought a claim against Shell for disability discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
In support of his claim, Curless relied on a leaked email from April 2018 sent by Shell’s managing counsel, Alex Ward, to Curless’s manager. In this email, Ward explained that Shell could use a planned reorganisation of its in-house legal team in order to terminate Curless’s employment. Ward added that this approach was worth considering so as to avoid the risk of “impasse and proceedings with ongoing employment with no obvious resolution”. Curless alleged that the emails showed that Shell’s redundancy process was a sham used to terminate his employment, and that he had been made redundant because he had raised his grievances internally about his disability discrimination and brought a claim in the Employment Tribunal.read more
Richard Hill has been appointed as General Counsel for Shell downstream. Richard was hitherto Shell General Counsel for Global litigation, a role being taken by Kimberly Phillips, previously Houston based Shell Associate General Counsel of global litigation for the Americas.
Richard Hill will fill the role currently occupied by Martin Bambridge who is leaving on health grounds.
Shell legal director Donny Ching says:
“I am delighted to welcome Kimberly to the Shell Legal Leadership Team, and Richard to his new role. Both will play a critical role in enabling legal to continue partnering with Shell’s businesses to deliver our strategy and navigate the opportunities and risks of the unfolding energy transition. “I am also very grateful to Martin for bringing his deep experience, insight, humour and great leadership to the legal leadership team table while Legal went through considerable change over the past few years.”read more
“Dance, my people, dance the guns to silence” – Ken Saro-Wiwa
By OSA DIRECTOR
Article published by Dateline Magazine: Page 5, Jan 4, 1996
Ken Saro-Wiwa, renowned author, playwright, committed environmentalist, social crusader, and intellectual humorist even in moments of terror, tribulation and humiliation, refuses to lose his wit candour and deep-seated enthusiasm to ensure justice for his people and redefine the unjust Nigeria federation, as depicted in the above quote from his last interview with TELL in the Bori military detention camp. Even though diminutive in stature, he was a cerebral colossus, with immense courage, verve and resolute determination.read more
Rejoinder: Ken Saro-Wiwa: A Playwright And Revolutionary, But A Man With Trading Instinct
Dear Editor,
Please see and publish the article below with above headline.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ben Ikari, author of Ken Saro-Wiwa and MOSOP: The Story and Revelation; Rights and Environmental Justice Advocate.
Dear Janet Anderson:
Thank you for taking the time to write these good words credited to you about Ken Saro-Wiwa in the headline above. It was reportedly published in the Tempo Newspaper Nigeria, on Jan. 2, 1996 though originally printed in the Daily Telegraph of Nov. 13, 1995. Saro-Wiwa was, of course, the foremost minority rights crusader of Africa. He was a prolific and accomplished writer who authored more than 27 books. He also had several newspaper publications and position papers to his name; a non-violent and peaceful, intelligent, smart and witty world’s environmental martyr he was. He was truly altruistic.read more
Esther Kiobel expresses her sincere thanks to Amnesty International and other parties supporting her Dutch lawsuit against Shell
A heartfelt message of thanks from Esther Kiobel
It has been a very hard road and long, long journey in the fight for fundamental rights of my late husband, Honorable Dr. Barinem Nubari Kiobel and other distinguished Ogonis who have suffered the most horrific abuses or murdered by the former Nigerian junta to help their exclusive collaborators. Shell Oil Corporation continue the exploitation of Nigerian crude oil resources under the most reckless human rights abuses ever imagined.read more
Twenty-four years ago today, environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian state. His death brought international attention to the rapacious behavior of oil companies like Shell — and their complicity in the most violent forms of repression.
Born in 1941, Ken Saro-Wiwa came of age as Nigeria gained independence and became a lifelong advocate for the importance of minority rights within a unified national identity. A member of the Ogoni ethnic group, who at only half a million hold little sway in a country of two hundred million, Saro-Wiwa was central to mobilizing a popular movement that demanded accountability for companies like Shell that were extracting oil in the creeks of the Niger Delta.read more
Below is a translation of a news brief issued today 7 Nov 2019 – by NAM, the Shell/Exxon Joint Venture company responsible for the earthquake blighted Groningen Gas Field. And also for the consequential potential bill for untold billions to deal with damaged residences like the example in the photograph. Someone forget to mention in the news brief the shocking reason why the Dutch government ordered the closure. The word “earthquake” does not appear anywhere.
