January, 2007:

Nicholas Neveling, Accountancy Age, 29 Jan 2007

Sakhalin to hit Shell reserves accounting

Shell may be forced to cut oil reserves by a billion barrels after halving stake in Sakhlin joint venture with Russian government.

Oil giant Shell is facing a a new accounting crisis as analysts predict that the oil group will have to cut oil reserves on its books by a billion barrels after the halving of its stake in the Sakhalin-2 joint venture.

Shell was forced to cede its majority stake in the Russian project to state-owned group Gazprom, the Observer reports. The Kremlin pressed Shell into the move and accused the group of environmental and cost mismanagement. read more

Royal Dutch Shell plc today welcomed the below announcement by Shell Oil Products US that it has signed an agreement to sells its Los Angeles Refinery and related assets to Tesoro:  

Houston – Jan. 29, 2007 – Shell Oil Products US announced today that it has signed agreements to sell its Los Angeles Refinery, Wilmington Products Terminal and approximately 250 retail sites and supply agreements in and around Los Angeles and San Diego to Tesoro Corporation. 

The proposed sale is part of Shell’s previously announced ongoing strategy to streamline and concentrate its Downstream portfolio. The transaction is expected to close in mid-year 2007, assuming all regulatory approvals are obtained and other conditions to closing are satisfied.  read more

EXTRACT: President Vladimir Putin has since made it clear that Russian companies will have a controlling stake in all major energy projects, a point driven home when Shell and its Japanese partners handed over a controlling stake in the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project to Gazprom last month after prolonged state pressure.

THE ARTICLE

Monday, January 29, 2007. Page 1.
By Miriam Elder
Staff Writer

ESN, an investment firm with close links to Gazprom, stepped forward Friday as the first candidate to bid in the upcoming auctions for Yukos assets. read more

EXTRACT: “…it is likely that the report from Rosprirodnadzor will help Gazprom in its attempt to wrestle control of the company from TNK-BP. In Mr. Nesterov’s opinion, the situation will play out similarly to Sakhalin-2, in which the environmental oversight authorities ceased their attacks once Gazprom joined the project.”

THE ARTICLE

Gazprom and TNK-BP Will Continue to Haggle Over Field

Jan. 29, 2007

Last Thursday the Russian environmental oversight agency (Rosprirodnadzor) in Irkutsk Oblast completed its inspection of the degree to which the company RUSIA Petroleum, which is controlled by TNK-BP, is fulfilling the conditions of its license to exploit the Kovykta gas condensate field in the Irkutsk region. read more

Jan 29 2007
 
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell will set another profits record when it posts full-year results on Thursday.

Soaring oil prices mean broker UBS expects a net income figure in the region of £12.22bn, which far exceeds Shell’s previous best of £11.67bn set last year.

But the performance in the fourth quarter, when profits are likely to be marginally lower, will carry the most interest for investors.

Oil prices have eased by 30% since hitting $77 in August, meaning Shell’s production record will be brought into focus. It is likely that output fell marginally in the year, following attacks on its production facilities in Nigeria. read more

Official Defends Supply Moves
As Russian Titan Tries to Polish Image
By MARC CHAMPION
January 29, 2007; Page A12

DAVOS, Switzerland — Two things anger Alexander Medvedev, the man in charge of Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom’s exports. One is being told the company isn’t doing enough to develop its natural-gas reserves. The other: that he has been shutting off supplies to Russia’s neighbors and Europe at the Kremlin’s bidding.

This year, Gazprom will spend $20 billion on development — double last year’s tally — Mr. Medvedev said during an interview at the World Economic Forum. More development spending will come as the company secures new long-term contracts with countries such as China, requiring new pipelines and extra production.
 
