“We have questions to answer” about single-use plastic waste, reveal internal emails from Shell

24 Dec 2022

Shell is under scrutiny as a result of internal emails put into the public domain relating to the controversial Shell Petrochemicals Complex situated along the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

Extract from a related article 

The multi-billion-dollar Shell facility was fully operational in November after years of construction and has already been charged by state environmental agencies for exceeding the annual limit for volatile organic compounds that create lung-damaging smog. Among the documents, released on December 9, was an email correspondence within Shell’s communications team. read more

By John Donovan

“Safe Sex in Nigeria” was one of the best articles about the unfolding OPL 245 corruption scandal.  

It was published by the Economist in June 2013.

In particular, the timeline graphic at the beginning of the article shows where the blame probably lies:

Three things come from this:

(1) The machinations and intrigue go back much further than 2011

(2) ENI’s role appears to be relatively minor in comparison with that of Shell

(3) This saga dates back to the days of Phil Watts and Walter vd Vijver read more

However, unbeknown to Van de Vijver, Michiel Brandjes (right), who was alarmed by the findings of the report, sent a copy to a New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. This meant that events were no longer in the control of Shell. Instead, Shell’s most sensitive issue since its close association with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis several decades ago, had been disclosed to an outside firm, that had to consider and protect its own reputation.

By John Donovan

In May 2003, Frank Coopman, the then Chief Financial Officer of Shell EP, delivered bad news about Shell’s operations in Nigeria to the Chief Executive of Shell EP, Walter van de Vijver.

Van de Vijver sent Coopman back to Nigeria to investigate further.

The subsequent findings, set out in a status report, were even more devastating, revealing an overstatement of 1.1 billion boe.

Van de Vijver had instructed a team led by Coopman to work on the reserves issues.

The team included a top Shell lawyer, Michiel Brandjes, the then Company Secretary of Royal Dutch Petroleum. read more

Since Royal Dutch Shell has apparently forgotten to mark the tenth anniversary of news breaking on 10 January 2004, that Shell had cooked its books by wildly inflating its claimed oil and gas reserves, it seems appropriate for me to do so on Shell’s behalf. The then Shell Group chairman, Sir Philip Watts was forced to resign, but to buy his silence was handsomely  rewarded for screwing Shell shareholders, receiving a financial package reportedly worth $18.5 million. He later repented his sins and became a priest. His chief of Exploration & Production, Walter van de Vijver was knifed in the back by his director colleagues, including John Hofmiester and Jeroen van der Veer, in what can fairly be described as a sadistic sacking. Plenty of scope and evidence if Martin Scorsese is planning a follow-up movie to The Wolf of Wall Street featuring another huge scam involving outlandish but real events and overpaid, ethically challenged individuals, driven by ego and unbridled greed.

By John Donovan

Since Royal Dutch Shell has apparently forgotten to mark the tenth anniversary of news breaking on 10 January 2004, that Shell had cooked its books by wildly inflating its claimed oil and gas reserves, it seems appropriate for me to do so on Shell’s behalf.

The then Shell Group chairman, Sir Philip Watts was forced to resign, but to buy his silence was handsomely  rewarded for screwing Shell shareholders, receiving a financial package reportedly worth $18.5 million. He later repented his sins and became a priest. His chief of Exploration & Production, Walter van de Vijver was knifed in the back by his director colleagues, including John Hofmiester and Jeroen van der Veer, in what can fairly be described as a sadistic sacking.
read more

Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves.

US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits.

Sir Philip Watts and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal), were among the Shell executives forced to resign.

MONTAGE OF MEDIA COVERAGE (CLICK LINK TO VIEW LARGE IMAGES OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES)

SHELL RESERVES SECURITIES FRAUD UNFOLDS IN SIZZLING NEWS HEADLINES

Daily Telegraph: Shell drops ‘bombshell’ on reserves: 9 January 2004

The Times: How Shell blew a hole in a 100-year reputation: 10 January 2004

The West Australian: Investors howl for Shell’s blood: 12 January 2004

London Evening Standard: Shell bosses lied to the City: 19 April 2004

Houston Chronicle:‘Sick and tired about lying’ at Shell: 19 April 2004

Bloomberg: Shell Loses AAA Credit Rating: 19 April 2004

BBC News: Shell bosses ‘fooled the market’: 19 April 2004

The Guardian: Trail of emails reveals depths of deceit at the heart of Shell: 20 April 2004 read more

Forty-seven workers were evacuated from the jackup Hercules 265 (250’ MC) offshore Grand Isle, Louisiana following a blowout Tuesday, according to media reports.

