Shell chief defies calls for him to quit

Shell chairman Sir Philip Watts is refusing to bow to renewed shareholder calls for his resignation ahead of Thursday's annual results.

Leading investors are pre- paring to meet Shell's non-executive directors, led by Lord Oxburgh, on Monday in a last-ditch bid to persuade them to reform Shell's fragmented management structure.

Last Friday, Sir Philip told around 1,000 staff that he would not stand down. A spokes- woman told The Independent on Sunday that this had not changed. "I could not imagine his position would change for an external audience."

Sir Philip is due to retire in June 2005. The spokeswoman did not discount the possibility of him leaving before then. Some investors want him to go immediately. Others contacted by the IoS said they were still prepared to work with him to push through reform. But they said the company has not indicated if it is willing to make any concessions.

This follows last month's shock announcement that Shell was reclassifying a fifth of its "proven" reserves as "probable". Sir Philip used to head the exploration and production division responsible for the miscalculation before becoming chairman.

One fund manager said: "It would be best for shareholders if Sir Philip stood down. It might restore some of the lost confidence in management."