“Before producing gas, we should sell the gas,” said Gazprom’s deputy chief executive, responding to criticism from private investors and the Paris-based International Energy Agency that the company isn’t investing enough to meet spiraling global demand. “We know how much to invest to meet the demand.” read more

Monday 29 January 2007

Royal Dutch Shell and Spain’s gas and oil company Repsol have signed an initial agreement with Iran to assess the feasibility of producing liquified natural gas from the South Pars field, despite increasing pressure on western firms to refrain from investing in the country.

The deal is understood to be worth $10bn (£5bn), but a final decision on whether to develop the project is not due for a year.

Washington has barred US companies from investing in Iran because of accusations that Tehran is planning a nuclearbomb, and has called on other non-American firms to do the same. read more

29/01/2007

Royal Dutch Shell will post another full-year profits record thanks to soaring oil prices.

Broker UBS expects net income of about $24.06bn (£12.22bn), exceeding the group’s previous best of $22.94bn (£11.67bn) set last year. But the performance in the fourth quarter, when profits are likely to be marginally lower, will carry more interest for investors.

Oil prices have eased by 30pc since hitting $77 in August, meaning Shell’s production record will be in focus. Output may have fallen marginally in the year, after attacks on its production facilities in Nigeria. read more

Oil drilling damage
January 29, 2007 
 
As world energy needs soar, ravages by industries seeking fossil fuels are inescapable. West Virginia’s mountaintop removal mining is a well-known example.

Similarly, the February National Geographic paints a stark portrait of how Nigeria’s addiction to cash from oil kills environmental treasures and impoverishes native peoples.

Nigeria’s abundant oil resources might have made that West African nation a model of progress. With 130 million residents, Nigeria is Africa’s largest country. Its oil resources are greater than those of the United States and Mexico combined. Today, oil generates 95 percent of Nigeria’s export earnings. read more

Monday, January 29, 2007
Carl Mortished, International Business Editor
 
BP and Royal Dutch Shell face bruising encounters with shareholders over the next fortnight as the two European oil giants try to explain at strategy presentations why a year of record oil prices has failed to generate good investment returns.

Fund managers are shunning BP, Britain’s largest company, and its Dutch rival, turning up their noses at slipshod management, political risk and poor operational performance. Instead, they have chased ExxonMobil stock, lifting shares in the American company to extraordinary premiums over its European rivals. read more

Monday 29 January 2007 

TEHRAN: Iran said yesterday it had signed an initial deal worth $10 billion with Spain’s Repsol and Royal Dutch Shell to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the South Pars gas field.

Gholamhossein Nozari, head of state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, was quoted by Iran’s student news agency as saying the deal would be worth $10bn and said a final investment decision was expected by the end of 2007.

An industry source close to the deal said the deal signed was an upstream service agreement. read more

Monday 29 January 2007

The first strategic dialogue between Japanese and Russian vice foreign ministers was held last week in Moscow based on an agreement reached last year between the two nations’ foreign ministers

Will it be a new start for Japan-Russia relations that have been somewhat stagnant recently?

It is important not only to continue the strategic dialogue, but also to upgrade it to the foreign ministerial level and then to the summit level.

Japan’s policy toward Russia faces drastic changes in the security environment. read more

Posted: Sunday, January 28, 2007 
Tehran

Iran said it had signed an initial deal worth $10 billion with Spain’s Repsol and Royal Dutch Shell to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the South Pars gas field.

Gholamhossein Nozari, head of state-owned National Iranian Oil Company(NIOC), was quoted by Iran’s student news agency ISNA as saying the deal would be worth $10 billion and said a final investment decision was expected by the end of 2007.

An industry source close to the deal told Reuters the deal signed was an upstream service agreement. read more

Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:36 AM GMT

HELSINKI, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) chairman Jorma Ollila believes a target set by U.S. President George W. Bush to cut fuel use does not go far enough, the oil group chief said in an interview published on Sunday.

International business understands the problem of climate change and the need to cut carbon emissions, with many putting the issue at the top of their agenda, Ollila told Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat in an interview. read more

Sunday 28 January 207

Analysts have warned that Shell (RDSb.L: Quote, Profile , Research)(RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) may have to drastically reduce the amount of oil and gas reserves it claims to have.

