Posts Tagged ‘Sakhalin II’

Chris Finlayson representing Shell and Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom’s Vice Chairman

By John Donovan

Chris Finlayson, the newly appointed Chief Executive of BG Group, held a leadership position in Shell’s Sakhalin II project in Russia from September 2005 to September 2009. The venture was described as “the Mother of all Projects” by the Financial Times.

We have already published an article about his involvement in the Royal Dutch Shell reserves scandal, providing evidence – in the form of authentic Shell internal documents – supporting my conclusion that he was either part of the cover-up, or negligent in his fiduciary duties as a senior Shell executive to protect the interests of investors. read more

FROM OUR SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE OCTOBER 2004

Friends of the Earth: Clean Up Sakhalin Oil Spill, Not Your Image, Campaigners tell Shell

“The spill stretched along five kilometres of coast and left local residents ill. Environmentalists had previously criticised Shell for not having an effective spill response plan and were furious when their fears proved well founded.“

Posted 7 Oct 2004

Environmental groups expressed outrage today as oil giant Shell moved to appoint a “crisis management” public relations officer for its troubled multi-billion dollar Sakhalin project in Russia’s Far East.

Shell has posted the recruitment ad just three weeks after one of its dredging vessels ran aground causing a Category 2 oil spill at Kholmsk on Sakhalin. The spill stretched along five kilometres of coast and left local residents ill. Environmentalists had previously criticised Shell for not having an effective spill response plan and were furious when their fears proved well founded. read more

Three environmental groups have called on UK banks Barclays, RBS and Standard Chartered to compensate Sakhalin residents for pollution caused by a large oil and gas project that they helped finance.

Oil major Shell, as a part owner of the Sakhalin II project on the Russian Pacific island, is also named in the complaint. It was filed with the UK and Dutch governments on Tuesday and alleges that the companies are in breach of the voluntary OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

“Shell, RBS, Standard Chartered and Barclays share responsibility for the environmental and community damage caused by the Prigorodnoye Production Complex,” said Doug Norlen, policy director at Pacific Environment, a US-based NGO. read more

FROM OUR JULY 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVES…

THE TIMES: Shell’s woes mount as it admits cost overruns and delays

“FURTHER delays and soaring expenditure in big energy projects emerged at Royal Dutch Shell yesterday when the company admitted that the start-up of Bonga, a giant offshore Nigerian oilfield, had been pushed back until late this year.“: “Bonga’s budget has already swelled from a $2.7 billion estimate in 2001 to about $4 billion (£2.3 billion).”: “In a reference to the Sakhalin cost overruns, admitted by Shell a fortnight ago, Mr van der Veer said: “It is clear we must improve project management.”

Friday 29 July 2005

By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor

FURTHER delays and soaring expenditure in big energy projects emerged at Royal Dutch Shell yesterday when the company admitted that the start-up of Bonga, a giant offshore Nigerian oilfield, had been pushed back until late this year.

The billion barrel oilfield was expected to start producing in the summer but Peter Voser, Shell’s finance director, said that production would not get going until the fourth quarter. Bonga’s budget has already swelled from a $2.7 billion estimate in 2001 to about $4 billion (£2.3 billion). read more

By Ben Farey – Jul 26, 2012 9:11 AM GMT+0100

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is still in talks with OAO Gazprom about joining the Shtokman liquefied natural gas project in the Russian Arctic, one of the world’s biggest gas deposits.

“We now have interest in doing more LNG projects in Russia,” Shell Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser told Bloomberg Television today. “Discussions are ongoing. I can’t comment on any more details.”

Shell and Gazprom are already partners in the 9.6 million metric-ton-a-year Sakhalin-2 LNG plant on Sakhalin Island, off Russia’s far eastern coast. read more

By John Donovan

Stumbled across this interesting correspondence conducted publicly via the letters page of the Financial Times several years ago between Sir Mark Moody-Stuart of Shell and Mr Tony Juniper, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, London. As can be seen, Sir Mark scored a spectacular own goal. Got his facts wrong.

FROM OUR JUNE 2005 SHELL NEWS ARCHIVE

Shell Director Sir Mark Moody-Stuart & Tony Juniper, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, exchange fire  via the letters page of the Financial Times

Financial Times: Enjoy a free trip and get to ask Shell a question: By Sir Mark Moody-Stuart

Thursday 30 June 2005

By Mark Moody-Stuart

From Sir Mark Moody-Stuart.

Sir, Attending my last annual meeting of Shell as a director, I was interested to note that almost half of the 20 or so questions asked came from individuals from areas in the neighbourhood of Shell operations in Sakhalin, Brazil, Nigeria, the Philippines and the US. According to Craig Bennett of Friends of the Earth (FoE), who summed up their concerns, these people had been brought to England by FoE to reflect locally held views. read more

MOSCOW | Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:30pm BST

(Reuters) – Talks with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) on a potential role for the Anglo-Dutch major in the Shtokman gas field consortium are not linked to talks on expanding the Sakhalin-2 gas liquefaction plant, Gazprom’s head of export said on Friday.

