Royal Dutch Shell Update

by Mark - Jack White's Shell Watch Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:55

The Former Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell seems to have escaped justice today when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to take no action against him for his role in the fraudulent over estimate of oil reserves. This was a massive and deliberate attempt to hide from shareholders and the public alike the dwindling oil reserves of the company. At the time of the original release of fake figures, Watts was head of Shell Exploration and Production department and as such was responsible. That he allowed the cooked books to stand when he took over as Chairman was the reason that he was being investigated by the US.

Watts also previously held the post of Managing director of Shell Nigeria, including the period that saw Shell suffer international condemnation for its involvement in the murder of many activists within the communities, most famously the Ogoni poet and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. In 2002 a class action lawsuit was filed by the Philadelphia law firm of Berger & Montague alleging that Shell "engaged in militarized commerce in a conspiracy with the former military government of Nigeria…purchasing ammunition and using its helicopters and boats and providing logistical support for … a military foray into Ogoniland designed to terrorize the civilian population into ending peaceful protests." Watts was questioned in London by representatives of Berger & Montague in mid-April 2004 although he was not named a defendant in the lawsuit, which was brought solely against the company.

Watts was asked to resign by the Board on March 3, 2004 and shortly after this reports of internal memorandums indicating that many of Shell's senior executives had been alerted about 18 months earlier to the likelihood that the company's proven reserves had been overestimated emerged in the public domain. Put simply, Watts had lied both publicly and privately when he stated that he had not been aware of the reserves problem until late in 2003

Not that Watts will be stuck for a few quid. His severance payment following his resignation as a director of The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, and as an employee in March 2004 consisted of a lump sum payment of £1,057,971. He also received an (index linked) pension of £584,070 per annum under the Shell pension scheme. Not bad for someone openly complicit with massive corruption, and intrinsically linked with the degradations of whole communities and the murder of those fighting for social justice.

And that kinda puts Shell's 5 million bung to the rossport area into some sort of perspective. Either way, those that 'celebrate' its announcement cant pretend to not know that this company stinks of corruption, lies and has blood of many hundreds on its hands......

Perhaps those irish companies that decide to partake in Shell plans for Rossport shopuld pay due attention to the working practices of Shell throughout the globe and the legacy they create in affected communities......

Watch out Mayo….and don’t stand in the way of capitalisms ‘progress’

www.shellfacts.com
www.fenceline.com

by cool j Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:34

And some people still wonder why locals are none too keen to have Shell as near neighbours!!!

by Mark - Jack White's Shell Watch Mon Aug 28, 2006 22:54

Royal Dutch Shell Sakhalin-2 Project Halted Due to Threat of Mudslides

Royal Dutch Shell has today dramatically announced that it is halting work on parto of its Sakhalin-2 project. Citing ‘environmental’ concerns, all ground pipelaying is to be stopped until clearer safety guarntees can be met. Perhaps of interest to all those irish companies who tender for work from shell, is the fact that tha company is very clearly, yet dishonestly, laying the blame on work carried out by sub-contactors. In an interview with Moscow based, company spokesman Ivan Chernyakhovsky said “Subcontractors ignoring licence conditions in a sensitive landslide area on Sakhalin Island prompted the halt”.

http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=529&id=700499

It seems however too much of a coincidence that the Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project has been charged with environmental violations and has been critised for massive overruns, for it suddenly to be reacting to internal discoveries within Shell management itself.

More likely, this is a response to overwhelming pressure from affected communities, and a recently survey by Russia’s Federal Service for Natural Resources Supervision completed its check on the oil/gas pipelines past week. The results haven’t been disclosed so far, but Oleg Mitvol, who is the deputy chief of this supervisory authority of Russia, announced in early August that, according to his data, Sakhalin Energy failed to take all actions required to eliminate the danger of the mud flow.

The dangers of this project have been made clear to Shell well before it started work. The continuing problems have been followed by PR spun noises from Shells management
However the reality of dangers are not so easy to hide and community monitoring iof the project can be founds here.

http://www.sakhalin.environment.ru/en/detail.php?slice=...13527"These

photos confirm that Shell is failing to take erosion control seriously even when international attention is increasing. Shell continues to prove itself incapable of taking its environmental responsibility seriously," said Dmitry Lisitsyn, Chairman of Sakhalin Watch. "EBRD and Shell will likely respond by saying they are conducting renewed erosion control measures over the summer. However, adequate erosion control is most essential during the heavy spring rains and snow melt. Shell failed to do that."

Links
http://pacificenvironment.org/article.php?list=type&type=63

by Mark - Jack White's Shell Watch Sun Aug 27, 2006 16:35

Jason Miller: A glimpse of the ugly reality of pathological avarice in action.

Some excerts

"It is like paradise and hell. They throw our petitions in the dustbin. They have everything. We have nothing… If we protest, they send soldiers. They sign agreements with us and then ignore us. We have graduates going hungry, without jobs. And they bring people from Lagos to work here.”

