UPDATED DECEMBER 2010 A BAE Systems insider from the AL-Yamamah and AL-Salam Projects in Saudi Arabia, is supplying internal BAE, Saudi, and UK MOD documents to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) which is carrying out an investigation into alleged corruption. The samples we have seen include correspondence between high ranking officers in the British [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Saudi Arabia’
BAE Systems Serious Fraud Office deal could include settlement of al-Yamamah oil-for-arms scandal involving Shell
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL INVOLVEMENT IN SAUDI ARABIA / AL YAMAMAH BAE ARMS SCANDAL
Showa Shell Rises to Nine-Month High on Solar Project
June 24 (Bloomberg) — Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, a Japanese refiner and solar-equipment maker, rose to the highest in nine months after saying it will build solar plants in Saudi Arabia to expand its alternative energy business.
Former FBI chief defends flow of money to Saudi ambassador
Excerpts: Freeh said that a 1985 treaty between Britain and Saudi Arabia allowed the trade of oil for weapons. BAE signed an $86-billion contract with the Saudis under the provisions of the treaty, and the funds that flowed between Britain and the Bandar-controlled bank accounts in the U.S. may have come from the sale of Saudi oil under the terms of the contract. “We did not invent corruption,” Prince Bandar bin Sultan tells Bergman. “This has happened since Adam and Eve. . . . This is human nature.”
A noose tightens *(no mention of Shell’s key role in Al Yamamah oil for arms scandal)
But the biggest case was always the Al Yamamah probe, which became even more explosive after it emerged that the SFO was investigating allegations that the company had paid more than £1bn to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to Washington. Prince Bandar has also always denied wrongdoing. The scrapping of the Saudi case on national security grounds proved a pyrrhic victory for BAE, however, as it triggered a wave of criticism of the company and was followed by the launching of other investigations around the world.
Guns From Londonistan: the $350 million fine paid by Lloyds TSB Group
There may be no silver lining in a story that involves Iran being able to spend untold millions on its weapons procurement, but at least this UK institution’s actions debunk the popular myth that it is only the U.S. that will conveniently ignore international norms of behavior for the sake of a reliable oil supply.
Lower energy prices aren’t fueling economic returns
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, for example, has postponed a near-doubling of production in Canada’s oil sands an operation that some analysts say requires oil to be above $70 a barrel to be economically feasible.
OPEC Plans Drastic Cut In Oil Production
Royal Dutch Shell has announced that it will delay some of its planned expansion of expensive oil sands projects in Canada. Rob J. Routs, executive director of oil products and chemicals and a member of the board at Royal Dutch Shell, said that reaching the target of 700,000 barrels a day would be “pushed out at least two to four years.”
Drop in China’s oil demand pressures Opec to cut production
China’s once ravenous hunger for energy is weakening at a record rate, compounding the pressure on Opec to slash global oil production this week by as much as two million barrels a day to prevent a glut.
OPEC Races to Get Ahead of Declining Oil Demand
Some economists now compare OPEC’s plight to that of the early 1980s, when soaring crude prices helped spur a recession in the U.S. and Europe. Oil demand fell sharply, as did oil prices. It took nearly 15 years for U.S. consumption to return to 1980 levels.
The Bountiful Bribes From BAE (*Shell was at the heart of the BAE/Saudi scandal)
BAE also got into trouble for paying similar size bribes to Saudi Arabian officials to facilitate a deal for Eurofighters. When British investigators sought to prosecute BAE, the Saudis threatened to cut off counter-terrorism cooperation if the British investigators did not back off. The British government ordered the prosecution halted.
BAE accused of £100m secret payments to seal South Africa arms deal (*BAE and the MoD were Shell’s partners in the Saudi Arabian Al Yamamah oil-for-arms scandal)
This follows the closedown of the SFO’s own inquiry in London into BAE’s multimillion pound payments to members of the Saudi royal family. Tony Blair, as prime minister, forced the SFO to call off the inquiry on alleged grounds of “national security”.
Shell, Saudi Arabia, Arms-for-Oil, Corruption, & Radioactive Contamination
Assertion on 13 November 2008 by Richard Wiseman (Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc) to John Donovan:
“It is only because you know that I am utterly incapable of arranging the actions you ascribe to me, that you repeatedly accuse me of things of which you know I am completely innocent, safe in the believe that I would take no action.”
OPEC Cuts: A Barrel Of Laughs
Oil slides below $50 in New York despite cartel’s likely production curbs this month.
An Ode to Oil
Oil is, after all, a primary source of man-made global warming, while spillages and drilling have sometimes inflicted lethal environmental damage. Despite the sharp falls of recent months, dramatic price rises have also underwritten every postwar global recession, including the current economic malaise.


Shell Blog RSS Feed