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December, 2006:

Financial Times: Concern for polar bear could signal shift in US policy on global warming

EXTRACT: Separately, Shell said yesterday it had hired Gale Norton, the former secretary of the Interior Department, to serve as a counsel for the Dutch oil giant. The announcement from the energy company comes as the Bush administration is expected to face increased scrutiny by Congress on its ties to the oil and gas industry. This could include questions about whether the Interior Department has adequately collected royalty payments from oil and gas groups extracting resources from federally owned land. 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 Scotsman: Shell inks secret protocol with Russia on Sakhalin

Thu 28 Dec 2006

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell signed a secret protocol with the Russian government as part of its deal to sell half of the Sakhalin-2 project to Gazprom, allowing Shell to boost spending but not as much as it wanted, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Shell is now allowed to boost spending in the giant Sakhalin project to $15.8 billion (8.1 billion pounds) from the previously approved $12 billion, the Vedomosti daily said.

Shell’s spokesman in Moscow Maxim Shub said the protocol was confidential and he would not comment on it. He said details of project costs would be discussed in February at a meeting with the Russian government. 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: To the point: Russia, China and India are now setting the global capitalist agenda

EXTRACT: Shell has just discovered that quirky can swiftly become impossible. Last week’s agreement to sell control of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project to Russian state-controlled Gazprom will have felt like a body blow. And yet, squeezed by environmental complaints which as good as disappeared the minute the deal was concluded, Shell apparently had nowhere else to turn. Russia, as China, is big enough and now commercially savvy enough to make its own rules. And hard-nosed enough to enforce them. 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 Moscow Times: 2007: The Year of the Inspector

Thursday, December 28, 2006. Issue 3569. Page 6.
 
The Prosecutor General’s Office has made it clear that it’s not pleased with the work of Federal Subsoil Resource Use Agency head Anatoly Ledovskikh, saying that it is not preventing the infringement of environmental regulations. It says that the agency should use its powers more often to revoke the licenses of resource companies that have broken the conditions of their contracts.

The Natural Resource Ministry’s environmental inspectorate got its warning at the beginning of December, when Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev criticized its boss, Sergei Sai, for the fact that the number of inspections carried out in 2006 was half that of 2005. The criticism led to a battle within the inspectorate between Sai and his deputy, Oleg Mitvol. It is clear that the main weapons in this battle in 2007 will be inspections, inspections and more inspections. 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 WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE: Oil News Roundup: December 27, 2006 4:55 p.m.

Crude-oil futures fell to a one-month low of nearly $60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as warm seasonal weather in the U.S. Northeast showed no signs of letting up, damping winter demand for heating oil.

Here is Wednesday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

* * *
CHINA SUBSIDIZES SINOPEC AGAIN: Underscoring Beijing’s continued reluctance to fully liberalize domestic fuel prices, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. got a surprise government subsidy of about $639 million. This is the second time that Asia’s largest refiner by capacity, known as Sinopec, has received a government cash injection to compensate for domestic fuel-price caps that have forced it to sell fuel at a loss after buying high-priced crude 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.

The Wall Street Journal: Shell Hires Gale Norton As In-House Lawyer

Gale Norton (WSJ image)

Posted by Peter Lattman
December 27, 2006, 3:42 pm

Royal Dutch Shell announced today that it has hired former Interior Secretary Gale Norton as an in-house lawyer. Norton, who stepped down from her White House post in March, will be based primarily out of Colorado, where she served as the state’s attorney general from 1991 through 1999. At Shell, she will serve as general counsel for the company’s unconventional resources division, which deals with extracting oil from sources such as oil shale and extra heavy 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.

TradeArabia.com: Iran ‘ready to use oil in nuclear dispute’

Tehran

Iran has repeated threats that it was ready to use its massive oil exports as a weapon to defend itself if it felt necessary in an international dispute over its atomic programme, the semi-official Fars news agency said.

‘If necessary, Iran will use any weapon to defend itself,’ said Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran’s trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology, in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material to be used in bombs. 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.

