December 7th, 2006:

 
(Sakhalin-2 is off Russia’s Pacific coast)

Russia has suspended vital permits for Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-2 oil and gas venture, in a move that may further delay the $22bn (£11bn) project.

The suspension of 12 water use licences comes two months after Moscow revoked environmental approval for the venture.

Analysts say Moscow’s latest move is part of a campaign against Sakhalin-2 until Russia gets more involvement.

At present, the venture off Russia’s Pacific coast is run by Anglo-Dutch Shell and two Japanese oil firms. read more

Last Update: 6:58 PM ET Dec 7, 2006
By Ian Talley
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA.LN) executives will meet next week with Russia’s energy minister to try to resolve an ongoing dispute over its Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, a Russian presidential economic adviser said Thursday.

Led by Shell, the Sakhalin Energy consortium developing Sakhalin-2 has been hit by a steady flow of accusations from Russian officials threatening to stop work at the project, prosecute the company and hit the consortium with a range of economic sanctions. read more

Friday, December 8, 2006. Issue 3557. Page 5.
By Miriam Elder
Staff Writer

The Shell-run Sakhalin-2 project suffered a further setback Thursday when the Natural Resources Ministry suspended a dozen water-use licenses for the project’s main subcontractor.

The decision against on-shore pipeline builder Starstroi comes after months of threats to take concrete legal or state action against the embattled project.

The ministry’s water resource agency gave Starstroi, which is half-owned by a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni, two months to fix the violations or face the withdrawal of 12 key licenses. read more

Crude-oil prices rose, breaking a three-day losing streak, after a tanker-tracker report showed OPEC cut more production than previously estimated. Crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 30 cents to $62.49. Gasoline was also higher, but heating oil and natural gas fell. Here is Thursday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

* * *
ROYALTY LOOPHOLE: House Democrats urged Congress to punish oil firms that refuse to renegotiate faulty government drilling leases that enable the companies to escape paying billions in oil and gas royalties. The lawmakers are pushing to prohibit oil firms from obtaining leases in new offshore areas new terms are reached on exploration contracts signed in 1998 and 1999. read more

By John A Donovan

Oleg Mitvol has recently been described as a “Kremlin attack dog” by a British newspaper, The Guardian. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1886783,00.html 

Reportedly a multimillionaire, Mitvol has since the summer of 2004, transformed himself into an environmental crusader and corporate giant killer in his role as Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor, the Service for Supervision of Natural Resources Management based in Moscow. Such is his impact in the global business community, that he is probably as well known (and feared) as the Russian leader, President Putin. read more

Posted: ’07-DEC-06 14:37′ GMT © Mineweb 1997-2006

LONDON (Mineweb.com) –Moscow correspondent, Robin Paxton, writing in the Reuters European Business Wire, Tuesday, noted that shares in Peter Hambro Mining, Russia’s second-largest gold miner, have recovered some of the fall incurred after a representative of the country’s environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, said last week it wanted five of the company’s licences withdrawn. Subsequently Rosprirodnadzor admitted that three of the five licences in fact belonged to Kongor Chrome, a completely different company. read more

December 7, 2006
By Ben Aris
Editor, Business New Europe

Face-off Between Rosprirodnadzor and Foreign Investors Shines Spotlight on Environmental Crusader

www.businessneweurope.eu

Russia’s natural resources agency swooped in on Peter Hambro’s highly successful gold mines in the Russian Far East last week and threatened to remove the operating licenses for failing to meet environmental standards. Is the Kremlin out to get foreign investors, using the environmental laws as a weapon?

Hambro is the latest to feel the lash of the watchdog’s deputy director, Oleg Mitvol, who is gaining some notoriety as he takes on progressively bigger companies. read more

07 Dec 2006 12:35:47 GMT
By Tanya Mosolova

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Russia stepped up pressure on Royal Dutch/Shell’s Sakhalin-2 venture on Thursday by saying it had suspended water permits in a move that could cause further delays to the $22 billion project.

Russia’s resources ministry said in a statement its water resources agency had suspended 12 water-use licences of Sakhalin’s top contractor Starstroi, a joint venture between Russian firms and Italy’s Saipem .

It gave Starstroi two months to put the violations right. read more

Dec 7 (Reuters) – Nigerian gunmen attacked an Agip oil export terminal in the Niger Delta on Thursday and kidnapped four foreign workers, authorities said.

Following is a chronology of some major attacks on the Nigerian oil industry in the last three months.

— Aug 3 – German Guido Schiffarth, an employee of Bilfinger and Berger, kidnapped in Port Harcourt, is released on Aug. 19.

