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December 8th, 2006:

Daily Telegraph: DATABASE: ENERGY: SATURDAY 09 DECEMBER 2006

• Russian natural resources minister Yury Trutnev called Royal Dutch Shell’s £11.1bn Sakhalin-2 venture an example of the harm caused by the government’s failure to pass laws that would punish environmental breaches.

• British Energy Group, the UK’s biggest power producer, may have its debt rating cut as output from its nuclear plants falls, according to traders betting on corporate creditworthiness in the credit-default swaps market.

• Total, Europe’s third-largest oil company, bought an 8.35pc stake in a UK liquefied natural terminal, a venture of Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum, to gain a share of Britain’s growing gas-import market. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

New York Times: Oil Prices Rise Above $63 a Barrel

December 8, 2006
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:48 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel Friday, supported by the possibility of a production cut by OPEC next week and amid violence in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer.

Forecasts calling for milder weather had kept downward pressure on the market since the start of the week, but traders often bid up prices ahead of the weekend as a precaution in case of any unexpected supply disruptions.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery gained $1.01 to $63.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Las Vegas Sun: Militants to Hold Hostages Indefinitely

Today: December 08, 2006 at 10:20:16 PST
By KATHARINE HOURELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) –

A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta said Friday it will hold four foreign hostages “indefinitely” to press for the release of two of the region’s jailed leaders and compensation from an oil company for alleged pollution.

The three Italian workers and one Lebanese man were taken captive Thursday in a raid on an oil export terminal operated by Agip, a subsidiary of Italian oil firm Eni SpA. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Arizona Daily Sun: Gunmen attack Nigerian oil installation

Friday, December 8, 2006 10:19 AM CST

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a southern Nigerian oil export terminal belonging to a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni SpA early Thursday, taking three Italians and a Lebanese hostage and killing another person, officials said.

Bayelsa state Police Commissioner Hafiz Ringim confirmed the attack just before dawn on the Agip oil export station, which exports some 200,000 barrels of oil daily from the town of Brass.

Eni and Italy’s Foreign Ministry said three Italians and a Lebanese were kidnapped. Another Lebanese worker was wounded in the firefight, the ministry said. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Mayo Advertiser: Rossport residents consider Supreme Court appeal in Shell document wrangle

08/12/2006
by Fiona McGarry

A decision not to give a number of Rossport residents access to a document belonging to Shell E&P is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

This week at the High Court, Mr Justice Smyth ruled that the document has legal, professional privilege, and refused access to it to Brendan James Philbin (of the ‘Rossport Five’) and Brid McGarry.

Both Rossport locals had claimed the document, which records a consultation session between Shell E&P and its legal team, showed inconsistencies between what the company has said publicly in court and privately to its lawyers, on a number of issues. They said the solicitor’s “attendance docket” shed light on ministerial consents for the pipeline, the issue of damages and the good faith of the company. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Interfax: Mitvol barred from attending session of license revocation commission

MOSCOW: Dec 8 2006 1:59PM

Security guards at the headquarters of the Federal Subsurface Resources Agency (Rosnedra) denied Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the federal environmental watchdog (Rosprirodnadzor), entry to the hall where the commission responsible for revoking licenses convened on Friday, the Mineral Resources Ministry said in a press release.

Mitvol is Rosprirodnadzor’s official representative at the commission, the press release says.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Reuters: Infighting hits Russian officials targeting Shell

Fri Dec 8, 2006 11:52 AM GMT

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry, which has led criticism of foreign oil firms such as Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research), dissolved into infighting between officials on Friday, with oil giant’s top critic shut out of a meeting and calling for his own boss to be sacked.

Oleg Mitvol, the outspoken deputy head of the ministry’s ecological agency RosPrirodNadzor, was barred from a meeting about withdrawing firms’ licences at another of the ministry’s agencies, Rosnedra. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Reuters: Russia slams oil licence breakers, cites Shell

By Mikhail Yenukov

MOSCOW, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Oil firms operating in Russia are flouting the law to a great degree and the Royal Dutch Shell-led Sakhalin-2 project is the biggest example, Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said on Friday.

Trutnev has led a crackdown on environmental and licensing violations that has mainly targeted projects run by foreign oil firms such as Royal Dutch Shell , Exxon Mobil and TNK-BP , a joint venture of BP Plc .

On Friday, he said more than a tenth of crude oil output in Russia, the world’s top producer in recent months, is pumped in violation of companies’ licence terms. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

hemscott.com: Russian minister criticises Shell’s Sakhalin project, environmetal regulators

MOSCOW (AFX) – Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev lashed out at the Royal Dutch Shell-run Sakhalin Energy consortium over environmental violations, saying it showed the state’s ‘complete loss’ of regulatory control.

Trutnev also called for the head of Rosprirodnadzor, the country’s chief environmental watchdog, to be punished for conducting too few inspections.

Botched reforms and poor coordination among environmental monitoring agencies have ‘effectively led to a complete loss of environmental control and surveillance’ on the part of the state, Trutnev said at a news conference. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Gazeta.ru: Authorities continue to pressure foreign investors

Next year, Sakhalin Energy, operator of the Sakhalin-II oil project, will face serious fines. Russian Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said the consortium, led by Shell (which is Sakhalin Energy’s key shareholder), “violated numerous environmental regulations in a barbarous way.”