Bloomberg: Gazprom Plans to Pay for Sakhalin Stake by April (Update1)

By Yuriy Humber

Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural-gas export monopoly, will pay Royal Dutch Shell Plc and two Japanese companies $7.45 billion in cash by April for half of the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project off Russia’s east coast, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev said.

The payments will be made by the end of the first quarter, Medvedev told a conference call with investors today. The cost of righting environmental damage “were considered and included in our payment when we entered the Sakhalin project,” Medvedev 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.

New Scientist: Smoke and mirrors

Don’t be fooled by oil and car companies’attempts to appear green. They are still a major obstacle to tackling climate change, warns George Monbiot

27 December 2006

IF YOU were the chief executive of an oil company hoping to defend your business against environmental campaigners, there are several ways you might go about it. The most direct approach, as adopted by ExxonMobil, would be to fund groups that claim climate change isn’t happening and urge the White House to remove the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 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 Washington Times: Securing energy needs

By Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published December 27, 2006
www.washingtontimes.com
 
Seemingly unrelated events of last week suggest considerable trouble ahead for U.S. vital interests. As President Bush puts the finishing touches on his plans for a new strategy for waging the War for the Free World, he had best make sure he focuses not only on Iraq and Iran (as recommended in this space last week) but on energy security, as well.

Consider the following developments:

On the eve of last week’s United Nations Security Council vote on sanctions supposed to isolate Islamofascist Iran over its nuclear weapons ambitions, Communist China agreed to invest an additional $16 billion in the Iranian North Pars natural gas fields (on top of the more than $100 billion already committed by the PRC to other energy projects in the country). The latest memorandum of understanding, signed by Tehran and CNOOC, China’s biggest offshore oil producer, would involve the exploitation of the North Pars fields and the construction of Iranian liquefied natural gas facilities, whose products would then be exported to China. 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.

AFX News Limited: Shell says Nigerian ops unaffected by pipeline blast

12.27.06, 7:44 AM ET
 
LONDON (AFX) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC (nyse: RDSA – news – people ) has assured its operations in Nigeria were not affected by the explosion of an oil pipeline in Lagos that killed over 200 people.

‘It’s not our pipeline. (The blast) has not affected our operations at all,’ said a Shell spokesman at the company’s headquarters in London.

The Nigerian Red Cross has confirmed that at least 260 people were killed and dozens were injured from Tuesday’s explosion and fire at a vandalised pipeline. 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 Post: HIT IRAN WHERE IT HURTS (‘In October, Shell diversified its terror portfolio’)

EXTRACT: Gaffney’s targets include Royal Dutch Shell, the multinational oil conglomerate. It has extensive holdings in the key Iranian offshore oil fields Soroush and Nowruz, where its investments have been pivotal in raising oil output by 190,000 barrels per day – about an 8 percent increase in total Iranian output. (In October, Shell diversified its terror portfolio – winning contracts to search for and pump oil in Syria.)

THE ARTICLE

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN Mc GANN
 
December 27, 2006 — THE sanctions adopted by the United Nations are too weak, too puny and too late to have any deterrent effect on Iran’s drive to build a nuclear bomb. But there is something the U.S. government, state governments, labor unions, pension funds and each of us as individuals can do: We can stop investing in companies that help Iran exploit the oil and gas resources on which its economy depends. 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 New York Times: Putin’s Assertive Diplomacy Is Seldom Challenged

Van Der Veer in Moscow

(“Thank you very much for your support,” Shell’s chief executive, Jeroen van der Veer, told President Vladimir V. Putin)

December 27, 2006
Memo From Moscow
By STEVEN LEE MYERS

MOSCOW, Dec. 26 — Inside the Kremlin last week, the executives of three major international companies — Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsubishi and Mitsui — heaped praise on the man whose government had effectively forced them to cede control of the world’s largest combined oil and natural gas project.

