Royal Dutch/Shell Group announced over the weekend it will trim jobs in Nigeria as it reevaluates its oil and gas reserves there. The British press also reported Monday that shareholders are pressuring the energy giant to hire outside executives to help move the company forward.

Meanwhile, Shell also reportedly met with members of the Association of British Insurers, a leading investor group, on Monday. A spokesman for the association said the meeting was “constructive,” and said a dialogue was expected to continue. He offered no other specifics.

The meeting followed Shell’s announcement over the weekend that it will streamline its Nigerian operations, which account for about 10% of the energy giant’s global production.. Along with job cuts, Shell said it would raise production there to 1.5 million boe/d from its planned 1 million boe/d by 2006.

Shell is Nigeria’s largest energy producer, and Nigerian operations also were responsible for about one third of the 3.9 billion boe of recategorized proved oil and gas reserves that were announced in January (see Daily GPI, Jan. 12). Operations in the region have been beset by rival militia uprisings as well as oil and gas thefts.

Last week, Shell recategorized another 250 million boe of proven reserves and reduced the volume of proved reserves it plans to book this year by 220 million boe (see Daily GPI, March 19). Shell also delayed release of its annual report until May pending a full audit of its reserves by Ryder Scott, and it has not ruled out more oil and gas reserve downgrades.

The latest recategorization affects reserves booked at Ormen Lange, a natural gas field off Norway’s northern coast. Shell said the cut followed management’s interpretation of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidelines. Shell relied on 3-D seismic data to set its booking estimate on the Norway reserves, but the data apparently were not enough to meet SEC guidelines, according to Malcolm Brinded, the new head of Shell’s exploration and production.

Two of Shell’s partners in the Norway venture, BP plc and Norsk Hydro ASA, have not announced whether they also will review their booked reserves there.

©Copyright 2004 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.