LONDON, April 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The Royal Dutch-Shell Group confirmed on Monday its chief financial officer, Judith Boynton, has resigned, the second executive who stepped down due to a controversy over the energy giant's oil and gas reserves estimates.

¡¡¡¡The company said it has reviewed 90 percent of its reserves anda total of 4.85 billion barrels were hitherto downgraded.

    This was the third time that Shell, the world's third-largest public oil company in terms of market capitalization, had downgraded its reserves since January.

    Reserves constitute an oil company's most valuable asset, and any reclassification of reserves into less certain categories is amajor concern for investors.

    The company said it also planned to restate its earnings in 2002 as it noticed that the reserve errors has brought nearly 100 million US dollars more to its earnings.

    Boynton will remain an employee of the company at least till the annual general meetings in June. Tim Morrison has been appointed as acting chief financial officer, the group added. Enditem