“Thank you very much for your support,” Shell’s chief executive, Jeroen van der Veer, told President Vladimir V. Putin during a meeting that ended a six-month regulatory assault on the project, Sakhalin II, but only after the companies surrendered control of it to the state energy giant, Gazprom. “This was a historic occasion.” 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 Times: Putin wins the hearths and minds of Europe

December 27, 2006
Tony Halpin: Analysis

Vladimir Putin is entitled to take immense satisfaction from 2006. The year opened with Russia cast as the great gas ogre, embroiled in a bruising “cold war” over supplies to Ukraine that also threatened to dim the lights from Poznan to Paris.

As 2006 closes, the state monopoly Gazprom has become the energy giant that ate Europe, extending the Kremlin’s influence from the corridors of power to the kitchens of consumers. Add in his success in forcing Shell to hand control to Gazprom of Sakhalin-2, the world’s largest private oil and gas project, and Mr Putin can reflect on a year well spent. 
 
Europe depends on Russia for a quarter of its gas supplies, so Mr Putin can fairly claim to be responsible for warming the homes of millions of citizens across the continent. Hence his tone of injured surprise at international criticism of Moscow’s energy strategy, which he argues is based on mutual self-interest. Russia needs the markets, Europe needs the gas. 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 Wall Street Journal: Shell/Sakhalin

COMMENT FROM breakingviews 
December 27, 2006

The Russian airbrush is back. In Soviet times, it was normally used to remove a “nonperson” from a photograph and so create a more politically convenient version of reality. Now it’s being used to airbrush someone in. That, in essence, is the deal that Gazprom has just struck with Royal Dutch Shell and its Japanese partners to take control of Sakhalin II, the world’s largest single integrated oil-and-gas project. Gazprom has taken a 50%-plus-one-share stake, and in return is paying the proportionate share of its investment costs — as if it had been there from the start. 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 Wall Street Journal: Small Companies Make Big Splash In U.K.’s North Sea Oil Reservoirs

By JAMES HERRON and LANANH NGUYEN
December 27, 2006

Despite being one of the most heavily explored and exploited hydrocarbon basins in the world, energy-industry observers say the United Kingdom’s long-developed North Sea has riches to be extracted. In many cases, it is small independent oil and natural-gas companies that are proving them right.

Taking advantage of high oil-and-gas prices and improved exploration-and-drilling technology, an influx of small and dynamic independent-oil companies could improve prospects for future production of the U.K. continental shelf. Industry observers say the thorny issue of who is responsible for decommissioning costs of aging offshore pipelines and platforms could stop the independents in their tracks and lead to valuable resources being abandoned forever beneath the sea. 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 Wall Street Journal: Totaled

EXTRACT: It hasn’t stopped Russia from targeting its Khariaga project with the same sort of “environmental” complaints that saw Shell driven out of the country last week.

THE ARTICLE

BUSINESS WORLD
By HOLMAN W. JENKINS, JR.  
December 27, 2006; Page A9

The coming year is likely to be a case of good news/bad news for one of the world’s prominent oil executives. Christophe de Margerie is slated to become the new chief executive of France’s Total SA, the world’s sixth-largest oil company, succeeding the steely Thierry Desmarest (who will remain as chairman). In the coming year, Mr. de Margerie is also likely to learn his fate under a French criminal investigation into oil-related bribery in Iraq, Iran and Russia that saw him detained and questioned for 48 hours in October. 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 WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE: Oil News Roundup: December 26, 2006 4:53 p.m.

Crude-oil futures fell for a third straight session, tumbling to nearly $61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, pressured by unseasonably warm weather in the Northeast and Midwest.

Here is Monday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

* * *
DEADLY PIPELINE EXPLOSION: A pipeline carrying petroleum products exploded in Nigeria’s largest city of Lagos, leaving at least 200 people dead. Witnesses said people had rushed to the ruptured pipeline to collect fuel when the flames ignited. Nigerians often tap into pipelines carrying refined fuel, scooping up the raw product in buckets or plastic bags. Spilled fuel spreading in pools sometimes ignites, immolating people nearby. In May, more than 150 people died in a similar explosion in Lagos. Monsters & Critics says this is a particularly bitter example of how Nigeria’s oil wealth is not enriching the country’s people. 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: Shell reports California refinery problem

Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:20pm ET

HOUSTON, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Shell Oil Products US (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) reported its Wilmington, California, refinery suffered a sulphur recovery problem that forced the flaring of sulphur-dioxide gas, state records showed Tuesday.

