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May 5th, 2005:

SEC Asks Total, Hydro To Disclose Iran Payments –Source

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: SEC Asks Total, Hydro To Disclose Iran Payments –Source

Posted 5 May 05

By BENOIT FAUCON Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 

LONDON — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked oil companies, including Total SA (TOT) and Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY), to disclose the commissions they may have paid while doing business in Iran, a person familiar with the inquiry said.

That person told Dow Jones Newswires this week that a letter from the SEC highlights concern that companies have worked with regimes that may have financed terrorism by doing business in Syria, Iran and Libya. read more

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US ‘forced’ Shell and BASF to reject bid from Iran

THE TIMES: US ‘forced’ Shell and BASF to reject bid from Iran

5 May 2005

By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor

SHELL and BASF succumbed to pressure from Washington when they turned down a €4.4 billion (£3 billion) Iranian bid for Basell, their chemicals joint venture, said the managing director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC).

Mohammed Reza Nematzadeh blamed the decision by Shell and BASF not to proceed with the offer on intense lobbying by US officials anxious to keep up the pressure on Iran to drop its nuclear fuel programme. “Although NPC won all aspects of the Basell tender, due to US pressures we are unofficially told Iran cannot buy Basell,” Mr Nematzadeh told ISNA , the Iranian news agency. 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.

Access close to €4bn deal for Basell

Financial Times: Access close to €4bn deal for Basell

By Lina Saigol and James Boxell in London and Najmeh Bozorgmehr,in Tehran

Published: May 5 2005

Access Industries, the private equity group controlled by Leonard Blavatnik, the Russian billionaire, is close to acquiring Basell in a deal that could value the plastics group at up to €4bn ($5.2bn).

Access, which has teamed up with Haldia Petrochemicals of India, was last night finalising the details of the deal, which could be announced as early as today.

Basell is owned jointly by Royal Dutch/Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy group, and BASF, the German chemicals 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.

Total frustration

Financial Times: Total frustration

By Brian Groom

Published: May 5 2005

When Total announced last year it was acquiring 25 per cent of Novatek, Russia’s biggest independent gas producer, the French oil major was applauded for making a smart move.

A few weeks earlier, Total boss Thierry Desmarest scotched speculation he was interested in bidding for Anglo-Dutch rival Shell. He also flirted with Sibneft, one of Russia’s biggest oil companies, but prudence prevailed.

He decided not to follow the example of BP, which paid the year before $7bn for a 50 per cent stake in TNK, Russia’s third-largest energy group. Instead, he went for a smaller target, investing $1bn for a blocking minority in Novatek. 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.

Bounty hunters

Financial Times: Bounty hunters

By Clay Harris

Published: May 5 2005

Royal Dutch/Shell employees in the UK will qualify for a £1,800 payment, before tax, if they refer a successful candidate to fill vacancies for experienced technical staff in exploration and production. Shell has previously used the programme in Asia.

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: US lobbying scuppers Shell sale to Iran

The Guardian: US lobbying scuppers Shell sale to Iran

Terry Macalister

Thursday May 5, 2005

Shell appears to have bowed to American pressure and backed out of a $4.4bn (£2.3bn) plan to sell a chemical business to Iran, for fear of damaging its extensive US interests.

The oil group had been in final talks with Iran’s National Petrochemical Company about Basell – the world’s largest producer of plastic polypropylene, which is owned 50-50 by Shell and Germany’s BASF.

The Iranians said yesterday that their planned purchase had been blocked, just 24 hours after the country vowed to push ahead with its nuclear activities. “Although NPC won all aspects of the Basell tender, due to US pressures we are unofficially told Iran cannot buy Basell,” said Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, managing director of NPC, in an interview with the ISNA news agency in Tehran. The sale of the chemical operation is an important part of a Shell strategy to dispose of up to $15bn worth of assets as it restructures following the oil reserves scandal last year. 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.