Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Royal Dutch Shell Bribery and Corruption in Nigeria

Oct 23rd, 2012

by John Donovan.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Before the
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Release No. 63243 / November 4, 2010

ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING ENFORCEMENT Release No. 3204 / November 4, 2010

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING File No. 3-14107

In the Matter of
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL plc,

and

SHELL INTERNATIONAL EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION INC.,

Respondents.

ORDER INSTITUTING CEASE- AND-DESIST PROCEEDINGS PURSUANT TO SECTION 21C OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, MAKING FINDINGS, AND IMPOSING SANCTIONS AND A CEASE-AND- DESIST ORDER

A. SUMMARY

This matter concerns violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") by Respondent SIEP and the record keeping and internal controls provisions of the FCPA by Respondent Shell. From September 2002 through November 2005, SIEP, on behalf of Shell, authorized the reimbursement or continued use of services provided by a company acting as a customs broker that involved suspicious payments of approximately $3.5 million to officials of the Nigerian Customs Service in order to obtain preferential treatment during the customs process for the purpose of assisting Shell in obtaining or retaining business in Nigeria on Shell's Bonga Project. As a result of these payments, Shell profited in the amount of approximately $14 million. None of the improper payments was accurately reflected in Shell's books and records, nor was Shell's system of internal accounting controls adequate at the time to detect and prevent these suspicious payments.

B. RESPONDENTS

Royal Dutch Shell plc ("Shell"), an English-chartered company, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, focuses, through its subsidiaries, on oil, gas, and power production and exploration. Shell's American Depository Receipts are registered with the Commission pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.2

B. RESPONDENTS

Royal Dutch Shell plc ("Shell"), an English-chartered company, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, focuses, through its subsidiaries, on oil, gas, and power production and exploration. Shell's American Depository Receipts are registered with theCommission pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.2

C. OTHER RELEVANT ENTITY

Shell Nigerian Exploration and Production Company Ltd. ("SNEPCO"), located in Nigeria, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell Petroleum N.V., which, in turn, is a wholly owned direct subsidiary of Shell. SNEPCO performed work on the Bonga Project.

Cease And Desist Order

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Posted in: Africa, Bribery, Business Principles, Corruption, Litigation, Nigeria, Oil,Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United States.
Tagged: Corruption · Litigation · Nigeria · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

SEVENTH E-MAIL(Oct23,2012)

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Monday, October 22, 2012

E-MAIL RESPONSE (from Gordon Oct22,2012)

SIXTH E-MAIL(Oct22,2012)

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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

FIFTH E-MAIL (Oct17,2012)

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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

DR. LOVE ...(andy williams)

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The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Monday, October 15, 2012

FOURTH E-MAIL(Oct15,2012)

Shell’s $4.5bn Alaskan adventure is a comedy caper

Shell's $4.5bn Alaskan adventure is a comedy caper

Oct 15th, 2012

by John Donovan.

Six years in the making, the oil giant's farcical Alaskan exploration is not what you'd expect from a FTSE-100 company.

"What next? A polar bear attack? Maybe Shell chief executive Peter Voser and his intrepid Alaskan explorers have a secret plan to sell the film rights. You know, produce a rival to the Ice Age series, only funnier. And with a different sort of cast – a 36-year-old oil spill barge, the US Environmental Audit Committee and, unbelievably, blocks of ice turning up in the Arctic of all places."

What next? A polar bear attack?

Maybe Shell chief executive Peter Voser and his intrepid Alaskan explorers have a secret plan to sell the film rights. You know, produce a rival to the Ice Age series, only funnier. And with a different sort of cast – a 36-year-old oil spill barge, the US Environmental Audit Committee and, unbelievably, blocks of ice turning up in the Arctic of all places.

Whatever, Voser's $4.5bn Alaskan drilling blockbuster is turning out to be a right comedy caper. Everyone knows why Shell is there: Alaska's one of the last great exploration frontiers, home to around 6pc of the world's recoverable oil. But six years in the making, Shell's adventure in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas is not what you'd expect from one of the biggest companies on the planet.

