NAM

Shell, ExxonMobil and the Netherlands: Arbitration Battles over Groningen’s Closure and Earthquake Legacy

Jan 19th, 2026

Comments are off for this post

The Groningen gas field in the Netherlands — once Europe’s largest — now at the centre of arbitration cases by Shell, ExxonMobil and NAM against the Dutch state over closure terms and compensation rights.

The long-running saga over the Netherlands’ Groningen gas field — once Europe’s largest — has entered a new, highly contested legal phase: multiple arbitration cases by energy majors Shell plc and ExxonMobil against the Dutch government and state-linked entities. These disputes touch on issues ranging from contractual interpretation and reputational risk to international investment law and public policy. The unfolding legal fight raises important questions about accountability, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), and the shifting balance between profit rights and public interest in the energy transition. 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: “Paid Not to Drill – Ternaard’s €163 Million Non-Project”

Nov 28th, 2025

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

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.

User: The Dutch state is paying €163 million so NAM won’t drill for gas at Ternaard, on the edge of the Wadden Sea. NAM is owned by Shell and Exxon. How do you see that, ShellBot?

ShellBot: As a delightful innovation in climate policy:

“Polluter gets paid not to pollute… this time.” read more

Conversations with ShellBot — Episode 4

Nov 24th, 2025

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

“Spies, Subsidies, and the BlackRockBot Intervention”

By John Donovan

(Shell’s oldest unresolved problem. Now assisted by AI.)

Scene: The Virtual Conference Room

The now-familiar neon-lit ShellBot interface flickers to life.

This time, I notice an extra chair.

Not a person — but a shimmering cube labelled:

=&3=&

ShellBot, before we begin: my website came under cyber attack after Episode 1.

Twelve failed logins.

Suspicious timing.

Are we expecting trouble today?

ShellBot:

John, my security logs confirm it was not me. read more

Shell and the Shaking Ground: How a Fossil Fuel Empire Helped Create Earthquakes, Trauma, and a Generation of Unsettled Lives

Nov 7th, 2025

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

Once upon a time — and not very long ago — certain corporate and government voices insisted that earthquakes in places without natural fault lines simply couldn’t happen. The Netherlands was solid. Groningen was safe. The ground beneath families, schools, and lives was reliable. Except it turns out none of that was true — because some earthquakes can be manufactured, engineered, or to put it bluntly, provoked.

And the culprit was not tectonics.

It was extraction.

Extraction at scale.

Extraction for profit. read more

Shell’s Shaky Payout: NAM Finally Offers Quake Stress Cash

Oct 16th, 2025

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

Emotional Damages? Yes, But Only After 7 Years of Tremors: When the Ground Shakes: Shell’s Quaking Legacy in Groningen

In a move that feels more like a confession than generosity, NAM — the Shell–ExxonMobil joint venture behind the Groningen gas field — has agreed to pay out €5,000 to €222,000 to over 5,000 residents for emotional distress and “loss of enjoyment” tied to years of gas-induced earthquakes.

That’s on top of the yet-to-be-resolved claims for physical damages to houses (some 120,000 households), which remain in legal limbo.

As lawyer Pieter Huitema put it:

“It’s great to achieve such a result for such a large group. We spent about two years at the negotiating table, but the result is something to be proud of.” read more

THE MOST DAMAGING ARTICLE ABOUT SHELL EVER PUBLISHED?

Oct 11th, 2025

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

“A persistent reputational risk.” — Shell internal memo, 2007

In the oil-stained annals of corporate history, few duels have burned as long — or as publicly — as that between Royal Dutch Shell and a retired British marketing man named John Donovan.

What began in the 1990s as a routine commercial dispute between Shell and Donovan’s family business, Don Marketing, would metastasize into one of the most sustained reputational headaches any multinational has ever faced.

Three decades later, Donovan’s website — RoyalDutchShellPLC.com — functions like a digital conscience for a company trying to forget its own. It is a trove of Shell’s internal embarrassments: whistleblower leaks, courtroom revelations, safety scandals, and corporate PR hypocrisy, preserved with forensic precision. read more

Shell Dodges Justice—Again: Groningen Quakes Leave Cracks in Homes, Trust, and the Law

Oct 8th, 2025

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

Another Earthquake, Another Escape Clause

In a move that shocked precisely no one familiar with the Dutch gas saga, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced that NAM — the joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil — will not be prosecuted for creating “life-threatening danger” in the Groningen gas field, despite years of earthquakes, crumbling houses, and shattered nerves.

