Shell chief to visit Nigeria in effort to clean up oil spills
Extract from a Guardian article by Terry Macalister published Sunday 1 June 2014
Ben van Beurden, the chief executive of Shell, will go to Nigeria this week to try to restore his firm’s tarnished reputation by winning local support for a clean-up strategy to tackle old oil spills in the Delta.
(c) Guardian News & Media Ltd
‘The Secret World of Oil’, by Ken Silverstein
Extract from a Financial Times book review by Guy Chazan published 1 June 2014: ‘The Secret World of Oil’, by Ken Silverstein
There have been more violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by energy companies than by any other kind of business, including weapons trading. Yet western countries, so reliant on crude exports from countries with oft-criticised regimes, often seem to lack the will to tackle the problem.
Diminishing Shell in Australia
Extracts from a Sydney Morning Herald article by Michael West published 2 June 2014 under the headline: “Is petrol producer an empty Shell?”
Suffice to say that Shell has contributed to the Australian economy in a big way over the years. Not quite so big any more, though. Shell Australia has become less an Australian company now than a figurine for its foreign parent. One corollary of this is that it is paying less tax. Shell, like other large corporations, is mimicking the aggressive tax practices of Google and the multinational new guard, and the implications for Australia’s tax base are menacing. If you look at Shell’s website, you will find that it calls itself Shell in Australia. It used to be Shell Australia. The word ‘‘in’’ is a small word but powerfully redolent of what has changed. This is no longer an Australian company in mind and management.
SEC urged to tackle foreign payment disclosure in oil and gas
Extract from an Financial Times article by Gina Chon published 1 June 2014
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is under growing pressure to tackle the issue of how oil and gas companies disclose payments to foreign governments. Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, several US senators and aid organisation Oxfam America have urged the agency to write new disclosure rules this year.
FULL FT ARTICLE
The TRUTH will set you FREE.
