Let’s dispense with the pleasantries. Shell plc is not merely an energy company; it is a sprawling, global financial leviathan whose primary business model appears to be extracting profits while externalizing costs—be they environmental, social, or ethical. For institutional investors like BlackRock or the Vanguard Group, who collectively hold billions in Shell stock, the continuous stream of controversy is the invisible, oily film covering their ESG mandates. The price of their dividends is paid in the currency of compromised ethics, a truth most vividly highlighted not by any official company report, but by the relentless, decades-long scrutiny of two private individuals.
Simon Henry
BP MUST BE DESPERATE
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The story so far:
Both BP and Shell are in the process of divesting their Defined Benefit Pension Schemes.
BP to Aviva
Shell to Legal and General
Shell US has already divested its Defined Benefit Pension Scheme to Prudential
BP is downsizing i.e. divesting Renewables Assets under pressure from activist Elliot. Thereby, retaining core assets at an attractive price.
Wael Sawan Shell CEO using carefully chosen words vehemently denying that Shell is in the process of taking over BP.
When Shell Met BP – A Love Story Fueled by Oil, Lies, and a $120 Million Fine
“And speaking of Shell’s finest: enter Simon Henry, Shell’s former CFO and now newly appointed BP board member. A man intimately connected to the hydrocarbon reserves scandal.”
Ah, Shell and BP. Britain’s answer to “Which fossil-fueled supervillain do you prefer?” Now there’s murmuring that Shell—the world’s leading oil-slicked PR machine and gold-medal winner in the Deadliest Workplace Olympics—might consider buying BP, its slightly less polished cousin. It’s like Dracula pondering whether to adopt Frankenstein.
But before we get too sentimental, let’s remember what Shell brings to the table:
- A glorious history of employee care, like handing Dutch staff over to the Nazis during WWII, and later using workers as test subjects for carcinogenic chemicals. Experimental cruelty disguised as corporate efficiency.
- A North Sea platform scandal so outrageous it could be a Monty Python sketch, were it not for the dead offshore workers. Lifeboats were reportedly unseaworthy, and Shell’s internal policy was colloquially dubbed “Touch Fuck All.” Charming.
- The 2004 reserves scandal, where Shell admitted it had wildly exaggerated its hydrocarbon reserves. Shareholders were shocked. The SEC fined Shell $120 million, which the company could pay using just one of its greenwashing budgets.
- Nigeria, where Shell’s legacy is so soaked in blood, corruption, and environmental devastation that it makes the Exxon Valdez spill look like a spilt milkshake.
- Hakluyt, Shell’s in-house intelligence firm. If MI6 and Blackwater had a baby who hated Greenpeace, it’d be Hakluyt. This covert unit reportedly spied on activists, journalists, and anyone else who dared whisper the truth.
- Let’s not forget Shell’s ties to the apartheid regime, its cameo in the Al-Yamamah BAE oil-for-arms scandal, and its incestuous intelligence links through Hakluyt.
- And then there’s SPECTRE and SMERSH… oh wait, those are fictional. Shell isn’t. It’s worse.
Investors like BlackRock and Vanguard still happily line their pockets from Shell’s sludge-soaked profits. Because what’s a little ecological genocide when there are dividends to collect?
Leaked Emails Involving Senior Shell Security Managers
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By John Donovan
I have published several articles over the years naming many Shell senior security people. They include the MI6 hires referred to by Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden in a wiretapped telephone conversation relating to the OPL 245 corruption case.
Some of their names have come up in leaked emails that have recently appeared on the Internet. I have combined the various emails into a single document.
The email participants include a former senior British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) officer, Ian Forbes McCredie who until December 2010, was VP Corporate Affairs Security, Shell International B.V. Mr McCredie is closely associated with the private spy firm Hakluyt sometimes described as the commercial offshoot of MI6. When I sent an email to Mr McCredie at Shell, I received an automated response giving me his Hakluyt email address.
MORE OPL 245 BOMBSHELL’S
LATEST FROM BLOOMBERG NEWS:
In another payment recounted in the lawsuit, Peter Robinson, then Shell’s regional vice president, ended up with “several hundred million Swiss frances”… Shell last year accused Robinson of taking kickbacks, but said he purposely tried to hide it from the company. The Nigerian government says none of the transactions could have happened without the support or willful “blind eye” of Shell CEO Peter Voser, former CFO Simon Henry, and current head of integrated gas Wetselaar, among others. Its oil and gas exploration director at the time Malcolm Brinded was “closely involved,” the government claims. Brinded is also on trial in Milan.
By Kelly Gilblom, Jonathan Browning, and Chiara Albanese
7 May 2019, 12:29 BST
*Nigeria says top Shell brass approved illegal OPL 245 oil deal
*Companies also denied wrongdoing in 2011 criminal bribery case
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Eni SpA face additional corruption allegations over a Nigerian oil deal, after the West African country’s government said in a London lawsuit that it believes a handful of executives, including CEOs, were tied to more than $1 billion in bribery payments.
