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March 25th, 2008:

The Times: BP suspends 148 workers over visa dispute with Russia

March 26, 2008
Robin Pagnamenta and Tony Halpin in Moscow

BP’s problems in Russia escalated yesterday after the oil giant was forced to suspend 148 employees seconded to TNK-BP, its Moscow-based joint venture, after a dispute over visas.

Fears that BP had become the latest victim of an ongoing power struggle between the Kremlin and Western energy groups were compounded when the Russian Interior Ministry said that it had launched a criminal investigation into allegations of “large-scale tax evasion” at a former unit of TNK-BP. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Financial Times: BP recalls 148 staff from Russia

By Catherine Belton in Moscow and Ed Crooks in London
Published: March 25 2008 19:24 | Last updated: March 25 2008 19:24

BP has recalled 148 foreign employees on secondment to its Russian joint venture TNK-BP because of visa problems as pressure on the UK’s biggest investment in Russia intensifies.

The 148 technical staff, mostly British and Americans, have been told to stay away from work until confusion about Russia’s new visa arrangements for foreign workers has been resolved. Most are still in the country. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Financial Times: Lawyer with a new brief

By Lionel Barber, Catherine Belton and Neil Buckley
Published: March 25 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 25 2008 02:00

President-elect Dmitry Medvedev says he is a lawyer “to my bones”. Throughout a two-hour interview deep in the Kremlin, the 42-year-old successor to Vladimir Putin weighs every question, answering with precision and at length. But asked if Mr Putin was correct to say this month that the west will find it no easier to deal with Russia’s next president, his response is terse. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Financial Times: Medvedev fires warning shot at Nato expansion

By Lionel Barber, Neil Buckley and Catherine Belton in Moscow
Published: March 25 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 25 2008 02:00

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s incoming president, has warned that granting Nato membership to the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia could threaten European security.

Mr Medvedev’s comments, in an interview with the Financial Times, will step up pressure on the alliance not to allow the two states to join Nato’s “membership action plan” at a summit in Bucharest next week. Vladimir Putin, the outgoing Russian president, is due to attend part of the summit. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Candid comments from a disenchanted Shell Oil Co retiree

Alfred;
 
I have great respect for you, your website and what you are doing.  Please keep up the good work. 

I am writing to make some comments on the state of affairs in today’s “Shell” organization.  I was forced to retire 18 months short of my 30 yrs which means that I receive a pension reduced by 15 percent.  This also means that I must also pay my portion for my medical and dental etc plus 15 percent of their portion. 
 
When this was happening I protested that other employees, who had been let go during earlier “reduction in force”,  were bridged so that they received their full pension and did not have to pay medical etc the HR person looked me in the eye and  told me that I didn’t know what I was talking about because Shell “didn’t do things like that”.
 
I trotted out the names and dates of earlier “retirees” that were bridged etc to no avail.
 
It boiled down to I “retired” under their set of rules or I was out.
 
Today, thanks to some luck with investments, a frugal wife and my pension, I am living as well, if not better, than while I was working and do not regret for one minute retiring. 
read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

breakingviews.com: Bear principles

By Cyrus Sanati

BP/Russia:  BP may not be able to escape the Russian political curse. Although the oil major gave up control of the big Kovykta natural gas field to state-owned Gazprom last year, it has so far navigated the treacherous waters of Russian politics better than rivals Shell and Exxon. That could be changing.

Last week, the headquarters of BP’s 50-50 joint venture, TNK-BP, was raided by Russia’s secret service. Then one of its employees was arrested, charged with industrial espionage. Now the country’s chief environmental cop, Oleg Mitvol, appears to be turning up the heat on BP – just as he did to Shell before the state moved in and grabbed control of its major fields in Sakhalin. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Reuters: UPDATE 1-Strike halts oil production at Shell’s Gabon unit

Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:58pm
(adds details)

LIBREVILLE, March 25 (Reuters) – A strike by oil workers at Shell’s (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Gabonese subsidiary has halted its production of 60,000 barrels a day of crude since Thursday in the central African country, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

“The company … has totally halted production since Thursday,” said Roger Ratanga, a spokesman for Shell Gabon, the country’s second-largest oil producer. “The national production of Shell Gabon is 60,000 barrels a day.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

INSEAD Knowledge, France: Shell CEO van der Veer: Carbon dioxide regulation necessary to make the markets work

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer

Royal Dutch Shell CEO, Jeroen van der Veer
 
If governments do not intervene, industries will meet the growing demands for energy in the cheapest way possible, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will increase. That puts Jeroen van der Veer, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell plc, one of the world’s leading petroleum companies, in an odd position: a leading capitalist campaigning for more government regulation.

