International Deathmatch - Corporate Wars

The Royal Dutch Shell Group vs Greece

Think 'Greece', and you might also dream of philosophy, Mount Olympus, and the pristine Aegean seas. Think 'grease', and you may imagine corpulence, mountainous clouds of pollution, and Nigerian oil spills - all in a day's work for the Royal Dutch Shell Group.

In the blue corner - Greece

The Minoan civilisation, Europe's earliest advanced civilisation, flourished in Crete from 2300 BC to around 1400 BC. Named after King Minos of Knossos, it spread to Mycenae on the mainland, where magnificent tombs attest to the wealth and power of the ancestors of King Agamemnon of Mycenae, who with his brother King Menelaus of Sparta was to lead the Greeks in the attack on Troy. The 10-year siege was ended through the subterfuge of the wooden horse in around 1184 BC but was only formally chronicled much later by the poet Homer in the Iliad. After this an invasion of tribes from Asia Minor ushered in the Greek Dark Ages, when hundreds of little states, each known as a polis, had their own separate governments, the largest to emerge being Athens. A first invasion by King Darius of Persia was defeated by the Athenians at Marathon in 491 BC. A second by the Persian King Xerxes was also beaten back (with Spartan help) in 480-79 BC, ushering in the golden age of classical Greece when the philosophers, writers and artists of Athens laid down the intellectual foundations of Western civilisation. The Spartans eventually forced the Athenians to surrender in 404 BC at the end of the Peloponnesian Wars but were themselves beaten by Philip of Macedon in 338 BC. Philip's son Alexander the Great (356-23 BC) in turn conquered the Persian Empire, founding Alexandria in 331 BC and spreading Greek civilisation throughout his vast but short-lived empire.

Conquered by the Romans in the 2nd century BC, Greece formed part of the heartland of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire (founded AD 395), which from its capital at Constantinople preserved versions of the Greek language and heritage while assimilating many races. Doctrinal disputes between Constantinople and the Church of Rome led to the Great Schism (1054), after which the Greek Orthodox Church regarded itself as the sole spiritual embodiment of the universal empire. Weakened by the depredations of Latin crusaders in the 13th century, the Byzantine Empire gradually succumbed to the Ottoman Turks, to whom Constantinople fell in 1453 (and became Istanbul), followed by mainland Greece in 1456. The larger Greek-populated islands of the Aegean held out much longer under the powerful Italian city-states, of which Venice occupied the Morea Peninsula in 1686-1715. Nevertheless, for several centuries most, and eventually all, of the eastern Mediterranean Greek world was under Muslim Turkish rule.

Greece achieved its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it gradually added neighboring islands and territories, most with Greek-speaking populations. Following the defeat of Communist rebels in 1949, Greece joined NATO in 1952. A military dictatorship, which in 1967 suspended many political liberties and forced the king to flee the country, lasted seven years. The 1974 democratic elections and a referendum created a parliamentary republic and abolished the monarchy; Greece joined the European Community or EC in 1981 (which became the EU in 1992).

In the red corner - The Royal Dutch Shell Group

In 1833 Marcus Samuel opened a small shop in London, selling sea shells to Victorian natural history enthusiasts. It soon became a thriving import–export business. On a visit to the Caspian Sea coast, Marcus’s son recognised a huge opportunity to export oil for lamps and cooking to the Far East. He commissioned the first special oil tanker in 1892, and subsequently delivered 4,000 tonnes of Russian kerosene to Singapore and Bangkok.

Meanwhile, the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company (NYSE:RD) had been formed in the Netherlands to develop oil fields in Asia. By 1896 it had its own tanker fleet to compete with the British Shell Transport & Trading Company (NYSE:SC). In time, it became obvious that the competing Dutch and British companies would do better working together. In 1907, the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies was created to incorporate their operations worldwide.

Throughout the early twentieth century, the Group expanded with acquisitions in Europe, Africa and the Americas. These were exciting times for the oil industry, as the mass production of cars had opened up a vast new market.

Shell received worldwide attention in 1995 for their involvement in the unfair trial and execution of the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni people by the Nigerian military government.

One of Shell's oil storage platforms - Brent Spar - is obsolete and awaiting decommissioning. Shell was granted permission by the British government to dump Brent Spar in a deep water trench in the North Sea. Greenpeace UK reacted quickly and successfully to the situation and Shell backed down. Hundreds of similar oil installations exist, over 50 of which are due for decommissioning in the next 10 years.

Shell have also recently begun operations in Peru, where despite their attempts to minimise the impact to both the environment and the local people there are already claims that damage is being done. Local people say that it now takes a whole day to hunt the same amount of animals it used to take only 2 hours to find, and that their river sometimes runs black.

Round One - Population/Employees

Shell employees would find themselves outnumbered by Greeks bearing grudges, should they decide to fight them head-on.

The round goes to Greece!

Round Two - Economy

Shell may not have the monetary muscle of Greece, but it's not far off. Given its growth and efficiency, it will only be a matter of time...

The round goes to Shell!

Round Three - Military

If Shell poured all its profits into fighting, then perhaps it would make up for its slight disadvantage in numbers. (Assuming that accountants and refinery staff were a match for trained military personnel.)

Then again, Shell has a proven track record of using other nations' armies...

And how long would the Greek fighting force last without oil?

The round narrowly goes to Shell!

To Shell in a handbasket!

True, Greece hasn't been a major power since Alexander the great, but it is a first world country in one of the richest regions in the world. There are lots of other countries with far less clout.

And though Shell may not walk away smiling in an up-front scrape, power need only be wielded to be exercised.

As I mentioned in the introduction, it has been very tough finding out the details of this power, and where it has been utilised. The snippets of information out there are disturbing, and I wonder what else lies buried beyond that opaque curtain of black crude.

The entire industry seems to work in the global shadow, and are free to pursue the ominous maxim:

Oil is thicker than blood.

Sources:

• 2004 CIA World Factbook - www.cia.gov
• SBS World Guide - www.theworldnews.com.au/Worldguide/
• Yahoo Finance - finance.yahoo.com
• Shell - www.shell.com
• McSpotlight - www.mcspotlight.org
• Nationmaster - www.nationmaster.com

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