News and information on Shell Plc
By John Donovan
An article we published on 3rd July 2005 warned in relation to the Corrib Gas project in Ireland: “Do we spy another PR disaster on Shell’s horizon…”
I went on to warn:
..there appears to be all of the ingredients present for another Shell PR disaster…
At the 2005 Shell AGM, the then Chairman of Shell Transport and Trading Company Lord Oxburgh, was gung-ho about jailing land owner opponents of the Corrib gas pipeline, who became known as the Rossport Five.
On 19 February 1995, when Esther again tried to visit her husband, she was locked up by Okuntimo and tied naked to a chair. Then she was beaten with a koboko and sexually harassed and assaulted by Okuntimo.By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the 138 page Esther Kiobel Writ served on multiple Royal Dutch Shell companies on 28 June 2017. More information is provided after the extracts.
4.5 Ill-treatment of lawyers and family members
Both lawyers and family members of the suspects were seriously intimidated, threatened and even ill-treated during the trial.138 On several occasions the lawyers were denied access to the heavily protected court.139 For example, at the session of 21 February 1995 Fawehinmi related how that morning he was forced by Lt. Hassan, who worked directly under Okuntimo, under threat of violence, to board a police bus. Lawyer Falana was beaten in the same incident.140 These two lawyers were also unlawfully detained by the regime during (the run-up to) the trial.141 Oso, Kiobel’s lawyer, related how he became the victim of serious intimidation. On arrival at the courthouse he was told to leave after which his driver was beaten up and his car destroyed.142 That same morning Saro-Wiwa’s 74-year-old mother was beaten up on the instructions of Lt. Hassan when she tried to enter the court.143 When Kiobel was asked on 22 June 1995 whether he could arrange another lawyer since Oso had stopped his defence, he stated, to the annoyance of Judge Auta, how his family was being harassed by the army:“I have been detained since last year. I have no access to anybody to go and get any further information for anything or get a capable lawyer who will be able to stand to defend me. Surprisingly, Thursday last week, even my family at home and secretary to the Chief of my village are being chastised by the Armed Forces because of this matter.”144
By John Donovan
Over 100,000 Shell internal documents assembled by Shell in relation to a thwarted legal action brought against Shell by Esther Kiobel over a decade ago are the subject of a ferocious legal battle. In the mean time, they are stored under the control of Shell lawyers in a secure US warehouse at an undisclosed address. Esther holds Shell responsible for the murder of her husband Dr Barinem Kiobel – one of the ‘Ogoni 9‘. Shell’s US lawyers are currently appealing a US federal court decision that Esther Kiobel should be given access to the discovery in connection with the same human rights case she is bringing against Shell in the Netherlands.
By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the Esther Kiobel Writ served on multiple Royal Dutch Shell companies on 28 June 2017. More information is provided after the extracts.
4.4 Ill-treatment of the suspects
97. From their arrest the suspects were detained in appalling conditions, most in a military prison at Bori Camp, which was highly unusual.124 They were under the authority of the RSISTF and were subjected to physical and mental abuse and torture on a daily basis.125
Above from
For instance, two witnesses… made statements under oath in which they said that they had been offered money and a job by the regime and Shell in exchange for incriminating testimony… By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the English translation of a 138 page Writ of Summons served on Royal Dutch Shell companies on 28 June 2017 by Dutch Human Rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira. They represent four widows including Esther Kiobel who hold Shell liable for the murder of their husbands individual Ogoni leaders now known collectively as the ‘Ogoni Nine‘. MOSOP Chairman Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of the group. For the purpose of this online publication, the footnotes are indicated in red text.
It’s a world of worry for oil companies: Houston Chronicle: 8 July 2017Some oil companies have made moves to brace for a future in which oil plays a diminishing role. Many are increasing investments in the production of natural gas, the fuel of choice for generating electricity, and some are investing in renewables. BP, for example, operates a wind farm in West Texas. In June, Royal Dutch Shell announced it plans to acquire MP2 Energy… Read More
A group of communities in Nigeria’s Niger River delta demanded a stake in an oil block it said it was promised when Royal Dutch Shell Plc sold its share to a local company six years ago. Read More
By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the English translation of a 138 page Writ of Summons served on Royal Dutch Shell companies on 28 June 2017 by Dutch Human Rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira. They represent four widows including Esther Kiobel who hold Shell liable for the murder of their husbands individual Ogoni leaders now known collectively as the ‘Ogoni Nine‘. MOSOP Chairman Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of the group. For the purpose of this online publication, the footnotes are indicated in red text.