The Los Angeles-area refinery on Monday “lost an SCC (sulphur recovery) unit. The gas compressor went down. They had to depressurize the unit,” a report on the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services 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.

International Herald Tribune: Russia strong-arms West

By Steven Lee Myers
Tuesday, December 26, 2006

MOSCOW can afford to ignore its critics

Inside the Kremlin last week, the executives of three major international companies — Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsubishi and Mitsui — heaped praise on the man whose government had effectively forced them to cede control of the world’s largest combined oil and natural gas development.

“Thank you very much for your support,” Shell’s chief executive, Jeroen van der Veer, told President Vladimir Putin during a meeting that ended a six- month regulatory assault on the project, Sakhalin II, at the cost of ceding control to the state energy giant, Gazprom. “This was a historic occasion.” 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.

RobertAmsterdam.com: By Derek Brower: Gazprom the Bully, Gazprom the Scapegoat

Blaming Gazprom is only half of the story
By Derek Brower, Journalist

AND so another squabble ends with Gazprom the victor. Shell, once the kind of company that dictated terms to others, got a taste of the new medicine. The Kremlin is the alchemist, and its gas monopoly the distributor.

The deal signed in Moscow on Thursday over Sakhalin 2’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) project puts Gazprom in control of it. The Kremlin will now have full oversight of the project’s costs. And sometime soon the gross collection of ecological charges against Sakhalin Energy, the consortium developing the LNG plant, will be either dropped altogether or converted into a light fine for the operator. Along with its medicine, Shell swallows a great deal of pride. 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: Farewell to a year that gave us a good rate of interest

EXTRACT: A year which began with Russia cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine and ended with it strong-arming Shell to cede control over the country’s biggest oil and gas project reminds us that markets should price not just reward but risk as well.

THE ARTICLE

Business comment
By Tom Stevenson
Last Updated: 12:32am GMT 27/12/2006

It is only natural to believe that we are living through what the Chinese call interesting times. Without the benefit of a historical perspective, changes can feel more momentous than perhaps they really are. 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.

Monsters and Critics.com: Nigeria’s poor still suffer despite vast oil wealth

Africa Features

By Tia Goldenberg
Dec 26, 2006, 18:48 GMT

Nairobi/Abuja – Hundreds of people attempting to steal fuel from a pipeline in Nigeria were burnt to death on Tuesday, proving that as the West African nation becomes wealthier from its oil riches, the country’s poor suffer.

Tuesday’s blast came after oil thieves vandalized the pipeline, which ran through one of the commercial capital Lagos’ suburbs. Hundreds had rushed in to scoop up the precious oil, when the fire erupted. 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.

Forbes: Gas Pipeline Blast Kills 260 in Nigeria

Associated Press
By KATHARINE HOURELD 12.26.06, 2:43 PM ET
 
A gasoline pipeline ruptured by thieves exploded into a blazing inferno Tuesday as scavengers collected the fuel in a poor neighborhood, killing at least 260 people in the latest oil-industry disaster to strike Africa’s biggest petroleum producer.

Braving a towering pillar of fire and a cloud of acrid black smoke, thousands of people in Lagos’ Abule Egba neighborhood surged around rescue workers carrying away charred bodies, hoping to catch a glimpse of missing relatives. 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.

RIA Novosti: Debates around Sakhalin II over

20:16 | 26/ 12/ 2006 

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Alexander Yurov) – The urgent visit to Moscow of top executives from companies that are participating in the Sakhalin II project and their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin ended with mutual satisfaction.

Royal Dutch/Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi agreed to let the Russian gas giant Gazprom joint the project. The sum they are to receive for it is unexpectedly big, $7.45 billion.

