May 23rd, 2007:

23/05/2007

Gazprom Sakhalin Holdings B.V. was formed in accordance with Gazprom’s BOD decision to purchase 50% + 1 shares in Sakhalin Energy, said Gazprom’s press service to AK&M.

Thus Sakhalin Energy’s controlling stake is on the balance of Gazprom Sakhalin Holdings, registered in Amsterdam.

April 18, Gazprom closed the deal on purchasing controlling stake in Sakhalin-2 for $7.45 bln. The sides agreed that the Gazprom will pay off the deal by money and the sum of payment will be proportionally divided. Shell now has 27.5% in Sakhalin-2, Mitsui – 12.5%, Mitsubishi – 10%. read more

Wed May 23, 2007 5:32 PM BST

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday a multibillion dollar project to turn gas into liquid fuel in Qatar was on schedule, a day after Sasol warned a similar venture had problems.

Sasol said its Oryx gas-to-liquids joint venture plant in Qatar had technical snags and would only make a marginal cash contribution to earnings. Shell started building its plant, Pearl GTL, last year.

“Progress is broadly in line with expectations, with estimated completion around the end of the decade,” said Adam Newton, a spokesman for Shell in London. read more

Shares of Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s largest oil company, rose more than four per cent, gaining for the seventh time in eight sessions amid speculation that parent ExxonMobil Corp. will acquire the remaining 30 per cent stake it doesn’t already own.

The stock rose $2.26, or 4.5 per cent, to $52.25 Cdn on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the biggest one-day gain since Oct. 23.

The shares have soared 20 per cent since May 9 as the Calgarybased company joined other oil producers with refining operations in benefiting from improved margins for producing gasoline and other fuels. read more

LONDON, May 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc announces that on 23 May, 2007 it purchased for cancellation 550,000 “A” Shares at a price of 27.91 euros per share. It further announces that on the same date it purchased for cancellation 250,000 “A” Shares at a price of 1895.25 pence per share.

Following the cancellation of these shares, the remaining number of “A” Shares of Royal Dutch Shell plc will be 3,673,950,000.

As of 23 May, 2007 2,759,360,000 “B” Shares of Royal Dutch Shell plc were in issue. read more

Nancy Sarnoff, 
Published: May 23, 2007

Office towers under construction along the western part of Interstate 10 reflect the strength of the city’s energy-centric economy.

While this part of town, known as the Energy Corridor, might not experience the same kind of growth spurt it’s seen over the past couple of years, a new study predicts a healthy expansion through 2025.

More than $1.6 billion worth of office, retail, apartments and hotels have been under construction or planned since 2005, according to the Energy Corridor District. read more

David Ivanovich,
Published: May 23, 2007

WASHINGTON — The House took aim at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Tuesday, voting overwhelmingly to brand the cartel’s efforts to control world oil prices illegal.

And with support of the legislation strong in the Senate as well, President Bush soon could be thrust into the unenviable position of siding with OPEC producers at a time of painfully high gasoline prices.

As American motorists forked over a record average $3.21 a gallon — according to the most recent AAA survey — the House voted 345-72 Tuesday to approve a bill that would authorize the attorney general to sue the OPEC countries in U.S. courts. read more

Headline: Board will consider hydrogen pipeline: Proposal for 20-mile link from Chevron to ConocoPhillips refinery on meeting agenda

John Geluardi
Published: May 23, 2007

An advisory board will consider an application tonight that would run an underground hydrogen pipeline through unincorporated Rodeo to the ConocoPhilips Refinery.

According to the application, the 20-mile pipeline would originate at the Richmond Chevron Refinery and run 20 miles to a terminus at the Shell Martinez Refinery. The Rodeo Municipal Advisory Council is considering a request to run a lateral extension from the main pipe near Highway 4 to ConocoPhilips. read more

Although the company has made noises suggesting it’s seen the light on global warming, a new report from Greenpeace shows that they’re still the major funder of climate change-denying groups. So, asks Marc Gunther, what’s the real story?

Last winter, ExxonMobil told reporters that it was cutting back on its its funding to groups that challenge the science of global warmings. Jeffrey Ball of The Wall Street Journal and Steven Mufson of The Washington Post, among others, reported that Exxon had since 2005 stopped funding the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Business Week said: “The oil giant has now closed its cash spigot to some groups challenging global warming.” I wrote a column for CNN Money suggesting that ExxonMobil had acknowledged the reality of global warming and opened discussions with well-regarded environmental groups, including Resources For the Future. read more

by Gareth Jones
Marketing 23-May-07, 12:00

LONDON – Shell is kicking off a review of its multimillion pound global digital account, which is currently with Digitas London.