Having agreed with the Russian government to sell half of its 55 percent stake in Siberian gas project Sakhalin-2 to Russian state-owned energy group Gazprom, it will no longer be able to claim ownership of all of the project’s reserves, as it had done previously.

The decrease of 72.5 percent in the amount Shell can claim could be a loss of as much as one billion barrels, bringing its global reserves down to 10.5 billion, by far the lowest level amongst its supermajor competitors.
read more

BY OLIVER MORGAN INDUSTRIAL EDITOR, The Observer – United Kingdom
Published: Jan 28, 2007
OIL GIANT Shell may be forced to cut the oil and gas reserves on its books by up to a billion barrels after the halving of its stake in the Russian Sakhalin-2 joint venture, according to analysts.

Shell was forced to cede its majority stake in the massive project off the east coast of Russia to state-owned energy group Gazprom before Christmas.

The move followed prolonged pressure from the Kremlin, which accused the Anglo-Dutch company of violating environmental standards and failing to manage costs effectively. The news comes with the City already expecting a drop in Shell’s fourth-quarter earnings, which are announced this week. read more

Published: Jan 28, 2007

Text of report by Kazakh Channel 31 TV on 25 January

[Presenter] The Caspian Sea is facing an environmental disaster. This statement was made during public discussions in Aktau. Local environmentalists say that the careless attitude of oil producing companies is behind such an unpleasant forecast. They urged the government to limit the extraction of oil.

[Correspondent] Aktau environmentalists demand that oil extraction should be stopped in the Caspian Sea. They say it is necessary to carry out an independent survey of the impact of oil production on the environment. The environmentalists suspect that oil companies conceal the real scope of contamination. Therefore, the Greens suggested the government to limit off-shore oil production at least by half. read more

Published: Jan 28, 2007

Excerpt from report by Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) website

Tehran, 28 January: The agreement to develop phases 13 & 14 of the South Pars gas field was signed between the heads of the National Iranian Oil Company and the two companies of Shell and Repsol this evening.

The 4.3-billion-dollar deal will be an important step in the development of the South Pars gas field.

The project will include the production of 3b cu f of per day of gas and the transfer of the gas to the onshore refinery located at Site 2 of the Pars Special Energy Zone, 135 kilometres away from the sea and 50 kilometres west of Asaluyeh. The project also includes the processing of the gas and the production of 110 barrels of gas condensate per day. [Passage omitted on details of the project, number of wells to be drilled and their location]. read more

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

Sunday 28 January 2007

GUY DIXON
 
OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell is expected to unveil the biggest profit ever recorded by a British company this week, clocking up earnings of up to $25bn.

But analysts say attention will focus on what Shell’s chief executive Jeroen van der Veer is doing to replace lost production capacity after the decision to sell 50% of the Sakhalin-2 project in eastern Russia to Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian giant. Shell agreed to sell a stake in Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC) for £3.8bn in December in a deal which resulted in the Anglo Dutch group’s stake being diluted to 27.5%. Citigroup said the deal would hit Shell’s reserves by around one billion barrels. read more

Safety fears, Russian disputes, escalating costs, falling prices… It’s no time for ‘big oil’ to be going to the City

By Tim Webb
Published: 28 January 2007

BP and Shell face a grilling from the City, after enduring a year to forget, when they make their annual strategy presentations in the next 10 days.

The companies could also be forced to lower their profit forecasts for 2007 because of the slump in oil prices – to $55 a barrel for Brent crude – and rising costs. read more

Oil giant faces new accounting crisis as surrender of Russian stake prompts fears of billion-barrel downgrade in declared capacity

Oliver Morgan, Industrial Editor
Sunday January 28, 2007

Oil giant Shell may be forced to cut the oil and gas reserves on its books by up to a billion barrels after the halving of its stake in the Russian Sakhalin-2 joint venture, according to analysts.

