Lobby groups are pleased because Ron Oxburgh is regarded as sympathetic towards environmental issues, having told the UK press he sees “little hope for the world unless carbon dioxide emissions are dealt with”.

UK campaign group Friends of the Earth (FoE) said Lord Oxburgh gave his personal assurance that he would visit fenceline communities that claim to have been affected by pollution.

According to FoE, following challenges from environmental lobbyists during Shell’s AGM in London at the end of June, Lord Oxburgh agreed to visit the Durban refinery to see for himself the conditions in which fenceline communities live.

Craig Bennett, a spokesperson for FoE, told fDi: “Phil Watts made a similar promise at the AGM in London in April 2003.”

Speaking after the meeting, Desmond D’Sa from the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, said: “Lord Oxburgh told me in the meeting he would come to Durban.

“These words must be turned into action and we must see him on the fenceline. Then he can see for himself what is happening there.”

Hilton Kelley, an environmentalist who travelled to the meeting from Port Arthur in Texas, said she was pleased by what she heard at the AGM. “I think they realised that there are problems in Port Arthur and I asked them to come there and see what is going on and meet the real people on the ground.

“I am optimistic that this year Shell might take our concerns seriously.” Shell has yet to confirm Lord Oxburgh’s travel plans.