May 22nd, 2007:

May 22, 2007, 12:28PM
By ALEX NICHOLSON AP Business Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

MOSCOW — BP PLC’s license to develop a giant Siberian gas field could be revoked in days, Russia’s environmental watchdog said Tuesday, as pressure mounted against one of the last major foreign-controlled energy projects in the country.

Losing its license to the Kovykta field would be a painful blow for BP PLC since the company has appeared conspicuously eager to court favor with the Kremlin, which has aggressively expanded state control over the world’s biggest oil and gas industry. read more

BP Shuts 100,000 Barrels of Output in Prudhoe Bay for a ‘Few Days’ Due to Water Pipeline Leak

Tuesday May 22, 10:40 am ET
By Alan Zibel, AP Business Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) — BP said Tuesday it will shut down 100,000 barrels, or one quarter, of its Alaskan oil production for a “few days” after discovering a water pipeline leak.

Analysts said the temporary loss of output at Prudhoe Bay should not have a dramatic impact on world oil markets, but with supplies already tight and crude futures trading near $66 a barrel, any snag in the industry tends to make energy traders jittery.
 
Light sweet crude for June delivery fell 32 cents to $65.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. read more

22/5/2007

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Persistent claims by Russian regulators the developers of the giant Kovykta gas field, led by BP PLC joint venture TNK-BP, has breached their license obligations are likely a precursor to the entry of state-run Gazprom into the 18 bln usd project, a move that is seen to ultimately benefit TNK-BP and the rest of Kovykta”s investors, analysts said.

TNK-BP, in which BP and Russia”s Alfa Access Renova each hold a 50 pct stake, owns over 62 pct of Rusia Petroleum, Kovykta”s license holder. Interros, led by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin, and the Irkutsk regional government are the other key shareholders of Rusia Petroleum. read more

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

DEM Solutions announces that Twister BV, an affiliate of Shell, has adopted DEM Solution’s EDEM software in the design and optimization of their market-leading offshore gas treatment equipment.

Twister BV designs innovative gas processing technology allowing a cost effective and environmentally clean approach to gas conditioning. Its patented Twister™ Supersonic Separator combines aero-dynamics, thermo-dynamics and fluid-dynamics to produce a completely new gas conditioning process for the condensation and separation of fluids. read more

By Sybil Chahbandour

Princeton, New Jersey, May 22 (Bloomberg Data) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS/A US) was raised to “buy” from “hold” by analyst L Bruce Lanni at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. The price target is $91.00 per ADR. [Current price is $75]

Last Updated: May 22, 2007 10:17 EDT

Tue May 22, 2007 1:57 PM BST

May 22 (Reuters) – BP’s Russian venture TNK-BP may lose rights to develop the giant East Siberian Kovykta gas field in days, Russia’s environmental agency has said.

The agency’s deputy head Oleg Mitvol said inspectors would begin an examination of the project on Wednesday, adding: “The results of the inspection seem obvious to me.”

The pressure on Kovykta is seen by many analysts as part of a broader state plan to force Russian billionaire shareholders to sell half their TNK-BP state to a state company, something the shareholders have repeatedly denied. read more

Headline: ‘Choppy session’ leaves Footsie little changed

By Alistair McArthur
May 22, 2007

LONDON FTSE 100 CLOSE 6,636.8 -4.1

THE London market closed in negative territory yesterday despite a strong showing from mining and oil shares.

The FTSE 100 index closed 4.1 points down at 6,636.8 – despite peaking 34.1 points ahead during the day – but held steady above the 6,600 barrier breached late last week.

Paul Webb, a trader at CMC Markets, said: “It’s been a choppy session for the FTSE, but the London index remains comfortably above the 6,600 level that had provided some solid resistance in recent weeks.” read more

By DAVID SHAND, The Express
Published: May 22, 2007

EXTRACT

After last week’s rumours of bid interest in Cairn Energy, 42p higher at 1825p, and a potential merger between BP and Shell, up 8p to 590p and 37p to 1943p, the latest gossip suggested exploration giant BG Group, 11 dp slicker at 791 dp, could be a target for ExxonMobil.

