Investors reject Royal Dutch Shell oil sands review

Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor
Shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell overwhelmingly rejected a resolution challenging the oil group’s investments in Canadian oil sands yesterday. Executives were also repeatedly criticised at a stormy annual meeting over the group’s operations in Nigeria.

About 11 per cent of shareholders either supported or abstained on the special resolution, which requested that Shell provide more information on its oil sands activities, including the financial, social and environmental impacts.

The majority voted against the motion, which had been tabled by a group of investors, human rights activists and native Canadian groups opposed to the extraction of crude oil from Canada’s bitumen-rich sands. The process is energy-intensive and environmentally fraught and releases far higher emissions of carbon dioxide than conventional oil production.

Speaking at the ill-tempered meeting in The Hague, Niall O’Shea, of Co-operative Asset Management, said that investing in oil sands would present “formidable energy and carbon penalties” for Shell in the long-term.

Peter Voser, chief executive, rejected the concerns: “It is part of our strategy. We see [oil sands] as a key part of the energy mix and Shell intends to play its part in a sustainable way.”

Shareholders also attacked Shell for its record on pollution and human rights in Nigeria. Kate Baden-Fuller, a longstanding independent shareholder, said: “I want to make sure my money is not being made from the misery of others ... The standard of living in Nigeria has gone down drastically. The pollution is so bad it has affected the drinking water and the fishing.”

Almost all shareholders voted in favour of the firm’s 2009 executive pay report. Last year they rejected the plan, prompting talks with leading shareholders that led to a series of new proposals.