Of course, the agreement did not come easy, which is hardly surprising given that at stake was control over 150 million tons of oil and 500 billion cu m of gas – that much is held by offshore reserves developed by international consortium Sakhalin Energy, the project’s operator. 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.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Russia: Energy analyst looks at Shell takeover

Passage into state hands has been seen as another successful Kremlin effort to reestablish control over Russia’s energy production   
 
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
by RFE/RL
   

Anglo-Dutch giant Shell and two Japanese companies have announced they will cede their majority stake in the Sakhalin-2 energy project to Russia’s state-controlled natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, for $7.45 billion. Sakhalin-2 is the largest combined oil and natural-gas development in the world. Its passage into state hands has been seen as another successful Kremlin effort to reestablish control over Russia’s energy production. 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.

World Politics Watch: Sakhalin Seizure Risks Discouraging Foreign Investment in Russia’s Energy Infrastructure

Richard Weitz | 26 Dec 2006
World Politics Watch Exclusive

On Dec. 22, the Russian government succeeded in its long-standing campaign to wrest control of the country’s largest single foreign investment project — the $22 billion natural gas development on the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin. The project includes the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and related export facilities built in Russia.

According to the deal, Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corp. will each surrender half of their shares in the Sakhalin Energy consortium. In their place, OAO Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled natural gas monopoly, has taken a majority (50 percent plus one share) stake in the project, paying a discounted price of $7.45 billion, as much as 20 percent below market estimates of the surrendered assets’ true worth. 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.

Orlando Sentinel: Deep-sea rig shortage slows oil work in Gulf

Chevron and other oil companies have to postpone projects because of the lack of such vessels.

Joe Carroll | Bloomberg News
Posted December 26, 2006 

Bill Thornburg, a senior drill-site manager for Chevron Corp., opens a steel door on a floating oil rig off the Louisiana coast and stops dead in his tracks.

Red plastic tape warns that crews are hauling pipe and wrenches the size of baseball bats across a deck slick with sea spray. If it were up to Thornburg, there would be a dozen more $1 million-a-day rigs plying the Gulf of Mexico. 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.

St Petersburg Times: TNK-BP Told to Let Gazprom In

Reuters

MOSCOW — TNK-BP must accommodate Gazprom into its giant Kovykta gas project or face new sanctions for licensing noncompliance, an official said Thursday.

TNK-BP is the main shareholder in Rusia Petroleum, which has the license to operate Kovykta. Under the licensing agreement, the firm should produce 9 billion cubic meters of gas next year.

TNK-BP wants to export gas from Kovykta, in Siberia, to China. But its plans have stalled because Gazprom has refused to let the $10 billion project build a pipeline to the border and restricts it to supplying a local market that needs no more than 2.5 bcm. 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.

RIA Novosti: Russia defends its gas honor

11:50 | 26/ 12/ 2006 

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Nina Kulikova) – This year has been the most eventful for Russia’s energy policies since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Moscow has convinced everyone that the many years of subsidized gas prices for neighboring economies are becoming a thing of the past and that it is firmly determined to defend the position of its energy industry on the international stage.

When Gazprom first announced its plans to go over to market prices for all its partners, including in the CIS, few could believe it possible or imagine the outcome. Yet the first days of January 2006 showed that Gazprom was determined to deal with the gas transit problem in a decisive way. Throughout 2005, Ukraine had ignored the gas monopoly’s proposals to discuss gas prices and their rise. When 2006 came, and there was still no agreement in place, gas supply to Ukraine was suspended. Then Kiev began siphoning off Russian gas transported via its territory to the EU, which caused a shortage of gas and a subsequent outrage in West Europe. 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 New York Sun: The Khodorkovsky Connection

By ROBERT AMSTERDAM
December 26, 2006
 
In the latest news coming out of Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been transferred within Siberia from a gulag to a pre-trial detention center in Chita for what may be the application of further bogus charges against him. And on Friday, police officials took his father, recently released from hospital, for interrogation.

