Shell Replacement Ratio Weak

Royal Dutch Shell is likely to fail to add oil reserves from a huge project in Canada to its reserves.

Shell is due to update investors on March 17 and wanted to include Canadian tar sands as part of its asset base.

However, the company needs permission from America's Securities and Exchange Commission, which watches the Anglo-Ducth giant suspiciously since 2004, when it had overbooked its oil and gas reserves.

Shell now accepts that any permission will not be in time for the update. It means that Shell's reserve replacement ratio will be weak.