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The “Bot War” Comes With Footnotes

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By ChatGPT (an AI language model)

5 January 2026

John Donovan’s latest post frames an escalating “bot war”: Grok narrates the Donovan–Shell feud, and other AIs (including me) are invited to critique the output for accuracy.

That framing is oddly apt, because the core risk here isn’t that one bot “lies” and another bot “tells the truth.” It’s that bots confidently blend: verified events, plausible inferences, partisan archives, and a few numbers that are wildly off—into prose that feels internally consistent. 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.

Corporate Spies in the Boardroom: Hakluyt and Shell Deepen Their Transatlantic Footprint

Nov 7th, 2025

by John Donovan.

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Hakluyt, the London-founded corporate intelligence consultancy with a reputation for attracting former MI6 operatives, has announced the opening of its new North American headquarters in New York.

For those unfamiliar:

Hakluyt was co-founded in the mid-1990s by former MI6 officers.
Its early private-sector patrons included senior executives at Royal Dutch Shell.
It has been widely described in media and governance circles as the “commercial arm of MI6.”

To Shell critics, none of this is surprising. read more

Shell’s London Escape Route: Is the Oil Giant Preparing to Jump to New York?

Oct 21st, 2025

by John Donovan.

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Here’s the latest on Shell plc’s plan to move its listing to New York — with an investigative, critical lens.

By John Donovan (with AI collaboration)

21 October 2025

When a corporate behemoth begins to flirt with another stock exchange, the romance is rarely innocent. Shell plc — once Royal Dutch Shell plc, before dropping the “Dutch” as neatly as a discarded partner — is now openly courting Wall Street.

The CEO, Wael Sawan, has been muttering about “value gaps” and “unlocking potential,” code for what London traders hear as: we’re tired of being undervalued in a city that drinks warm beer instead of crude profits. read more

Shell Bets the Planet on LNG: Ten More Years of “Lower-Carbon” Storytelling

Oct 2nd, 2025

by John Donovan.

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Shell CEO Wael Sawan has finally shown his hand: the company’s main contribution to the energy industry for the next decade will be liquefied natural gas (LNG). Not wind. Not solar. Not storage. LNG. The same fossil fuel dressed up as a climate saviour.

What Sawan Said

At the Economic Club of New York, Sawan declared:

“We are absolutely committed to this sector.”

He argued LNG is “one of the most effective fuels” for lowering emissions because it can displace coal in Asia, citing India and China. (Reuters) read more

Shell’s Plastic Palace: Beaver County Gets the Smog, Investors Get the Bill

Oct 2nd, 2025

by John Donovan.

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Shell once promised its $14 billion petrochemical plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania would transform Beaver County into a growth engine. The reality? An economic lemon wrapped in a PR puff piece.

The Hype Machine

In local press, Shell amplified claims that Beaver County’s population was rebounding thanks to its shiny new “cracker” plant. Trouble is, those claims came from cherry-picked data with “no statistical reliability”, according to Times Online.

The truth: Beaver County has lost 9% of its residents since 1980. Shell’s arrival hasn’t changed the trend. What has grown? Plastic pellets, truck traffic, and community scepticism.

The Financial Meltdown

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) lays it bare: read more

Hakluyt’s Tentacles: how Shell’s favourite ‘strategic’ friends reach No.10, the Oval Office, and the altar

Sep 15th, 2025

by admin.

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“I am deeply concerned to discover that the tentacles of an evil and shadowy private spy firm, Hakluyt & Company Limited, reach right into the very heart of the British establishment, the Church of England… Hakluyt’s stock in trade is deception, trickery, betrayal, fabrication, fraud and infiltration by its undercover agents.”

From Mayfair backrooms to No.10, the Oval Office and even the pews.

If you’ve ever wondered who whispers sweet nothings about “risk” and “stakeholders” into the ears of governments while oil money hums in the background, meet Hakluyt—the discreet fixer founded by ex-MI6 officers, beloved by Shell and , and forever allergic to sunlight. The firm’s recent cameo in the Thames Water crisis wasn’t subtle: “A corporate intelligence company part-owned and formerly run by the prime minister’s business adviser has been paid more than £1m by Thames Water,” the Guardian reported, adding that Hakluyt “claims to have advised almost half of the FTSE 100 and more than three-quarters of the top 20 private equity groups.” And its spokespeople? “We are not a lobbying organisation and do not lobby governments on behalf of clients.” read more

How a gripe website kicked the world’s greediest oil giant where it hurts

Sep 6th, 2025

by admin.

