May, 2007:

By Rebecca Bream and Ben Hall in London
Published: May 30 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 30 2007 03:00

BP, the global energy group, last night announced a $900m (£455m) gas exploration deal with Libya, in a sign of Tripoli’s transformation from pariah to attractive investment destination for UK and US companies.

Tony Hayward, BP’s new chief executive, described the agreement as the group’s “single biggest exploration commitment”.

The deal coincides with a visit to Tripoli by Tony Blair, the outgoing prime minister. read more

By Rebecca Bream andBen Hall in London
Published: May 30 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 30 2007 03:00

BP yesterday said it was set to announce a $900m gas exploration deal with Libya, a country it withdrew from more than 30 years ago when its leader Col Muammar Gaddafi nationalised the oil industry.

The deal came as Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, began a tour of Africa with a visit to Libya and is a further sign of Tripoli’s increasing ties with the west after decades of isolation.

Mr Blair said the planned deal would have been “unthinkable” only a decade ago, but was the product of a “transformed” diplomatic, security and commercial relationship between Libya and the west. read more

By Stacy-Marie Ishmael
Published: May 30 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 30 2007 03:00

The shrinkage of the London stock market is accelerating, driven by frenetic takeover activity and continuing corporate share buy-backs, according to a survey.

Shares worth net $60bn (£30.3bn) have either been bought by acquirors or corporates themselves since January, equivalent to 1.4 per cent of the market’s overall capitalisation, data from TrimTabs Investment Research shows. The level would have been higher but for a continued flow of initial public offerings. read more

Press Association
Tuesday May 29, 2007

Oil giant BP is to confirm its return to Libya’s oil and gas fields for the first time in more than 30 years.

A spokesman for prime minister Tony Blair, who is on a five-day visit to Africa, spoke of BP’s return at a briefing today.

BP has not operated in Libya since 1974, when the oil industry was nationalised.

The group confirmed today it had been in talks with the Libyan government over re-entering the country.

BP’s move back into Libya comes two years after rival Royal Dutch Shell announced its return to the country, timed to coincide with the Mr Blair’s 2004 visit. read more

By Roland Gribben
Last Updated: 1:09am BST 30/05/2007

BP is returning to Libya after 34 years as it struggles to maintain its interests in a major Russian gas complex.

The price of re-entry to a desert state with the biggest oil reserves in Africa is a down payment of $900m (£450m) in an exploration programme targeted at tapping the country’s huge gas potential.

Tony Hayward, new chief executive, signed a deal that gives BP exploration rights over 54,000 square kilometres onshore and offshore and could involve total spending of up to $2bn in the deal with the state-owned National Oil Corporation. read more

May 30, 2007
By Justin Brown

Johannesburg – Engen Petroleum had agreed to acquire a 60 percent stake in Shell’s Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) petroleum business as well as a 13 percent stake in a DRC petroleum distributor, Engen said yesterday.

Engen Petroleum spokesperson Tania Landsberg said the company would not disclose the value of the purchase due to confidentiality agreements.

Landsberg said she did not know how much fuel the DRC businesses distributed in the country nor the number of people that the operations employed. read more

By Marc Wolfensberger

May 29 (Bloomberg) — Iran expects to sign a multibillion- dollar agreement with a foreign partner next month to produce liquefied natural gas, or LNG, from the South Pars field, the world’s biggest gas reservoir.

“We’ve signed the draft contract with a foreign contractor and the main contract will be signed within the next month,” Ali Kheir-Andish, the project director, said today on Shana, the oil ministry press agency, without providing the name of the foreign company. The LNG project, called IRAN LNG, will use gas from phase 12 of South Pars, he said. read more

Associated Press 05.29.07, 4:44 PM ET

Houston-based energy company Ashmore Energy International on Tuesday said it will buy Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s stakes in energy businesses in Brazil and Bolivia, including part of the Bolivia-Brazil natural gas pipeline.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and the transaction requires regulatory approval and consent, AEI said.

AEI already owns stakes in each of the projects from its May 2006 purchase of the Latin American assets of bankrupt U.S. energy company Enron Corp. read more

LONDON, May 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A; NYSE: RDS.B) announces that on 29 May, 2007 it purchased for cancellation 450,000 “A” Shares at a price of 27.61 euros per share. It further announces that on the same date it purchased for cancellation 250,000 “A” Shares at a price of 1874.38 pence per share.

