The Independent: BP’s Russian oligarch buys Shell plastics joint venture for £3bn
By Michael Harrison Business Editor
06 May 2005
A consortium led by one of the Russian oligarchs with whom BP has teamed up paid £3bn yesterday for a plastics joint-venture owned by Shell and BASF after the sale of the business to an Iranian company fell foul of US political pressure.
Basell, the world’s top polypropylene producer, is being bought by Access Industries, a New York-based business run by Len Blavatnik, and the Chatterjee Group, a private US investment company with extensive interests in India.
Mr Blavatnik is one of the three oligarchs who own a stake in BP’s Russian oil joint-venture, TNK-BP. In addition to his oil interests, Mr Blavatnik also co-owns Russia’s second-biggest aluminium firm SUAL and has a fortune estimated at $2.4bn (£1.3bn). He spends his time between New York and London, where he owns a house near the mansion of the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal in Kensington Palace Gardens, for which he reputedly paid more than £50m.
Shell and BASF had looked set to sell the business to Iran’s state-owned National Petroleum Company, which offered the highest price in the auction. However, they were prevented from completing the deal after the US State Department warned that American companies would be barred from doing business with Basell if it fell under Iranian ownership. The US also voiced concerns about the potential misuse of Basell technology. Basell operates plants in 21 countries, including the US, where it has 1,000 employees.
The £3bn sale proceeds includes debt in the business and will be shared evenly by Shell and BASF. The sale forms part of a divestment programme at Shell, aimed at raising $15bn over the next three years.
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.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
