The Amsterdam Court of Appeals on Friday ordered Royal Dutch Shell Plc to pay the largest securities fraud settlement ever in Europe to shareholders from claims relating to the oil giant's inflation of its proven oil and gas reserves during the years 1997 through 2003.

It settlement will pay $381 million to all non-U.S. shareholders who bought the company's shares from April 8, 1999 to March 18, 2004 of settlement, along with more than 150 pension funds in Europe, North America and Australia.

The settlement "represents a watershed outcome for European and other non-US investors in gaining substantial, collective recovery in one of the most high-profile securities cases in recent years, said Jay Eisenhofer, co-managing partner of Grant & Eisenhofer in a statement. The law firm represented the investors.

Royal Dutch Shell will also pay $28.4 million to align its compensation between non-U.S. settlement agreement and the relief available in the U.S. settlement, said the Stichting Shell Reserves Compensation Foundation.

American Depositary Shares of Royal Dutch Shell rose 2.35 percent to close at $53.91 in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Australia Settlement