Following the cancellation of these shares, the remaining number of “A” Shares of Royal Dutch Shell plc will be 3,672,100,000. read more

By Kitty Donaldson and Robert Hutton

May 29 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Tony Blair, announcing a $900 million contract returning BP Plc to Libya after more than three decades, said British companies will reap “huge” new contracts there because leader Muammar Qaddafi has joined the fight against terrorism.

“The relationship between Britain and Libya has been completely transformed,” Blair said after meeting Qaddafi in Sirte in central Libya today. “We now have very strong cooperation on counterterrorism and defense and the commercial relationship that you can see by this huge investment.” read more

City & Finance
Edited By Manfreda Cavazza
Tuesday 29 May 2007

Article By Sam Fleming

BP’s fading hopes of clinging to its giant Kovykta gas field have been dealt a new blow in the Siberian courts.

A judge threw out a claim brought by a unit of its TNK-BP joint venture, which was seeking to stop the authorities removing its licence to develop the reserve.
Russian regulator Rosnedr said it will now consider stripping TNK-BP of its permit at a meeting on Friday.

Kovykta has become the latest battleground between the Kremlin and foreign oil firms seeking to maintain their rights to exploit Russian resources. read more

Tuesday 29 May 2007
By Andrew Johnson Associate City Editor

BP’S Russian joint venture could lose a licence to operate one of the world’s biggest gasflelds this Friday, it emerged yesterday.

Russian regulators said they would discuss stripping TNK-BP of the licence to work the $20 billion (£10billion) field on June 1.

Their move follows a decision by the arbitration court in the East Siberian city of Irkutsk to throw out a case brought by TNK-BP in an attempt to stop the licence from being revoked. read more

Jakarta (Platts): 29 May 2007

Malaysia’s Petronas and Royal Dutch Shell plan to set up gas stations outside the main Indonesian island of Java this year, a move that could pave the way for their entry into the country’s huge subsidized fuel market.

The two companies, the only foreign players in the Indonesian downstream sector that has long been dominated by state-owned Pertamina, set up retail outlets and began selling high-octane gasoline in late 2005. So far the two have limited themselves to selling 92 and 95 RON gasoline, as the prices of these products are market-determined. Lower-octane gasoline, as also gasoil and kerosene, are all heavily subsidized by the Indonesian government. read more

Tuesday, 29 May 2007 12:28

Oil giant BP is to confirm its return to Libya’s oil and gas fields for the first time in more than 30 years.

A spokesman for Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is on a five-day visit to Africa, spoke of BP’s return at a briefing today.

BP has not operated in Libya since 1974, when the oil industry was nationalised.

The group confirmed today it had been in talks with the Libyan government over re-entering the country.

Two years ago rival Royal Dutch Shell announced its return to the country. read more

LONDON (Reuters) – BP said on Tuesday its Russian joint venture TNK-BP will appeal against a decision by a Russian court in a bid to keep the licence for the giant Kovykta gas field.

A judge in a court in Irkutsk, the region in East Siberia where the field is located, said on Monday he had decided to throw out an appeal by TNK-BP , which was seeking to stop the authorities taking away the licence.

“What TNK-BP is saying is we regret the court’s negative decision and the current pressure to withdraw the licence,” said Sheila Williams, a BP spokeswoman. read more

Published: Tuesday, 29 May, 2007, 07:29 AM Doha Time
 
TEHRAN/DUBAI: The US is piling pressure on European banks and energy firms to avoid doing business with Iran, sending a blunt message that reputations are at stake if they do so, officials and analysts said yesterday.

Washington, leading efforts to isolate Iran over its atomic programme, has slapped sanctions on two Iranian banks. UN sanctions have targeted one.

But US arm-twisting may be having a stronger impact, with one bank withdrawing finance for a major gas deal and oil majors rethinking investment. A US official warned multinationals in March to steer clear of Opec’s second biggest producer. read more

Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2007

If there is a “hollowing out” trend underway in Canada because of foreign takeovers, it’s only marginally affecting the oilsands industry, arguably the country’s most strategic because it powers the economy.

Despite the recent rush into the sector by foreign companies from countries as diverse as China, Korea, Norway and France, the oilsands are — and are likely to remain — firmly under Canadian control. read more

Published: May 29, 2007

DUBAI, May 28 (DubaiPhotoMedia): Shell, a leading player in the global energy and petrochemicals industry, has announced that it will share its proven community involvement strategies when it participates in the 4th Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Summit in Dubai Dusit Hotel on June 24-28, 2007 which is organized by IIR in association with Shell.

