In-house: Shell appoints successors to litigation and downstream GC roles

In-house: Shell appoints successors to litigation and downstream GC roles

Mar 7th, 2015

by John Donovan. 

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Article by Sarah Downey published by Legal Business on 6 March 2015

In-house: Shell appoints successors to litigation and downstream GC roles

This article may be of interest to parties contemplating or in litigation with Royal Dutch Shell. Details who is in and out at the top of the Shell’s in-house army of 750 lawyers. Definite hint of intrigue. This follows the sudden departure of Peter Rees QC in foggy circumstances involving Ben van Beurden

Extracts

Royal Dutch Shell has made two significant internal promotions to its in-house legal function, with associate general counsel (GC) for litigation Richard Hill (pictured) appointed to succeed Brad Nielson as GC for global litigation, while Martin Bambridge, currently associate GC for the energy giant’s downstream portfolio, will take over from downstream legal chief, Hans von der Linde.

Announced internally yesterday (5 March), both Hill and Bambridge will take up their new positions on 1 April and 1 May respectively. Both Nielson and von der Linde are leaving the energy giant, although Shell refused to comment on their destination or why they were leaving the company.

FULL ARTICLE

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Posted in: Ben van Beurden, GoogleNews, Litigation, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell.
Tagged: Litigation · Peter Rees QC · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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Police block striking refinery workers from entering Shell Houston HQ

Police block striking refinery workers from entering Shell Houston HQ

Mar 7th, 2015

by John Donovan. 

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REUTERS ARTICLE PUBLISHED FRIDAY 6 MARCH 2015

Police block striking refinery workers from entering Shell Houston HQ

(Reuters) – Police blocked several hundred striking laborers from entering Shell Oil Co’s downtown Houston headquarters during a protest on Friday to demand a new labor contract for U.S. refinery workers.

Officers quickly moved to guard entrances to the 50-story building as the workers climbed stairs leading to public doorways. There were no arrests or scuffles.

“We wanted to see if they would talk to us about the negotiations,” said Lee Medley, president of United Steelworkers union (USW) local 13-1, which represents workers striking at Marathon Petroleum Corp’s Galveston Bay, Texas, Refinery and Shell’s joint-venture Deer Park, Texas Refinery.

Lead U.S. refinery owner representative Shell, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, has been negotiating with the USW for more than seven weeks for a new three-year contract covering 30,000 workers at some 60 refineries and chemical plants nationwide.

Workers have walked off their jobs at 15 plants including 12 refineries that account for one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity in a strike that is completing its fifth week.

Under orders from several police officers, the protesters moved back down the stairs to the street and continued marching around the building and then moved on to the headquarters of Lyondell Basell.

A Houston Police Department spokeswoman said the agency had no immediate statement about the incident.

“Shell respects the right for people to peacefully protest,” said Shell spokeswoman Kimberly Windon. “We remain committed to continuing negotiations with the USW with the ultimate goal of reaching a mutual acceptable agreement for both parties.”

Shell and the USW are scheduled to renew face-to-face negotiations on Monday in Houston after meeting by telephone on Wednesday. Talks broke off on Feb. 20 after refinery owners balked at a settlement. The USW then ordered workers at three Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] refineries to strike.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Terry Wade and Grant McCool)

SOURCE

RELATED

Steelworkers on strike hold rallies in Houston, Texas City

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Posted in: John Donovan, Motiva, Oil, Reuters, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Tagged: Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Working for Shell didn’t stop me having morals or accepting climate change, says Mark Moody-Stuart

Working for Shell didn’t stop me having morals or accepting climate change, says Mark Moody-Stuart

Mar 6th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By John Donovan

The Guardian has published anotherarticle by former Royal Dutch Shell Group Chairman, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart.

He is apparently attempting to deal with the recent suggestion by Jonathan Porritt  that oil company employees should conducer quitting their jobs on moral grounds.

Sir Mark says that working for Shell didn’t stop him from having morals or accepting climate change.

He clearly holds himself in high esteem.

