Yet Another Reserve Revision at Royal Dutch/Shell

Royal Dutch/Shell(RD Quote) will finally file its annual report for 2003 this week, but not before slashing another 112 million barrels of oil from its proven reserve base -- the fourth such revision this year.

The world's third-largest oil company said its auditors have finally signed off on the 2003 reports and they will be made available to shareholders on Friday. Filing of the documents has been complicated by a scandal that came to light in January when the company announced that its proven reserves were overstated by 20%.

Shell has revised the shortfall higher on three subsequent occasions, culminating Monday with news 2003's financial report will show a reduction of 4.47 billion barrels, up from an estimated reduction of 4.35 billion at the last update on April 19. ...