Although you may not have remarked upon it, even before this news, the name of my client had taken on new significance. For his is one of a handful of names to appear recently in two otherwise seemingly unrelated stories out of Russia: the mysterious poisoning of the former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, and the decision by Royal Dutch Shell to give in to Kremlin pressure and offer up a large stake in the Sakhalin-2 natural gas project. 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: The Russia created by Vladimir Putin

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 26/12/2006

Nearly seven years ago, on the eve of his becoming interim president of Russia, Vladimir Putin published his Millennium Manifesto. Following the collapse of communism and the chaos of the Yeltsin years, this was a blueprint for restoring Russian greatness which traced a “third way” between discredited Bolshevism and Western liberal democracy. The key was the restoration of the power of the state, whose monopoly of violence had been challenged in the 1990s by a combination of mafiosi, politically ambitious oligarchs, media barons and regional governors. 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.

St Petersburg Times: Russia Plays Rough, Wins Bruising Fight

Issue #1233(99), Tuesday, December 26, 2006
By Sebastian Smith
AGENCE FRANCE PRESS/Bloomberg

MOSCOW — Moscow has savoured victory after state giant Gazprom ousted Royal Dutch Shell from control of the Sakhalin-2 energy project, ending a struggle highlighting changing rules in Russia’s bare-knuckle business environment.

The announcement late on Thursday that Gazprom would take the controlling stake in the $22 billion natural gas development was a milestone in President Vladimir Putin’s campaign to restore state control over the energy industry. 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.

RussianNewswire: Gazprom, Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi Sign Protocol on Sakhalin-2 Project

Headquarters: Moscow 
Date: 25/12/2006
 
MOSCOW (RNWire) – OAO Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell), Mitsui &Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) and Mitsubishi Corporation (Mitsubishi) have signed a Protocol on Gazprom’s joining Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy) as the main shareholder. In accordance with the Protocol terms, Gazprom will purchase a 50 per cent stake plus 1 share in Sakhalin Energy for US$ 7.45 bln. To execute the deal each of Sakhalin Energy’s shareholders will decrease its stake by 50 per cent with recompense to be allocated on a proportional basis. As a result, Shell will own a 27.5 per cent stake, and Mitsui and Mitsubishi – 12.5 per cent and 10 per cent of shares, respectively. 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.

BBC News: Georgia in gas deal with Turkey

Monday, 25 December 2006, 09:25 GMT

Georgia plans to buy 800 million cubic metres of gas from Turkey next year, almost half of its needs, Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gilauri says.

The price it will pay for the gas under this deal has not been disclosed.

Georgian officials have made clear their desire to reduce the country’s dependence on Russian gas.

But the BBC’s Matthew Collin in Tbilisi says Georgians cannot be certain they will be receiving gas from other sources until a deal has been signed. read more

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The Sunday Times: Focus: Battered Petroleum

December 24, 2006

BP’s Lord Browne has had an annus horribilis but there may be worse to come in 2007, with probes of the company’s safety record and a looming battle to succeed him. Dominic Rushe reports 
 
The holiday season is a time for reflection. And 2006 has certainly given Lord Browne of Madingley plenty to think about. Once Britain’s most admired boss, the BP chief executive has seen his image tarnished this year by a series of scandals, disasters and an investigation into a fatal fire that killed 15 employees. read more

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The Sunday Times: The Andrew Davidson Interview: Energy chief pushes Italy into arms of Russian bear

December 24, 2006

Paolo Scaroni headed the glassmaker Pilkington for six years. Now he is cutting deals with the Russians as boss of the Italian energy giant Eni. Why is he jumping in where others fear to go? 
 
JAWS dropped when Paolo Scaroni, the former Pilkington glass boss, was appointed head of Italy’s energy giant Eni last year. What does the elegant Scaroni, a glass-industry veteran, know about oil? Enough to cut a dash, that’s for sure.

Last month Eni — the sixth-biggest oil company in the world — announced a ground-breaking agreement with the aggressive gas giant Gazprom that will allow the Russians to sell gas direct to consumers in Italy. This month, the Russian media were reporting that Eni could be bidding for local energy assets there, at a time when other oil giants have become nervous about the region. read more

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Sunday Telegraph: Time to stand up to the Russians

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 24/12/2006

Vladimir Putin is making himself our problem. There is a difference between persecuting political opponents at home and doing so in neighbouring states; between presiding over the murder of dissidents within your borders and sanctioning their death abroad. The moral distinction may be slight, but the legal distinction is vast: the international order rests on the principle of territorial jurisdiction.