Shell was forced to cede its majority stake in the massive project off the east coast of Russia to state-owned energy group Gazprom before Christmas. read more

28 January 2007
 
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL will this Thursday come under pressure from investors to reveal the impact of selling half its share in the $22 billion (£11 billion) Sakhalin-2 gas project in Russia. Analysts believe the sale could hit Shell’s oil and gas reserves by 1 billion barrels — almost 9% of its proven reserves.

Last month Gazprom, Russia’s state-backed gas group, paid $7.4 billion to take majority control of the Sakhalin project. The sale came after pressure from the Russian government and led Shell to halve its stake to 27.5%. read more

By Torrey Clark

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Russia will submit to parliament a bill that limits foreign ownership in strategic industries, such as oil, gas, metals and defense, in the “coming months,” Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said today.

The bill will be “clear, fully balanced and answer all questions that arise in daily practice,” Medvedev said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos today. “The worst thing in business is opacity and unpredictability.” read more

We all know the power of reputation networks. It is how eBay runs its business. A web of comments for or against a particular vendor drives its sales. Overall, people talking about their experiences with a brand, product or service is how commerce will function. Forget advertising. That’s just fluff. The real brand equity is in the reputation networks.

Case in point: this particular study shows that online customer product reviews drive satisfaction and loyalty and provide a competitive advantage for sites that offer them. No duh. read more

ANDREW GREGORY, The Mirror
Published: Saturday Jan 27, 2007

A CAMPAIGNER who spent three months in jail battling oil giant Shell was defiant last night despite the latest setback.

The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday gave the firm permission to run a pipeline from the offshore Corrib gas field.

It paves the way for Shell to get a licence to start the EUR900million project.

But campaigner Vincent McGrath – one of the Rossport Five – vowed to fight on.

Mr McGrath, 58, told the Irish Daily Mirror he would return to jail if necessary. read more

Published: Jan 27, 2007

THE decision to grant a licence to oil giant Shell for the controversial Corrib Gas refinery will be fought ‘to the bitter end’ by local objectors.

While yesterday’s preliminary decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to give the green light to the 200m facility has been welcomed by Shell and its partners in the project – Statoil and Marathon Oil – a final decision has been delayed in the event of an appeal.

Objectors now have 28 days to lodge an application for an oral hearing into the intention to grant the licence for the terminal at Bellanaboy in north Mayo. read more

Published: Jan 27, 2007

OPPONENTS of the Corrib Gas pipeline can still object to the project and stop Shell from getting a licence to develop facilities in Co Mayo.

Despite the Environmental Protection Agency proposing to issue the necessary licence, people opposed to the project still have 28 days in which to lodge objections.

Shell’s licence application was lodged in December 2004 and sought permission for the operation of a gas refinery and large combustion plant at the site.The firm was required to lodge an Environmental Impact Statement outlining the effects the refinery might have on the area. read more

Lorna Siggins,
Published: Jan 27, 2007

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision on an integrated pollution prevention and control licence for the Corrib gas project has been welcomed by the Corrib gas partners and criticised by An Taisce and the Shell to Sea campaign in north Mayo.

Leo Corcoran, consultant to An Taisce, said the 85 conditions attached to the preliminary licence ruling included “no practical provisions” to protect the drinking water supply for 10,000 people in the Erris region, drawn from Carrowmore lake. read more

David Prosser,
Published: Jan 27, 2007

When commuters on rush-hour trains from Bristol to Bath returned to work after the Christmas break, they had no idea that within weeks they would be leading the fightback for disgruntled rail passengers around the country. Yet such was the anger about the performance of First Great Western (FGW), which took over the running of the line in December, many passengers felt compelled to protest.

