Shell Cuts Oil Reserves Again

Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer said he was confident the company would not have to make further reserves cuts.

“We have taken the steps necessary to close out the reserves issue,” van der Veer said.

Nonetheless, he reiterated that his head was on the block over the matter. He said the restatement would have only a minor impact on earnings in recent years.

The company stuck to its target of 100 percent reserve replacement over the period 2004-2008, adding that the biggest impacts would come at the end of this period.

Shell, the world’s third-largest oil group by market capitalization, got off to a bad start in 2004, hitting a replacement level of between 45 and 55 percent.

Reuters