The latest country to suffer the Kremlin’s bullying is Georgia. Since electing Mikhail Saakashvili on a pro-Nato ticket in 2003, Georgians have been roughed up by their giant neighbour. Their exports are impounded, their citizens rounded up and deported. President Putin backs separatist rebels in South Ossetia, a stance that sits oddly with his insistence that the bestial repression of Chechen separatism is an internal Russian matter. Now, Russia has doubled the price of its gas. read more

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Sunday Telegraph: Russian bullying over oil is ‘a wake-up call’

Van der Veer and Russian Minister

(From right: Jeroen van der Veer of Royal Dutch Shell, Yuri Trutnev, Russia’s resources minister, and Stanislav Tsygankov of Gazprom)

Melissa Kite and Nicholas Holdsworth in Moscow,
Last Updated: 12:37am GMT 24/12/2006

Russia’s use of energy supplies as a political weapon should be a wake-up call to Britain and the West to deal urgently with the threat, senior Conservatives said last night.  

Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, stepped up Tory calls for a Nato-style “energy pact” after Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy giant, forced the pro-Western former Soviet republic of Georgia to accept a doubling of gas prices. read more

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UpstreamOnline: Sakhalin deal ‘will hit Shell reserves’

By Upstream staff

Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell’s chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said that the sale of half the company’s interest in Russia’s Sakhalin 2 project to Gazprom would have an impact on its reserves.

“Of course there’s a short-term impact on the reserves, the reserve bookings themselves, but when I look at the future of the company, we have really good opportunities,” Van der Veer told Reuters after sealing the deal in Moscow.

Gazprom will pay a total of $7.45 billion to Shell and its Japanese partners Mitsui and Mitsubishi to become the leader of the $22 billion project. read more

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Petroleum News: Peace River enters big leagues

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada’s oil and gas industry
Week of December 24, 2006
By Gary Park

Shell Canada is rapidly occupying the leading edge of Alberta oil sands growth.

Already the only major producer with holdings in the three largest regions — Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River — it has filed a regulatory application to turn Peace River from a largely experimental play into a serious player.

The Carmon Creek project would boost Shell Canada’s output from 12,000 barrels per day to 50,000 bpd by 2010 or 2011 and double those volumes over an indefinite period. read more

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San Diego Union Tribune: Car bomb explodes outside state government offices in Nigeria’s oil region

ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Dan Udoh
8:50 a.m. December 23, 2006

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria – A car bomb exploded outside a state government office in Nigeria’s southern oil hub Saturday, soon after the military reported an overnight bombing of a water pipeline leading into a refinery.

The blast at the office building in Port Harcourt was the first targeting of a government installation by a militant group that has frequently kidnapped foreign oil workers and occupied pumping stations run by multinational companies.
 
The two bombings came at the end of a week of attacks against petroleum companies in Africa’s largest oil-producing nation. Militant groups say people in the oil-rich Niger River delta aren’t benefiting enough from the wealth. read more

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The Guardian: Shell’s Sakhalin sale ‘will have dramatic impact’

By Simon Bowers

Shell’s sale of half of its interest in Sakhalin-2 will result in a “fairly dramatic impact” on the Anglo-Dutch group’s production in years to come, according to analysts. Jon Rigby, at UBS, wiped 7.4%, or 330,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, off his forecast for reported production in 2015.

The deal, which hands control of Sakhalin-2 to Russian state monopoly Gazprom, will see Shell relinquish about 2% of its 60bn barrels of oil equivalent. Shell will update its future production profile when reporting full-year figures in February. Royal Dutch Shell A shares closed down 1p at £17.89. read more

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Daily Mail London: KREMLIN STAGES A PUTSCH

Alex Brummer column
By: Alex Brummer, Daily Mail – London: KRTBN
Published: Dec 22, 2006

Big oil has a long history of having assets appropriated by hostile governments. Yet no one has been quite prepared for the land grab by Gazprom of a 50pc stake in the Sakhalin-2 project.