Take this year alone. First, the ageing Noble Discoverer drill ship sets off late from New Zealand for a drilling season already cut short by the US Bureau of Ocean Management. Then, Peter Velez, Shell's head of Arctic emergency response, lists a bit in front of the US environment committee, admitting he has not costed a clean-up operation.

Arctic Challenger, the aforementioned barge that's a crucial part of Shell's oil spill response fleet, then fails to meet US Coast Guard safety standards. And next, Noble Discoverer runs aground in a mere 35mph wind in Dutch Harbour.

Skip on a bit and you find the Noble vessel finally back in operation for one whole day in the Chukchi sea – before being forced to stop last week by ice. Meanwhile, Shell's other drill ship, the Kulluk, finds itself unable to drill in the Beaufort due to the Eskimo whaling season.

Now yesterday's missive: that Shell has called it quits for the year in Alaska thanks to more issues on the barge front, namely damage to its "containment dome".

Yesterday, the company declared: "This exploration program remains critically important to America's energy needs, to the economy and jobs in Alaska, and to Shell." But clearly not that "critically important" – or Voser would get the sack.

SOURCE

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Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Daily Telegraph, Environment, Oil, Oil Spill, Peter Voser,Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United States.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Beaufort Sea · Chukchi Sea · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Nigerian farmers sue Shell in Dutch court

Royal Dutch Shell plc .com Rotating Header Image

Nigerian farmers sue Shell in Dutch court

Oct 13th, 2012

by John Donovan.

No comments yet

The Associated Press

Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 | 12:03 a.m.

Nigerian farmers began a landmark compensation case against Shell in a Dutch court Thursday, asking judges to order the oil multinational to clean up environmental damage they claim is caused by leaking pipes.

The case at The Hague Civil Court marks the first time a Dutch company has been sued for alleged environmental mismanagement caused by an overseas subsidiary and could pave the way for similar claims if it succeeds.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC long argued that the case, which was launched in 2008, should be heard in Nigeria and still maintains the Dutch court should not have jurisdiction.

Lawyers for the Nigerians argue that key policy decisions by Shell are made at its headquarters in The Hague and that means the Dutch court can rule in the case.

Four villagers and environmental group Friends of the Earth say Shell pipeline leaks fouled fish ponds, farmland and forests in three villages in the Niger Delta, Goi, Oruma and Ikot Ada Udo.

"What I expect today is justice. I expect that judges are going to proceed in this matter, have sympathy and look into our environment _ tell Shell to apply the international standards where they are operating in Nigeria," one of the farmers, Eric Dooh, told reporters outside court.

Villagers blame the leaks on corrosion of the pressurized underground pipe. Shell claims they were caused by sabotage and says its local subsidiary cleaned up the environmental damage.

An earlier Dutch court ruling accepted Shell's assertion that the leaks were caused by sabotage, but lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that the judges should revisit that decision, saying the pipe was seriously corroded.

They added that Shell did not clean up the spills quickly enough.

"Shell did not do enough to prevent the oil spreading and damaging the plaintiffs' land," the villagers' lawyer, Channa Samkalden, told the court. "Shell did not act as a careful oil company."

Shell's local subsidiary remains the top foreign oil producer in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, a region of mangroves and swamps about the size of Portugal. Its production forms the backbone of crude production in Nigeria, a top supplier to the gasoline-thirsty U.S.

Shell, which discovered and started the country's oil well in the late 1950s, remains demonized by activists and local communities over oil spills and close ties to government security forces. Some Shell pipelines that crisscross the delta are decades old and can fail, causing massive pollution.

Shell, however, has begun an effort in the last decade to build clinics, roads and even natural gas power plants for the region. The company blames most spills now on thieves who tap into crude oil pipelines to steal oil.

A judgment in the case is expected late this year or early in 2013.

SOURCE

Posted in: Africa, Associated Press, Business Principles, Human Rights, Litigation,Nigeria, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Toxic contamination.
Tagged: Litigation · Nigeria · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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Sep 4th, 2012

by John Donovan.

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