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 London-based BP 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.
Analysts suggest that official complaints over production quotas at Kovykta will fade just as soon as an acceptable deal is struck that gives control of the project to state gas monopoly OAO Gazprom. Such a conclusion would mirror Gazprom’s entry to the giant Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas development off Russia’s Pacific coast, observers say, where Royal Dutch Shell PLC was elbowed into a minority position.
Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the Rosprirodnadzor watchdog agency, told the Associated Press that a check of the field would begin Wednesday to determine whether it was meeting its production obligations. “The time has come to fulfill the promises,” he said. “Either the company fulfills its obligations or it will lose its license.”
Mr. Mitvol contends that BP’s local joint venture TNK-BP produced just a fraction of the nine billion cubic meters of gas it agreed to pump last year under the terms of the original license agreement signed in the 1990s. TNK-BP counters that its obligation was to meet local demand, which it is doing, and which is a tiny fraction of that amount.
Mr. Mitvol said the inspection would last several days and, if regulators determine that the obligations have not been met, the license could be pulled by the beginning of June. After the inspection, a commission comprising Rosprirodnadzor and the state subsoil agency would convene to make a formal decision. Mr. Mitvol suggested that would be a formality, taking just a few hours.
The check will be second this year after an initial inspection established the violations and gave TNK-BP three months to fix them. Meanwhile, the TNK-BP subsidiary developing Kovykta is awaiting a court opinion that would clarify its obligations under the license — a move that could potentially block any decision to revoke the license.
May 22, 2007 3:43 p.m.
Copyright © 2007 Associated Press
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.
