Shell Final Audit Shows 2002 Reserves Overstated 41% (Update2)
March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe's second-largest oil company, reported its oil and gas reserves as of 2002 had been overstated by 41 percent, the culmination of five cuts that led to investor lawsuits, the loss of three senior executives and more than $150 million of fines.
Shell's amended annual report, filed today, showed proven oil and gas reserves equivalent to 13.72 billion barrels at the end of 2002. Shell had first reported holdings of 19.35 billion for that year, 5.63 billion more than it should have. The figures mean that more than one of every four barrels, or 29 percent, at Shell was improperly recorded in the original document.
``This is the final chapter in rewriting Shell's history,'' Andrew Bell, London-based European equity strategist at Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite, said by telephone.
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http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=ahNjS6biqhCc&refer=news_indexMeanwhile..... AG Edwards shares "we have a problem"
Oil demand outweighs supply
By BILL MEDLEY Courier & Press staff writer 464-7519 or medleyb@courierpress.com
March 4, 2005
A decline in OPEC's production capacity and a rapid increase in demand have combined to make recent oil price increases permanent, a market expert said Thursday.
In a speech before the Illinois Oil & Gas Association's annual convention at the Executive Inn, Bill O'Grady, director of futures research at A.G. Edwards & Sons, said signs suggest current oil production can't meet expected future demand.
O'Grady presented research estimating that the world needs to find another 40 million barrels of oil a day on top of what it's currently producing to meet demand in 2010.
"That seems highly unlikely," he said. "We've got a problem on our hands."
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http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/ebj/article/0,2578,ECP_...