News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc
Shell former upstream chief: Nigeria oilfield deal was ‘lawful and correct’
By Reuters Staff: DECEMBER 9, 2020
MILAN (Reuters) – Shell’s former international upstream head Malcolm Brinded had no reason to think that the awarding of the OPL-245 oilfield license in Nigeria was illegal, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
In a court hearing in Milan, Marco Calleri said his client believed the deal would bring money and benefits to Nigeria and its government and that it was lawful and correct.
FACTBOX-Legal cases sparked by Nigerian OPL 245 oilfield licence
LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) – One of the oil industry’s biggest court cases over alleged corruption in Nigeria involves an offshore oilfield licence known as OPL 245, which Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni bought in 2011.
Italian prosecutors allege that most of the payment for the licence was siphoned off to politicians and middlemen.
Shell and Eni and the managers accused in the Milan court case, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, have all denied any wrongdoing.
Translation of an article published overnight by the Dutch media organisation nrc.nl
High prison sentences demanded against former Shell employees
Lawsuit In a criminal case for alleged corruption by Shell and Eni when purchasing a Nigerian oil field, the Public Prosecution Service demands high penalties.
Merijn Rengers and Carola Houtekamer: July 21, 2020 at 22:22
The Italian Public Prosecution Service demanded unprecedented high prison sentences in Milan on Tuesday against four former Shell directors and employees for large-scale corruption. The prosecution charges it to a former member of the board of directors, a director and two advisers who participated in bribery in Nigeria. The amount of the kickback, more than $ 1 billion, makes this one of the largest corruption affairs a Dutch company has ever been involved in.
Translation of an article published overnight by the Dutch news media organisation, nrc.nl
Of course, Shell knew about the corruption risk, the prosecutor said
Lawsuit over oil field In a dim Milanese bunker, Tuesday was worked towards the denouement in the corruption case against oil companies Shell and Eni. Prosecutor Fabio De Pasquale calls it “the perfect economic crime.”
Carola Houtekamer: July 21, 2020
The lawsuit revolves around the acquisition of rights to the oil field “OPL 245”, for which Shell and Eni paid $ 1.3 billion. Photo George Osodi / Getty
MILAN, July 21 (Reuters) – Italian prosecutors have asked for oil majors Eni and Shell to be fined and some of their present and former executives, including Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, to be jailed in a long-running trial over alleged corruption in Nigeria.
In a Milan court, prosecutors asked on Tuesday for eight years in prison for Descalzi and seven years and four months for Shell’s former head of upstream Malcolm Brinded.
The prosecutors also asked for Eni and Shell to be fined 900,000 euros ($1.04 million) each and sought to confiscate a total of $1.092 billion from all the defendants in the case, the equivalent of the bribes alleged to have been paid.
While the Prelude did export LNG at about half its capacity for the second half of 2019, it is now idle.
Moored far off the Kimberley coast it is plagued with technical problems, dwindling gas reserves and safety processes condemned by the regulator despite Shell and its partners spending about $US19.3 billion ($A30.0 billion) to the end of 2019.
Neither Shell and its partners nor Australia have gained anything near what they expected from the giant experiment.
In 2018, Italian prosecutors brought a criminal case over the alleged involvement of Shell, and the Italian oil multinational Eni, in a 1.3 billion US dollar bribery scheme linked to the license of OPL 245. This is the name of one of Nigeria’s most valuable offshore oil blocks.
Thirteen individuals, including some current and former senior managers of Shell and the Italian oil company Eni, are currently on trial in Italy relating to how the two companies acquired the block in 2011.80 The defendants include both companies, a former Royal Dutch Shell Executive Board Member and two former MI6 agents who worked for Shell.81
Oladeinde Olawoyin
The Nigerian government on Monday lost a bid to postpone a massive claim against oil giants, Eni and Shell, in a London court.
Royal Dutch Shell and Eni’s bid to block a $1.1 billion civil claim over corruption allegations in Nigeria will go ahead next month, Mark Pelling, a judge in a London court ruled on Monday.
The court ruled that it should not wait for a connected Italian ruling.
Nigeria wanted the April court date postponed until January 2021, when a connected criminal case in Milan will have concluded.
Shell is currently in the process of ramping up its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas development off Western Australia, but the ambitious project …
Extract ends
Posting on 19 August 2019
I would be interested to know the content of the article just published by Upstream Online about the Prelude FLNG problems?
What I do know is that Prelude is still having difficulties in with the processed volumes of any of the three streams of product, LNG, LPG and condensate.
I have been monitoring the Marine Traffic web site with Prelude as the target. The offtake tankers, LNG or condensate, can be seen hanging around but at a greater distance from Prelude making it not as easy to keep track of as in previous occasions. The latest LNG tanker, Symphonic Breeze, has been nearby for nearly a week waiting for its nominated cargo. The demurrage costs must be quite high by now as the “notice of readiness” will have been tabled on arrival.
BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK: JUL 18, 2019
According to Reuters, one of the oil industry’s biggest corruption trials revolves around a Nigerian offshore licence known as OPL 245, which Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni bought in 2011.
Italian prosecutors accuse former and current executives of the two energy giants of paying bribes to secure the licence.
Shell and Eni, and their executives have denied the accusations and any wrongdoing.
Below are a list of legal actions that have arisen from the award of OPL 245:
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.
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.
By John Donovan
Printed below is an article published yesterday by BBC News reporting that the “Swiss banking giant UBS has been fined €3.7bn (£3.2bn; $4.2bn) in a French tax fraud case.”
The article goes on to say that “Following similar cases in the US in 2009 and Germany in 2014, the bank accepted large fines.”
During the period of criminal activity the then Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc – Peter Voser – was paid millions of Swiss francs in his role as a director of UBS AG. He was also a member of the governance and nominating committee and of the strategy committee.
Latest news on the OPL 245 scandal involving several 
senior Shell executives, including Malcolm Brinded and MI6 “people” hired by Shell, as admitted by RDS Chief Executive Ben van Beurden during a telephone call surreptitiously recorded by investigators. During the same conversation, on the spur of the moment and perhaps shocked by the news that RDS global HQ was being searched for evidence, he issued instructions that if carried out, could qualify as obstruction of a criminal investigation.
By John DonovanFrom: Bill Campbell
Subject: Technical Notes
Date: 18 December 2018 at 12:23:19 GMT
To: [email protected], [email protected]
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Four Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have written to the Minister of Justice of The Netherlands to warn against out-of-court settlement in the case instituted by The Netherlands government against Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS) and Shell Petroleum over the acquisition of the OPC 245 oil and gas field in Nigeria.
From: William CampbellAnd I admire Bill, he is like a pitbull that does not let go.
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
: It is not clear why the once upon a time VP Developments, Brazil is now VP Subsurface Excellence, given that the Brazil Asset under her stewardship spent at least five years down a giant rabbit hole using a corrupt workflow that resulted in a significant overbooking of reserves.
: On this day in 2016 the fate of BG Group, an Internet Cafe and Cappuccino Lifestyle company was sealed. See: https://www.shell.com/about-us/what-we-do/combining-shell-and-bg-a-simpler-and-more-profitable-company.html https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/28/35bn-shell-takeover-approved-bg-shareholders
: John,
Re:Links between Samuel Iskander and corruption
Dave Freeman currently Chief Operating Officer at privately owned Tailwind Energy and previously Upstream Technical Director (COO Office) at BG Group should be able to answer your question.
REPLY BY JOHN:
Many thanks, I will pass that information on to the investigative contact.
: POSTED ON BEHALF OF AN INVESTIGATIVE CONTACT:
Newly former Shell executive Sami Iskander has been appointed CEO to London-traded energy company Petrofac, which is facing corruption allegations in Italy and from the U.K.'s SFO. The question is whether Iskander, who was one of only four executives from British Gas retained by Shell when the two merged in 2015, brings any baggage with him?
In general, what kind of a reputation does this man have in the London energy business community?
: Further to Bogus Group's post below, see: https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/02/sir-simon-robey-the-accidental-banker-adding-george-osborne-to-the-fold
: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9211393/George-Osborne-lands-new-job-quits-roles-Evening-Standard-BlackRock.html The revolving door is still in motion. Links to Robey Warshaw, BG Group advisor on Shell deal, links to the “Notting Hill Set”, links to politicians, links to the authoress of “The Gatekeeper”, links to Brunswick, Shell/BG Group PR company, links to BlackRock….and others.
: The long overdue structural reorganisation at Shell is rapidly approaching. No better place to start than within the Brazil Asset which has been propped-up for over ten years now by the same BG Group sycophants who have a proven track record of overbooking reserves on the basis of flawed functionall approved technical workflows. These individuals are still clinging desperately to their positions five years after the takeover of BG Group by Shell. Can it be that Shell cannot afford to move them on lest their poor work and lies be revealed? Get rid of them, truth and transparency are now required if not demanded in the Brasil Asset!
: More BG Group (Shell) executive 'turmoil'. Just love the "stepping down with immediate effect for personal reasons" euphemism.
: 330 job cuts in Aberdeen, with the new rhetoric by a Shell 'spokesperson', "this intends to ensure we are set up to thrive throughout the energy transition and be a simpler organisation". https://www.upstreamonline.com/exploration/330-job-cuts-oil-giant-shell-lays-out-losses-to-uk-team/2-1-942991
: Shell has not revealed the cost of Prelude but analysts estimate the price tag has ballooned to as much as A$17bn ($13bn). The Anglo-Dutch company reported $9bn in impairment charges on its Australian gas assets in the second and third quarters of 2020. https://www.ft.com/content/6ba54787-6d21-48d2-93b2-273cdcf48455
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