Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday it had agreed to pay more than $90 million to settle a class action lawsuit taken by employees in relation to a reserves overbooking scandal last year.

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant said in a statement it will pay $90 million to employees who participated in certain employee saving plans.

This figure includes lawyers' fees, and Shell will pay up to another $1 million to cover other expenses incurred by the plaintiffs' lawyers.

Insurance will cover $25 million out of the total settlement, which is subject to court approval.

"We are hopeful that the court will approve the settlement, which represents an important step towards putting litigation relating to the reserves recategorisations behind us," said Beat Hess, Shell's legal director.

Shell shocked investors in January 2004 by slashing its proven reserves of oil and gas. The revelation that the firm had been exaggerating the size of its reserves for years sent its stock tumbling and led to the ouster of its top executives.

Shell, the world's third largest oil group by market capitalisation, has already paid about $150 million in fines to US and UK financial regulators over the scandal.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.