Efforts to regain control of the A-3 natural gas well at South Timbalier Block 220 that experienced a blowout are underway, rig owner Hercules Offshore said in a press release Tuesday. The company also has notified all necessary governmental authorities of the incident.

The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated workers on two lifeboats from the platform, according to New Orleans TV station website WDSU.com. None of the workers sustained any injuries, a Coast Guard spokesperson confirmed to Rigzone. The workers are being transported to a secure location, Hercules said in a statement. A Coast Guard cutter and two aircraft are headed out to the platform to conduct an overflight assessment, WDSU reported. read more

The crisis in my book, and we are far from the endpoint in this, is that RDS officials lied in that the decision to move Kulluk was not related to tax avoidance when it was.  Perhaps that is why the RDS CEO has taken a closer interest in his family and the sustainability of his future.

ARTICLE BY BILL CAMPBELL, RETIRED HSE GROUP AUDITOR, SHELL INTERNATIONAL

In the new Shell, that which developed in the days of post transformation, group dancing in that nice hotel near the Het Loo Palace, with the dear leader Watts arriving from space etc around the same time, who can forget those heady days.  Is that when to lie and deceive became the norm in the head sheds of The Hague. Is that when the growth of VP’s started, not the Joe Biden variety, the Shell model, we currently appear to have more VP’s than indian meals sold in Bradford on a Friday night. read more

A BP cleanup crew removing oil from a beach in May 2010 in Port Fourchon, La., after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Photo Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

By BARRY MEIER and CLIFFORD KRAUSS: A version of this article appeared in print on February 24, 2013, on page A17 of the New York edition

With a major civil trial scheduled to start Monday in New Orleans against BP over damages related to the explosion of an offshore drilling rig in 2010, federal officials and those from the five affected Gulf Coast states are trying to pull together to strike an 11th-hour settlement in the case.

A lawyer briefed on those talks said that the Justice Department and the five states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — had reportedly prepared an offer to resolve the two biggest issues central to a series of trials against BP, the first of which starts Monday. read more

By John Donovan

On 13 March 2009, the FT published an article about Simon Henry, who was about to become Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. It said that he had survived the Shell reserves misreporting scandal with his reputation intact. On the basis of irrefutable Shell internal evidence, we take issue with that conclusion.

We have today published evidence confirming his starring role in the scandal. It includes an email sent directly to Mr Henry by the then Chief Executive of Shell Exploration & Production, Mr Walter van de Vijver. The content removes any doubt that Simon Henry knew two years before the scandal broke that Shell had booked reserves it should not have booked. read more

Shell internal email correspondence irrefutably proves that Simon Henry was aware in March 2002 that “reserves bookings were made that should not have been made”. Walter van de Vijver, the “sick and tired” Chief Executive of Shell EP, gave the information directly to him. As can be seen in the email, Walter van de Vijver aggressively accused Mr Henry of setting targets that were near impossible to achieve. The question arises of whether Mr Henry was a culprit, an accomplice, or an innocent bystander.

By John Donovan

INTRODUCTION

We have published a series of articles about the starring role of Simon Henry in the Royal Dutch Shell reserves scandal.

Shell internal email correspondence irrefutably proves that Simon Henry was aware in March 2002 that “reserves bookings were made that should not have been made”. Walter van de Vijver, the “sick and tired” Chief Executive of Shell EP, gave the information directly to him. Walter van de Vijver accused Mr Henry of setting targets that were near impossible to achieve. read more

Serious consideration was given by senior Shell EP execs to exploiting the tragic events of 9/11 for desperate commercial purposes – to cover-up investor deception about Shell’s claimed oil and gas reserves. Concern was expressed about the possibility of getting caught out telling Investor Relation “stories” regarding production growth and reserves replacement and what the likely punishment might be.

By John Donovan, first published 1st Feb 2013 (re-edited on 4 April 2019)

I stumbled across some shocking Shell internal email correspondence while searching the US Court files for class action litigation relating to the Shell oil and gas reserves scandal. 

It involved senior Shell EP executives all reporting to Walter van de Vijver, Chief Executive of Shell Exploration and Production and a Group MD of the Royal Dutch Shell Group.