By Renee Lawrence

May 22 (Bloomberg) — U.K. natural-gas prices declined as forecasts of warmer weather trimmed demand for heating and maintenance at the country’s biggest gas terminal was completed.

Gas for delivery balance of this week at the National Balancing Point, the U.K. trading hub, fell 2 percent to 21.95 pence a therm at 11:45 a.m. in London, according to broker ICAP Plc. That equals $4.33 per million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted its St. Fergus natural-gas terminal in Scotland today after a 24-hour shutdown for maintenance. Shell’s facility is one of three sub-terminals at the St. Fergus terminal, Britain’s biggest, that pump gas into the country’s distribution network. read more

By Lucian Kim

May 22 (Bloomberg) — Sibir Energy Plc, a London-based company that extracts oil in Russia, may create a new venture with OAO Gazprom Neft by pooling together common assets, Vedomosti reported today.

Sibir billionaire shareholder Shalva Chigirinsky told the Moscow-based newspaper that he is ready to put aside years of court cases with Gazprom Neft, formerly known as OAO Sibneft, by giving it control over a new company that incorporates disputed assets.

President Vladimir Putin has forwarded Chigirinsky’s proposal for review by the Economy Ministry, Vedomosti said. Gazprom Neft is opposed to the plan because it would dilute its control over production assets, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed company official. read more

By Maher Chmaytelli

May 22 (Bloomberg) — Libya, the holder of Africa’s largest oil reserves, plans to offer exploration rights in about 20 plots of land in July to increase natural-gas output, the nation’s top oil official said.

“We will invite bids for exploration in early July,” Shokri Ghanem, the head of Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp., said in a telephone interview yesterday from the Libyan capital Tripoli. “The blocks to be offered will be located in areas where gas is likely to be found.” read more

This article was published by Market Leader in October 2006. The author, a retired Shell Executive, Mr Paddy Briggs, has kindly given us consent to republish it in view of current speculation about mergers and demergers.

By PADDY BRIGGS

INTRODUCTION: The recent call by the respected financial adviser JP Morgan Cazenove for oil giant BP to split itself into two separate corporations, upstream (exploration and production) and downstream (marketing), will have struck a chord with many marketers in the international oil industry, as well as with the financial sector. read more

Richard Lloyd/The American Lawyer

Only three securities class actions were filed against European companies in U.S. courts in 2006, down from a peak of nine in 2004, according to a newly released survey by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. But while European companies can breathe a little easier in the United States, there’s increasing unease at home about the emergence of European equivalents to the U.S.–style class action. “There’s no doubt that European corporations are wary,” says John Hardiman, a U.S. litigation partner with Sullivan & Cromwell in London. read more

Published: May 22, 2007

A GARDA sergeant has told a court he had his right thumb fractured when he was hurled “with immense force” into a drain during scuffles with Shell to Sea protesters.

Sgt Donie Glennon told a special sitting of Belmullet District Court that he landed head first in water after being struck in the midriff from the front in the incident at the site of the Corrib Gas terminal in Bellanaboy, Co Mayo, on October 12 last.

The witness gave evidence before Judge Mary Devins that he was in shock after the incident. He was later diagnosed in hospital as having fractured the thumb of his right hand and had been off work since the incident, a total of more than seven months. read more

By Catherine Belton in Moscow
Published: May 22 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 22 2007 03:00

Moscow ratcheted up pressure on BP’s Russian venture yesterday, warning that TNK-BP could see the licence for its vast Kovykta gas field revoked within “amatter of days”.