A group of regular commuters set up More Trains Less Strain, a campaign to force FGW to reinstate the carriages cut from certain services and to restore its predecessor’s timetabling arrangements. When the company failed to respond, the group launched direct action. It printed fake tickets, dubbing the company Worst Late Western, and on Monday urged passengers to present the tickets to guards rather than paying their fares. read more

By Graham Bowley
Published: January 27 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 27 2007 02:00

Andy Hines is stuck in traffic. Predictable enough for Houston at rush hour, but frustrating none the less. The 44-year-old gesticulates with a wiry, tattooed arm at the lines of red tail- lights forecasting a slow drive ahead, but focuses most of his ire on something less immediately tangible: the future. Or rather, the role of futurology – his chosen profession – in the corporate world.

“I should have just gotten an MBA,” Hines says, explaining that futurists are seldom given credit for their ideas within the big organisations where they work. “Even if you are the first one to see something, by the time it gets acted on, 15 other guys have intervened.” And it’s not just the mainstream that belittles the profession, he says. The big names in the field write a bestselling book and then quickly dissociate themselves from “the rest of us knuckleheads”. “It’s a new field,” he adds with a smile. “I wouldn’t do anything else. But it attracts some cranks.” read more

EXTRACT: Many British residents work in the oil and gas sector for companies such as Shell, living on fortified compounds in the delta region, where they face the threat of kidnap by local militants. The armed gangs, who claim their communities reap no benefit from oil riches, have kidnapped about 60 foreign oil workers this year, all of whom were released without harm. 

Saturday January 27, 2007

Nigeria

Population: 131,530,000

British population: 16,000

From the chaotic, traffic-choked flyovers of Lagos to the sweltering creeks of the oil-rich delta, few expats see Nigeria as a cushy posting. Elsewhere in Africa, westerners enjoy epic scenery and wildlife safaris, but Nigeria offers the sultry, malarial climate of the west African coast, combined with a wobbly infrastructure and a notoriously corrupt state. In Lagos, the commercial capital, expats cluster in the affluent districts of Ikoyi and Victoria Island – the latter is the local equivalent of Manhattan, where fishermen in pirogues skim past high-rise office blocks. read more

Aoife Carr

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to licence Shell E&P Ireland to develop its €900 million gas refinery and combustion plant facilities at Bellanaboy Bridge, Co Mayo.

The licence will not take effect before a 28-day consultation period during which the public and Shell can lodge objections or requests for oral hearings.

In a statement released this morning, the EPA said the it was “satisfied that emissions from the refinery, when operated in accordance with the conditions of the proposed licence, will not adversely affect human health or the environment and will meet all relevant national and EU standards”. read more

By Juno McEnroe
27 January 2007

SHELL objectors yesterday pledged to continue their fight to move gas works offshore despite an environmental watchdog’s key approval of the Mayo Corrib project.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday gave the green light for Shell’s Bellanaboy gas refinery in Mayo. It said the 400-acre site project “would not adversely affect human health or the environment”.

The approval for the onshore terminal comes with 85 conditions however, covering areas such as management, infrastructure, emission, monitoring, handling of waste, accident prevention and the size of the works. Objectors have 28 days to appeal the EPA decision. read more

Crude-oil prices rallied all day and finished above $55 a barrel Friday as freezing temperatures across the East Coast raised the prospects of increased heating-fuel consumption.

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

* * *
BELARUS THREATENS NEW DUTIES: President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to slap fresh duties on Russian oil sent through Belarus to Europe unless Moscow sells it oil at a cheaper price — raising the specter of a repeat of this month’s supply cutoff. Mr. Lukashenko, who was been branded “Europe’s last dictator” for his iron-fisted rule, has made a series of defiant statements in recent weeks, accusing Russia of trying crush or absorb the former Soviet republic. He has also pledged to seek less-strained ties with Europe. read more

Vol. 12, No. 4  Week of January 28, 2007

Company adds another C$1 billion to offer for minority shares; Jan. 23 C$45 per share offer replaces earlier offer of C$40 per share

Gary Park
For Petroleum News

Three months after putting C$7.7 billion on the table, Royal Dutch Shell caved in to mounting pressure by adding another C$1 billion to its bid for the minority shares of Shell Canada, a 12.5 percent increase that falls short of 15 to 20 percent being demanded by some minority shareholders.

