Created: 16.02.2007 09:13 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 09:14 MSK
On Thursday, Feb. 15, Russian authorities told Exxon Mobil that any automatic enlargement of the U.S. oil major’s Sakhalin-1 license territory is ruled out. The project has just hit its peak output and is seeking new reserves.
Moscow said it would put the adjacent deposits into an auction, despite their discovery by Exxon.
The Natural Resources Ministry said in a statement that Deputy Minister Alexei Varlamov told the head of Exxon in Russia, Ben Haynes, that “the ministry’s position was unchanged”.
Exxon said this week it had hit peak production of 250,000 barrels per day at the Sakhalin-1 project off Russia’s Pacific island.
The group has been seeking to enlarge the license territory of Sakhalin-1 to sustain peak production, which otherwise will last only for a few years and then start to decline.
The move is seen as part of the Kremlin’s broader drive to limit foreign involvement in the strategic energy sector.
The drive reached its climax last year, when the neighboring Sakhalin-2, led by Royal Dutch/Shell, came under unprecedented pressure from environmental and technical officials, ultimately forcing Shell to sell control to Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom.
Some analysts have said Exxon could come under similar pressure, while others say the presence of influential state-controlled Russian oil firm Rosneft among its Sakhalin-1 partners was making that unlikely.
The statement, which was quoted by Reuters agency, said Deputy Minister Varlamov told Haynes the ministry wanted to re-auction the Sakhalin-3 block later this year but added that this would happen only after the new subsoil law is approved by parliament. The law would ban foreign investors from holding control in strategic fields.
Exxon and fellow U.S. company Chevron had won a preliminary deal to tap Sakhalin-3 in the mid-1990s, but Russia never finalized it and scrapped the earlier agreement several years ago despite protests from U.S. firms and officials.
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: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