Oleg Mitvol, head of Russia’s environmental watchdog, said his agency would open a probe tomorrow into whether TNK-BP was meeting licence terms to develop the east Siberian field – as a three-month deadline passed for production there to be boosted to 9bn cubic metres in line with requirements. read more

By Jean Eaglesham, Chief Political Correspondent
Published: May 22 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 22 2007 03:00

Business is failing to lobby effectively for open markets and economic reform in Europe, Tony Blair told a summit of industry leaders from across the continent yesterday.

The prime minister said the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as French president and Angela Merkel as German chancellor meant there was now “every possibility” of achieving economic change in the European Union. He stressed he was very confident that Gordon Brown would continue the UK’s pro-reform stance. But Mr Blair called for stronger support from employers, warning it was very hard to overcome “some of these sectional interests” pushing a protectionist agenda. read more

(Copyright © 2007 Energy Intelligence Group, Inc.)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Summary

As production continues to slide in Syria, Royal Dutch Shell is turning to enhanced oil recovery in its older fields there and pinning its future hopes on two new blocks it won in last year’s bidding round. The Anglo-Dutch supermajor’s output in Syria has tailed off to 145,000 b/d, a near two-thirds drop over the past 16 years.

http://www.energyintel.com/DocumentDetail.asp?Try=Yes&document_id=203926&publication_id=31 read more

HOTCHKIS & WILEY Buys Royal Dutch Shell Plc Cl B, Embraer-empresa Brasileira De, Employers Holdings, Sells Alltel Corp., Sara Lee Corp., Raytheon Co.

Value investing team HOTCHKIS & WILEY evaluates companies by looking at their tangible assets, sustainable cash flow and potential for improving business performance. During the past 5 eyars, everyone of their funds outperformed the market by wide margains. These are their buys and sells during the first quarter. HOTCHKIS & WILEY owns 124 stocks with a total value of $31.6 billion. read more

By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: May 22, 2007

PLAINVIEW, N.Y., May 21 — When Paul Granger, the water district superintendent here, came to work one morning in 2000, he spotted a rig test-drilling for pollution at a gasoline station across the road from two wells that pump up to 1.7 million gallons of drinking water a day.
 
He expressed concern that pollution might be threatening the water supply, and eventually his district sued three filling stations, affiliated with Exxon, Shell and Gulf.

As the trial in that case opened in Garden City on Monday, the nation’s water supply industry and major oil companies were watching closely. read more

Nick Fletcher
Tuesday May 22, 2007

EXTRACTS

Still among commodities, the gas exploration group BG was 11.5p better at 791.5p on talk that it could be a takeover target for the US giant ExxonMobil.

Oil made an early surge with Brent crude moving above $70 a barrel after a fresh gun attack on a facility in Nigeria, the world’s eighth-largest exporter. It fell back later but was still up on the day, helping lift Royal Dutch Shell B shares 42p to £19.48 and BP 11.5p to 593.5p. Last week it may be recalled, there was a spate of speculation of a possible merger between the two oil groups. read more

May 22, 2007
Bryce Elder: Large caps

EXTRACTS

There was a speculative switch from oil to water, as takeover hopes led investors to gamble on mergers in the utility sector.

Among oil stocks, BP was up 8p at 590p and Shell rose 27p to £19.43. However, speculation about the oil sector had moved from a mega-cap merger and towards upstream producers.

Cairn Energy, recently linked to Malaysia’s Petronas, rose 32p to £18.25, Socotook on 13p at £15.43 and Venture Production rose 3½p at 726½p as UBS named all three as targets for cash-rich peers or, perhaps, private equity. read more

New technology that extracts bitumen from limestone demands huge quantities of electricity
DAVID EBNER

May 22, 2007

CALGARY — Royal Dutch Shell PLC is looking at nuclear power to support its experimental oil sands ambitions, on which it has already placed a bet of more than half a billion dollars.

The company, through a secretive Calgary-based subsidiary called Sure Northern Energy Ltd., is working to unlock an estimated 60 billion barrels of raw bitumen – more than 100 kilometres west of the oil sands epicentre around Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta. read more