ClickAJob News

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) is to pay over $350 million (£176.92 million) to settle investor claims after the company's 2004 restatement of its proven oil reserves.

Shareholders had claimed they lost out after Shell was forced to cut its estimate of its reserves by around a fifth, causing the group's share values to initially slip by over six per cent.

The error, which led to judicial probes from the US department of justice and forced the early exit of RDS' chairman, Sir Philip Watts, caused some to speculate that the company may have been guilty of fiddling the books.

RDS denied this was the case, but said in a statement issued this morning that it wanted to resolve the issue.

"Without admitting any wrongdoing, Shell agreed to pay $352.6 million (£178.24 million), plus administrative costs, to investors covered by the settlement," the statement said.

"The agreement depends on the Amsterdam court of appeals declaring the settlement binding for all of the shareholders that it covers and is subject to agreed opt-out provisions," it added.

Observers have said that today's settlement is a victory for institutional investors like ABP, PGGM and the Vereniging van Effectenbezitters, a Dutch group representing individual shareholders, who claimed they had lost out because of the restatement.

Meanwhile industry analysts say the effects of the 2004 restatement have already been felt by the world's oil companies. They claim that increased scrutiny of and concern over oil reserves has been seen in the wake of RDS' error.