Forbes.com: Fitch lowers outlook for Shell to negative

Reuters, 03.12.04, 12:10 PM ET

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings on Friday said the long-term outlook for Royal Dutch/Shell top credit rating has become "negative" after two top executives at the company stepped down last week.

The management changes followed the company's announcing in January that it had overestimated by 20 percent the amount of oil and gas the company was certain it could profitably extract from its fields.

The revision of the company's outlook to "negative" from "stable" reflects the lower reserves, possibility of further management instability, and potential shareholder litigation, Fitch said. Fitch rates the Royal Dutch/Shell's senior unsecured debt "AAA."

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