Published: March 24 2007 02:00 | Last updated: March 24 2007 02:00
Taking out insurance in Russia is a sensible idea, but the premiums can be huge. TNK-BP, BP’s Russian joint venture, is an anomaly in Russia’s energy landscape: a big player with a high degree of foreign ownership but no government involvement.
It finds itself under pressure from Russian officials and many think the endgame is that Gazprom will end up with a majority stake in the joint venture.
As with Moscow’s professed environmental concerns over Royal Dutch Shell’s project in Sakhalin, its current indignance regarding TNK-BP’s giant Kovykta gas field has more than a hint of the absurd about it. Officials are demanding that Kovykta begins pumping 9bn cubic metres of gas per year, even though none can be exported yet. Unless the locals have worked out a way to breathe the stuff, that is unreasonable – a regional population of less than 3m implies per capita gas usage at more than three times the rate of the European Union.
TNK-BP, therefore, has an interest in holding its nose and participating in the upcoming auction of the carcass of Yukos. In particular, it will bid for Yukos’s 9.4 per cent stake in Rosneft. Rosneft itself is the natural buyer of the stake, but the Kremlin needs at least two participants for the auction to have even the appearance of credibility. By cosying up to Rosneft, TNK-BP also counters Gazprom’s influence.
BP’s half of TNK-BP accounts for perhaps a third of the supermajor’s unproven resources and is worth $17.5bn at current prices. At a minimum bid price of $7.5bn, BP’s implied share of the cost of the Rosneft stake would be $3.75bn. A theoretical “insurance premium” of 21 per cent might sound large, but then the stakes are very high. Given that a minimum bid would still leave Rosneft room to acquire its own shares at a discount, it may be enough for TNK-BP to simply show up on the day.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
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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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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
