TNK-BP, the oil and gas firm 50 per cent owned by BP, says it has settled a back-tax bill owed to the Russia authorities – reported to be worth $1.4 billion (£752 million).
The payment comes amid increasing pressure from the Kremlin over projects part-operated by foreign investors. TNK-BP’s Rospan division has been threatened with prosecution, as have the operators of the Sakhalin-2 project – led by UK-Dutch oil giant Shell.
The bill is thought to be the second-largest ever paid by a Russian firm.
A $27.5bn claim against Yukos, which the firm always argued was politically motivated, resulted in it going bankrupt.
TNK-BP’s project in the Kovyktas gas field in east Siberia is under investigation by prosecutors who say the licence could be withdrawn because of breaches.
Some analysts argue that pressure is being imposed to encourage Russian shareholders to sell-up, allowing a state firm such as Gazprom to muscle in.
Finance minister Alexei Kudrin said that most of the money would be transferred to the budget of the Tyumen region where the company is based.
http://business.scotsman.com/utilities.cfm?id=1676042006
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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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
