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Nigeria: Maybe Shell isn’t that bad

Jan 12th, 2011
by John Donovan.
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By Emily Grainger

I am currently investigating Shell’s position within Nigeria, more specifically the Delta; when I came across your website. It is crammed with an insane amount of information I can’t even begin to take half of it in, it’s a great resource, thanks.

Something I never thought I would say before investigating their operations in the war zone that is the Delta is that maybe Shell isn’t that bad. I am more than sure this comment will rub a few backs up – passionate is an understatement for the debate established on here! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say categorically whether or not as a company I think they are ethical or not. YES they chose the Nigerian Government over local communities as their key stakeholder, but that’s because without them they wouldn’t be able to operate at all within the region let alone country. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Dr Huong defence against Royal Dutch Shell defamation action

Jan 11th, 2011
by John Donovan.
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It will soon be apparent to our readers from the extracts below, why Shell settled the Dr Huong litigation out of court. A very considerable pile of extremely smelly internal dirty laundry that Shell definitely did not want aired in open court, even in Malaysia.

By John Donovan

Dr John Huong, a former Shell geologist of almost 30 years standing was the FIRST SHELL employee to blow the whistle on the Shell reserves fraud (and other important issues relating to the misdeeds of Royal Dutch Shell management). He was not prepared to tolerate  the lives of Shell employees being recklessly put at risk.

As a result Shell was determined to silence him at all costs. Hence the unprecedented spectacle of EIGHT Royal Dutch Shell companies collectively bringing a defamation action against one former employee – an unemployed Malaysian who had no prospect whatsoever of finding alternative employment in his profession while the litigation cloud hung over the heads of himself and his family for several years. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Defamation of Fat Cats

Jan 10th, 2011
by John Donovan.
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Dear Mr. Donovan:

I have been reading your blog and I am highly distressed at your continued slandering and defamation of ‘fat cats’ by associating us with Royal Dutch Shell management. I and my colleagues are in no way affiliated with, or in collusion with, Royal Dutch Shell management. I must therefore demand that you cease and desist with your defamatory comments about ‘fat’ cats. Otherwise, I and my fellow ‘weight challenged’ felines will have no choice but to seek remedy through the legal system. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Royal Dutch Shell: History vs Present Behavior

Dec 2nd, 2010
by John Donovan.
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“Mr V enjoys a new +22% salary up from 3.2M in ’09 to 4.4M. Now don’t get me wrong, he did an excellent job of getting rid of ~6000 employees and made sure all who followed the rules were also rewarded, whether they drank too much, sexually accosted their underlings, had sex on company property, or perhaps circumvented environmental regulations…”

Posting on Shell Blog by “alwayswary” on Dec 2nd, 2010 at 1:29 am

We can look at this history vs present behavior in another way. As I stated previously, the move from whole system/eco-sustainability toward dominance of the fittest, is where corrupt ethical and moral practices displace responsibility. The ‘dialogue’ that is taking place has been loud and clear for the past couple of years: managers play with US regulators, managers indulge in hedonistic self-centered activities, we indulge in the pursuit of energy profits even in Iran, AND rewards keep flowing for top leaders. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Royal Dutch Shell Nazi Controversy

Nov 30th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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Shown right: Pre-World War 2 staff meeting of Rhenania-Ossag (Royal Dutch Shell) employees in Hamburg Curio-Haus, Nazi Germany. Management included at least one Nazi official who remained employed by Shell after the war.

Article by a former employee of Shell Oil USA

Extract: “You folks need to wake up and critically examine how RD Shell really operates. Royal Dutch Shell management is just as capable and willing to cause great mischief for the rest of the world, if it pays do so, as they were in the days of Deterding and Hitler.”

MISSED POINT

This is for Musaint, et al. (See his posting on Shell Blog)

You boys are supposedly bright folks, otherwise Shell probably would not have hired you. However, you have seemed to have somehow missed ‘the point’ of the recent revelations regarding RD Shell’s past ‘odious and questionable associations’.

You remind me of the German’s during the 1930’s. They were and are a very bright people and yet they willingly swallowed Hitler’s line of ‘bull’, just as you seem to swallow RD Shell’s line of corporate ‘bull’. I used to work for Shell, and it is indeed ‘bull’. Of course there were penalties for speaking out in Nazi Germany, as there are today within RD Shell. Do you boys get this point? read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister pompous as ever

Nov 10th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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Posted on Shell Blog by “retired shellee” on Nov 10th, 2010 at 11:24 am

Hofmeister pompous as ever.

Last night I watched the BBC documentary on the Macondo blow-out. It was easy to relate with all that was said by the various participants. But two things stuck to my mind: the media and politicians (Obama included and leading the way) are like a troup of rabid dogs. The moment someone is down, they all attack in a feeding frenzy. All with hidden agendas, all completely oblivious of what their actions might cause. Presumably this is their job and I expect hardly anything else from these charlatans. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Actually Implements a Blog!

