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May 28th, 2006:

The Independent: Shell and Statoil seek partner for new ‘clean energy’ project

By Tim Webb

Published: 28 May 2006

Shell and Norwegian oil company Statoil are seeking a partner for their revolutionary $1.5bn (£800m) project to take millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from a new power station and pump it under the sea.

The two companies, which announced plans for the carbon sequestration project in March, want a third company to build and operate the power station.

They are expected to approach Norwegian energy giant Norsk Hydro, Danish firm Elsam and US chemicals group DuPont, among others, about joining the venture. Informal discussions with some companies have already taken place. read more

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The Independent: Russia seeks to seize control of Sakhalin

By Andrew Osborn in Moscow

Published: 26 May 2006
Royal Dutch Shell’s flagship investment in Russia was facing uncertainty last night after the Natural Resources Ministry threatened to scale back the company’s stake in a huge liquefied natural gas project to allow the Kremlin greater control.
The threat concerns the Sakhalin-2 project, the largest direct foreign investment in Russia, and a venture that will result in the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas plant in the far east of Russia. Shell has a 55 per cent stake in the $10bn (£5.3bn) project while two Japanese firms own the other two stakes. The Russian government has a revenue-sharing arrangement with the consortium but is known to be keen to get a direct stake in the project as Moscow seeks to bring more strategic energy reserves under the Kremlin’s control.
President Vladimir Putin has already urged Shell to honour a promise it apparently made to surrender a 25 per cent stake in the project in exchange for a share of a Siberian gas field.
Yesterday the pressure intensified when the Natural Resources Minister said it supported radical advice it had received from the country’s Academy of Natural Science urging it to take a 51 per cent stake in three different revenue-sharing projects including Sakhalin-2.
“The Academy suggests boosting the presence of Russian companies in these consortiums to 51 per cent as one of the measures to boost efficiency,” it said.
The other two projects were the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas venture, in which Exxon has a 30 per cent stake, and a large oil extraction operation in Russia’s far north in which Total is involved.
The ministry said it intended to act on the academics’ recommendation and to write to other government ministries to “correct the situation”.
Shell declined to comment but is known to have incurred the Kremlin’s wrath due to massive cost overruns on Sakhalin-2, which have prompted the Anglo-Dutch firm to ask the government to allow it to double its investment to $20bn.
There were also reports that the Natural Resources Ministry intended to take legal action against Total, a company the authorities believe is mismanaging its Russian investments, and to initiate detailed investigations into the efficiency of Shell and Exxon.
When revenue-sharing projects such as Sakhalin-2 were launched in the 1990s, Russia was relaxed about giving foreign firms large stakes in big oil and gas projects, but under Vladimir Putin that policy has changed and Russian, often state-controlled, firms usually take a 51 per cent stake.
The Natural Resource Ministry’s threat came on a day when Mr Putin told a summit of EU leaders the West could count on Russia as a reliable energy partner. read more

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THE NEW YORK TIMES: 2 Industry Leaders Bet on Coal but Split on Cleaner Approach

Published: May 28, 2006
WRIGHT, Wyo. — More than a century ago a blustery Wyoming politician named Fenimore Chatterton boasted that his state alone had enough coal to “weld every tie that binds, drive every wheel, change the North Pole into a tropical region, or smelt all hell!”

Skip to next paragraph Peabody Energy, left; Brendan McDermid/Reuters, right

Gregory Boyce, of Peabody Energy, left, and Michael Morris of American Electric Power disagree on a new technology.

Multimedia

Audio Slide Show: The Return of King Coal

Audio Slide Show: The Return of King Coal

A Closer Look at Coal

Interactive Graphic: A Closer Look at Coal

The Energy Challenge

Green, at a Cost

Articles in this series will periodically examine the ways in which the world is, and is not, moving toward a more energy-efficient, environmentally benign future. read more

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Financial Times: Russia calls for review of two foreign oil projects

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By Financial Times reporters
Published: May 26 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 26 2006 03:00

Russia’s natural resources ministry yesterday called for a review of the two largest foreign oil projects in the country, even as senior officials sought to assure EU leaders that Russia was a reliable energy partner.

The ministry said the legal agreements underpinning oil and gas developments on Sakhalin island, on Russia’s eastern flank, were ineffective and should be reviewed. read more

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Washington Post: Kuwait eyes Dow, BP, Shell, for possible China plant

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Dow Chemical Co. and either British Petroleum or Shell may be partners in a joint-venture refinery project in China that Kuwait is considering to help build, a Kuwaiti official said on Saturday.

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.