“They are not connected,” Alexander Medvedev told reporters after the company’s annual meeting in Moscow.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Melissa Akin; Editing by Gleb Bryanski) read more

FROM A SHELL RELATED EXPERT SOURCE (Alarming information supplied to John Donovan)

John

The attach file highlights a number of known hazards which Shell will need to address in their Arctic drilling and development work. One such hazard is highlighted on a map showing recent seismic (earthquake) activity in the area of the Beaufort Sea where Shell’s concession lies.

You make recall that this is the same issue that led to the takeover of Sakhalin 2 by Gazprom!

Chapter Three: Description of the Beaufort Sea Lease Sale Area ( Patience is required as document takes some time to load) read more

08.06.2012

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell within the 25th World Gas Conference.

The parties discussed bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.

Alexey Miller and Peter Voser highlighted that the Sakhalin II project was progressing successfully as well as examined the issues of bilateral cooperation deepening.

Copyright 2012, Gazprom. All rights reserved. read more

06/04/2012 | 12:19pm

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell within the 25th World Gas Conference.

The parties discussed bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.

Alexey Miller and Peter Voser highlighted that the Sakhalin II project was progressing successfully as well as examined the issues of bilateral cooperation deepening.

On April 18, 2007 Gazprom and the shareholders of Sakhalin Energy (Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui & Co., and Mitsubishi Corporation), the Sakhalin II project operator, signed the Purchase and Sale Agreement providing for Gazprom to acquire a stake of 50 per cent plus one share in Sakhalin Energy. read more

John Donovan at the Shell Centre, 4 April 2012

Professional translation (by OneHourTranslation) of the German narration in the ARD TV Europa Magazine documentary feature: Great Britain: A lone fighter against Shell. Broadcast Saturday 21 April 2012.

Great Britain: A lone fighter against Shell

Next to the London Eye, the Shell Centre stands tall. Its enemy stands at the door.

“You might find that interesting,” says John Donovan. He distributes flyers to inform people about the oil company’s drilling projects.

“Shell destroys communities,” is what the banner says. An older gentleman and a handful of like-minded people are aggravating one of the world’s largest oil giants. read more

ARD TV in Germany – the German equivalent of BBC TV – on Saturday, 21 April, broadcast a feature about me and this website (royaldutchshellplc.com) as part of the EUROPA MAGAZINE programme.

By John Donovan

ARD TV in Germany – the German equivalent of BBC TV – on Saturday, 21 April, broadcast a feature about me and this website (royaldutchshellplc.com) as part of the EUROPA MAGAZINE programme.

LINK TO VIEW FILM SEGMENT

Click here to read a translation of the narration.

During the film, *Oleg Mitvol, the Russian Environmental Minister in 2006, confirmed what he has said before on the subject  of Sakhalin II i.e. that he got the evidence from me (Donovan) that cost Shell its majority stake in the project (and many billions of dollars). read more

Derek Brower (Editor, Petroleum Economist): 25 February 2007

It is not the kind of place you would expect to find at the centre of a global energy war. John Donovan’s office is in a modest house in a suburb of Colchester. No electronic maps of Europe adorn his walls, as they do the walls of Gazprom’s Moscow control room. And nor are there any butlers bringing cups of tea and expensive biscuits, as you find at Shell’s head office on the Thames. There is just Donovan’s 89-year-old father, Alfred, in the room next door. read more

Picture Caption: John Donovan in 2009. On his website, this former adman has posted more than 25,000 items on oil giant Shell.

Thanks to a network of “moles” inside the company, this early retiree from Britain is posting on his website reports on shortcomings inside the world’s largest oil group. It’s a dogged pursuit that has already cost the Anglo-Dutch giant several billions.

Christoph Giesen

The enemy is on his way. Waking early, he drives to London, leaves the car around the corner in a parking garage, and heads to York Road and the entrance of the Shell Centre, the headquarters of the most powerful oil company in the world. The Centre is a huge gray concrete block right by the River Thames. When the oil executives look out their windows, they see the British Parliament and the London Eye, Europe’s largest Ferris wheel. And now and then, peering down at the entrance, they can see John Donovan, the early retiree from Colchester in East Anglia. The man who is costing Shell billions. read more

The article says that the content of an email sent to President Pution in Moscow was explosive and that the leaked information, which cost Shell its majority stake in the Sakhalin 2 project, came from me, John Donovan.

By John Donovan

On Saturday 17 March 2012 the largest broadsheet German daily national newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, published a whole page article by the journalist Christoph Giesen about this website royaldutchshellplc.com, which it says has cost Shell billions of dollars.

The headline is “Konzernfeind No.1” freely translated as: “The Company’s (Shells) Enemy No.1”

Mr Giesen made several trips to meet me in the UK during the course of preparing his article and had sight of numerous documents, including Shell internal communications and my related email correspondence with President Putin and the so-called Kremlin attack dog, Oleg Mitvol. read more

By John Donovan: 12 January 2012

Thefront page lead story published by the Financial Times newspaper today reports that European refiners have begun to sever links with Iran ahead of an EU meeting, which could impose a full oil embargo on the Iranian regime.

(A version of the article is also published on ft.com)

Iran is the world’s third-largest oil exporter.

Tensions and oil prices are heightened by the regimes threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.

The article reports that according to Argus Media, Royal Dutch Shell is the biggest buyer of Iranian crude. read more