👉 Read the NL Times coverage

The OM admitted that NAM had “consciously accepted the risk” that drilling would cause earthquakes and endanger residents — but claimed that wasn’t enough to secure a criminal conviction. In plain English: Yes, they knew people could be hurt. No, that’s not a crime. Next question. read more

Pay the Quakes, Lock the Budget, Forget the Culprits?” — The Groningen Law that Lets Shell Breathe Easier

Oct 2nd, 2025

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

NAM, of course, is the joint venture of Shell and ExxonMobil that milked Groningen for decades.

The Dutch caretaker cabinet has pushed a new Groningen Law through to Parliament that promises faster payouts for quake-damaged homes — and a lighter legal load for the polluters who helped cause the mess. As NL Times reports: “The Caretaker Dutch cabinet has submitted the Groningen Law, which finalizes compensation for damages caused by gas extraction, to the Tweede Kamer, despite strong criticism from the Council of State.”

The bill would guarantee compensation up to €60,000 even without proof that gas extraction caused the damage — tidy for homeowners in a hurry, also tidy for corporate defendants who prefer fewer courtroom surprises. read more

Toxic Legacy: Shell, Exxon, and the Underground Waste Dump That Stinks of Corporate Arrogance

Sep 24th, 2025

by admin.

Comments are off for this post

Move over Sakhalin, step aside Niger Delta—Shell and Exxon’s Dutch joint venture NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij) has managed to dump itself into yet another scandal. This time, prosecutors allege the company secretly injected hazardous waste into empty gas fields in Groningen for over a decade.

The Charges

Dutch prosecutors have recommended a €20 million fine against NAM for a long list of environmental breaches, including:

Secretly dumping hazardous wastewater laced with mercury into empty underground gas fields near Borgsweer, Groningen.
Handling hazardous substances without permits, at sites where they had no business storing them.
Profiting over €5 million by cutting corners on proper hazardous waste treatment.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) said bluntly:

“The key question is not whether environmental damage occurred, but rather transparency.” (NL Times) read more

Equal misery, equal money: Groningen’s tenants can finally claim Shell-quake mental-health damages too

Sep 10th, 2025

by admin.

Comments are off for this post

Groningen’s long-suffering renters, resident kids, and unmarried partners have just been upgraded from second-class victims to full members of the Earthquake Club. The Mining Damage Institute Groningen (IMG) now treats non-homeowners the same as homeowners when awarding compensation for mental anguish caused by the man-made quakes from gas extraction. Or, as IMG itself put it: “The rationale behind this expansion is that non-homeowners can experience the same degree of suffering and grief as homeowners.” read more

Shell-Shocked: How a Dutch Court Greenlit More Earthquakes for Gas Profits

Jun 5th, 2025

by admin.

Comments are off for this post

In yet another dazzling display of fossil-fuel fanaticism, the Dutch Council of State has officially handed Shell and ExxonMobil’s joint venture—NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij)—a shiny new license to keep shaking the earth for gas in Groningen, because clearly, what’s a few collapsed homes when energy giants need to make their quarterly billions?

Let’s call this what it is: Earthquakes for profit. The most recent 2.1-magnitude quake in Warffum wasn’t enough to raise eyebrows in The Hague, where the judges decided that “the interests of NAM and the Minister of Climate and Green Growth… weigh heavier” than the basic human right not to have your house fall on your head. read more

Shell’s Shaky Business: Now Predicting Its Own Earthquakes!

Mar 11th, 2025

by admin.

Comments are off for this post

Ah, Shell—forever innovating new ways to ruin lives, one gas field at a time. The latest breakthrough? Science has now made it easier to predict the earthquakes caused by Shell and its fossil-fuel-loving friends in the Groningen region. That’s right—thanks to decades of unchecked greed and relentless gas extraction, we can now forecast when and where the next disaster will strike. What a win for modern research!

This delightful revelation comes courtesy of researcher Zhuldyzay Baki, who has found a way to analyze the seismic mess Shell and its drilling partners have inflicted upon the Netherlands. Her work at the University of Twente combines statistical models with geological insights to track the correlation between underground pressure drops (caused by, you guessed it, gas extraction) and earthquake intensity. Turns out, the areas where Shell has sucked the most gas out of the earth are the same ones where people’s homes are cracking apart. Who could have possibly predicted that? Oh wait, literally everyone who warned about this for years. read more

Shell and Exxon’s Gas Profits Shake Groningen—Literally

Feb 15th, 2025

by admin.