“What is the role for government? What is the role for Shell? What is the role for our consumers?” asks van der Veer. “If you don’t specify that, nothing will happen, and in 10 years you will say, ‘We didn’t make the goal.’ And that would be bad news, because I think CO2 is a serious problem.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BP Recalls Employees From Russia

Alleged Visa Problems
Follow Police Raid
On Joint Venture

Associated Press
March 25, 2008 2:24 p.m.

MOSCOW — BP PLC is pulling 148 employees out of Russia because of alleged visa problems, a company official said Tuesday, following a police raid on a Russian joint venture and the arrest of an employee on industrial espionage charges.

Industry experts say the joint venture, TNK-BP, is the latest foreign energy company to be squeezed by the Kremlin as part of a campaign to bring major oil and gas assets back under government control. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Scam alert from a Shell Oil Co retiree

Tuesday March 25, 2008

I am a retiree from Shell Oil Co. who retired in 2001.  I have just received the following email from another former Shell hand who retired in 1992.  He has received the following message via email.

I am sure that it is a scam but I cannot get anyone at SOC Houston’s “retiree hotline” to return my call.
 
If you think that it is worth it you might want to post it on your website as a warning to other Shell people who might be contacted in a similar manner.  I know most, if not all, of them would just delete it but there might be the one or two who could be tempted.
 
Regards,
read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Guardian: Russia TNK-BP struggles to renew visas for BP staff

Reuters, Tuesday March 25 2008 (Adds details)
By Dmitry Zhdannikov

MOSCOW, March 25 (Reuters) – BP’s Russian oil venture TNK-BP is struggling to renew visas for almost 150 people working on secondment from BP, industry sources said on Tuesday, amid pressure on the company from Russia’s security services.

The visa problems, caused by legal changes which came into force earlier this year, do not affect senior managers because they are TNK-BP employees, one of the sources said.

Last week offices of TNK-BP, half owned by BP and half by a group of Russian billionaires, were raided and an employee arrested for suspected industrial espionage. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Moscow Times: Mitvol’s Agency to Probe TNK-BP

By Miriam Elder and Max Delany
Staff Writers
Monday, March 24, 2008. Issue 3867. Page 1.  

The Natural Resources Ministry said Friday that it would investigate TNK-BP’s largest oil field, putting further pressure on the Russian-British firm one day after the Federal Security Service said it had charged an employee with industrial espionage.

Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the ministry’s environmental watchdog, will lead the investigation into the Samotlor field in western Siberia, the ministry said in a statement. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Emirates Business 24/7: Saudi Shell venture drills fourth well

By Nadim Kawach on Tuesday, March 25 , 2008   

A Saudi-Shell gas venture said yesterday it had started drilling its fourth well and described the operation in the heart of the Empty Quarter as challenging.

The South Rub Al Khali (Srak) began drilling its fourth exploratory well (Kidan 6) on February 29 in contract area 1 near Shaybah in the heart of the Empty Quarter (Rub Al Khali) desert near the UAE border.

“This is a gas exploration well targeting the Palaeozoic Khuff carbonate section. The well is challenging as it is planned to be drilled to nearly 18,000 feet and is forecast to encounter both high H2S (sour) gas as well as high temperatures and pressures,” Srak said in a statement sent to Emirates Business. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Bloomberg: Woodside Says Neptune Oil Delay to Cut 2008 Output (Update2)

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

March 25 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, said a delay in the start-up of BHP Billiton Ltd.’s $1.1 billion Neptune oil and gas project in the U.S. will reduce forecast production.

Output in 2008 will be reduced by an estimated 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent a month starting April 1 until the “issue” with the platform has been resolved, Perth-based Woodside, which owns 20 percent of the project, said today in a statement. The cut is equivalent to about 5,000 barrels a day. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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