The deal is grabbing industry-wide attention as the possible yardstick for an expected flood of consolidations in the Canadian oil and gas sector this year, with special emphasis on the value of oil sands assets. read more

By Fergal O’Brien

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s proposed natural-gas refinery in western Ireland should be granted a license, subject to certain conditions, the country’s Environmental Protection Agency said.

“Emissions from the refinery, when operated in accordance with the conditions of the proposed license, will not adversely affect human health or the environment,” the Wexford, Ireland- based agency said today.

Shell, Europe’s largest oil company by market value, has been embroiled in a battle with local residents that has delayed work on the refinery, located in Bellanaboy, near Rossport, for more than a year. The residents also oppose a pipeline needed to link the facility with the $1.1 billion offshore Corrib field. read more

Last Update: 1:34 PM ET Jan 26, 2007

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RSDA.LN) intends to continue searching for new investment opportunities in Russia despite recent problems with the Russian government over the management of its Sakhalin-II oil and gas project, Shell’s Chief Executive Jeroen Van de Veer said Friday.

“We will at least start to look at those new opportunities for the simple fact that Russia is so large in oil and gas reserves and we think we are still a good fit with the things we can offer to the Russian companies,” Van de Veer said in a CNBC television interview broadcast from the sidelines of a conference in Davos, Switzerland. read more

By William L. Watts,
Last Update: 2:12 PM ET Jan 26, 2007

DAVOS, Switzerland (MarketWatch) — Alexander Medvedev went to Davos with the tall task of convincing European leaders and others that they have nothing to fear from the state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom.

The company enraged European leaders earlier this month when it temporarily shut off the flow of oil through a key pipeline due to a dispute with Belarus. The move came a year after it had similarly clamped off natural gas supplies due to a dispute with Ukraine. read more

EXTRACT: Jorma Ollila, Chairman, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, said, “This is a welcome effort to streamline the growing demands on companies and to improve objectivity for disclosure of climate-related information.”

THE ARTICLE

Davos, Switzerland, 26 January 2007 – The World Economic Forum announced today the formation of a new international partnership of seven organizations to establish a generally accepted framework for climate risk-related reporting by corporations. Founding members of the institutional consortium, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), include the California Climate Action Registry, Carbon Disclosure Project, Ceres, The Climate Group, International Emissions Trading Association, World Economic Forum Global Greenhouse Gas Register and World Resources Institute. read more

26/01/2007 15:00  – (SA)  

Lagos – Six Chinese oil workers who went missing in an armed attack in Nigeria on Thursday are believed to have been abducted, bringing the number of hostages from that assault to nine, says an oil company source.

There were now 38 foreign workers being held by four different armed groups in Africa’s top oil producer, where violent crime and militancy had surged in the past 12 months.

Shell had originally said that three Chinese staff of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) were abducted and another seven were missing after the raid in which one attacker was killed. read more

Jan. 26, 2007, 7:58AM
By MATT MOORE AP Business Writer

DAVOS, Switzerland — Russia’s OAO Gazprom sought to assure jittery Europeans on Friday that new deals for the sale of natural gas to Belarus and Ukraine would prevent any more disruptions to western Europe.

But European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the continent should steel itself for future disruptions regardless.

Gazprom’s deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev was asked whether Europe should be concerned that supply disruptions over disputes with Ukraine at the beginning of 2006 and with Belarus earlier this year could continue. read more

Created: 26.01.2007 17:08 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:08 MSK

The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell said on Friday, Jan. 26, the company will continue to seek new business in Russia, despite the fact that last year it had to cede part of its Sakhalin-2 project to state gas monopoly Gazprom.

Jeroen Van der Veer told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Russia had “a lot of oil, a lot of gas and we happen to know something about it.”

