December 9th, 2006:

Oil giant slated in green report

By Tim Webb
Published: Sunday 10 December 2006

Shell could be forced to renegotiate the terms of its involvement in the Sakhalin 2 project this week, when the Russian government publishes a damning report on the controversial $20bn (£10.2bn) oil and gas venture.

The Anglo-Dutch oil giant also faces hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. A spokesman for Sakhalin Energy, the Shell-led joint venture running the project in eastern Russia, said there was no limit on how much it could be fined. read more

Saturday 09 December 2006
City & Finance Page 95

THE notion of a giant merger between BP and Shell refuses to die down. Broker ABN Amro has run the numbers and reckons a deal could add up to £93bn of value.

A Shell merger with France’s Total would deliver as much, a BP Total combination slightly less.

David Cline of ABN Amro says: `The case for creating an oil mega-major, by merging two European supermajors, is compelling but overlooked by the market.’ He thinks shareholders would gain up to 63pc from a deal.

Could it happen? After BP’s stunning trio of deals (Mobil, Arco, Burmah Castrol) in the late 1990s, US regulators slammed the door on big oil mergers. read more

December 9, 2006
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — House Democratic leaders vowed Friday to pursue a broad overhaul of tax breaks and other subsidies to oil companies in January, saying that their first target would be an investigation of how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties on oil and gas produced on federal property.

“The Interior Department has a background of mismanagement, to put it mildly, in the collection of these royalties,” said Representative Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia, a Democrat who will become chairman of the House Resources Committee next year. read more

Saturday, December 9, 2006
TAYLAN BİLGİÇ
ISTANBUL

“United States invaded Iraq to pillage its oil.” The perception is so pervasive – and not only in the Middle East – that the Iraq Study Group (ISG) had to insert one against it among its now-famous recommendations. “The President should restate that the United States does not seek to control Iraq’s oil,” says recommendation number 23.

But the developments on the ground, rather than supporting the recommendation, augment the aforementioned perception. read more

December 09, 2006
Daniel McGrory and Tony Halpin
 
In his last investigation before he was murdered, Alexander Litvinenko claimed to have uncovered a plan by the Russian Federal Security Service to claw back millions of pounds from wealthy Russians who fled to London and other Western capitals.

Most of the exiled executives are said to have worked for Yukos, the $10 billion energy giant seized by the Kremlin. Litvinenko had visited some of the alleged targets to warn them that the Russian intelligence services planned to intimidate them and their families to recover millions of dollars.
 
He also claimed to have discovered the amount of money that those on the list were expected to hand over, and that teams of Russian agents were being sent abroad to track them down. read more

December 09, 2006
Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor, and Tony Halpin in Moscow

Ambassador suffers months of harassment and BBC service in Moscow mysteriously goes off the air after the Litvinenko murder  
 
The Russian authorities yesterday stood accused of orchestrating a campaign of intimidation against British interests in Moscow, where the ambassador has been harassed and the BBC Russian Service mysteriously taken off air. 
 
With ties between the Kremlin and London already strained by the police inquiry into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, The Times has learnt that relations with Russia risk being further damaged by other serious diplomatic disputes. read more

By Fiona McGarry

Massive losses incurred by Shell E&P Ireland Ltd, one of the major shareholders in the Corrib gas field, have been described by Shell to Sea as more evidence of ‘mismanagement’ of the project. The lobby group also said the company was now reaping the financial implications of failing to consult with the local community.

This week, Shell E&P posted an operating loss of nearly €50 million for 2005. This is an increase of 200 per cent on losses posted for 2004, which were in the order of €14.8 million. read more

Saturday 9 December 2006

It accused the firm of wrecking Russia’s environment and flouting the law.

The scathing comments by natural resources minister Yuri Trutnev are his latest dig against a foreign fuels group.

Previously, British oil firm BP came in for criticism.

Analysts suspect there may be a campaign to deliberately boost state-controlled oil and gas firms ROSNEFT and GAZPROM.

Yesterday Mr Trutnev singled out Shell’s Sakhalin-2 project. 

He said: “More than 10 per cent of oil produced in Russia is extracted in excess of the numbers agreed. All of this is damaging the ecology. Sakhalin-2 has become a shining example of this.” Mr Trutnev has been leading a crackdown on environmental and licensing violations — mainly targeting foreign oil groups. read more

(Russian General Prosecutor Yury Chaika left, gives a joint press conference with Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev in Moscow yesterday. Russia lashed out at the massive Shell-run Sakhalin Energy consortium over environmental violations)

Published: Saturday, 9 December, 2006, 10:35 AM Doha Time 

MOSCOW: Oil firms operating in Russia are flouting the law to a great degree and the Royal Dutch Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project is the biggest example, Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said yesterday. read more