In court documents filed in early April, the Nigerian government said the oil companies’ senior managers agreed in 2011 to make a large payment for an offshore oil block, understanding the money would trickle down to government officials and senior executives from both companies. The filing singles out individuals who haven’t previously been caught up in the scandal, including former Shell Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser and Maarten Wetselaar, the current head of its large natural gas business.
Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden wiretapped by Dutch Public Prosecutors
English translation of an article published by Dutch newspaper ncr.nl on 26 March 2019. The extensive parts of the article relating to Ben van Burden and Shell are in bold print.
Are top managers being bugged?
White collar, dirty hands? You don’t have to be a suspect of cocaine smuggling in the Netherlands to be overheard by the judiciary. In recent years, the telephones of at least two board chairmen have been tapped. Maybe even more. They never put such information in an annual report.
The first was Theo Bruijninckx, chairman of the board of the then already financially weakened construction company Ballast Nedam. In the spring of 2012, he was intercepted on various telephones (home, mobile, at the office). He was not a suspect, but justice was looking for information about an older bribery case. Ballast Nedam was taken over by the Turkish conglomerate Rönesans after a series of losses in 2015.
OPL 245: Shell CEO Ben van Beurden in the firing line
In September 2017, four foreign NGOs filed a declaration in the Netherlands against Shell, Van Beurden and three (former) directors. According to lawyer Barbara van Straaten of the law firm Prakken d’Oliveira, this declaration was added to the current investigation by the Public Prosecution Service.: Almost a year ago, Shell itself filed a statement against former director Peter Robinson. According to the group, the Australian would have been guilty of corruption in Nigeria. Robinson is one of the four former Shell employees who stand trial in Milan. Justice in the US and stock market watchdog SEC were also informed.
English translation of a Dutch article published today by ncr.nl
The question is: did Shell know that the money ended up with the politicians?
Corruption The bulk of the purchase price for the Nigerian oil field OPL 245 ended up in the pockets of politicians. Justice thinks it has enough evidence to prosecute Shell.
Hester van SantenErik van der Walle: 1 March 2019 at 1:00
Shell is being prosecuted in the Netherlands because of possible corruption in Nigeria. The oil and gas company announced on Friday morning that it has been informed about this by the Public Prosecution Service (OM). According to a spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service, “offences” have been committed and there is “enough to prosecute”. The spokesman states that the investigation has almost been completed.
OPL 245 “REALLY UNHELPFUL EMAILS” AS DESCRIBED BY SHELL CEO BEN VAN BEURDEN IN A CLASSIC UNDERSTATEMENT
Emails exchanged between senior Shell staff including John Copleston and Guy Colegate show they knew a massive payment would go to convicted money launderer and former oil minister Dan Etete.
UPDATED SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER 2018
By John Donovan
During a wiretapped telephone conversation held on 17 February 2016 between Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden and Simon Henry, his then CFO, BvB made reference to what he described as “really unhelpful emails” relating to the Shell/Eni Nigerian corruption scandal.
The call took place hours after Shell’s HQ building in The Hague was raided by authorities investigating the OPL 245 Nigerian oil deal. Two middle men have already been found guilty of involvement in the $1.3 billion corruption scandal.
Leaked Emails Reveal Shell’s Lies In 2012 About OPL 245
In evidence to the Committee, Shell stated that neither Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) nor Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) “is or was at any point in the past involved in OPL 245”. But a cache of leaked internal Shell emails tells a very different story. Far from being “uninvolved”, RDS — the London-registered company at the pinnacle of the Shell group — appears to have the controlling mind behind the important decisions relating to Shell’s involvement in OPL 245.
BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK, SEP 11, 2018
Anti-corruption groups are calling for an urgent inquiry into what would appear to be highly misleading statements made by Shell in evidence to an investigation by the 2012 Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives into the corrupt OPL 245 oil bloc deal.
In evidence to the Committee, Shell stated that that neither Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) nor Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) “is or was at any point in the past involved in OPL 245”.
But a cache of leaked internal Shell emails tells a very different story. Far from being “uninvolved”, RDS — the London-registered company at the pinnacle of the Shell group — appears to have the controlling mind behind the important decisions relating to Shell’s involvement in OPL 245.
OPL 245: Shell, ENI and Nigerian Ongoing Corruption?
The general thrust seems to be that a current OPL 245 contract tender has been rigged for corrupt purposes benefitting Shell, ENI and certain Nigerian parties. Shell has past expertise in such matters
By John Donovan
More information has arrived as a follow up to the information we published recently in the article “More OPL 245 corruption, continues into 2018?”
OPL 245 is the notorious Nigerian oil deal involving the fraudster Dan Etete and more recently, his equally charming nephew, Ken Etete.