Nov 8th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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Interesting article which assumes that RoyalDutchShellplc.com and the “Shell Blog” have been set up by Shell. The author praises the oil giant saying: “Shell is definitely making headway past BP, Exxon, and Chevron with implementing the blog…”

THE ARTICLE

Shell Actually Implements a Blog!

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Allie Romeo

My research is continuing in the area of corporations communicating with shareholders through social media. My next major oil and gas company that deals with shareholders and corporations using social media is Shell. I have hit on most of the major areas of corporations using social media with shareholders, but Shell adds a different element. Shell has a non-commercial blog that is aimed at making officials stand in compliance with Shell’s mission statement. Of course, the one major part of this is that Shell blogs a good amount about the financial end of the company. Shell also has a live news feed, and a webcast that can be accessed. This is a huge step, and a step above many of the other companies. From IR Web Report, using webcasts can allow for all types of shareholders to understand the financial information they are receiving. Blogging allows for feedback and two-way communication, which is what builds the relationships between the shareholders and the corporations. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Deadheads at Shell

Aug 29th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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A short time ago I learned that one of these moron drilling managers had made to a very high management level within Shell. What can I say, ‘Crap floats’.

Comment by a former employee of Shell USA

Many years ago I worked for Shell USA. I did exploration work mostly and for two different onshore divisions. In the mid-1980’s Shell was a non-operating partner with Hunt drilling in the central basin of Michigan. On one particular well a geo-pressured carbonate was pegged at 8000 feet. Big surprise. Reservoir pressure was about 8000 psi. We were expecting about 4500 psi. Needless to say the well blew out. The grossly underrated BOP’s didn’t have a chance of controlling the thing. Flung drill pipe all over the site. Luckily it was a gas well and it caught fire immediately. The flow rate was upwards of about 25 mmcfpd with an H2S content in excess of 30%. Nobody was killed. Don’t asked me how we lucked out. Maybe it was because Hunt was operating. We never did kill that well. It did burn with a pretty blue flame however. It roared like a high speed train and was throwing chunks of rock like a volcano. After a few weeks it finally bridged off naturally. Good thing because we had no idea how we were going to kill it. Too much open hole. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Not much tolerance for criticism within Shell

Jul 28th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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There is not much tolerance for criticism within Shell. The biggest mistake I made in my short and soon to end Shell career was identifying genuine problems and trying to be honest with those senior to me. This doesn’t pay. It pays to tow the company line no matter how ridiculous that is.

OSTING ON SHELL BLOG BY “jg6” IN RESPONSE TO ANOTHER CONTRIBUTOR, “USCITIZEN”

Just thought I’d post a couple of my thoughts. Firstly the use of the word “chiefs” seems to of upset you. I apologise if this is the case. I didn’t mean it as a prescriptive term for all managers.

Unfortunately my manager is not as open as you seem to be.

He unfortunately seems to be indicative of the kind of manager that Shell has these days. A few factual examples as follows:

1. He refused to greet any staff members within our division for an extended period of time. He has since rectified this after several complaints from a number of staff.
2. He routinely attempts to extend people’s 3-4 years windows with zero consultation by stealth on the flimsy HR systems.
3. Once staff make it clear that their future lies within another division of Shell he consistently gives them very low scores on their performance reviews. This has happened on a number of occasions.
4. Despite appalling results in the widely encouraged Shell Survey and strong encouragement from management above him he has flatly ignored the survey results. Sadly the division seems to be heading for another extremely poor, even by Shell standards, set of survey results.
5. He carved out a “dream team” within the team to surround him to work on special jobs. These people have all subsequently quit for other large oil companies. He described this failed venture as an experiment which he was happy failed.
6. He has a healthy level of disrespect for people undertaking post graduate studies as he took the school of hard knocks straight out of Shell. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Retired Shell Global Chief Petroleum Engineer Iain Percival comments on BP oil slick

Jun 12th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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Article by former Royal Dutch Shell executive Paddy Briggs…

“Obama is not being anti-British over BP“

…stimulates following comments on Shell Blog from retired senior Shell staff

MUSAINT on Jun 12th, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Paddy, I cannot fully support your comments concerning those made by Obama over the BP oil spill. Certainly BP have a less than acceptable safety record which needs to be immediately addressed. However, I believe that Obama is using this spill as an ideal way to deflect the problems he has in America and his very low support ratings from the voters there. (Bad news is Good news when it is used to hide major political problems.) What I sincerely hope is that Transocean and Cameron-Hydril also start to get their long overdue bashing from Obama and the American public. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Adventures in Shell ‘Matulaland’

Jun 11th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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Posting on Shell Blog by IT4me on Jun 11th, 2010 at 11:27 am

IT COST SAVING IDEA #317: STOP FIDDLING WITH THE SUPPLY SIDE.