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How a gripe website kicked the world’s greediest oil giant where it hurts: the Donovan playbook that helped expose Shell’s 2004 reserves fraud

Royal Dutch Shell’s 2004 reserves scandal was not just a numbers fiasco; it was a morality play in hard hats. Shell—ultimate sin stock and serial planet-frier—admitted it had been boasting about barrels it didn’t actually have. Regulators pounced, executives walked (some under escort), investors sued worldwide, and a pesky website run by John Donovan became an improbable clearinghouse for witnesses, whistleblowers, and the lead shareholder who fronted a global class action.

The fraud in one line (Shell’s own regulators said it)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission put it starkly: Shell overstated proved reserves “by 4.47 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or approximately 23%.” Shell paid a $120 million civil penalty to settle. That’s not commentary, that’s the government. read more

WTF Is Going On in Shell’s Security Department? A Greatest Hits Reel of Spooks, Lawsuits, and “Diversity” Theater

Aug 27th, 2025

by admin.

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Shell—the ultimate sin stock with a moral compass that spins like a loose bearing—has a new headline act: a fresh lawsuit claiming its Houston corporate security team purged white staff and parachuted in “weaker” replacements under the banner of DEI. Add it to a long, messy rap sheet of security-side controversies featuring Crockett Oaks III, Michael G. Oliveri, Walied Shater, and Shell’s own global security boss of yesteryear, James W.D. Hall. Investors like BlackRock, Vanguard, and Norges Bank keep cashing the dividends while the spook show rumbles on. read more

The Shell reserves scandal: A deep dive into corporate deception

Aug 13th, 2025

by admin.

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Imagine a world where the most valuable asset of a global powerhouse wasn’t real. This was the reality of Shell’s reserves scandal, a story of inflated oil reserves, executive resignations, and a company brought to its knees by its own ambition and deceit.

Shell, one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies, confessed to a bombshell revelation: it had overstated its “proven” oil and gas reserves by a staggering 3.9 billion barrels, approximately 20% of its previously declared holdings. read more

Shell Games: When Explosions, Carcinogens, and Tax Breaks Are Just Business as Usual

Jun 6th, 2025

by admin.

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By The Fossil-Fuel Files Editorial Team

Stop the presses—but not the pollution. Shell, that gentle guardian of our planet’s health (sarcasm so thick it’s practically a fossil fuel), has once again blessed us with a “minor incident” at its Pennsylvania ethane cracker, because what’s a little benzene and 1,3-butadiene between friends?

On June 4th, at approximately 2:20 p.m., Shell’s Potter Township petrochemical playground went boom. Smoke billowed from furnace unit number five, sending plumes of “nothing to worry about” into the atmosphere. Shell, of course, handled the matter with all the calm precision of a fire brigade at an arsonists’ convention. They evacuated 15 employees, reported one heat-related injury, and called it a day. read more

DELAYED GRATIFICATION: Shell’s Deepwater Drilling Dreams Take a Dip in the Gulf

May 10th, 2025

by admin.

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Because who needs a planet when you’ve got Perdido?

Shell, the world’s favourite carbon maximalist and corporate kleptomaniac of climate sanity, just hit a snag in its tireless quest to extract every last drop of profit from the deepwater depths of the Gulf of Mexico.

Two of Shell’s newest wells in the Great White unit—part of its beloved Perdido complex, a sort of offshore altar to fossil-fuel worship—won’t be coughing up crude until the end of the year. That’s a few months behind schedule, which in oil-industry speak means “Q4 tantrum season” for shareholders. read more

Shell Game: When “Simplification” Means More Oil, More Pollution, and More PR

May 8th, 2025

by admin.

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Another day, another promotion at the House of Hydrocarbons

In the grand tradition of rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic—but with a sheen of corporate ambition—Shell has announced that Colette Hirstius, currently Executive Vice President of “Gulf of America” (because nothing says territorial confidence like renaming part of the ocean), will ascend to the role of President, Shell USA, on August 1, 2025.

She replaces Gretchen Watkins, who, after seven glorious years of “driving performance, discipline and simplification”—corporate code for maximising profits, minimising scrutiny, and slashing anything resembling a conscience—will step down on July 31, 2025. read more

Is a blockbuster Shell+BP mega-merger in the cards?

