EMAIL TO THE ENFORCEMENT SECTION OF THE US SECURITIES & EXCHANGE COMMISSION 6 JULY 04

SUBJECT: SEC INQUIRY INTO ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, OIL AND GAS RESERVES

RE: LAW SUIT NO. S2-23-41-2004 AMENDED ORDER 29 JUNE 2004: EIGHT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

COMPANIES OBTAIN A RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST FORMER SHELL GEOLOGIST DR HUONG YIU TUONG

THIS INFORMATION IS FOR THE SEC TEAM INVESTIGATING THE RECATEGORISATION OF RESERVES BY ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP

I am writing to bring to your attention the fact that eight Shell companies including a Shell Exploration & Production company, have issued a High Court Writ/Restraining Order in Malaysia to silence a former Shell geologist of almost 30 years standing, Dr John Huong, a Malaysian national.  

One of the Shell companies is based in the UK; one is in Holland and six in the Far East. The restraining order also relates to the “Shell Whistleblower” web pages published on the website Shell2004.com of which I am the sole owner and publisher. As per the Court Order, postings under Dr Huongs name have been removed from the website.

As Shell is aware I assisted Dr Huong in the drafting/conversion/ translation/editing of his rough copy into the English language, in a suitable form for publication on the Internet. Shell has not brought proceedings against me although I am more responsible than Dr Huong for the relevant website postings.

We posted an “appetiser” (my description) on Shell2004.com and had threatened Shell management with “the main course”, which I understood from Dr Huong to have been important revelations in regards to various matters including the Shell oil reserves controversy.

Within 2 hours of deleting the relevant “appetiser” website postings, I was contacted by Mr Steven J. Peitler, an investigator from the New York law firm, Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz LLP. They act for the lead Plaintiff, the Pennsylvania State Pension Fund, in the largest US class action multi-million dollar law suit being brought against the Royal Dutch Shell Group and named current and former directors in relation to the recategorisation of reserves.

Mr Peitler urgently wanted to make contact with Dr Huong to discuss his intimate knowledge/expertise as a former Shell geologist of matters relating to the Shell reserves controversy. I cannot recall his exact words but Mr Peitler gave me the impression that Shell had a track record for cutting off his lines of enquiry. They apparently have a talent for silencing/neutralising potential witnesses just before Mr Peitler tries to make contact. It appears that this may have happened again. 

Unbeknown to Shell, Mr Huong had fortunately already supplied me with some written comments on the reserves debacle. I was at least able to email at the request of Mr Peitler copies of the deleted website postings and supply him with other documents by fax. Mr Peitler is of course now even keener to speak to Dr Huong.

I still have in my possession further documentary evidence which indicates that at the very least Dr Huong has inside knowledge of the policies and practices which contributed to the recategorisation of Shell oil and gas reserves admitted by Shell. In one such transcript Dr Huong even mentioned in expansive broken English the manipulation of the reserves figures and related collusion in top management in the Shell operating companies. He also attributed blame to the so-called “transformation” process brought in by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart during his tenure as Group Chairman. Apparently vital specialist expertise was lost in the associated widespread job culling exercise. Dr Huong has also stated that he knows how to identify the wrongdoers at Shell. He told me that he could direct the SEC to particular documents of material importance.

I have read Dr Huongs credentials and they appear extremely impressive. He apparently has a wide-ranging knowledge/expertise in relevant matters. I understand that as a geologist, Dr Huong specialised in many areas of earth sciences like micropalaeontology, sequence stratigraphy, exploration geology, sedimentology, reservoir geology and production geology. I further understand that he was a contributor/producer for field development plans, scouting for block biddings and was invited to study oil and gas basins in former CIS in early 1990’s by the Russian Ministry for oil and gas.

Dr Huong informed me that he is well conversant with integrated field development with inclusion of disciplines such as petrophysical evaluation of hydrocarbon, the reservoir engineering aspects for reserves assessment (including seismological notional field development based on seismological data) and the economic screening criteria. I understand that in 1997 he was assigned by Shell Malaysia to the multi-billion dollar Kinabalu offshore platform project as the only Production Geologist.

Perhaps the SEC may be able to persuade the Royal Dutch Shell Group to allow Dr Huong to disclose his evidence/testimony/ to the SEC and the US Justice Department. In the latter connection, I would be most grateful if you would kindly inform the US Justice Department of this communication.

Dr Huong is naturally shocked by the heavy-handed action of Shell bearing in mind that Shell management has ignored a barrage of negative comments made about their conduct by the news media over several months. Shell’s reputation has been shot to pieces not by his comments, but by the admissions of its own management and the consequential deluge of extremely negative publicity. This is why it is suspected that Shell has an ulterior motive in using the full weight of the law to silence him. However, Dr Huong will surely be too frightened to say anything unless permitted to do so by the Shell and the Courts. I must stress that I have no authority to speak on his behalf, but in the interests of justice I felt compelled to contact the SEC. Neither can I testify to his expertise as I am not an expert in such specialist matters.

However, I have supplied Mr Peitler with my own documentary evidence of a deeply ingrained corporate culture of deceit and cover-up at the highest levels of the Royal Dutch Shell Group and I would happily supply the same evidence to the SEC/US Justice Department on request. I have also been asked to give testimony in connection with a different US class action law suit against Shell. I am also in possession of several confidential Shell internal documents, some of which relate directly to the oil reserves scandal. I have received such documents from multiple sources.

THE SOLICITORS ACTING FOR THE ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP IN THE DR HUONG LAWSUIT ARE, T H LIEW & PARTNERS, KUALA LUMPUR, TEL: 03 21474624

THE US LAW FIRM IS BERNSTEIN LIEBHARD & LIFSHITZ LLP, 10 EAST 40TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10016.

TEL: 001 212-779-1414

THE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR DR HUONG IS: johnhu@tm.net.my

Yours sincerely 

Alfred Donovan  

CC Shell management (Dr Huongs usual circulation list plus dozens of other Shell execs in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.)

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