Royal Dutch Shell plc announced that international Shell experts will share their expertise on scenario planning and meeting energy challenges, with the Arab leaders of tomorrow, at the Young Arab Leaders Forum 2005 which runs from December 2-4 in Dubai.

Shell has been active in scenario planning for over 30 years and has a team of internationally acclaimed experts in this field. Shell uses scenarios as a tool to analyse the complex environment in which it works and the many different factors behind change. The session at Young Arab Leaders will be led by Albert Bressand, head of Shell’s scenario team, and will aim to share the latest thinking on the Trilemma Triangle, a methodology to understand the influences of change on the market, communities and the state.

Shell’s energy session will be led by Mohamed Defrawi, the Managing Director and General Representative for Shell, Abu Dhabi and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO, Mubadala Development Company, UAE. Earlier this year, Shell had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mubadala Development Company to form a strategic alliance to work together in key areas of economic development, highlighting Shell’s focus on Private-Public Partnership.

The forum brings together 500 of the region’s young leaders from business, politics, academia, media, arts and culture with brief to further improve the state of the Arab world. Participants this year are from Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, as well as from Europe and the United States.

“The Young Arab Leaders forum is an important opportunity for the leaders of tomorrow to meet and forge the future of the region. Shell is honoured to be offered the opportunity to contribute to the forum, which we believe will play a part in ensuring that the outstanding achievements of the Arab world today are just the beginning of a bright future for all in the region,” said Hussain Al Mahmoudi, Head of External Affairs and HSSE, Shell.

“Young leaders of today can play a major role in boosting a country’s economic and social progress with their innovative ideas, postive outlook and the exuberance of youth. The Young Arab Leaders Forum will serve as an ideal platform to strategically support and encourage young leaders in the Arab world to leverage their proven ability and leadership skills,” added Al Mahmoudi.

Shell has a long record of support for Arab excellence, particularly encouraging entrepreneurship and the contributions of women. Shell recently announced the launch of the first Regional Intilaaqah Award – ‘rewarding the spirit of enterprise, which honours young entrepreneurs in Oman, Egypt and Abu Dhabi where the Intilaaqah programme is already running. Intilaaqah is a non-profit programme modeled on an initiative called "LiveWIRE" developed by Shell. The purpose of Intilaaqah is to stimulate and encourage young people to consider the option of starting their own businesses, and to provide assistance to help them realize their dreams.

Shell also publicly highlights and recognizes the contributions and talents of Emarati women as business leaders, with its vital support to the Emirates Business Women Award, which is now in its fourth successful year.
Royal Dutch Shell plc
Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges.  Shell companies have operations in more than 145 countries with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of Liquefied Natural Gas and Gas to Liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects including wind and solar power. For further information, visit http://www.shell.com

Disclaimer statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risk factors associated with the oil, gas, power, chemicals and renewables business. It is believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, but may be affected by a variety of variables which could cause actual results, trends or reserves replacement to differ materially, including, but not limited to: price fluctuations, actual demand, currency fluctuations, drilling and production results, reserve estimates, loss of market, industry competition, environmental risks, physical risks, risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets and the successful negotiation and consummation of transactions, the risk of doing business in developing countries, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves, economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions, political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates.
Please refer to the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2004 (as amended) for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect the Shell Group’s businesses.  Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any member of the Shell Group undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or other information.

Cautionary Note to US Investors:
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.  We use certain terms in this presentation, such as “expected producible resources” and “amount of reserves we expect to produce”, that the SEC’s guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC.
 

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