July, 2007:

Published: Jul 30, 2007

LITTLE FALLS, N.J., July 30 /PRNewswire/ — Shell has reclaimed the number one position in the world lubricants market, according to data from a recently completed study by analysts at Kline & Company, a worldwide management consulting and market research firm.

Volumetric data from Competitive Intelligence for the Global Lubricants Industry, 2006-2016 shows Shell edging out its largest competitor, albeit by a slim margin, just one year after ExxonMobil had achieved the top position. The study indicates that organic growth in Shell’s business in China, Russia, and parts of Asia and Europe, coupled with the company’s acquisition of a 75% share in the Chinese oil company Beijing Tongyi were the deciding factors. BP, Chevron, and Total round out the top five lubricant marketers. read more

EXTRACT: But the huge players can lose a lot in Russia too. The example of Shell or BP, who lost their licenses for gas extraction are good examples. The political risk is much higher.

Published: Jul 31, 2007

Listed Petrolinwest has oil. On Thursday the Ryszard Krauze-controlled company, which has been holding licenses for oil exploration in Russia and Kazakhstan for a while, bought a 50-percent stake in a group of Russian oil extraction firms. The documented deposits they own reach 35 million barrels. read more

Published: Jul 31, 2007

Kommersant

1. Nataliya Grib et al. report says businessman Mikhail Gutseriyev is giving up almost all his business in Russia, after announcing on 30 July that he is selling Russneft and stepping down as president of the company. He is also said to be selling Russkiy Ugol (Russian coal) and other assets worth 1bn dollars. He says he is temporarily giving up business to pursue academic research. Some experts note that Gurtsiyev is getting rid of his assets due to pressure exerted by the authorities; pp 1, 9. read more

By Isabel Gorst in Moscow
Published: July 31 2007 03:00 | Last updated: July 31 2007 03:00

Kazakhstan has warned a foreign consortium led by Eni, the Italian oil company, that it will demand better terms at the giant Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea to compensate for soaring costs and the delayed launch of production at one of the world’s most challenging oilfield developments.

Baktykozha Izmukhambetov, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, told a government meeting yesterday that Eni had lifted its estimate of the full cost of developing Kashagan from $57bn (€41.6bn, £28bn) to $137bn after encountering technical difficulties in the field. Eni had also postponed Kashagan’s start-up by two years to 2010, he said. read more

The Wall Street Journal: Australia Pushes Clean Coal

Fears of a Backlash Against Top Export Drive Effort
By PATRICK BARTA
July 31, 2007; Page A6

SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s efforts to protect one of its most vital industries in an age when “coal” is a dirty word place the country at the forefront of global efforts to burn the fuel more cleanly.

Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter, and coal is the country’s No. 1 export, generating more than 20 billion Australian dollars, or more than US$17 billion, in revenue each year. Local politicians and mining executives worry that a backlash against coal fuel — believed to be a main contributor to global warming — could imperil the industry and erode Australia’s economic competitiveness. read more

The Wall Street Journal: Don Putin

By GARRY KASPAROV
July 26, 2007; Page A13

When Vladimir Putin took power in Russia in 2000, the burning question was: “Who is Putin?” It has now changed to: “What is the nature of Putin’s Russia?” This regime has been remarkably consistent in its behavior, yet foreign leaders and the Western press still act surprised at Mr. Putin’s total disregard for their opinions.
 
Again and again we hear cries of: “Doesn’t Putin know how bad this looks?” When another prominent Russian journalist is murdered, when a businessman not friendly to the Kremlin is jailed, when a foreign company is pushed out of its Russian investment, when pro-democracy marchers are beaten by police, when gas and oil supplies are used as weapons, or when Russian weapons and missile technology are sold to terrorist sponsor states like Iran and Syria, what needs to be asked is what sort of government would continue such behavior. This Kremlin regime operates within a value system entirely different from that of the Western nations struggling to understand what is happening behind the medieval red walls. read more

By GUY CHAZAN
July 31, 2007; Page A2

Kazakhstan became the latest oil-rich nation to toughen its stance toward Western investors when it accused a consortium developing one of the world’s biggest oil fields of breach of contract and said it wanted to change terms of the deal.
 