The CSR Summit will gather 41 high-profile speakers and companies from 18 countries in three interactive workshops and 23 powerful strategy sessions. “Shell is pleased to be part of the CSR Summit and is looking forward to share and discuss with participants the company’s successful programs that have integrated high-impact social action with long-term company objectives. read more

By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: May 29, 2007

MOSCOW, May 28 — The Russian government continued Monday to press its strategy of securing for Gazprom, the state-owned natural gas company, a monopoly on exports to Asia.

In doing so, it is threatening an important investment by a big British rival, BP, with methods similar to those used last fall to force Royal Dutch Shell to sell a controlling stake in another energy development in the Russian Far East, the Sakhalin II project. Gazprom was also the beneficiary in that case. read more

The Foreign Office today revised its travel advice for Nigeria. We are now advising against all travel to the Niger Delta due to the high risk of kidnapping, armed robbery and other armed attacks in the area.

The relevant summary points now read:

* We advise against all travel to the Niger Delta (Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States, including Port Harcourt). This is because of the very high risk of kidnapping, armed robbery and other armed attacks in these areas. In fourteen separate incidents since January 2006, 30 British nationals and over 180 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta area and one Briton has been killed. See the Terrorism/Security section of this travel advice for more details. read more

By Neil Buckley
Published: May 29 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 29 2007 03:00

Russian regulators are set to discuss as early as Friday the withdrawal of the licence held by BP’s Russian venture to exploit the massive Kovykta natural gas field.

The long struggle over Kovykta appeared to be entering its final phase yesterday after a Siberian court said it did not have jurisdiction to hear asuit from TNK-BP challenging regulators’ claims it was notproducing enough gas from the field.

Russia’s natural resources ministry said it was “very likely” the licensing agency would discuss on June 1 whether to revoke the licence on the grounds that TNK-BP was not fulfilling its terms. read more

By Roland Gribben
Last Updated: 1:02am BST 29/05/2007

BP and its Russian partners could be stripped of the licence to operate the huge Kovykta gasfield in Siberia this week, according to Russian officials.

Rosnedra, Russia’s licence regulator, meets on Friday and a spokesman said that discussion of the ”early withdrawal” of the licence will be on the agenda.

The ”crunch” meeting folows another setback for the TNK-BP partnership. An arbitration court in Irkutsk yessterday threw out a suit brought by the partners to halt attempts by Russian government agencies to take away its operating licence. read more

(Vitaly Vasiliev believes Britain has too many stereotypes about Russia and Gazprom)

Last Updated: 1:02am BST 29/05/2007
 
Russia’s gas giant may co-build power stations in this country, its UK chief told Russell Hotten. But British firms should not be suspicious of its intentions

Gazprom, Russia’s gas monopoly, has drawn up ambitious plans to seize control of 10pc of the UK gas market by 2010.

As part of the plan Gazprom is considering building power stations in the UK in partnership with other energy firms, Vitaly Vasiliev, chief executive of Gazprom Marketing and Trading (GMT) told The Daily Telegraph. read more

May 29, 2007
Dominic Walsh

BP’s attempts to save its joint venture to exploit Russia’s giant Kovytka gasfield suffered a fresh blow yesterday when a court in Siberia threw out a legal challenge that might have preserved its licence.

The decision against its TNK-BP venture paves the way for regulators to revoke its licence on Friday and analysts believe that it will be forced to hand a majority stake in the project to Gazprom, the state-owned gas group.

A spokesman for Rosnedra, the licence regulator, said: “Rosnedra will discuss the early withdrawal of the Kovytka licence at its meeting on Friday.” The decision is being seen as part of a wider move by Russia to expand its influence in the oil and gas industry and experts believe that, once Gazprom has secured control of Kovytka, the threat to the licence will dissipate. read more

By Joe Carroll

May 29 (Bloomberg) — Colorado and Utah have as much oil as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Kuwait, Libya, Angola, Algeria, Indonesia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates combined.

That’s not science fiction. Trapped in limestone up to 200 feet (61 meters) thick in the two Rocky Mountain states is enough so-called shale oil to rival OPEC and supply the U.S. for a century.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., the two biggest U.S. energy companies, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are spending $100 million a year testing new methods to separate the oil from the stone for as little as $30 a barrel. A growing number of industry executives and analysts say new technology and persistently high prices make the idea feasible. read more

Tuesday, May 29, 2007. Issue 3666. Page 8.