Eghare W.O. Ojhogar, chief of the Ugborodo community in Delta State (of Nigeria)

"Earth’s ruling oligarchs and plutocrats have created and perpetuated a socioeconomic dynamic in which the destitute have little or no access to education, basic healthcare, decent employment, or even basic necessities. From the United States to sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, those isolated in despairing communities with crumbling or non-existent infrastructures find themselves mired in impoverished breeding grounds for crime, high birth rates, substance abuse, and AIDS.

Perhaps an apt message for those impoverished children arriving in this world with three strikes against them would be: “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate," which is most commonly translated as “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

How humane and politically correct those monopolizing Earth’s bounty have become. Monarchy has essentially been relegated to the dustbin of history. Empire building through brute force is becoming an increasingly rare event. Certainly the ruling elite maintain potent militaries to exercise their right to “defend themselves” (as they are doing in Iraq and Lebanon). But more often then not, the masters of the human race have learned to wield their economic power like a heavy cudgel, capable of battering their foes into submission with a few swift strokes. "

A glimpse of the ugly reality of pathological avarice in action...

To move beyond an abstract analysis of the machinations of the oppression and exploitation of most of the human race by a select and privileged few, consider one of many specific examples. For years, British and US oil interests have enjoyed the complicity of the criminal ruling elite in Nigeria in plundering an incredibly valuable natural resource. In return a majority of the indigenous people have received land too polluted to farm, brutal attacks by government forces, and extreme poverty.

According to an article written for Amnesty International: “It's 10 years since the Nigerian Government executed the well-known Ogoni writer and human rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa. But little has changed for the people of the Niger Delta, reports Seth Jordan….

…Oil was discovered in the Ogoni region in the late 1950s by the Royal Dutch/Shell Group….by the 1990s an estimated US $30 billion worth of oil had already been extracted, and oil revenues accounted for over 98% of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings; the 550,000 local farmers and fishermen who inhabited the coastal land had received little except a ravaged environment. Once fertile farmland had been destroyed by uncontrolled pollution, and virtually all fish and wildlife had vanished. Only a handful of local people were employed by the oil companies or benefited economically in any way….

“On 4 February 2005, soldiers from Nigeria's Joint Task Force fired on protesters from the Ugborodo community at the Escravos oil terminal run by Chevron Nigeria. One man was shot and later died from his injuries. Thirty other demonstrators were injured by blows from rifle butts and other weapons. Neither the government nor the oil company provided adequate medical care or helped to transport the injured.”

Nigeria provides a potent example of the blatant abuses of the impoverished masses by the privileged few. But sadly, it is but one of many such cases.

While the rapacious individuals who wield the power in this world have stacked the deck heavily in their favor, there are glimmers of hope. The United States and Israel are both failing in their wars of aggression in the Middle East. A wave of democratic socialism is beginning to sweep South America. A populist leader may still win the presidency in Mexico. Joe Lieberman was ejected. And checks and balances were at least temporarily restored in the United States when a federal judge ordered George Bush to obey the Constitution.

A collective populist movement is slowly evolving.

It is only a matter of time before humanity’s oppressed put aside their religious, racial, and nationalist differences to unite against their common enemy.

When six billion people act in unison against a few million, there will indeed be a new world order.

by cool j Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:54

Here in Erris Shell have the same attitude - Through a few Shillings around, use a corrupt govenments muscle power to crush local opposition and steal billions of Euros worth of gas!!!!.

by Mark - Jack whites Shell Watch Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:33

Over the past couple of days campiagn groups supporting the introduction of The CA Clean Energy Initiative, Proposition 87, have taken their fight to the front groups funded by Shell, Chevron et all.Proposition 87 will direct $4 billion to reduce California's dependence on gasoline and diesel by 25% over the next 10 years. The effort will be funded by oil drilling fees paid by oil companies not by consumers.

Press release by Yes to 87.org
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Editors and Reporters: Please be aware that you may see the following video package presented to you as news tonight: http://media.medialink.com/WebNR.aspx?story=32317
Please be aware that this is a fake report created and paid for by the oil companies.
It is sophisticated, including b-roll, interviews and a voice over that signs off with a hearty "this is Bill George, reporting."
But let's be clear -- Mr. George is "reporting" for the oil companies.
All the front people, clever committee names and fake news reports can't hide the fact that the campaign against Proposition 87 and Big Oil are one and the same.

Prop 87 aims to reduce massive the use of oil, by increasing development of alternative energies. this is to be funded by oil companies drilling and not by consumers or citizen taxes. It aims to provide financial incentives to make clean energy options more affordable in order to expand their use. By reducing oil consumption, Prop 87 will reduce pollution that causes global warming, asthma, lung disease and cancer.

However, the sums of money put forward by the Shell/Exxon have been swollen to $30 million to fight the proposed legislation. So one need be in any doubt about if Shell really give a shit about anything other that profit in Rossport or anywhere else.

If you look at the OIL company funded www.noon87.com you would be hard pressed to immediately see its difference from hundreds of other advocacy websites in the internet. But its scaremongering about tax increases and job losses is entirely funded buy Petro-chemical companies.

More to follow