The move against a consortium of companies led by Italy’s Eni SpA underscores how resource nationalism, the drive by oil-producing countries to claw back control of their hydrocarbon deposits, is spreading — even to places such as Kazakhstan that have long been friendly toward foreign investors. read more

By ERICA HERRERO-MARTINEZ
July 31, 2007

LONDON — European officials are urging air-pollution authorities in several U.S. states to avoid the problems that have plagued Europe’s system for trading carbon-emissions credits since it was set up 2½ years ago.

The U.S. doesn’t plan to introduce a nationwide emissions-trading system, but 10 Northeastern states are trying to set up their own emissions-trading system, starting in 2009. California also aims to set up a program, though it hasn’t set a date. Officials in those states are now looking to Europe’s experience in carbon trading as they sketch out how their own plans will work. read more

By ANDREW E. KRAMER
July 31, 2007

MOSCOW, July 30 — The owner of Russneft, one of Russia’s largest private oil companies, confirmed Monday that he would sell the business to an investor loyal to the Kremlin, but he added in an open letter that the sale was not voluntary.

Mikhail S. Gutseriev, who was once in the tight coterie of Russian billionaires known as oligarchs but has since fallen from favor, accused the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of forcing him out of the company using trumped-up tax claims. read more

By Roland Gribben
Last Updated: 1:07am BST 31/07/2007

BP has set its sights on breaking into the Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan oil provinces after setbacks in Russia where a heavy tax bill is adding to its headaches.

Robert Dudley, chief executive of TNK-BP, the Anglo-Russian oil group 50pc owned by BP, is anxious to widen the BP portfolio in the former Soviet Union and make up for lost time.

The drive comes as Kazakhstan threatens a Russian-style renegotiation of a contract to develop its biggest oil field, accusing Eni, the Italian oil major heading the consortium developing the Kashagan field, of breaching contract terms. Shell, Exxon Mobil and Total are among the partners. read more

Last Edited: Monday, 30 Jul 2007, 11:16 PM CDT 
By: Sean Conroy

(KTVI-myFOXstl.com): While 2 dollars and sixty cents a gallon brings cheers at the pumps that is still among the highest price per gallon we have paid recently. 

“I’m as upset as Joe Consumer because I pay the same price on gasoline that he does.”

The difference is as Shell Oil’s U.S. President, John Hofmeister, reaps the rewards of those high gas prices.  When it comes to those high prices he points directly to our dependence on foreign oil and its every increasing wholesale price.  Hofmeister says prices at the pump would go down the sooner we dumped foreign oil and the best way to do that is for the American consumer to get involved.  read more

By Sonja Franklin

July 30 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Canadian unit is seeking to build a new plant for as much as C$27 billion ($25 billion) to process bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands and supply North American refineries.

The Scotford Upgrader 2 Project, to be located next to existing facilities near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, will be built in four phases with a capacity of 100,000 barrels a day each, Calgary-based Shell Canada Ltd. said in an application to provincial regulators on its Web site today. Construction may start as early as 2009. read more

Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:20 PM BST
(Adds details)

CALGARY, Alberta, July 30 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc has applied to build a massive oil sands upgrading complex at the site of its Edmonton, Alberta, refinery that could cost as much as C$27 billion ($25 billion), putting it among Canada’s costliest projects, it said on Monday.

Shell said Upgrader 2 would be built in four 100,000 barrel a day stages, processing tar-like bitumen from the Athabasca Oil Sands Project in northern Alberta — which is undergoing a multibillion-dollar expansion — as well as its steam-driven oil sands projects in the same region. read more

Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:50 PM BST
(Adds new details, background)

NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters) – Williams Cos. Inc. said on Monday it plans to spend $480 million to build pipelines to the Perdido hub, a floating production facility that Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp and BP Plc are building in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Williams said it plans to build 184 miles of oil and gas pipelines and expand its natural gas processing capacity as part of its Perdido Norte project.

Williams has agreements with the three companies to provide gathering, processing and transportation services over the life of their reserves in the area around the hub. It said it will begin collecting volume-based fees for services it provides when production starts. read more

Jul 30, 2007 2:17:00 PM MST
 
CALGARY (CP) _ Shell Canada says it has filed a regulatory application for a new upgrading facility adjacent to its existing facilities in the Fort Saskatchewan area, east of Edmonton.

The company said Monday that the proposed Scotford Upgrader 2 will be constructed in four phases and process Shell‘s share of future Athabasca minable bitumen production as well as bitumen from the company‘s in situ oilsands developments.

It could ultimately process up to 400,000 barrels a day of oilsands bitumen into a range of synthetic crude oil products. read more