August 3rd, 2007:

03/ 08/ 2007 

MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) – Sakhalin Energy, the operator of the Sakhalin II oil and gas project in the Russian Far East, has signed an agreement with a Japanese energy company for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies.

Sakhalin Energy said in a press release Friday: “Under the contract, 0.5 million metric tons of LNG will be delivered annually for 15 years beginning April 2011.”

Sakhalin Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, Ian Craig, said: “We have worked closely with Chubu Electric [Power Co.] for some time and we are extremely pleased to have signed the final agreement today. We are looking forward to building a long-term mutually beneficial relationship with the company.” read more

August 3, 2007 – 6:54PM

More than 2,000 people have been left homeless following an earthquake on Russia’s Far Eastern island of Sakhalin, the local governor says.

The series of three tremors on Thursday left two dead and at least eight people injured. One of the quakes registered a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale.

Inspectors found that at least 11 apartment buildings containing 410 homes were fully destroyed, said Sakhalin region’s governor Ivan Malakhov.

He said another 20 apartment buildings containing 710 homes needed major renovations. read more

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:42:54 
 
The European Union warned the US of further sanctions against Iran

Diplomats of the larger European countries such as France, Germany and the UK, have warned the US against any other possible sanctions on Iran.

The mentioned countries, as well as a number of other European estates have intensified their lobbying campaign to stop moves mandating sanctions on companies investing over $20m in energy sector in Iran while they may even cause a serious row at the World Trade Organization. read more

VIENNA (Thomson Financial) – EVN AG said that Rohoelaufsuchungs Beteiligungsgesellschaft AG (RBG), which is majority-owned by EVN, has signed an agreement with Shell Petroleum N.V and Shell Petroleum Company to purchase Shell’s EP Holding GmBH, whose sole asset is a 25 pct equity holding in the Rohoel-Aufsuchungs AG (RAG).

EVN holds a 50.05 pct stake in RBG, while E.ON Ruhrgas E&P GmbH holds 29.95 pct, Salzburg AG holds 10 pct and Steirische Gas-Waerme GmbH also possesses a 10 pct stake. read more

3 August 2007
 
SANTO DOMINGO. – The Dominican Customs Agency (DGA) said it began proceedings against the oil company Shell Limited, to safeguard the State’s tax interests regarding alterations of fuel shipment manifests, as stated in a report of an investigation ordered by the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa).

Shell, which is an equal partner with the Dominican State in Refidomsa, is in negotiations to sell its shares.

In a statement, the DGA recommends that Refidomsa, Shell Ltd., and the possible buyers of shares in the Refinery make the corresponding reserves to cover the credit as the result of the measures it has taken. The DGA doesn’t specify which measures it adopted against Shell. read more

Friday, 3 August 2007, 07:21 GMT 08:21 UK 
 
Russia’s Gazprom has postponed the deadline for Belarus to pay its gas bill after a first instalment was paid.

It had threatened to halve supplies to the former Soviet republic if the debt was not paid by Friday, but has now given Belarus until 10 August to pay.

Belarus has made a first payment of $190m (£93m), which is 42% of the $456m Gazprom says it owes.

A delegation from Belarus has been in Moscow trying to reach a settlement with Gazprom.

The incident is a reminder of the supply disputes with ex-Soviet republics seen in 2005 and 2006. read more

EXTRACT: One troubling aspect of the British expulsion was its timing. On June 22, British Petroleum was forced to sell its stake in one of the world’s largest gas fields to Russian giant Gazprom under the threat of having its licence revoked. It was a near-repetition of the strong-arm tactics used to oust Shell from an oil development on Sakhalin island last April.

THE ARTICLE: ‘The EU needs to deliver’

British Ambassador Simon Gass says the expulsion of Russian diplomats is amatter of principle, not energy interests, and wants Europe to start delivering policy rather than arguing over institutions read more

Gazprom looks to ban shipments to Asia

TANYA MOSOLOVA
Reuters News Agency, with files from Associated Press
August 3, 2007

MOSCOW — Moscow wants Exxon Mobil Corp. to ship gas from its Sakhalin project to Russia rather than Asian markets, the energy ministry said yesterday, signalling a new round of pressure on the country’s last big foreign-led energy project.

“The state representatives informed the investors’ consortium about Russia’s priority to supply gas from Sakhalin-1 to the domestic market,” the ministry said in a statement following a meeting of Sakhalin-1’s supervisory committee. read more

By Megumi Yamanaka

Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — Chubu Electric Power Co., Japan’s third-largest power producer, completed an agreement to buy liquefied natural gas from the OAO Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 venture in Eastern Russia for 15 years.

