Book description
Royal Dutch/Shell is a multinational behemoth. Every four seconds of
every day, 1,200 cars fill their tanks with petrol on Shell forecourts,
while at airports around the world civil airliners are refuelled with
Shell aviation spirit every ten seconds. The company has long been
regarded as a world leader and a model for other corporations. That is,
until January 2004. In a truly dramatic statement, the company told an
incredulous world that estimates of Shell's reserves had been inflated
by a staggering 3. 9 billion barrels. It was the first of a series of
admissions that brought into question Shell's reputation for rectitude
and sent its share price tumbling. Shell Shock is an engrossing account
which reveals details that have never been included in any company
accounts. Prominent amongst these is the confirmation that one of the
corporation's two 'founding fathers', Henri Deterding, was a passionate
supporter of fascist dictators such as Gmez in Venezuela, Franco in
Spain, Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany. Shell Shock then
exposes the company's appalling environmental record, notably in Nigeria
and the United States, and reveals the possible ecological consequences
of current plans to extract oil from Sakhalin Island, off Russia's
Pacific coast. As the company - threatened with multi-billion-dollar
legal action in America and West Africa - struggles to recover from what
amounts to self-immolation, this timely account of its history shows how
an internal cultural revolution and an obsession with spin besmirched
the company's good name, the quality that mattered most to Shell's
founders. Ian Cummins is a veteran journalist who has written for the
Sunday Telegraph, The Observer and the Financial Times. He also
previously worked for Petroleum Development Oman, the state-owned
company founded and operated by Shell. John Beasant has been press
secretary to two prime ministers, an Islamic head of state and a prince.
His other books include Stalin's Silver, Oman and (as co-author) Sultan
in Arabia.