Surprising, since all manner of unethical activity took place during his time at the top of Shell, including:

• Cloak and dagger activities targeting Greenpeace, The BodyShop and other perceived Shell enemies by a private spy firm in which his titled colleagues on the Shell Transport and Trading Company board were major shareholders and the ultimate spymasters.
• Undercover activities directed at my family and me by Shell. Activities that I made him personally aware of and that Shell was forced to admit in writing.
• Spectacularly bad survey results generated from a survey involving over a 1,000 Shell petrol stations in the UK, which revealed that 75% who participated, thought Shell was an unethical company.
• The seeds of the reserves scandal that were sown by his hydrocarbon value creation teams.
• Environmental abuses in Nigeria, including unfulfilled promises to end gas flaring.

Sir Mark strove to retain his high self regard even when boss of Anglo American and continues to do so although now in bed with the hardline Saudi regime. The regime that sentenced a blogger to a 1,000 lashes and are threatening to upgrade that insane sentence to a death penalty.

Under the circumstances, it is a bit rich for Sir Mark to give himself a pass as being a person of high integrity.

It would be fairer to leave that assessment to the judgement of impartial observers.

Having said all of that, I do think that Sir Mark’s natural inclination, encouraged by his good wife, is to act with integrity, more so than with most past and current leaders in the extractive industries.

RELATED ARTICLES

Seething review of Mark Moody-Stuart book: Responsible Leadership

MORE HOT AIR, THIS TIME FROM A CURRENT BUT DEPARTING ROYAL DUTCH SHELL CHAIRMAN, JORMA OLLILA

Why Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) Chairman Wants Big Oil To Limit Carbon Emissions

Extract

Bidness Etc looks at Shell Chairman’s speech to employees, advocating lower carbon emissions. He believes the society needs to find a middle path to address climate change

Shell’s Ollila Says Society Must Find ‘Middle Way’ on Climate Change: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: 4 MARCH 2015

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Posted in: Business Principles, Corporate Governance, Environment, GoogleNews,Human Rights, John Donovan, Jorma Ollila, Nigeria, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc,Shell.
Tagged: John Donovan · Nigeria · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Sir Mark Moody-Stuart

The TRUTH will set you FREE.

Nigeria’s Ogonis Divided Over Resuming Oil Production

Nigeria’s Ogonis Divided Over Resuming Oil Production

Mar 6th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By Chris Stein – Voice of America, 06 March 2015

Nigeria’s Ogonis Divided Over Resuming Oil Production

KEGBARA DERE, NIGERIA—

Oil once flowed in Ogoniland, as it does from wells throughout the creeks and swamps of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.

But in 1993, the Ogoni people said enough. Leaking pipelines were polluting the fields they farmed and the waterways they fished.

Oil giant Shell was forced to pull out of Ogoniland that year in the face of protests led by the charismatic Ken Saro-Wiwa, head of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, or MOSOP. He was hanged two years later by the military dictatorship that ran Nigeria, in a move widely seen as retaliation for his activism.

Nearly 20 years after Saro-Wiwa’s death, some Ogonis think they would be better off if production resumed.

“It will generate some sort of employment. It will definitely engage our youth. And you know if there is money, people can have access to good education. If there’s money people will have access to good food.  And if there is money people will have access to good shelter,” said Donald Gberesu, the high chief of the town of Kegbara Dere.

In the years since Shell left, Ogoniland has remained polluted. An United Nations Environment Program report released in 2011 said it will take up to 30 years of cleanup to undo all the damage done by the decades of oil exploration.

Many in the region, such as Young Kigbara, a former member of the MOSOP leadership, feel the pollution issue needs to be addressed before Ogoni oil can flow once again.

“It is a precondition for any company to come in, which means the federal government first and foremost and Shell ought to clean Ogoni properly before any oil resumption can take place. It is after that any other company will come,” said Kigbara.

Some say Shell alienated the Ogonis by developing the region only to suit the needs of its business. Roads were paved, but only to access Shell infrastructure.  Resident Gbarakporo Amstel Monday said a new contract will make sure locals benefit from the extraction.

“We are now going to start a new beginning. You are getting me. We are going to get a new beginning. Because we are going to negotiate. You give me what and I give you what,” said Monday.

In the meantime, Ogoniland’s creeks remain blackened by crude, much as they were when anti-drilling activist Saro-Wiwa was alive.

SOURCE

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Posted in: Africa, Business Principles, Corruption, Environment, Human Rights, Nigeria,Ogoniland, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, Toxic contamination.
Tagged: Nigeria · Ogoni · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Voice of America

The TRUTH will set you FREE.