Serious consideration was given by senior Shell EP execs to exploiting the tragic events of 9/11 for desperate commercial purposes – to cover-up investor deception about Shell’s claimed oil and gas reserves. Concern was expressed about the possibility of getting caught out telling Investor Relation “stories” regarding production growth and reserves replacement and what the likely punishment might be. read more

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By John Donovan

On Friday we published an article revealing Shell internal email correspondence, which provided proof that three weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the USA, Shell executives were considering how Shell could exploit the horrific event for commercial reasons. read more

Were they aware that Simon Henry was a key player, as Head of Global Investor Relations, in dealing with the reserves data and actually had responsibility to ensure the quality/accuracy of the data before it was disclosed to analysts and investors? As we all know, it turned out that some of the data was not only inaccurate, but fraudulent. He had been warned that a Gorgon 600 million BOE reserves booking was an IR time bomb.

Introduction: A draft of the article below was supplied to Shell in advance, namely to Mr Michiel Brandjes, the Company Secretary & General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the CFO, Mr. Simon Henry. We invited Shell to point out any factual inaccuracy and/or supply comment for unedited publication with the article. No response other than an automated message has been received.

ARTICLE

By John Donovan

On 13 March 2009, the Financial Times published an article about Simon Henry, who was about to become Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. It said that he had survived the reserves misreporting scandal with his reputation intact. I wonder how much investigation of the facts was undertaken before arriving at that conclusion? read more

As can be seen in his testimony, Simon Henry deliberately limited the amount of time that Walter van de Vijver spent with UK and US investors, almost as if there was something to hide? Wonder what current Shell investors will make of that revelation? An insight into how Mr Henry thinks shareholders can be manipulated and shielded from potential spontaneous outpourings of the truth. The Dutchman wouldn’t learn his lines.

“I am becoming sick and tired about lying,” said Walter van de Vijver (right), senior executive at Royal Dutch/Shell. Photo Credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg News

Candid testimony of Simon Henry about the disgraced Shell Exploration And Production Chief Executive, Walter van de Vijver (shown right).

Simon Henry became Head of Shell Group Investor Relations in March 2001. His predecessor was Walter van de Vijver.

Extracts from the sworn testimony of Simon Henry to the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 19 October 2004 in Washington D.C. The reference to “one on one” meetings, was in regard to Shell senior management meetings with analysts and investors.

As can be seen in the testimony, Simon Henry deliberately limited the amount of time that Walter van de Vijver spent with UK and US investors, almost as if there was something to hide? Wonder what current Shell shareholders will make of that revelation? An insight into how Mr Henry thinks shareholders can be manipulated and shielded from potential spontaneous outpourings of the truth. The Dutchman wouldn’t learn his lines. read more

Q: Do you like Mr. Watts personally? A: It was difficult to like Phil.  He was not a guy you go for a beer with. …he was still running with that chip on his shoulder… He was a guy from the wrong side of the tracks.

Candid (some might say indiscreet) testimony of Simon Henry about the disgraced Shell Group Chairman Sir Philip Watts (shown right).

Extracts from the sworn testimony of Simon Henry to the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission on 19 October 2004 in Washington D.C.

Mr Henry is currently Chief Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Q: With the benefit of hindsight, were there ever instances where you believed Mr. Watts provided the market with incomplete or inaccurate information?

A: With the benefit of hindsight, he answered a lot of questions about Gorgon, and with the benefit of hindsight, they could have been answered differently. read more

FROM OUR NOVEMBER 2004 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

How Shell’s Move To Revamp Culture Ended in Scandal: “The root of the problem, however, goes significantly further back than Sir Philip’s reign, which began in 2001”: “These deeper roots are significant because the company has yet to make a full break with its past. Mr. van der Veer is a longtime Shell executive who sat on the committee that received — and dallied over — warnings about the accounting problems.”: “In addition to its ambitious plans to discover new oil and gas cheaply, Shell under Sir Mark was redefining how it counted existing reserves.”: “Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman from 1998 to 2001, remains on the board of Shell’s English parent… He declined to comment about reserves issues. And Shell still can’t seem to get a handle on its reserves.”

As New-Age Style Came In,
Geology Skills Lost Out;
Imitating Jerry Springer
Oilmen at a Rainy Playground

By CHIP CUMMINS and ALMAR LATOUR Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

November 2, 2004; Page A1

In late 2000, the head of the Dutch exploration unit at Royal Dutch/Shell Group asked his planners to deliver five-minute skits pitching ideas for discovering oil and gas.

In one skit, a naked employee ran on stage to catch the boss’s attention, say two people who attended. Another featured a mock episode of the Jerry Springer show, the incendiary daytime TV talk program. A third, after a bit of fun and games, promised to extract large quantities of natural gas cheaply from seemingly declining Dutch fields. read more