— Aug 4 – Gunmen abduct three Filipino oil workers from a bus near Port Harcourt. They are released 10 days later. read more

Created: 07.12.2006 12:29 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:29 MSK

At least 100 violations of the environmental, migration and labor laws have been discovered in the Sakhalin-2 energy project in Russia’s Far East, local prosecutors said on Wednesday, Dec. 6.

Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, which is run by international oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell, has been under scrutiny since Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry canceled its own 2003 approval of the project in mid-September.

“It has been established that builders of the gas pipeline in six districts of the Sakhalin Region have caused serious damage to rivers where Pacific salmon spawn,” the prosecutors said, quoted by RIA Novosti. read more

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington and Stephen Castle in Brussels
Published: 07 December 2006

The world’s largest energy company is still spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund European organisations that seek to cast doubt on the scientific consensus on global warming and undermine support for legislation to curb emission of greenhouse gases.

Data collated by a Brussels-based watchdog reveals that ExxonMobil has put money into projects that criticise the Kyoto treaty and question the findings of scientific groups. Environmental campaigners say Texas-based Exxon is trying to influence opinion-makers in Brussels because Europe – rather than the US – is the driving force for action on climate change. read more

The Amur Water Basin Committee of the Federal Agency for Water Resources (Rosvodresursy) has suspended 12 water use licenses which were issued to Starstroy LLC, a contractor of the Salkhalin-2 project, the Ministry of Natural Resources says.

The order to suspend the licenses was signed on December 5, 2006 by a territorial authority of Rosvodresursy. The order says the licenses held by Starstroy LLC have been suspended in view of the violation of the water legislation. The company is to eliminate the violations within two months; otherwise the licenses will be cancelled. read more

The Associated Press
Published: December 7, 2006

MOSCOW: Russian water protection authorities have suspended the licenses of a subcontractor of the Shell-led liquefied natural gas project Sakhalin-2 because of alleged violations, officials said Thursday.

The company, Starstroi, has two months to correct the problems or it will see its 12 licenses annulled, the Natural Resources Ministry said in a statement.

Starstroi had violated water regulations in the course of pipe-laying work, the ministry said. read more

Britain’s finance minister Gordon Brown announced on Wednesday a package of subisidies to boost carbon capture and storage — burying greenhouse gases underground.

Britain has potential carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects at Tees-side (run by Progressive Energy), Tilbury (RWE,), Killingholme (E.ON,), Kingsnorth (E.ON), Hatfield (Powerfuel), Peterhead (BP,), Ferrybridge (Scottish and Southern Energy). Below is a summary of what CCS involves.

** CCS consists of separating the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial sources like power plants and transporting it to a storage location below ground for long-term isolation from the atmosphere read more

By: Ann Healy, Irish Times
Published: Dec 07, 2006

Shell to Sea group activist Maura Harrington was fined 625 yesterday for public order offences arising from a disturbance in Galway last April.

Harrington (54), a primary school principal, of Tullaghanbawn, Geesala, Ballina, Co Mayo, was convicted at Galway District Court of three breaches of the Public Order Act.

She is a prominent member of the campaign opposing the construction by Shell of a 200 million onshore gas terminal at Bellanaboy in Co Mayo. read more

By: Mary Carolan, Irish Times
Published: Dec 07, 2006

Irish Shell faced a multi-million euro bill yesterday after the High Court ordered it to take immediate steps to clean up the site of Meath County Council’s proposed new civic offices in Trim. The site was heavily polluted by the leakage of petroleum products from a Shell filling station.

Mr Justice Vivian Lavan directed that Shell must clean up the site to the standard sought by the council, which Shell had agreed to in early 2003 but subsequently argued was “impossible” to achieve. read more

By Kamarul Yunus
[email protected]
December 7 2006

SHELL Malaysia said it allocates up to RM10 million per year on education programmes, as part of its efforts to reduce the shortage of skilled and technical workers, which is plaguing the global oil and gas industry.

Chairman Saw Choo Boon said the company has an extensive programme on scholarship for university undergraduates every year.

“Our allocation for scholarships ranges between RM5 million and RM10 million per year,” he told reporters after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Shell Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The MOU is for the Shell Chair in Petroleum at UTP. read more

Lube Pro, located on Route 228, is facing the suit because the owner, Keith Smith, says he wouldn’t take down a sign.

Smith says a Shell Oil representative went to his shop saying he wanted Smith to buy Pennzoil exclusively from Shell.

The problem is that Smith buys Pennzoil and a lot of other brands cheaper from places like Wal-Mart and Costco.

Smith says when he refused to make a deal with Shell, they ordered him to remove his old Pennzoil sign, which sat on his property for years.

James Ross, Smith’s lawyer, says that’s when the trouble began. read more