The fuel company is in the process of inviting a number of UK-based agencies to pitch for the business, which is understood to comprise web development, online advertising and eCRM.

The move comes just months after Shell worked with Digitas London and JWT on the launch of a global corporate social responsibility initiative highlighting its green credentials. read more

Andrew Willis, today at 7:38 AM EDT

Based strictly on the numbers, there is no chance that Exxon Mobil is going to buy out the remaining public stake in Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil.

The MBA types have all crunched the numbers, and concluded that despite Exxon’s staggering cash generation, using more than $15-billion to mop up the 30 per cent of Imperial it doesn’t own is a poor use of capital.

That hasn’t stopped Imperial stock from staging an impressive rally. Takeover speculation, along with a dividend hike and generally bullish sentiment on energy, pushed Imperial stock up yesterday by more than 4 percent. That marked the seventh gain in eight sessions. read more

Oil reserves in the area are estimated at almost 12 billion barrels, and natural gas reserves at approximately 90 trillion cubic feet

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
By EnerPub    

Sakhalin Island, a former penal colony located off the east coast of Russia and to the north of Japan, holds vast hydrocarbon resources. The island is home to six oil and gas projects. Five projects are currently in different stages of development, and two of the projects, Sakhalin I and Sakhalin II, aim to bring oil and natural gas production online in the near term. Both projects have targeted Asian markets.  Three blocks after Sakhalin VI have not been awarded yet.  read more

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
By EnerPub    

Russia’s economy is heavily dependent on oil and natural gas exports, making it vulnerable to fluctuations in world oil prices.

In 2006, Russia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by approximately 6.7 percent, surpassing average growth rates in all other G8 countries, marking the country’s seventh consecutive year of economic expansion. Russia’s economic growth over the past seven years has been driven primarily by energy exports, given the increase in Russian oil production and relatively high world oil prices during the period. Internally, Russia gets over half of its domestic energy needs from natural gas, up from around 49 percent in 1992. Since then, the share of energy use from coal and nuclear has stayed constant, while energy use from oil has decreased from 27 percent to around 19 percent. read more

The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

KOROKORO, Nigeria: Young boys scamper along weed-entangled pipes, transforming a flowstation marked “Not In Use” into a jungle gym in the heart of Nigeria’s lawless oil region. Nearby wells rust amid the palm trees and gas-flaring chimneys have gone cold.

Welcome to Ogoniland, 500 square miles (about 1,300 square kilometers) of oil-rich land where villagers ousted oil companies in the 1990s. Amid rising militancy in the region, tiny Ogoniland offers a glimpse of the oil industry’s worst-case scenario: an absolute shutdown of production across the wider Niger Delta, where strife has already cut production by a quarter. read more

By Will Kennedy

May 23 (Bloomberg) — Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. raised its forecast for average oil prices in New York this year by 18 percent to $59 a barrel because an increase in gasoline demand may outpace supply growth.

Bernstein raised its ratings on Royal Dutch Shell Plc and ConocoPhilips to outperform on the expectation that their shares will gain ground on competitors.

Bernstein downgraded Chevron Corp. to “market perform.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Will Kennedy in Singapore at [email protected] . read more

EXTRACT: Total is one of a handful of foreign companies with investments on the line in Bolivia. Others include Spain’s Repsol YPF , Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell and Brazil’s state-run energy giant Petrobras, the largest foreign investor in Bolivia.

By Upstream staff

Bolivia probably has more natural gas deposits than believed but it needs to provide clear investment guidelines before foreign energy companies will resume exploration investment there, a senior executive of France’s Total said today. read more

EXTRACT: There are several big gas and oil projects on the drawing board, including a 10 billion dollars investment by Royal Dutch Shell and the Spanish oil company Repsol YFP to develop Irans South Pars gas field, one of the worlds biggest natural gas deposits…

THE ARTICLE

Text of report in English by Iranian Mehr news agency in English

TEHRAN: A greater share of the US-UK aggregate effort against the nation of Iran is heavily focused on a relatively more conspicuous course of action such as the enforcement of UN sanctions, which are meant to strangle the Iranian economy and consequently intensify social tension in order to undermine Iran’s system and social fabric. read more