Analysts, however, said that this is just an attempt to pressure the company into ceding a large stake in the project to Gazprom. Political experts believe that Sakhalin Energy has already accepted the fact that it will have to make concessions. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Oleg Mitvol: the ‘Kremlin attack dog’ that makes the oil giants tremble

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

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Independent: Four kidnapped during attack on Italian oil terminal in Nigeria

By Katharine Houreld in Lagos
Published: 08 December 2006

Gunmen attacked an oil terminal in southern Nigeria belonging to a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni SpA yesterday, killing one person and taking four foreigners hostage. Italy’s Foreign Ministry said that three Italians and one Lebanese national were kidnapped.

The identity of the dead man was not immediately clear, although sources said he appeared to have been a bystander. Several residents said the gunmen shot and killed a youth who was among a group of locals from the town of Brass who had tried to stop the attack on the Agip terminal. One Lebanese worker was hurt in the attack. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Financial Times: Will the tap open? Why oil groups dream of the day they can enter Iraq

By Carola Hoyos and Roula Khalaf: Published: December 8 2006 02:00 | Last updated: December 8 2006 02:00

American troops stood by as government offices in Baghdad were torched and looted after the city’s fall in April 2003, a chaotic beginning to the flawed US-led campaign in Iraq. But one imposing concrete building was accorded special treatment.

Ringed with barbed wire, with dozens of US tanks guarding the entrance and American soldiers perched on roofs, the oil ministry emerged unscathed from the post-invasion mayhem. US officials insisted at the time that their objective was to safeguard the centre of Iraq’s vital resources. The US military’s actions, however, fed the conspiracy theory that the toppling of Saddam Hussein was itself designed to gain control of Iraqi oil. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Financial Times: Sakhalin-2 water permits withdrawn

By Ed Crooks in London: Published: December 8 2006 02:00 | Last updated: December 8 2006 02:00

Russian authorities have withdrawn 12 permits for water use at Sakhalin-2, the $20bn (£10.2bn) gas and oil project off the far east coast of Russia operated by Royal Dutch Shell, dealing another blow to the oil group.

The Federal Water Re-sources Agency has withdrawn the permits on environmental grounds from Starstroi, the Russian-Italian joint venture that is the lead sub-contactor in building a pipeline to carry gas across the island. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

New York Times: Gunmen Attack Nigeria Oil Export Station

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 8, 2006
Filed at 1:11 a.m. ET

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a southern Nigerian oil export terminal belonging to a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni SpA early Thursday, taking three Italians and a Lebanese hostage and killing another person, officials said.

The main militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta claimed responsibility for seizing the hostages and vowed more attacks if the government doesn’t release two local leaders from jail and compensate the community for environmental pollution caused by oil companies. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

New York Times: Oil Prices Climb in Asian Trading

EXTRACT: In Nigeria… The group vowed more attacks will follow if their long-standing demands, which include compensation from Royal Dutch Shell PLC for alleged environmental pollution, are not met.

THE ARTICLE

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 8, 2006
Filed at 2:56 a.m. ET

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices rose in Asian trading Friday, supported by expectations of further production cuts by OPEC countries and amid violence in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery gained 31 cents to $62.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midday in Singapore. The contract on Thursday rose 30 cents to settle at $62.49 a barrel. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

The Guardian: Russia piles pressure on Shell at Sakhalin 2

Friday 8 December 2006

Russian authorities increased pressure on Shell yesterday by suspending the licences of a subcontractor at its huge Sakhalin 2 natural gas project in eastern Siberia, because of alleged violations of water regulations while laying pipes.

Starstroi has two months to correct the problems or 12 licences will be annulled, the natural resources ministry said. Shell has been under pressure to offer state gas company, Gazprom, better terms and enraged the Kremlin last year when it said the project costs would double to $22bn – delaying the time when Russia would receive a share of the profits. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Daily Telegraph: Shell hit as Russia suspends licence

By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 12:19am GMT 08/12/2006

Russia has turned the screw on Shell over alleged environmental damage at the company’s Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project by suspending licences to use water. A subcontractor working for the oil giant was yesterday given two months to repair violations or see a possible halt to the $22bn (£11bn) Sakhalin venture.

Analysts had few doubts that Moscow’s move is the latest step in its plan to make Shell cede some control of the project, which is likely to generate huge revenues. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Court Adjourns Arms Company Suit Against Shell

Vanguard (Lagos)
December 7, 2006
Innocent Anaba
Lagos

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, adjourned till December 20, 2006 further hearing in the suit by X.M. Federal, an International Arms Company, in which the company had sued Shell Petroleum Development Company, over the termination of its contract to supply arms to the oil company.

Counsel to the plaintiffs in the matter, Tete Adam, told the court at the resumed hearing of the matter that in view of the processes served on him by the defendant, the plaintiffs will need to amend their statement of claim. According to him, “After a proper study of the further statement of defence that the court granted leave to amend, we felt that it will be better for us (plaintiffs) to amend our statement of claim, so what we don’t start amending it mid-way into the hearing of the matter”.
 
The presiding judge, Justice Abdulahi Mustapha however, noted that in view of the fact that the defendant may at the next adjourned date, say it need to reply to whatever is filed, that it would be better if the matter is adjourned for mention. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.