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Edited on Fri Jan-09-04 01:15 PM by hatrack
AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) - "Royal Dutch/Shell Group cut its estimated proven oil and gas reserves by 20 percent on Friday, triggering a share price slide and sharp investor criticism of the Anglo-Dutch firm's management.
Most top western oil companies are struggling to find new viable fields of sufficient size to replace maturing assets -- seen as crucial to future growth in earnings.
Yet in recent years Shell, one of the world's top three energy firms, has been seen as the laggard, both in terms of reserve replacement from its own finds and through acquisitions.
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Shell came late to the acquisitions spree that saw rivals BP and ExxonMobil make major deals to shore up reserves. Friday's news highlights over-optimism in its home-grown key areas, including Australia's Gorgon gas field, onshore activities in Nigeria, and other unspecified areas in the eastern hemisphere. Shell recategorized 3.9 billion barrels of "proven" oil and gas reserves -- enough to supply world oil demand for 50 days -- as either "unproven" or having "scope for recovery."
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