If you’re a CIO and you’re bored, one of the things you might do is to fiddle with the supply side. Changing all your suppliers overnight makes a nice splash in the media and marks you out as a thrusting and dynamic leader.

Thus we learned a few years back that Shell IT now had just 4 ‘Key Application Suppliers’ globally: IBM and WIPRO for the ‘oily rag’ stuff (sourcing mainly from India) plus LOGICA and ACCENTURE to talk persuasively and rack up impressive dry-cleaning bills. They how I understood it, anyway. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Distraction can lead to disaster: Bollywood folly by silent Transocean boss Steven Newman

Jun 6th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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Posting on Shell Blog by “retired shellee” on Jun 6th, 2010 at 8:43 am

Seeing Steven Newman performing a bollywood dance does not bode very well for Transocean. Nearly 15 years ago the CMD of Shell danced the Macarena and soon after RDS went into mortal decline. Chiefs of large corporations must remain focussed and not become sun kings surrounded with sycophants. They do represent their corporations in words and actions. Dancing the macarena or making bollywood moves has nothing to do with the core business of either company!

Posting on Shell Blog by “Nutshell” on Jun 6th, 2010 at 8:23 pm

You are so right, retired shellee. I too remember this period well. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Short-termism at Royal Dutch Shell

Apr 24th, 2010
by John Donovan.
2 comments

UPDATED MONDAY 26 APRIL 2010

“In an obsessively cost conscious environment such as the one that rules in Shell at the moment all labour-intensive sectors are at risk –irrespective of their intrinsic value or their competence – or even the likely long-term demand for their products and services.”

Posting on Shell Blog by Wilt Staph on Apr 24th, 2010 at 12:14 pm

A couple of decades ago Shell had five refineries in the United Kingdom – when the sale of Stanlow is completed soon they will have none. Is this because refining is a sunset industry with no growth potential and no chance of earning returns? Not if you take note of reliable global demand forecasts it isn’t. The “US Joint Forces Command” – the top of the American armed forces pyramid – has recently said that globally a “severe energy crunch is inevitable without massive expansion of production and refining capacity”. Most other forecasters agree that the planet will need substantially more not less refining capability in the years ahead. So why has Shell retreated so dramatically from refining and what are the implications for the “new Shell” which will emerge from the radical reviews underway under Peter Voser? read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Blog comment on article “Shell International Upstream to Power Growth…”

Apr 3rd, 2010
by John Donovan.
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I suggest that we from now on start every speech or statement of Brinded with “Once upon a time, long ago…..”

SHELL BLOG COMMENT BY Guest1 on the article Shell International Upstream to Power Growth….

Adding 600,000 bopd sounds a lot but will not be sufficient to bring back the production level from 3 to 3.5 mln bopd. The reason is very simple: the current production declines by 10-15% per annum, so in 2012 the existing fields will produce (optimistically speaking, we are all followers of Brinded) not more than 2.4 mln bopd. Adding 600,000 therefore merely keeps the production level constant. We all know that Brinded is so smart he thinks he can defeat laws of nature. But oilfields are very stubborn and may not do what Brinded wants them to do… So, he better starts adding a lot more bopd if he wants to reach his earlier stated goal of 5-6 mln bopd in 2013. Time is running out fast. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Royal Dutch Shell head spinning mismanagement

Mar 30th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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Peoples heads have been spinning so much from changes in the past 15 years they don’t even know what their job scope is anymore!

Series of Shell Blog postings by “Uncle Tom” on Mar 30th, 2010

Shell Management . . . . . .

In years past Shell looked at the long “cycles” in the business. Staying diversified meant when one part of the business wasn’t doing well, the other side of the business was. Being diversified kept the Company afloat.

Today’s Management Philosophy is a short term 1 to 2 year focus period, if results are not achieved in that short span of time, make changes quickly and expect better results. Change, change, change, change. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Slow painful demise of Shell’s refining and marketing business

Mar 27th, 2010
by John Donovan.
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The Shell “Pecten” was one of the most familiar symbols in the world and Shell gas stations were in more than 120 countries – Shell was by far the market leader

POSTING ON SHELL BLOG: 27 March 2010

(By “Wilt Staph”)

The slow demise of Shell’s refining and marketing business (known as “Oil Products”) has been painful to watch for those who remember, or were part of, the glory days of the Shell brand. At one time Shell was arguably the most ubiquitous consumer brand of all in any sector – certainly on a global scale. The Shell “Pecten” was one of the most familiar symbols in the world and Shell gas stations were in more than 120 countries – Shell was by far the market leader. But over the last ten years or so this position of dominance has eroded and now Shell has announced that it will be withdrawing from around a third of the countries in which it retails automotive products – the beginning of the last phase of Shell’s existence as a marketer is underway and gathering pace. So where did it all go wrong? read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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