This will come as a nasty blow to all overseas investors in President Putin’s Russia and emphasises the vulnerability of European energy supplies to the whims of the Kremlin.

The way in which the Russian authorities slowly tightened the noose on Shell can be seen as carefully orchestrated blackmail. read more

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Irish Times: GardaI deny using baton on protester

Published: Dec 23, 2006

GardaI have denied that force was used during yesterday’s early morning protest at the Corrib gas terminal in north Mayo. Lorna Siggins , Marine Correspondent, reports.

Shell to Sea campaigners say that one of their local supporters was injured when a garda drew a truncheon and hit the man several times on the arm and leg. Mary Corduff, who was at the protest along with her husband, Willie, condemned the action and said it was a “very sad development, coming up to Christmas”. read more

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Financial Times: Shell staff lose lunch and gain pounds

By Matthew Richards
Published: December 23 2006 02:00 | Last updated: December 23 2006 02:00

Shell will prove there is still such a thing as a free lunch next month when it adds £7,000 to employees’ January pay packets to compensate them for the end of paid-for meals at the Shell Centre canteen.

Staff at the oil group’s London headquarters in Waterloo currently receive £3.75 to spend in the canteen for each day they come to work. But the payments will be made for the last time on January 31. After months of consultations, Shell offered to make the one-off payment to all centre-based staff employed on January 1 2007. read more

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Financial Times: Shell/Sakhalin

Published: December 23 2006 02:00 | Last updated: December 23 2006 02:00

For Brits, grainy footage of Neville Chamberlain clutching a piece of paper and talking about “peace in our time” captures an era when civilised chaps were flummoxed by foreign bullies. Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, returns from Moscow with a few bits of paper of his own after concluding negotiations with Gazprom over the Sakhalin-2 gas project.

Gazprom will pay $4.1bn in cash for half of Shell’s 55 per cent stake. It will also buy on the same terms the stakes of Shell’s minority partners, Mitsui and Mitsubishi, thereby taking control. At least Moscow has promised to call off the dogs and let the project proceed. In that respect, Mr van der Veer has extracted peace with a semblance of honour. read more

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE: Oil News Roundup: December 22, 2006 4:59 p.m.

Crude-oil futures fell for a second straight session, settling at nearly $62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on unseasonably warm Northeast weather and expectations of rising inventories.

Here is Friday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

* * *
COURT WIN FOR EXXON: A federal appeals court cut in half a $5 billion jury award for punitive damages against Exxon Mobil in the 1989 Valdez oil spill along the Alaskan coastline. The case, one of the nation’s longest-running, noncriminal legal disputes, stems from a 1994 decision by an Anchorage jury to award the punitive damages to 34,000 fishermen and other Alaskans harmed when the Valdez oil tanker struck a charted reef, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil. read more

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Reuters: ADR Report-ADRs fall on Royal Dutch Shell, Siemens

EXTRACT: Sakhalin II: Credit Suisse analysts cut their price target on Shell’s London-listed stock, saying the deal is not financially favorable to the company.

Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:11pm ET

NEW YORK, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Overseas shares traded in the United States fell broadly on Friday, led by declines in shares of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.N: Quote, Profile , Research) and embattled German industrial icon Siemens (SI.N: Quote, Profile , Research).

The Bank of New York’s index of leading ADRs < .BKADR> was down 0.5 percent, while the 30-share Dow Jones industrial average < .DJI> was off 0.5 percent at 12,359.16. read more

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The Independent (UK): Where next for Shell after Sakhalin-2 seizure debacle?

By James Moore
Published: 23 December 2006

For Shell, the cup runneth over when it comes to cash – but the glass is looking half empty when it comes to energy reserves.

The upshot of the Sakhalin-2 affair, which saw Shell and its Japanese partners giving up control of Russia’s largest energy project to Gazprom for £3.8bn in cash, is a big hole in the company’s reserves.

The cash Shell does not need, the vast pool of liquefied natural gas it desperately does. The estimated loss could be 5-6 per cent of proven reserves, because losing its majority stake means Shell can no longer consolidate the project in its figures. read more

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