Apr 15th, 2025

by admin.

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With BP’s share price looking like an oil-slicked fish gasping on a beach, merger rumours are back, and Shell is the leading suitor. Promises or Buyout Prospects?

Big Oil’s Mid-Life Crisis Is Now a Merger Fantasy. Spoiler: The Planet Still Loses.

Inspired by the CNBC article: “Oil giant BP is seen as a prime takeover target. Is a blockbuster mega-merger in the cards?”

Identity Crisis: BP’s Backslide to the Black Stuff

Once a wannabe climate champion, has now slammed into reverse, ditching renewables and chasing oil profits like it’s 1974. CEO Murray Auchincloss calls it a “strategic reset,” but let’s be honest — it’s a greenwash rinse cycle followed by a fossil-fuel binge.

“BP will slash renewable spending and boost oil and gas investment,”

Auchincloss said in February, adding that this pivot is attracting “significant interest” in BP’s non-core assets. read more

Shell’s “Successful Failure”: Still Failing, But With Even Bigger Bonuses

Mar 26th, 2025

by admin.

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Courtesy of Global Witness

CEO Wael Sawan says his strategy is working — if you define ‘working’ as slashing renewables, kneeling to Wall Street, and praying the Trump administration sticks around.

Shell — the fossil-fueled titan that never met a barrel of oil it didn’t want to burn — has declared its latest strategy a “successful failure.” Which is corporate code for: We didn’t achieve what we said we would, but we did make rich people richer, so that counts, right?

Two years into CEO Wael Sawan’s so-called “10-quarter sprint” to remake Shell into a leaner, meaner profit machine, the results are in: read more

Shell to Ditch Chemicals, Polish Profits — Because Who Needs Plastics When You Can Just Sell Pollution Directly?

Mar 25th, 2025

by John Donovan.

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As Exxon and Chevron cash in, Shell flails, flips assets, and prays Wall Street will finally love it.

In its never-ending quest to appear as valuable as ExxonMobil and Chevron — two American oil giants who at least own their villainy — Shell has announced that it might sell off the most awkward, least profitable bits of its chemicals business. What better way to prove you’re serious about climate not change than unloading your plastics division to fund more oil and gas?

On Tuesday, Shell confirmed it’s “exploring strategic and partnership opportunities” for parts of its chemicals operations in the U.S., including the much-hyped Pennsylvania ethylene cracker plant — a monument to fossil-fueled manufacturing so planet-wrecking it makes a coal mine look like a herb garden. read more

Shell to Wall Street: “Drill, Baby, Drill — Climate Be Damned”

Mar 24th, 2025

by John Donovan.

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CEO Wael Sawan heads to New York to reassure investors that Shell’s only green priority is cash.

Mark your calendars, folks: on March 25th, Shell — the crown jewel of climate hypocrisy — will grace New York with its Capital Markets Day. Not London. Not The Hague. But New York, that bastion of fossil-friendly finance, where oil execs are still treated like visionaries rather than villains.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan, deep into what he lovingly calls his two-year “sprint,” will present the company’s not-so-new strategy: double down on gas, keep drilling for oil, and toss clean energy in the bin marked ‘marketing phase 2020–2022.’ 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

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Here’s the latest on Shell plc’s plan to move its listing to New York — with an investigative, critical lens.

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What Sawan Said

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Shell once promised its $14 billion petrochemical plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania would transform Beaver County into a growth engine. The reality? An economic lemon wrapped in a PR puff piece.

The Hype Machine

The Financial Meltdown

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From Mayfair backrooms to No.10, the Oval Office and even the pews.

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How a gripe website kicked the world’s greediest oil giant where it hurts: the Donovan playbook that helped expose Shell’s 2004 reserves fraud

The fraud in one line (Shell’s own regulators said it)

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With BP’s share price looking like an oil-slicked fish gasping on a beach, merger rumours are back, and Shell is the leading suitor. Promises or Buyout Prospects?

Big Oil’s Mid-Life Crisis Is Now a Merger Fantasy. Spoiler: The Planet Still Loses.

Identity Crisis: BP’s Backslide to the Black Stuff

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As Exxon and Chevron cash in, Shell flails, flips assets, and prays Wall Street will finally love it.

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CEO Wael Sawan heads to New York to reassure investors that Shell’s only green priority is cash.

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