“We will continue to look at all opportunities that we have and might be possible,” he was quoted by Reuters. read more

Fri Jan 26, 2007 9:37 AM GMT
By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is expected to post a 3 percent drop in its underlying fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday, due to easing oil prices and rising costs, but the oil major is still predicted to post a record-breaking $25 billion (13 billion pounds) full-year profit.

A Reuters poll of 10 analysts gave an average forecast of $5.216 billion for Shell’s fourth quarter current cost of supply (CCS) net profit, which strips out changes in the value of inventories, excluding non-operating items. read more

By Stephen Voss and Lucian Kim

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom, racing to develop natural-gas reserves, will discuss Russia’s biggest untapped deposit with the five foreign producers the company rejected in an earlier round of negotiations.

Gazprom sent letters to companies including Chevron Corp. and Total SA, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Alexander Medvedev said today in Davos, Switzerland. State-run Gazprom estimates Shtokman holds 3.7 trillion cubic meters of gas, enough to meet U.S. demand for five years. read more

26.01.2007, 10.34
 
TOKYO, January 26 (Itar-Tass) – Chairman of the board of directors of Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom Alexei Miller has promised that the company will stick to stability of supplies to Japan of liquefied natural gas produced within the framework of the Sakhalin-2 project, Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari told journalists on Friday providing information on the results of a meeting between the Gazprom leadership and Director-General of the Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy Harufumi Mochizuki held in Moscow. read more

By John Donovan

As regular visitors to this website know, we receive a regular flow of leaked Shell emails and other information brought to our attention by Shell insiders. A substantial proportion relate to the subject of employee recruitment.

For example, a few days ago we reported on Shell’s attempt to recruit a dozen investigators to cope with some 200 cases of fraud, contract corruption, bribery, money-laundering and organised crime per year inside the Shell Group (is that just within Shell senior management?): Shell to investigate fraud and corruption inside Shell Group read more

EXTRACT: The Forum panel — which also included Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych, Gazprom deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev, Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Rex W. Tillerson and Royal Dutch Shell PLC CEO Jeroen van der Veer — covered a range of topics from climate change to the rise of state-owned producers.

By: BRADLEY S. KLAPPER – Associated Press

DAVOS, Switzerland — U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman defended President Bush’s drive to reduce oil consumption without introducing a gasoline tax, saying such a proposal would be too divisive. read more

ENERGY

Royal Dutch Shell earned the Offshore Energy Achievement Award for project of the year Thursday for restoration of its Mars oil and natural gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina wrought millions of dollars in damage.

It’s the top honor among awards that recognize other offshore achievements such as geosciences and safety.

Mars, 130 miles south of New Orleans, sustained some of the worst damage to Gulf infrastructure when Katrina barreled through in August 2005.

This year’s other contenders were an offshore West Africa development by oil-field services provider Schlumberger and ATP Oil & Gas Corp.’s completion of infrastructure modifications at its Wenlock development in the North Sea. The awards were presented at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. read more

One fan’s idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is another cynic’s greenwash. Over the past decade the concept of CSR has been pummelled and massaged to suit countless agendas. Both campaigners and corporates thumb their noses at a term whose meaning zigzags from ethical supply chains to carbon trading to human rights. But behind evolving definitions of CSR is a crude formula: charities need funds, and companies need kudos.

Scrutiny by the NGO sector of corporates such as Shell and Gap has mobilised firms to align charitable and community activities increasingly with core business strategy. Companies are being judged on ethical business practices towards staff, customers, suppliers, local communities and host countries, rather than the size of their cheque to charity. read more

 
Andrei Lugovoi speaks to the media in Moscow.
Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
 
EXTRACT: Last month Shell was forced to sell its controlling share in the world’s biggest oil and gas venture, Sakhalin 2, to the Russian energy giant Gazprom. BP has also come under pressure to give up some of its share in a UK-Russian oil company, TNK-BP. It has been targeted by the state licensing agency, Rosnedra, which is threatening to strip it of its permit for a string of alleged infringements. read more