EXTRACT: BP is not the only foreign company to have come under pressure from Russian authorities in recent months. Royal Dutch Shell which leads the $20bn Sakhalin 2 oil and gas project and Exxon Mobil, the main operator in the Sakhalin 1 project, have come under fire from Russian environmental agencies in what is seen as a politicised attack.
THE ARTICLE
By Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow: Published: November 10 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 10 2006 02:00
Russian prosecutors have opened a criminal case against a senior executive of Rospan, a subsidiary of TNK-BP, the Anglo-Russian oil venture, in the latest move against foreign oil companies.
The case comes two days after the prosecutors asked the government to revoke Rospan’s main licence to large gas fields in western Siberia. The prosecutors did not name the executive, but claimed the company violated environmental and licensing agreements.
Yuri Trutnev, Russia’s minister for natural resources has recently threatened to revoke the company’s licence in Kovykta, one of the largest gas fields in eastern Siberia.
BP is not the only foreign company to have come under pressure from Russian authorities in recent months. Royal Dutch Shell which leads the $20bn Sakhalin 2 oil and gas project and Exxon Mobil, the main operator in the Sakhalin 1 project, have come under fire from Russian environmental agencies in what is seen as a politicised attack.
Analysts say the pressure on TNK-BP is designed to force its Russian shareholders to sell their shares cheaply to Gazprom, the state-controlled gas giant, and to ensure that BP agrees to scrap a clause that prevents Russian shareholders from selling out before 2007.
The attack on TNK-BP – a 50:50 joint-venture – is indicative of growing intolerance of foreign companies playing an equal or majority role in developing Russian energy resources. Rospan, once controlled by Yukos, is TNK-BP’s second biggest gas project, after Kovykta.
Gas production by independent companies is crucial to Russia’s ability to satisfy growing domestic demand and to bolster Gazprom’s stagnant production.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
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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: 
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