TRANSLATION
Close gas field Groningen started in Ten Post
It seems only a signature, but it marks the start of the closure of the Groningen field. At the end of October, NAM transferred the Ten Post gas extraction site to Meuva. This company will start cleaning up the location around 11 November.read more
A former senior lawyer at Shell cannot use a leaked email or an overheard pub conversation in his discrimination claim, a court has ruled.
Michael Curless was senior legal counsel for the energy giant from 1990 until his termination in 2017, which Shell said was by reason of redundancy.
However Mr Curless, who suffers from obstructive sleep apnoea and type 2 diabetes, made an employment tribunal claim that he was the subject of “disability discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal” which Shell denies.
He also alleged that Shell used the planned reorganisation of its in-house legal department following its 2016 takeover of BG Group as a pretext for terminating his employment.read more
BG Alumni: It's about time Bonus Group and Bogus Group moved on. This website is repaidly becoming all baout the bitter and twisted.I can't imagine how that idea was fostered.
Bonus Group: For a further example of outstanding performance by BG Group Alumni, London Lad need look no further than Sound Energy where the share price has plummeted from £0.935 in February 2017 to £0.0335 December this year. This remarkable performance, however, does not detract from the Directors' and the Senior Managers' whopping salaries and bonuses. One can barely hear oneself think above the slurping and grunting at the trough.
Bogus Group: Interesting news article. “Network Rail are well into devolving and restructuring the organisation so that all activities and roles are closer to passengers in order to drive up train performance”. In 2018, many UK train commuters had a tough time with timetable schedules, journeys that didn’t leave or arrive on-time and delays due to major projects.
Could this revival be attributed to the previous chief executive and one of the former Shell and BG Group ‘chosen few’, stepping down from his role?
Bonus Group: To put London Lad's rather naive comments into context. In the final days before the Executive Chairman, Andrew Gould 'pulled the plug' on the whole shooting match, at a Town Hall Meeting, the Chief Operating Officer, Sami Iskander, stood up and announced, to anyone who could be bothered to listen, that the company had spent £200MM assuring work which later cost them £2Bn because it was wrong. An absolutely, stellar performance. The people responsible for this are now deeply embedded within Shell's matrix organisation. An excellent result for the shareholders. Perhaps, a Bridge too Far?
Bonus Group: London Lad, Good to hear from you. I hope that you enjoyed your recent trip to Aberdeen. Having also been employed by Shell, I consider myself fortunate that I was not one of the 'Chosen Few'. The 'Chosen Few' are the most corrupt of the corrupt and will fit in well with your ilk. In respect of the slur about my performance, BG were involved in what can only be described as a stupendous multi-billion dollar technical fraud against Petrobras based upon a corrupt workflow which was both Functionally Approved through their Assurance Team and signed-off by the relevant Discipline Functional Head. They refused to correct their workflow and that resulted in a technical fraud. They tried to make me complicit in this fraud, but I refused. That is called integrity, something which I have no doubt that you know little of. You clearly relish brushing shoulders with fraudsters and liars.
LondonLad: I can only assume from the continuous moaning from “Bonus Group” that he/she was not one of the “chosen few” from the BG group and hence the vindictiveness. Poor performance = limited or no job opportunities which applies to both Shell and ex-BG staff. As a share holder I wouldn’t want it differently.
Bonus Group: Further to Bogus Group's post of Thursday 21st November. BG Group the failed Internet Cafe, cappucino and Belgian chocolate lifestyle company had an established reputation for: constructive dismissal, lack of transparency and corrupt 'do as I say, not as I do' line management. The acceptance of the 'Chosen Few' from BG by Shell into its upper echelons can only lead to further corruption. After all what was on the BG Portal in terms of Company Policy was of course also law, or at least that is what they would have you believe. As employers they were a complete disgrace and the company a complete shambles from top to bottom. Visitors to this site can look forward to more revelations of incompetence in due course as they unfold.
