abce certificate
Sunday, 20 July, 2008, 22:40 GMT | more prices >>

Shell on recruitment hunt



By Upstream staff 

Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell has announced plans to hire more than 1000 engineers to strengthen the unit at the centre of last year's reserves crisis.

Shell was forced to cut its proven oil reserves by nearly a quarter last year after vastly overestimating how many reserves it held.

The scandal cost the company almost $150 million in fines imposed by US and British regulators and led to the sacking of three senior executives.

Analysts said that the recruitment drive for Shell's exploration and production arm appears to be aimed at regaining ground lost to rivals, who have stronger records on reserve replacement and production growth.

"This is what Shell needs to do. It has been underinvesting in the upstream division over the past five years," Jason Kenney at ING Financial Markets told the Associated Press.

Shell said that the recruitment drive was part of an annual review of the staff needed to conduct its business strategy and to replace normal attrition of staff.

"In addition, Shell EP (exploration and production) has significantly increased its planned capital expenditure and will require additional technical resources to execute our work plan over the next several years," it said.

A total of 170 experienced petroleum engineers are being sought by April on a contract or permanent basis. These staff are part of the team responsible for making sure oil and gas can be extracted from the ground.

The remaining staff will join the exploration and production unit in other roles. No details were provided on where they will be based.

Analysts are also waiting to discover whether Shell will reclassify its reserves for the fifth time since last January when it announces its annual results on 3 February. The company warned in October that it may have to cut estimates by 900 million barrels more, having already reduced the total of its reserves by 23%, or 4.47 billion barrels.

Shell has announced a string of initiatives to improve accountability and performance after the reserves scandal, including plans to merge its British and Dutch holding companies after nearly 100 years of separate operations.


Tuesday, 18 January, 2005, 13:16 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 27 April, 2005, 16:03 GMT

e-mail this article to a colleague


to email:  from:
comments: