January 5th, 2007:

EXTRACT: Incredibly, one Moscow-based journalist went so far as to connect Russia’s desire to take back control of the Sakhalin-2 project from Royal Dutch Shell with the death of Litvinenko.

THE ARTICLE

By Robert Bridge
Friday 05 January 2006

If Alexander Litvinenko’s death achieved anything besides another senseless murder, it effectively betrayed the bias of so many journalists and reporters, who immediately forget everything they may have learned in Journalism 101 whenever a story involves Russia.
 
Alexander Litvinenko did not need to lose his life, of course, to demonstrate the lingering bias that continues to contaminate western (and domestic) reporting on Russia. The western media, which has a bad habit of calling itself free and liberal these days, has still not found an aspirin big enough to cure its brutal Cold War hangover, while, Russia – at least in terms of its diversified news coverage on the West – has moved on. read more

Gale Norton (General Counsel, Shell E & P)

Another year has brought another job for Gale Norton, the former Wichitan who resigned as President Bush’s interior secretary last March. This month Norton will become a general counsel in Royal Dutch Shell’s exploration and production business, which partly involves recovering oil from shale. Norton will work out of Colorado, where she served two terms as attorney general before her five years in the Bush Cabinet.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called the hiring an example of the “hand-in-glove relationship between Big Oil and the Bush administration’s top Interior officials.” Anybody who has observed the revolving door between Washington, D.C., and industry would call it nothing new. read more

A Times Editorial
Published January 5, 2007
 
The least surprising news in recent weeks had to be the announcement that former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is going to work for Shell Oil Co. In her zeal to open the Gulf of Mexico and federal lands in the West to drilling, Norton always acted on behalf of the oil industry (as opposed to the American public, the landowner). At least now she’ll be on the industry’s payroll instead of the taxpayers’.

When she resigned last year, Norton left behind a mess that is still being unravelled. The latest revelation involves an investigation by the Justice Department into royalty collections. Allegations are that a high-ranking Interior official steered the sale of federally owned oil and gas to favored companies, thereby reducing the amount the government (and taxpayers) collected on such sales, the New York Times reported. read more

Carolyn O’Hara

Russia may have scored a gas victory over Belarus a few minutes to midnight on New Year’s Eve, but its use of similar blackmail tactics in getting its hands on the huge Sakhalin-II gas project in eastern Russia is earning the country a financial slap on the wrist. In mid-December, Russia strong-armed Shell into selling its majority stake in Sakhalin, where two major fields under development are estimated to hold more than 1 billion barrels of crude and 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas, to Gazprom, the state-owned energy giant. read more

Published: Jan 05, 2007

HARDENED criminals gave the Rossport Five assurances they would not be harmed during their 94-day stay in prison.

The five men were initially advised by wardens not to mix with the other inmates at Cloverhill Prison because it was ‘no picnic’.

But according to the eldest member of the group, Micheal O Seighin, they quickly began talking to the prisoners and got assurances in return.

“One of the lads, he was waiting for trial and he came to me early on and said: ‘I guarantee you that there’s no one going to hassle you. They know what they’ll get if they do. You’ll be perfectly safe’.” read more

By Petr Hlobil

Published: January 5 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 5 2007 02:00

From Mr Petr Hlobil.

Sir, Your article “Gazprom role endangers $300m Sakhalin 2 loan” (January 2) assumes that withdrawal from the Sakhalin 2 project by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development would be “a blow to environmentalists in Russia who relied on the bank to apply pressure to limit damage to the surrounding environment”.

However, it is a matter of record that the majority of Russian as well as international environmental groups monitoring the Sakhalin 2 project have for several years called on the EBRD to withdraw from the project because it had failed to ensure that Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi were designing, constructing and operating it with due respect for international standards as well as Russian laws. read more

Plans to meet renewable energy targets are being stymied by local councils – mostly run by the Tories and the SNP

Polly Toynbee
Friday January 5, 2007

This is crunch time. If Britain is to have any chance of meeting its target to generate 10% of its energy from renewable sources by 2010, then a great leap forward is needed right now. So far only 4.2% of energy is from renewables and three years is not long to more than double it. Wind power is the clean energy closest to profitability, yet many projects – on or offshore – are being held up or rejected by local authorities. Forty per cent of all applications were refused in the past two years, most by Tory councils or the SNP. read more

January 05, 2007
Business in Brief 
 
The EU is set to step up its fight against uncompetitive practices in Europe’s energy markets after an inquiry by Neelie Kroes, Competition Commissioner. A report by her, to be unveiled next week, has found evidence of collusion by some of the Continent’s biggest energy companies. She has powers to tackle market abuses.
 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5-2531093.html

Business First of Louisville

The World Affairs Council of Kentucky/Southern Indiana and the Kentucky World Trade Center will host John Hofmeister, U.S. president of Shell Oil Co., at a Jan. 11 luncheon.

Hofmeister will speak about global energy issues, including supply, access, alternative fuels and environmental responsibility. His visit is part of a 50-city trip he is making to speak with business and community leaders who have a stake in the energy industry.
 
He will speak at Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald’s offices in National City Tower from noon to 1 p.m. read more

New rules for hiring foreign labour
Mary Brandel (Computerworld (US)) 05/01/2007 08:00:30

As a CIO at Royal Dutch Shell, Jay Crotts knows something about recruiting IT talent on a global scale. The US$26.3 billion company employs 8,000 IT professionals in 145 countries, including remote areas such as Iceland, Togo and Mauritius, a small country off the East African coast.

Shell’s goal is to hire the best IT person for every role, no matter where in the world that person resides, according to Crotts. And he’s a good example: Almost two years ago, he moved with his family from Texas to Shell’s London offices when he accepted the job of CIO of the global business-to-business and lubricants segments. read more