December 14th, 2006:

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Prime-Tass) — Sergei Sai, director of Russia’s Federal Service for Natural Resources Oversight, wants his deputy, Oleg Mitvol, to be fired, a source at the service said Thursday, ITAR-TASS reported.

Sai sent a letter requesting Mitvol’s dismissal to Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev on Wednesday. The Federal Service for Natural Resources Oversight reports to the Natural Resources Ministry.

However, on Thursday the Natural Resources Ministry denied that Sai had asked the minister to fire Mitvol. Sai only wanted to have Mitvol formally rebuked, said Rinat Gizatulin, spokesman for the Natural Resources Ministry, according to Vesti.ru. read more

Thu Dec 14, 2006 4:53 AM ET
By Dmitry Zhdannikov

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell denied on Thursday that it had again increased costs of its Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project as such a move would further complicate talks on including Russia’s Gazprom in the project.

The previous costs revision to $22 billion from $12 billion at Sakhalin in 2005 infuriated the state gas monopoly, which was then prepared to buy 25 percent in the project, and prompted a flurry of investigations by Russian authorities. read more

EXTRACT: Before moving into politics Mr Mitvol ran a media business, and was majority shareholder in the Russian daily newspaper, Noviye Izvestia, once owned by exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky. There have been reports that Mr Putin installed Mr Mitvol at the newspaper after the president fell out with Mr Berezovsky.

THE ARTICLE:

By Russell Hotten, Industry Editor
Last Updated: 1:07am GMT 14/12/2006

Oleg Mitvol, the Moscow official pursuing western oil and gas com-panies over alleged environmental violations, insisted he is not being directed by President Vladimir Putin and that his campaign will make Russia a better place for foreign investors.
  
Rusty green? The Molikpaq offshore oil platform, producing up to 70,000 barrels a day, off Sakhalin island
 
The millionaire businessman-turned-“green”-protector said environmental concerns were not “exclusive to western liberals” and that he would press on with legal action against Royal Dutch Shell for up to $30bn (£15bn) in damages. read more

EXTRACTS: On the one hand, the state-controlled company, increasingly seen as an instrument to project the Kremlin’s power, is hungry for assets, as the latest showdown with Shell over the Sakhalin-2 project demonstrates.

At the top the company appears indivisible from the state: Kremlin spokesmen explain its decisions; its chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, happens also to be a deputy prime minister.

THE ARTICLE

Mark Rice-Oxley in Novy Urengoi
Thursday December 14, 2006

In the frigid emptiness of northern Siberia, where the winter dusk descends soon after lunch and darkness lingers until after breakfast, there’s an old vodka toast that locals raise to take the edge off the Arctic chill: “Za nas, za vas i za gas” – to us, to you and to gas. read more

Published: Dec 14, 2006

THE Corrib Gas partners, who include Norwegian firm Statoil, US firm Marathon Petroleum and the project operator Shell, are moving ahead with the construction of onshore facilities at Bellanaboy in Co Mayo.

At the signing of a new deal by Shell were Pat Ahern, MD of SIAC Butlers Steel Ltd with Andy Pyle, MD of Shell E&P Ireland, Gerry Costello, Shell, Keith Elliott from PM Group, Roger Woodrow and Brian Foley from Shell.

By Neil Buckley and Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow
Published: December 13 2006 22:07 | Last updated: December 13 2006 22:07

Russia is preparing to cut off natural gas supplies to neighbouring Belarus and Georgia unless the two former Soviet republics agree by the year-end to pay much higher prices in 2007.

Coming a year after Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, briefly cut gas to Ukraine in a similar pricing dispute, such a move could provoke further international criticism that Moscow is using energy as a political tool. read more

December 14, 2006: Carl Mortished, International Business Editor

Russia accused of bullying staff
Expatriates fear withdrawal of visas
 
The cost of Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-2 gas project is close to $25 billion (£12.7 billion), a rise of $5 billion from previous estimates, after a campaign of harassment by the Russian Government, The Times has learnt.

Progress on the project has been delayed by harassment that includes refusal of drilling permits and visas and the bullying of Shell staff. The soaring costs and delays come as Shell’s responsibility for Sakhalin is being reduced. 
 
The late start of drilling at Lunskoye, a huge offshore gasfield, threatens to delay vital deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Shell’s Japanese and South Korean customers, due to start in September 2008. read more

(Vladimir Filonov / MT
Oleg Mitvol)

EXTRACT: Peter Hambro, Russia’s third-largest gold miner, has lost nearly $500 million in the last two weeks — almost one-quarter of its value — after the environment agency called for the withdrawal of licenses it said were affiliated to the company.
 
Peter Hambro said Tuesday that the talks are a “huge positive step.” Hambro is flying to Moscow to meet the outspoken deputy head of the environment inspectorate, Oleg Mitvol, who said Tuesday that checks were under way of all 54 licenses owned by Peter Hambro-affiliated companies in the country. read more