Chubu Electric will buy about 500,000 metric tons of LNG starting April 2011, the Nagoya-based company said in a statement today. The utility said July last year it was in negotiations with Sakhalin Energy to buy the fuel.

Japan, the world’s biggest market for LNG, is competing with the U.S. and China for supplies as global demand for the cleaner- burning fuel surges. Chubu Electric, which has about 10 million customers in central Japan, is looking to gas projects in Russia to help make up for declining shipments from Indonesia, the world’s largest LNG exporter, and Australia. read more

Norske Shell (‘Shell’) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with E.ON Ruhrgas Norge to sell its 28% equity interests in the undeveloped Skarv and Idun fields for US$ 893 million.
 
03.08.2007 08:03
 
The agreement covers the licenses PL-159, PL-212, PL-212B and PL-262 in the Norwegian Sea,  located in the Norwegian Sea, 200 km west of Sandnessjøen, in water depths of between 350 and 450 meters.

It consists of the Skarv gas and oil field and the Idun gas field. Both fields contain hydrocarbons at three reservoir levels and the total recoverable resource basis is estimated to 16.8 MSm3 of oil and condensate and 48.3 GSm3 of rich gas. read more

Coalbed methane tops the list for Kansas, which has the fourth-largest reserve in the country.

BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR

Unconventional resources now account for more new production of oil and gas in North America than do their conventional counterparts.

“I guess you might ask if they are really still unconventional,” said Stephen Trammel, who addressed the IHS Energy Regional Roundup in Wichita this week. “They’ve become more the mainstream.”

At the top of the list of unconventional resources is coalbed methane. And Kansas is mainstream in that resource with growing production in the Cherokee Basin, the fourth-largest coalbed reserve in the United States. read more

August 3, 2007

To the editor:

Some of our modern oil barons testified recently in Congress about “hot fuel.”

In warm weather, gas expands, and without adjusted pumps (something the oil companies don’t want us to have) the consumers (you and I) receive up to 30 percent less gas than what we pay for.

Shell Oil vice president Hugh Cooley was quoted as saying that his company “does not believe the American consumers are harmed in any way.” I disagree. It’s not enough that big oil has made record-breaking profits over the last few years with constantly rising prices (price gouging?), now we find we are getting bilked out of even a full gallon. You might be interested to know that big oil has made sure that “cold weather” pumps are installed in Canada so that THEY don’t lose money when the gas contracts. read more

Map of the Arctic showing the Lomonosov Ridge (Map courtesy Aagruuk)

By Charles Digges

NEW YORK, New York, August 2, 2007 (ENS) – In an expedition reminiscent of the last century’s race to the North Pole, a Russian expedition today laid a territorial claim to the vast underwater oil and gas fields along the Arctic’s Lomonosov Ridge.

Two Russian mini-submarines made “a plunge into the abyss” beneath the pole and returned from a depth of over 4,000 meters with samples of water and ocean floor, according to the government owned Russian news agency ITAR-Tass. read more

Carl Mortished
August 3, 2007

Don’t say it too loud, but Unilever’s Dutch headquarters is about to lose its head. Vindi Banga, the president of Unilever Foods, is soon to decamp to London with his top team of 15, leaving the Rotterdam office without a power base in the global Unilever empire.

The Indian, who is also non-executive chairman of Hindustan Lever, the quoted company that runs Unilever’s juggernaut in the sub-continent, is something of a rising star.

According to Unilever insiders, Patrick Cescau, the chief executive, is building a top team of executives and lieutenants and they will be based with him in London in the revamped headquarters at Blackfriars Bridge. Where does this leave Rotterdam? No one is quite saying. It will continue to have foods personnel, apparently. It will also have treasury operations (the Netherlands is a corporate tax haven) and human resources. Moreover, it will continue to have more staff, some 600, compared with 400 to 500 in London. read more

PR Newswire (US)
Published: Aug 02, 2007

CLEVELAND, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ — Profiles in Diversity Journal today announced the winners of its 2007 Innovations in Diversity Awards, given to honor corporations, organizations and institutions around the world that have developed innovative programs in the area of workforce diversity and inclusion. For the second consecutive year, the top honors went to Sodexho, this time for its comprehensive Champions of Diversity recognition program. The awards will be featured in the July-August issue of the magazine. read more

Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent, Irish Times
Published: Aug 03, 2007

Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan has said that the Government “cannot commit” to the proposed review of the entire Corrib gas project, which the Green Party had endorsed earlier this year if elected to office.

Mr Ryan told The Irish Times that there would be no legal basis for such a review, given that the Corrib gas refinery in north Mayo has been approved by An Bord Pleanala.

However, he would try to ensure that there was “open consultation” on a new pipeline route for the controversial project, which consultants for Shell E&P Ireland are currently engaged in selecting. read more