President Vladimir Putin’s regular calls for “dictatorship of the law” when he took office seven years ago have faded into memory. What we have today is something very different.

An example of how things have changed emerged Monday when an Irkutsk court threw out a lawsuit by TNK-BP to stop regulatory authorities from taking away its license for the Kovykta gas field. At issue is whether TNK-BP has met the terms of its production contract. The court said the lawsuit was out of its jurisdiction. read more

By Torrey Clark

May 28 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc’s Russian venture lost a court case over its license to the giant Kovykta gas deposit, allowing the government as early as this week to regain control of a field with enough fuel to supply Asia for five years.

A court in Irkutsk, Siberia lifted an order forbidding the federal government from revoking the license held by TNK-BP’s OAO Rusia Petroleum unit, after dismissing the unit’s demands to clarify how much gas it had to provide to the region. read more

By Glen Carey

May 28 (Bloomberg) — Petroleum Development Oman, a state- owned company in which Royal Dutch Shell Plc is the largest foreign investor, signed two agreements to increase output from the aging Qarn Alam oil and gas field through steam injection.

Dodsal Group, an Indian construction company based in the United Arab Emirates, will drill 150 wells and build a water treatment plant at Qarn Alam, Petroleum Development Oman said in a statement late yesterday.

Galfar Engineering & Contracting Ltd., a closely held oil and gas services company in Oman, won a contract to install water flow lines. About 220 kilometers (136 miles) of new pipelines will be laid to handle increased production from the field. read more

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

May 28 (Bloomberg) — Global carbon trading is needed to set a price on carbon and allow for investments in new energy-supply projects while reducing emissions, said Russell Caplan, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Plc in Australia.

While the European Union’s carbon trading system is “a good start,” a worldwide plan is required, Caplan said today at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation energy business forum in Darwin, part of a meeting of energy ministers from the 21-nation group. read more

It’s a high-stakes gamble, where even a tiny pinhole in a pipeline can cost billions and drive up the cost of filling your gas tank.
 
By David Greising
Tribune chief business correspondent

May 27, 2007

DEADHORSE, Alaska — Painful reminders of the fallout from the cheap-oil era of a decade ago are never far from Robert Malone, the top North American executive of oil giant BP.

In March, he traveled 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle to look in on BP’s efforts to rebuild the pipeline system that leaked 200,000 gallons of oil last spring onto Alaska’s North Slope. But before donning an arctic parka to head into the 52-degrees-below-zero wind chill, Malone had to interrupt a meeting with workers to mark a solemn occasion: the moment, precisely two years earlier, when an explosion at the oil giant’s Texas City refinery killed 15 people. read more

Dubai: 28 May 207

Iran’s oilfields need at least $100 billion worth of foreign investment over the next decade to boost output by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to 5 million bpd, a senior Iranian oil official said.

Extensive exploration, further development of Iran’s oilfields and increasing recovery rates via advanced technology are a must if the country is to hit its capacity target, said Abdollmohammad Delparish, planning manager at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

“For this goal we need partnership with foreign companies — and the $100 billion is a very conservative estimate,” he said. “Internal investment will only cover a quarter of our financial needs.” read more

Monday, May 28, 2007

TOM BERGIN

LONDON – International oil firms have been scrambling for Africa in recent years, but in their hunger for reserves they may be taking greater risks than they realise, raising the prospect of a rush for the door in the future.

A record 106 oil and gas exploration licences were awarded in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2006, and the figure could be surpassed in 2007, international energy consultants Wood Mackenzie said in an annual review of the African oil industry.

The tens of billions of dollars flowing into the continent’s oil industry partly reflects a global surge in exploration prompted by high oil prices. read more

Oil firm BP has moved a step closer to losing its share of a licence for the Kovykta gas field in East Siberia.

An arbitration court judge in Irkutsk has thrown out attempts by TNK-BP to stop authorities seizing the licence.

The judge, Valery Titov, said that the case was outside the court’s jurisdiction. TNK-BP may now appeal against the ruling.

Analysts say the licence dispute is the latest attempt by the Kremlin to gain control of Russia’s energy supplies.

Last year Gazprom secured a majority stake in a similarly large Russian oil and gas field formerly led by Royal Dutch Shell. read more

2007-05-28

As talks resume between Shell and the Nigerian government planning for oil production in Ogoniland, the Ogoni remain excluded from negotiations and frustrated in their calls for compensation.