Bogus Group: I was lured by the Michael Coates (Associate General Counsel at Shell) interview by Lawyer Monthly, and the question……. what is the most challenging aspect of your job and how do you overcome this? His response “There are a number of interesting challenges but I will share one internal challenge, the management of our in-house legal team”
The acquisition of BG Group and the infiltration of “the chosen few” from that company’s in-house legal team, may have bestowed a challenge he could never have imagined.
LondonLad: Well “Theo” when you say that “I know for sure the following” followed by a former director said “Black Gold we are digging up” then I think perhaps you are making this up. Most directors of an oil company (even including Shell) would not use the word “digging”! “Drilling” or “producing” yes but certainly not “digging” - exception being the muppets in the HR departments perhaps. In addition your last two sentences are irrelevant to the usual attacks on Shell and are somewhat waffle and insulting to most readers here. You clearly have a problem. I await the onslaught!!
Bogus Group: There are normally two sides to every story, but Mike Curless’ version of his termination employment under the pretext of the takeover of BG reorganisation could hold some credence. However, if there was a fair and transparent succession strategy, Sarah Franklin’s self-promotion, see previous post and article, https://www.accdocket.com/articles/tips-and-insights-a-world-class-combination.cfm must have made her a good candidate for one of the “vacant” roles within the Shell legal team. Time will tell if the relevant due diligence was done on Ms Franklin, considering her escapades with a previous company.
Theo Benschop: I know for sure the following. A former director of Royal Dutch Shell had said: it is a simple problem with the Black Gold that we are digging up and selling. All what the government has to do is fix the price of the Black Gold at a level nobody will notice. Maybe add something. But there you have the money to pay for the transition to a more sustainable energy. So actually what everybody wants in the agreements in Paris.
Also I know for sure that beloved sister Rep. Ilham Omar was perfectly right in her conclusion that a few guilty criminals did something to create the chaos of nine eleven, so not the rest of the world.
So that about 7 Billion simple descendants of the first human beings not being a monkey are supporting her for keep on being the one and only first president of all sovereign or not sovereign United Nations.
jaun carlos: Good day
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EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL LIVE NEWS FEED
Apple is no longer the most valuable company in the world 11 Dec 2019 19:04 Metro Cafe Apple, whose CEO is Tim Cook, was replaced by Aramco, within the fist few moments the latter was on the stock market (Picture: Getty)Saudi Arabia’s oil company Aramco has overtaken Apple as the most valuable listed company in the world.
Owned by the Saudi …
Saudi oil firm breaks market records 11 Dec 2019 18:38 world.wng.org The Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco reached a value of $1.88 trillion on Wednesday, its first day of trading on the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange, surpassing Apple as the largest listed company in the world. That makes it worth more than the world’s top …
Chevron Ushers in Oil’s Era of the Sober-Major 11 Dec 2019 18:35 The Washington Post Chevron joins the ranks of Exxon Mobil Corp. — which paid $35 billion for XTO Energy Inc. less than a year before the Atlas deal and has been haunted by it ever since — and ConocoPhillips, which bought Rockies gas producer Burlington Resources Inc. way …
Chevron’s move to exit Kitimat LNG project a dash of ‘cold water’ for gas industry 11 Dec 2019 17:51 Global News The decision by Chevron Corp. to try to sell its 50 per cent stake in the Kitimat LNG project on the B.C. coast throws a symbolic dash of “long-dated cold water” on growth in the Canadian natural gas industry, an analysis says.
The California-based company …
Saudi Aramco soars 10% on market debut 11 Dec 2019 17:11 Taipei Times Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) shares yesterday began trading for the first time, gaining 10 percent in the first moments on the market and pushing its capital to US$1.88 trillion, making it the most valuable listed company in the world.
The state-owned oil …
IPO makes Aramco the world’s most valuable listed company 11 Dec 2019 16:31 Business Day Dubai/London — Saudi Aramco shares surged after the oil producer’s initial public offering (IPO), valuing the company at a record $1.88-trillion in the culmination of a four-year effort by the kingdom to list its crown jewel.
The stock jumped the daily …
Nigerian court award for 1969 oil spill won’t apply in the U.K.
Printed below is an English translation of an article published 25 November 2019 by the Dutch FT, 
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EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.