Royal Dutch/Shell Group said Thursday it is considering unifying the boards of its two parent companies, a move that would significantly change the producer’s complex financial structure. Shell also named a steering committee to oversee ways to improve the company’s structure, and said it plans to make the results of the internal review public by November with changes to be finalized in 2005.

The dual board structure is nearly 100 years old, and it gives Royal Dutch Petroleum of the Netherlands a 60% stake, while UK-based Shell Transport & Trading holds 40%. However, many investors have blamed the structure for a huge breakdown in accountability that, among other things, led to stunning revisions of oil and gas reserves earlier this year.

“Amongst other alternatives, forms of unified boards, to which a CEO would report, are being studied. Nothing is ruled out at this stage,” the company said in a statement. Executives Maarten van den Bergh, Peter Job, John Kerr, Jonkheer Aarnout Loudon and Jeroen van der Veer will lead the restructuring panel, Shell said.

Along with a plan to institute a more traditional, unified board of directors headed by a CEO, Shell will abolish priority shares held by its executive and non-executive board members, it said. The priority shares give the holders disproportionate power over the way the boards are set up, and they have been criticized by other shareholders for limiting their influence.

The company’s statement was said to be made in response to a letter that was published on Wednesday in London’s Financial Times by Ted White of the Calpers pension fund and Eric Knight of Knight Vinke Asset Management. White and Knight wrote that they and other institutional investors blamed the previous overstatement of oil and gas reserves partly on “the prevailing governance culture of the group and the absence of orthodox board structures.” They also called for Shell to review its structure and set a timetable to restructure.

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