May 26th, 2007:

By Nico Colombant
Ogoniland, Nigeria
26 May 2007
 
In Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, one area, Ogoniland in Rivers State, resists oil production. Residents there say oil companies refuse to meet their demands to redistribute wealth and protect the environment. VOA’s Nico Colombant reports.

Young men walking along roads in Ogoniland stare menacingly at those they consider outsiders, thinking they may be from oil companies.

Dutch-based oil conglomerate Shell stopped operations here in the mid 1990s, amid an international uproar over the execution of anti-oil Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by the military government. read more

Shell Oil and Gas Development Would Spell Disaster for the U.S. Whaling Traditions Already Stressed by Pass Activities

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 25, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Today, U.S. and Russian whalers and other Alaska Native leaders spoke with the public regarding continued threats to their whaling traditions.

The briefing addressed Native concerns in light of the Department of Interior’s (DOI) plan to open the oceans off Alaska to a barrage of new oil and gas development starting this summer. Days before the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting, whalers from across Alaska will talk about U.S. whaling interests and the threat oil and gas activities will pose to the remaining bowhead whale populations, upon which Alaska Native subsistence communities depend. read more

Vol. 12, No. 21  Week of May 27, 2007

Major surveys conducted separately by Energy Intelligence and KPMG this spring confirm some of industry’s worst fears, most notably the fact company executives now overwhelmingly believe the world oil supply is being consumed faster than it can be replaced.

“These executives are deeply concerned about declining oil reserves, a situation they see as irreversible and worsening,” said Bill Kimble of audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG, which polled 533 financial executives in April on a number of energy-related issues. read more

EXTRACT: Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly, acquired 50 percent of a Royal Dutch Shell development on Sakhalin Island in a forced sale last fall. That followed the effective nationalization of Yukos, once Russia’s largest private company. And recently, officials have threatened to revoke a major gas field license held by a joint venture of BP in Russia, TNK-BP.

THE ARTICLE

By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: May 26, 2007

MOSCOW, May 25 — The Kremlin is hoping it can put the focus on gains in the Russian economy at a forum for business leaders next month in St. Petersburg, highlighting growth that has been overshadowed by negative political news from Russia. read more

By Mike Pflanz, Africa Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:09am BST 26/05/2007

Four British contractors were kidnapped in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region yesterday when militants attacked a boat ferrying workers laying pipes.

Five other foreigners – three Americans, a South African and a Filipino – and one of their Nigerian colleagues were also taken hostage during the raid, off the coast of Baylesa state.

Gunmen in two speedboats launched the early morning raid on the Nigerian-owned oil services company vessel, which had been loaned to a firm laying new oil pipes, reports from the country said. read more

May 26, 2007 – 12:37am

By JOHN PORRETTO
AP Business Writer

HOUSTON (AP) – If you think gasoline prices are high now, consider the eye-popping possibilities if another monster storm pummels the Gulf of Mexico this hurricane season, the way Katrina and Rita battered the petroleum-rich waters in 2005.

The petroleum industry has spent nearly two years trying to repair the damage from those historic Gulf hurricanes, rebuilding the complex web of platforms, pipelines and refineries in a region that produces roughly 25 percent of the nation’s oil and 15 percent of its natural gas. read more