By Andrea R. Mihailescu
Jun 22, 2007, 23:42 GMT
David Greer, Sakhalin Energy deputy chief executive running the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas development project, has resigned unexpectedly just weeks after a leaked e-mail he wrote revealed the pressure that managers working there were facing.
The Moscow Times reported that Greer`s departure comes as Shell is adjusting to ceding control of the $20 billion project to Gazprom after sustained state pressure.
‘I can confirm that David Greer has left the company to pursue other business interests,’ Sakhalin Energy spokesman Ivan Chernyakhovsky said Thursday.
‘He decided to leave the company and left the company,’ Chernyakovsky said. ‘We wish him well in his future after working at Sakhalin Energy for 3 1/2 years.’
Chernyakovsky said any suggestion that the departure of Greer, a 27-year Shell veteran, was connected to the leaked e-mail was ‘pure speculation.’
Cnpc to Buy Rights to Develop Canadian Oil Sands
The Chinese National Petroleum Corp., the nation`s larges oil company, said it has acquired land in Alberta to develop an oil sands project, in a move that would make it a producer of Canadian crude.
According to the Globe and Mail, CNPC said it received 11 blocks in a Crown Land Lease sale held by the Alberta government in 2006, with the land being awarded to the company in early January 2007.
‘These moves clearly show our sincere determination to participate in oil sands developments in Canada,’ Zhang Xin, director-general of external affairs at CNPC, said Thursday at the Canada-China Economic Co-operation Conference in Edmonton.
While state-run Chinese companies are already present in the oil sands, no Chinese firm is believed to have previously bought oil sands leases on its own or to have moved toward developing its own oil sands project.
According to the report, CNPC appears to have made the acquisitions anonymously through a land agent, with Alberta Energy`s records showing no awards to the company in January, although leases were awarded to several agents.
Closing oil prices, June 22, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $70.38
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $68.38
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