Oil giant to fight multi-million damages claim

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell vowed today to fight a claim for damages brought by a group of pension funds over its reserves crisis two years ago.

Institutional investors, led by Dutch pension fund ABP, have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States against Shell for several hundred million US dollars.

They are claiming compensation for losses suffered when Shell’s stock fell after the company admitted overstating the size of its estimated oil and gas reserves by up to a third.

Responding to the filing by the 26-strong group of investors, Shell pledged “to vigorously defend itself against the action”.

The reserves scandal cost Shell nearly $150m (€124m) in fines imposed by regulators in the UK and US and led to the dismissal of three senior executives.

Shell has already paid $90m (€74m) to settle one lawsuit instigated by a US shareholder and related to the reclassification of its reserves.

A Shell spokeswoman said the company could not comment further on the pending case or speculate on whether it will eventually be settled.

The new suit, filed in New Jersey, names the company as well as past and current executives including current chief executive Jeroen van der Veer.