Terry Macalister
Thursday April 19, 2007
Shell and its partners put a brave face on a final deal signed yesterday to hand over a 50% stake in Sakhalin-2 – the world’s largest oil and gas export project – to Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom. They said the “uncertainty is over” and the deal should offer “growth opportunities”.
The $7.5bn (£3.7bn) sale coincided with an agreement that alleged environmental violations raised by the Kremlin could be sorted out at no extra cost and with no delay to the wider project in a move that will be seen by critics as evidence the charges were trumped up to put pressure on Shell to sell its stake.
The European Union and others who have expressed concern will also note that a doubling of the Sakhalin-2 budget to $20bn – previously dismissed as unacceptable by the Russian government – has also been agreed by Gazprom.
The Sakhalin-2 equity handover also coincided with a new attack by the Russian environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, on other London-listed oil companies. Imperial Energy saw its shares slump 18% after the watchdog’s deputy head, Oleg Mitvol, said it should lose its west Siberian operating licence because “the company is not interested in exploration”.
Another London-listed company, Victoria Oil & Gas, is also being investigated in a rerun of the kind of problems that hit Shell and its partners, Mitsui and Mitsubishi.
But yesterday there were only positive words from Gazprom and Shell over their deal. Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom’s deputy chairman, said: “Gazprom’s entry into Sakhalin-2 is a powerful impetus for implementation of this large-scale development in the area of energy export to Asia-Pacific and North America. In turn, it will facilitate the company’s strategy of phased entry into the global LNG market.”
A Shell spokeswoman said: “The uncertainty is over and we have a major stake in the world’s largest oil and gas export project with strong partners.”
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2060411,00.html
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.
