Mark Moody Stuart, who was managing director and then executive chairman of Shell between 1991 and 2001, and still remains a board member, told The Australian newspaper recently that resource companies saw themselves as technical and environment experts who didn't need to engage communities, and as a result often overlooked major issues that affected people.

"If people disagreed with us, we would tell them 'you don't understand'. We were technologically arrogant, but we've got out of that - and we've had it beaten out of us," Moody-Stuart told Murdoch's flagship publication.

"We all made the same mistake, but we learned from this process. Sometimes an organisation needs a crisis."

The former Shell boss, who remains on the board, added resource companies have made enormous strides in improving their relations with communities and in the process become even more conscious of the environment.

With the recent news that a Nigerian judge has ordered the arrest of the Shell managing director of that country for his non-appearance at a court hearing, one has to question Moody-Stuart's assertion that Shell had learnt from its lessons.