The oil industry's image plunged after Hurricane Katrina in 2005--when prices at the pump jumped and consumers fumed--and it has never quite recovered. That's why John Hofmeister, president of
Houston-based Shell Oil, played 20 questions with a group of invited guests ranging from supportive state politicians to deeply skeptical environmentalists in a Richmond, Va. hotel ballroom recently.
An open bar and a buffet table fortified the event, which was engineered by Shell's public relations agency, Burson-Marsteller. Hofmeister's frequent allusions to the need to tap into
offshore oil reservoirs made it clear that there was more to the evening than fellowship.
Much of the roughly 90-minute event was consumed by small-group discussions led by Shell executives.
Sipping drinks, people clustered in knots around easels bearing questions such as: "What does the U.S. need to do to manage energy demand?" Later, each of three Shell executives summarized the
discussion for the broader group.
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