Below are extracts from an article written by Nico Colombrant and published by Voice Of America News:

In Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, one area, Ogoniland in Rivers State, resists oil production. Residents there say oil companies refuse to meet their demands to redistribute wealth and protect the environment. Voice Of America’s (VOA) Nico Colombant reports. read more

Reuters
Monday, May 28, 2007

MOSCOW: Russia moved closer to stripping oil major TNK-BP, half owned by BP Plc, of its licence for the giant Kovykta gas field after authorities won a court case against the firm on Monday.

A judge in an arbitration court in Irkutsk, the region in East Siberia where the field is located, said he had ruled to throw out a suit by TNK-BP , which was seeking to stop the authorities from taking away the licence. “This dispute could not be reviewed by our arbitration court. It is out of our jurisdiction to review the submitted documents,” judge Valery Titov, who presided over the hearing, told Reuters. read more

AISLINN SIMPSON
 
AVERAGE petrol prices could rise to £1 a litre within weeks because of global instability, supply shortages and refinery problems, experts warned last night.

Steady increases over recent weeks have prompted the AA motoring organisation to call for an independent inquiry by the Transport Select Committee into rising prices and tight supplies of petrol and diesel, saying drivers feel “helpless”.

The insurgency in Iraq, the kidnap of oil workers in Nigeria, the approach of the hurricane season that hits oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s sabre-rattling have combined to send average prices soaring to 96.5p a litre for unleaded petrol and 97.1p for diesel, according to the AA’s monthly survey. read more

Web posted at: 5/28/2007 8:3:16
Source ::: Reuters

tehran • Iran is planning an investment fund outside the Islamic Republic to raise finance for its huge South Pars gas field and circumvent a financial squeeze by Washington, a top Iranian energy official said yesterday.

As the United States pushes for tighter UN sanctions on Iran over its atomic work, Akbar Torkan, head of the Pars Oil and Gas Company, said Tehran would base the fund in Bahrain or Dubai, both regional financial centres.

“It’s a reaction against the financial sanctions on Iran,” said Torkan, a former defence minister. “There are no sanctions against an investment fund.” read more

Sylvester Idowu, Warri – 28.05.2007

SHELL Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has said that the negative reporting of the Niger Delta had scared many investors away from the region thereby causing acute unemployment and stunted development.

The Corporate Government Relations Manager, SPDC West, Mr Harriman Oyofo, made the observation at the weekend in Effurun, Delta State, during a two-day business meeting organised for media executives from Warri and Yenagoa.

He appealed to the media to assist in creating an enabling environment for the development of the Niger Delta, noting that the media could do this by reporting events devoid of sensationalism and bias. read more

May 27, 2007, 10:32AM
By JOHN PORRETTO
Associated Press

If you think gasoline prices are high now, consider the eye-popping possibilities if another monster storm pummels the Gulf of Mexico this hurricane season, the way Katrina and Rita battered the petroleum-rich waters in 2005.

The petroleum industry has spent nearly two years trying to repair the damage from those historic Gulf hurricanes, rebuilding the complex web of platforms, pipelines and refineries in a region that produces roughly 25 percent of the nation’s oil and 15 percent of its natural gas. read more

Sunday 27 May 2007

LAGOS (Reuters) – Britain has advised its citizens against all travel to Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta because of the high risk of kidnapping and armed robbery, the government said on its Web site.

More than 180 foreign nationals, mostly oil workers, have been kidnapped in the region since the beginning of last year, including 30 Britons, it said. One British hostage was killed by the security forces last year in a botched attempt to free him.

“We advise against all travel to the Niger Delta,” the Foreign Office said, adding that it would be “reckless” to go there without taking professional security advice and using “fully protected” transport. read more

(CHUCK COOK / NNS: Brent Holmes, left, and Steve Dollison unhook a basket from a crane during a rigging class. Shell Oil Co. is working hard to attract young workers as aging employees retire. It trains workers at the company’s Robert Training Center northwest of New Orleans.)

The great crew change is coming.

By KATE STEVENS
Sunday, May 27, 2007 – Page updated at 02:01 AM

And executives in the oil and natural-gas industry can only hope they’re ready for the departure of thousands of aging employees who will retire over the next decade after years working onshore and aboard offshore rigs. read more

May 27, 2007
By CHRIS CONWAY

THE 1950s are considered the golden age of the automobile. Sales climbed. Fins, after-burner taillights and other jet-age accoutrements appeared on family cars. Drive-in restaurants, movies and even churches and funeral parlors became part of the landscape.