The Politicization of a Depraved Ogoni Remediation ProjectBy Anthony Aalo
To remediate is to correct or make right. Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollutants or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, underground water, sediment, or surface water. An Ogoni elite Barinua Wifa (SAN), rightly puts it this way: “Remediation is when you put a person in the position he was before an injury”
Before the deliberate destruction of Ogoniland by Shell, fishing and farming were the main means of livelihood undertaken daily by the Ogonis. The environment flourished with green vegetation, which supported families and small businesses. The Ogoni region, prior to the destruction was the largest food supplier in the entire eastern region of Nigeria and had the largest mangrove vegetation in the gulf of Guinea.
By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the English translation of a 138 page Writ of Summons served on Royal Dutch Shell companies on 28 June 2017 by Dutch Human Rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira. They represent four widows including Esther Kiobel who hold Shell liable for the murder of their husbands individual Ogoni leaders now known collectively as the ‘Ogoni Nine‘. MOSOP Chairman Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of the group. For the purpose of this online publication, the footnotes are indicated in red text.
“The Ogoni took stock of their condition and found that in spite of the stupendous oil and gas wealth of their land, they were extremely poor, had no social amenities, that unemployment was running at over 70 percent, and that they were powerless, as an ethnic community in a country of 100 million people, to do anything to alleviate their condition. Worse, their environment was completely devastated by three decades of reckless oil exploitation or ecological warfare by Shell.”By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the English translation of a 138 page Writ of Summons served on Royal Dutch Shell companies on 28 June 2017 by Dutch Human Rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira. They represent four widows including Esther Kiobel who hold Shell liable for the murder of their husbands, individual Ogoni leaders now known collectively as the ‘Ogoni Nine‘. MOSOP Chairman Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of the group. For the purpose of this online publication, the footnotes are indicated in red text.
…Shell continued to collaborate closely with the regime during Abacha’s period of government and it regularly offered the regime a helping hand. Shell was prepared for instance to procure weapons, to maintain a network of informants and to make its means of transport available for military operations.By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the English translation of a 138 page Writ of Summons served on Royal Dutch Shell companies on 28 June 2017 by Dutch Human Rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira. They represent four widows including Esther Kiobel who hold Shell liable for the murder of their husbands, individual Ogoni leaders now known collectively as the ‘Ogoni Nine‘. The famed writer and community leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa was one of the group. For the purpose of this online publication, the footnotes are indicated in red text.
By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are extracted from the English translation of a 138 page Writ of Summons served on several Royal Dutch Shell companies last week by Dutch Human Rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira. They represent several widows led by Esther Kiobel, who hold Shell liable for the murder of their husbands, from an Ogoni leadership group known collectively as the ‘Ogoni Nine‘.
EXTRACTS
3.2 Consequences of oil extraction in Ogoniland
43. Ogoniland has been the homeland of the Ogoni, a population group of around 500,000 people in 1994. Currently around 1.5 million people live in Ogoniland.
By John Donovan
Earlier today, Reuters reported that the Nigerian House of Representatives has formally summoned former President Goodluck Jonathan to testify about the OPL 245 deal involving Shell and Eni.
Barnaby Pace, Campaigner for Global Witness says:
The Jonathan administration agreed this corrupt deal with major oil companies that deprived the Nigerian people of at least $1.1billion. That’s more than Nigeria’s health budget for 2016. The Nigerian people deserve answers from Goodluck Jonathan and for those responsible for this scandal to be held to account, whether they are inside or outside Nigeria, from Government to boardrooms.
By John Donovan
The numbered paragraphs below are all extracted from a 138 page Writ of Summons. It was served on multiple Royal Dutch Shell companies on or around 28 June by the Dutch Human Rights law firm Prakken d’Oliveira acting on behalf of 4 widows led by Esther Kiobel. The widows hold Shell liable for the murder of their husbands, who were all members of the ‘Ogoni Nine‘.
EXTRACTS
3.1 Shell in Nigeria
38. The Anglo-Dutch company Shell has played an active role in what was then still British Colonial Nigeria since 1936, where it was involved in the search for oil fields and the first oil extraction in the Niger Delta from the 1940s. When a large-scale oil industry got going in Nigeria from 1958 Shell became the main player.28 Even after the independence of Nigeria in 1960 oil exploitation in Nigeria remained largely in Shell’s hands.
Nigeria Parliament Inquiry Calls Ex-President Jonathan Over OPL 245 Oil Block Sale Scandal: Reuters: 5 July 2017ExxonMobil/Shell: Haven’t Heard of Groningen? You Might Want to Read This
Ogoni 9 widow Esther Kiobel lands day in court against oil giant Shell: CNN: 30 June 2017“I agree that companies should be clear about how they plan to be resilient in the face of climate change and energy transition,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in a company statement.
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.
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
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John Donovan, the website owner
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