Posts Tagged ‘John Hofmeister’

Javier Ferrandis: Follow: Researcher: Published December 8, 2020

Extracts from an extensive article by former Shell Petroleum Economist Javier Ferrandis:

The CARLYLE-MUBADALA ALLIANCE: A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR OIL AND GAS BRIBERY

Information about the nine-year period Javier Ferrandis spent at Shell can be found at the foot of this article.

I would argue in this article that the overvalued and questionable purchase of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala owned CEPSA by the Carlyle group in 2019 was part of a USA government-sponsored bribery operation connected to the transfer of large Oil & Gas concessions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into the hands of Chinese National Oil Companies and other oil companies based in countries that collaborated with the 1MDB operation and that happen to be main recipients of UAE crude oil exports. The timing of the 1MDB operation and specifically the purchase of Coastal Energy by Abu-Dhabi owned CEPSA and the 1MDB Chinese middleman Jho Low was chosen to coincide exactly with the historic expiration of the 75 years old Abu-Dhabi oil concessions. read more

By John Donovan

Retired Shell Oil President John Hofmeister (right) will say practically anything to get quoted in the news media, presumably in the hope of raising his public profile. 

CNBC is today reporting his prediction that oil production won’t meet demand in 5 years. For some reason, he consistently tries to talk up the price of oil. 

Those of us with good memories may recall a similar reckless prediction made by his former Shell boss, Jeroen van der Veer. 

As reported in the Times newspaper article below (published in January 2008), Mr. van der Veer said that oil and gas demand would outstrip supply within 7 years. In other words, by 2015.  read more

By John Donovan

Just over 9 years ago, a Shell insider sent us a Shell internal email circulated on behalf of a then senior finance man at Shell, Engelhardt Robbe.

The description given by the insider is self-explanatory.

From a Shell Insider

Dear Alfred

When I saw this one I thought this was a joke, trying to outdo Dogbert of Scott Adams Dilbert. But this is serious matter, sent from a very senior Finance manager. Scott Adams manages to get the message across in 3 pictures. But it now is clear that the top of the Finance community in Europe has gone stark raving mad. read more

The former president of Shell Oil USA didn’t candy-coat it: America’s political fund-raising system, he said, amounts to legalized extortion. “I feel extorted,” John Hofmeister told CNN’s Drew Griffin. “Every time I wrote a check I felt that it was a form of extortion, the price of entry, because of the reception that you got when you contributed versus the reception when you did not contribute.” Hofmeister, who ran Shell Oil USA from 2005 through 2008, said he was constantly being asked for political donations, by members of both parties.

(CNN) — The former president of Shell Oil USA didn’t candy-coat it: America’s political fund-raising system, he said, amounts to legalized extortion.

“I feel extorted,” John Hofmeister told CNN’s Drew Griffin. “Every time I wrote a check I felt that it was a form of extortion, the price of entry, because of the reception that you got when you contributed versus the reception when you did not contribute.”

Hofmeister, who ran Shell Oil USA from 2005 through 2008, said he was constantly being asked for political donations, by members of both parties. It’s against Shell Oil policy, he said, for corporate contributions to be made. So any donations came out of his own pocket — something, he said, he felt forced to do. read more

By John Donovan

Based on insider information, we beat Shell to the punch by announcing a day before Shell, that David Lawrence had left the company. We said that he had been fired after Shell’s Arctic plans fell apart.

When Shell was put under pressure to comment, the company claimed Lawrence was leaving by mutual consent. A fuelfix article published by The Houston Chronicle said in reference to this website “skeptics have fostered a different view:”

It wasn’t a case of being skeptical. We knew for certain that Shell was not being candid. Shell Oil Company president Marvin Odum apparently hoped we would all swallow the “mutual consent” hogwash. read more

COMMENT RECEIVED FROM A SHELL RELATED SOURCE

Amidst all the news on Kulluk, let’s not forget about the other one

This is what you get if you use old stuff from the scrap yard…

Remember the hypocritical “blistering attack” by Shell CEO Peter Voser on BP over the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill:

Voser promised that Shell would never make the same mistakes as BP.

Since then, blunders and corner-cutting has led to the current debacle.

To me it is all about technical competence.

Many moons ago the Troll project was delivered on time and within budget. This was more innovative and challenging than drilling some wells in Alaska. But then we had the likes of Chapman in charge and not corner-cutting bean-counters like Voser and Henry. read more

By John Donovan

Although their names have been redacted, it appears from this report that John Hofmeister and Malcolm Brinded were both directly involved in negotiations/discussions with Gale Norton?

If the issue of Shell corruption is raised, based on our knowledge, there is always a good chance that Mr Big Brain, No Scruples  Brinded will be involved e.g. the “Touch F*** All” safety culture on North Sea Oil Rigs, his backing for a rigged Shell contract tender and now his interesting meeting in London with Gale Norton.
read more

Posted on Shell Blog by “old nigeria hand” on Sunday Nov 14th, 2010 at 11:26 pm

RESPONSE TO: What did Shell Oil President John Hofmeister know about corruption in Nigeria?

Panalpina and Hofmeister, bribes in Nigeria. I am certain that the top management knew all about the goings on. About 5 years ago a scandal nearly erupted but was quenched. (Or as the say in Nigeria: ‘de disting was quench-oh by de Oga’.

SPDC had made around 500 million dollars disappear over the years to all kind of community projects. No trails could be found in the books. And this for a company that should be able to trace every dollar spent anywhere. Because it is shareholder’s or taxpayer’s money. So I am sure that Hofmeister et all just assumed the bribes via Panalpina would disappear in the great wash. I am not an accountant. But as an engineer I know we can and must and do certify for instance every weld on long pipelines. The exact location, date of weld, weldingrods used, name of welder, and an X-ray photo is included. If you can do that, you should be able to trace every dollar spent? Unless you don’t want to?!? read more

By a former employee of Shell Oil USA

The Panalpina investigation began in 2007. The investigation covers the time period of 2002 -2007. That means, of course, that Shell’s transgressions occurred during John Hofmeister’s term of service at Shell. One has to wonder what his involvement in the bribery schemes were. I am certain that he was fully aware of what was going on, given that he was President of Shell USA from 2005 -2008. Someone had to ‘sign for’ and approve the millions of dollars used for that purpose. read more