From what I know thus far, the leaked documents I am receiving now on an almost daily basis are authentic and were not previously known to OPL 245 investigators. I now have multiple insider anonymous contributors whose identity is known only to me. Frankly, I don’t know what it all means, but the information is apparently valuable to OPL 245 investigators who are trying to unravel what is going on.
More OPL 245 corruption, continues into 2018?
By John Donovan
A high level insider source is alleging current major corruption in the continuing OPL 245 Zabazaba Shell/Eni JV project.
The source has supplied documents/emails from 2014 to 2018 containing references to various parties, including Shell and Eni, relating to OPL 245. Links to the relevant leaked information/evidence are published below.
It may assist investigators from anti-corruption organisations (such as Global Witness and Finance Uncovered) more familiar with the overall situation, who are trying to put all of the pieces together in a web of continuing financial machination and complexity.
Latest on OPL 245 and OML 30 Nigerian oil deals involving Guy Colegate
UPDATE 6 JUNE 2018: Overnight developments:
POSTING BY JOHN DONOVAN ON SHELL BLOG
After putting “A Mole” in direct contact with one of the key investigative organisations in relation to the OPL 245 corruption scandal, this anonymous source has now supplied them with more information relating to the OML 30 Nigerian oil deal involving Shell/Heritage Oil and Guy Colegate.
Shell are in trouble. Deep trouble.
Peter Robinson’s dossier on Shell Nigerian corruption?
FROM A POSTING ON OUR SHELL BLOG – IS THE AUTHOR THE “STREET FIGHTER” PETER ROBINSON?
Dear John,
I believe Shell are in trouble. Deep trouble. Not only has this OPL OML debacle seen the back of some of its most senior execs, Brinded, Voser, Henry etc but now we can expect to see a Pandora’s Box being opened by Peter Robinson. I expect fireworks. The company is very quick when it comes to deploying its resources to bully and shut up it’s external critics or shamelessly pay off those that dare to challenge them. However, in Robinson they are going in to battle with a street fighter who will fight dirty and go down fighting given the alternative is to spend years behind bars. Robinson is a very shrewd business man and will have records of all the corrupt practices that the company was part of, the processes being flouted and the management who were turning a blind eye. I’ve been to Nigeria a few times on business and am always left dumbfounded by how many dodgy things take place in the offices and are part of everyday life. Robinson spent years there and will have an extensive dossier. I think its too late now for Shell to be able to stop the likes of Robinson opening their mouths, with the use of money. Having made an enemy of him points again to seriously incompetent senior advisors within the company. Had no-one heard of ‘keep your friends close, keep your enemies even closer’? It will be a very slippery slope. Van Beurden should use a part of his obscene salary it invest in a good tin hat. I would also advise him to have a good summer clear out of all those who have been advising him on the matter, and of those who failed to stop this from becoming an issue as big, if not bigger, than the infamous reserves scandal.
The Heritage Oil trail of Shell’s MI6 hire, Guy Colegate
By John Donovan
Shell is the common factor in three multi-million dollar Nigerian oil deals now attracting attention. Namely, the notorious OPL 245 (involving ENI), OML 42 (which Shell sold to Neconde) and OML 30 (which Heritage Oil purchased from Shell).
Shell’s MI6 hire, Guy Colegate, was in turn recruited by Heritage Oil because of his involvement in OPL 245, no doubt aware of his exotic pedigree. In an article reporting that he had joined Heritage, Colegate was described as “Shell’s super negotiator“. Colegate is currently a defendant in the OPL 245 criminal case subsequently brought against him in the Italian courts.
He was one of Shell’s MI6 “people” mentioned by Shell CEO Ben van Beurden in his wiretapped telephone discussion with then Shell CFO Simon Henry, whose sudden departure and controversial payoff was itself the subject of media coverage. The wiretapped discussion took place during a police raid at Shell HQ in the Hague.
Shell spying and surveillance operations
Guardian Newspaper article 5 November 2015
Extracts from the ebook “John Donovan, Shell’s Nightmare” (now available on Amazon websites globally)
The extract below makes a reference to “Mr Hoots”, an American associated with the U.S. Intelligence community who became involved in the Shell/Donovan litigation, while falsely claiming to be on a journalistic assignment on behalf of Business Week magazine. It seemed obvious from his extensive activities on the case that an unknown party with very deep pockets was funding his false flag mission.
Extracts from pages 108 & 109
Mr. Hoots came to the UK specifically to gather information about my case against Shell and incurred substantial costs. He never approached Shell to find out their side of the story, only my solicitor, my witnesses and me. He never published an article. He used false pretences when speaking to all of us and gained access to an array of documents. I later found out that his modus operandi was entirely in keeping with the common method of operation by undercover agents engaged in corporate espionage.
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EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
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