And Americans were taking to the road as never before. To help them on their way (and into its gas stations), Shell Oil published a 238-page how-to book, “Traveling by Car: A Family Planning Guide to Better Vacations.” While much of the advice is predictably dated, much, from Carol Lane, Shell’s director of women’s travel, remains surprisingly timely. read more

EXTRACT: Foreign investors have also felt the backlash. Having successfully reduced Shell’s stake in the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas field, Moscow now seems intent on doing the same to BP, which has a substantial interest in the Kovykta gas field. As before, the tactic is to accuse the foreign company of violating the terms of its licence. All that remains to be decided is how much of its stake in Kovykta BP will have to yield up to Gazprom.

THE ARTICLE

By Niall Ferguson
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 27/05/2007 read more

Sunday, May 27, 2007 (New Delhi):

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), plans to acquire Royal Dutch/Shell’s 33 per cent stake in a deep-sea gas field off Egypt for $160 million and bring the fuel in liquefied form (LNG) to India.

Code-named ‘Project Wonder’, the North East Mediterranean Deepwater Concession in the Egypt Mediterranean Sea, has Shell as operator with 100 per cent stake and is estimated to hold close to 10 Trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. read more

May 27, 2007

The oil giant could face the same fate as Shell at Sakhalin as Russia tries to take back control of its natural gasDominic O’Connell

IN the summer of 2003 Vladimir Putin made the first state visit to Britain by a Russian leader since Tsar Alexander II came to see Queen Victoria in 1874.

Putin’s trip was as much about business as diplomacy. One of the highlights was the signing – in the gilded splendour of Lancaster House, a 19th-century mansion in St James’s, London – of an $8 billion (£4 billion) investment by BP in the Russian oil and gas industry. The deal had been brokered by Lord Browne, then BP’s chief executive, with extensive help from Tony Blair. read more

EXTRACT:  …the takeovers of Shell, BP and other assets hardly represent transactions at market prices. Putin takes his inspiration from Mario Puzo’s The Godfather rather than Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, and makes potential sellers offers they just can’t refuse.

THE ARTICLE

May 27, 2007
American Account
Irwin Stelzer

WHAT do Mikhaïl Khodorkovsky, Mikhaïl Gutseriev, and John Browne have in common? They all thought their desire for profits from Russia’s vast oil and gas reserves trumped Vladimir Putin’s lust for power. Khodorkovsky now languishes in a Siberian jail, and when released will be rearrested and charged with crimes that will get him another 28 years in prison. Gutseriev, head of the mid-sized oil company Russneft, was recently charged with “large-scale tax evasion” and conducting illegal activities as part of an “organised group” – the same charges laid against Khodorkovsky. It seems that the Kremlin deputy chief of staff, Igor Sechin, the former KGB agent who heads state-owned Rosneft, which took over Khodorkovsky’s Yukos oil company, “is extremely ambitious in regard to these [Russneft’s] assets”, according to press reports. read more

By Nico Colombant
Ogoniland, Nigeria
26 May 2007
 
In Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, one area, Ogoniland in Rivers State, resists oil production. Residents there say oil companies refuse to meet their demands to redistribute wealth and protect the environment. VOA’s Nico Colombant reports.

Young men walking along roads in Ogoniland stare menacingly at those they consider outsiders, thinking they may be from oil companies.

Dutch-based oil conglomerate Shell stopped operations here in the mid 1990s, amid an international uproar over the execution of anti-oil Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by the military government. read more

Shell Oil and Gas Development Would Spell Disaster for the U.S. Whaling Traditions Already Stressed by Pass Activities

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 25, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Today, U.S. and Russian whalers and other Alaska Native leaders spoke with the public regarding continued threats to their whaling traditions.

The briefing addressed Native concerns in light of the Department of Interior’s (DOI) plan to open the oceans off Alaska to a barrage of new oil and gas development starting this summer. Days before the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting, whalers from across Alaska will talk about U.S. whaling interests and the threat oil and gas activities will pose to the remaining bowhead whale populations, upon which Alaska Native subsistence communities depend. read more

Vol. 12, No. 21  Week of May 27, 2007

Major surveys conducted separately by Energy Intelligence and KPMG this spring confirm some of industry’s worst fears, most notably the fact company executives now overwhelmingly believe the world oil supply is being consumed faster than it can be replaced.

“These executives are deeply concerned about declining oil reserves, a situation they see as irreversible and worsening,” said Bill Kimble of audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG, which polled 533 financial executives in April on a number of energy-related issues. read more