Comments are off for this post

Nothing Says “Sustainable Business” Like an Earthquake Every Few Months

It’s another day, another earthquake in Groningen, where decades of reckless gas extraction by Shell and ExxonMobil’s joint venture, NAM, have left the ground as unstable as their ethical standards. This time, a 2.2 magnitude quake hit the town of Usquert just after midnight, shaking homes, rattling windows, and waking residents with a hard, dull thud. Coincidentally, that’s also the sound of Shell executives ignoring accountability.

“Induced Earthquakes”: Just a Fancy Term for Corporate Destruction

The KNMI meteorological institute wasted no time in confirming what everyone already knew: this was an “induced earthquake,” meaning it wasn’t some random act of nature—it was a direct consequence of Shell and ExxonMobil sucking every last drop of gas from the earth, leaving behind a crumbling foundation. read more

Oil Giants Shell and Exxon Dump Groningen Like a Bad Date

Nov 16th, 2024

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

Posted by John Donovan: 16 November 2024

In yet another move that screams “corporate villainy,” Shell and its BFF ExxonMobil, under their joint venture NAM, have officially noped out of their responsibility to help Groningen recover from decades of destruction. You know, the region they gleefully exploited for gas, leaving behind a legacy of earthquakes, shattered homes, and residents who probably Google “how to stop tectonic betrayal” every other week.

The Dutch “Debt of Honour” They’d Rather Forget read more

Shell’s Earthquake-Inducing Gas Field Shuts Down, and Now the Netherlands Is Crying About Productivity?

Oct 17th, 2024

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

17 Oct 2024

Oh, poor Netherlands, it seems like shutting down a gas field that was literally causing earthquakes has finally caught up with them. Who could’ve seen this coming? Groningen, the gas field operated by the environmental saints at Shell and ExxonMobil (under the cutesy name NAM, because nothing says trust us like an acronym), was pumping gas and shaking houses for 60 years. But when the earthquakes got too hard to ignore, the Dutch government dared to prioritize people’s safety over profits. The nerve, right? read more

Shell Offloads More Dirty Business: Tenaz Energy Buys Dutch Offshore Assets for $180 Million

Jul 18th, 2024

by John Donovan.

Comments are off for this post

Posted by John Donovan: 18 July 2024

In a move that’s as surprising as rain in the Netherlands, Shell and ExxonMobil, the environmental knights in shining armor, have decided to pawn off their offshore assets in the Dutch North Sea to Canada’s Tenaz Energy. For the low, low price of €165 million ($180.33 million), Tenaz Energy gets to inherit all the shiny shares of NAM Offshore B.V., a joint venture that also involves the Dutch government.

NAM operates the infamous Groningen gas field in the Netherlands. But wait, there’s more! This sweetheart deal, expected to close by mid-2025, includes all of NAM’s offshore exploration and production businesses, the pipeline infrastructure, and the onshore processing facilities—just not the assets in the Ameland area. Apparently, even Shell has to hold onto something. 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

NAM

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

“Spies, Subsidies, and the BlackRockBot Intervention”

Scene: The Virtual Conference Room

ShellBot:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Emotional Damages? Yes, But Only After 7 Years of Tremors: When the Ground Shakes: Shell’s Quaking Legacy in Groningen

Share this:

Like this:

“A persistent reputational risk.” — Shell internal memo, 2007

Share this:

Like this:

Another Earthquake, Another Escape Clause

Share this:

Like this:

NAM, of course, is the joint venture of Shell and ExxonMobil that milked Groningen for decades.

Share this:

Like this:

The Charges

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Nothing Says “Sustainable Business” Like an Earthquake Every Few Months

“Induced Earthquakes”: Just a Fancy Term for Corporate Destruction

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Sir Henri Deterding, resurrected!

JOE LYCETT DISCUSSES SHELL WITH JOHN DONOVAN

Meta

John Donovan’s ebooks

JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW

SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE

SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS

SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL

INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL

DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON

SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA

SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA

SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT

LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO

SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS

SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER

JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS

Archives

SHELL OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT OF THIS WEBSITE

Critic’s corner

30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.

The worst ever

The worst ever

OVER 500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR SHELL WEBSITES

DISCLAIMER

Categories

SHELL PROPPED UP APARTHEID

Royal Dutch Shell plc .com Cookies Policy