June 1st, 2007:

REUTERS: 1 June 2007

Whales are facing a new threat from expanded oil and gas exploration in icy waters off the coasts of Alaska and Arctic Canada, according to a report issued by an international whaling forum.

The report, released at the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting held this week in Anchorage, singles out energy exploration as a serious threat to whales that migrate through the Pacific Ocean.

The warning from more than 200 IWC scientists comes at a time when the U.S. federal government is proposing new oil and gas leases in Alaska’s North Aleutian Basin, an area that encompasses the Bristol Bay region, which is home to endangered eastern North Pacific right whales. read more

BY JON HARDING in Calgary
AND PAUL VIEIRA in Ottawa
Financial Post [email protected]

CALGARY: It is in the nation’s interest that the cost-challenged Mackenzie Gas Project gets built, but by whom remains to be determined, Jim Prentice, Canada’s Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, said yesterday.

If the companies proposing the 1,200-kilometre link between gas fields in the Mackenzie Delta and the continental gas grid in Alberta believe the project is uneconomic, then those project proponents “will have to consider the alternatives.” read more

Clive Mather looks back — and at life after Shell

By SHAUN POLCZER 

Clive Mather hit Calgary like a breath of fresh air. In August 2004, the Shell Canada CEO took the helm of a struggling supermajor with nearly a century in this country and reinvigorated it with a sense of purpose and mission.

Where other CEOs bemoaned environmental restrictions and denied the science behind climate change, Mather tackled the challenge head-on, throwing down the gauntlet for industry to be accountable for its emissions even while it pursued ambitious growth plans in the oilsands. read more

By Bernd Radowitz
Last Update: 10:55 AM ET Jun 1, 2007

Royal Dutch Shell Plc may start to explore for oil and gas in Bolivia, the country’s hydrocarbons ministry said in a release late Thursday.

“The main executive of Shell talked to (Bolivian) President Evo Morales and proposed participation in the phase of exploration and production,” Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Villegas was quoted as saying. “We will start a conversation with the company about its entry (in exploration) in the country in coming days.” read more

Gazprom says it updated its budget due to acquisitions of Sakhalin Energy, Beltransgaz and Mosenergo – as well as to finance a list of investment projects.

Friday, June 01, 2007
By Robert Duncan  

Gazprom’s Management Committee has updated the company’s 2007 budget, earmarking an additional RUR232.92 billion for investments above the RUR762.3 billion that was approved in January. The updated budget must still be approved by Gazprom’s Board of Directors.

Gazprom said it needed to update its budget due to the acquisitions of Sakhalin Energy, Beltransgaz and Mosenergo. Additionally, Gazprom said the modification to its budget stems “in particular from the need to adjust a list of investment projects and investment scope. The budget adjustments can also be explained by lower gas marketing volume due to the anomalously warm winter 2006-2007, change in macroeconomic rates.” read more

Published: June 1 2007 14:32 | Last updated: June 1 2007 14:32

When it comes to energy in Russia, timing is everything. In 1911, the Rothschilds swapped their Russian oil assets for big shareholdings in Royal Dutch and Shell. Six years later, during the revolution, the less prescient Nobel family had to flee disguised as peasants, and eventually sold their one-third share of the country’s oil output for a derisory sum.

On Friday the Russian authorities again signalled that BP’s joint venture TNK-BP may lose its permit to develop the Kovykta gas field. Last year Royal Dutch Shell ceded a controlling stake in its Sakhalin project to Gazprom. Some investors nevertheless remain sanguine. Shell got a roughly 25 per cent premium to its capital invested, and TNK-BP might recover the $500m it has invested in Kovyta. Foreigners, it is argued, remain welcome as minority partners. read more

By Torrey Clark

June 1 (Bloomberg) — Russian officials postponed a decision on whether to revoke the license held by BP Plc’s Russian venture to a Siberian field with enough natural gas to supply Asia for five years, Interfax said.

A Natural Resources Ministry commission delayed making a decision on the license for the Kovykta field in Siberia for two weeks because of the “complexity of the issue,” Interfax cited an unidentified person with knowledge of the decision as saying in Moscow today. read more

By Torrey Clark

June 1 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc’s Russian venture will probably lose its license to a Siberian field with enough natural gas to supply Asia for five years as President Vladimir Putin extends state control over foreign energy projects.

A Natural Resources Ministry commission should annul BP’s permit for the $18 billion Kovykta field at its meeting today, Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of the ministry’s environmental inspectorate, said in Moscow. A draft of the commission’s minutes for today’s meeting says the license will be revoked, Interfax said, citing a copy of the document. read more

By ALEX NICHOLSON 06.01.07, 6:11 AM ET
 
BP PLC is likely to lose its license to develop a giant Siberian gas field that could be used to supply Asian markets, a senior environmental official said Friday.

Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of Russia’s environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, said he expects the license to be revoked as state regulators met to determine whether BP (nyse: BP – news – people ) had been under-producing at the Kovykta field and should therefore lose the rights to develop the 2.1 trillion cubic meter field. read more

Last Updated: Friday, 1 June 2007, 09:05 GMT 10:05 UK 
 
Russian authorities are meeting to decide whether to withdraw a licence for BP’s joint venture in the Kovykta gas field in East Siberia.

Analysts expect that TNK-BP will be stopped from operating by the licensing agency, Rosnedra.

But reports suggest Moscow may postpone the decision until after next week’s G8 Summit and the Russian Economic Forum.

The dispute is seen by some as the Kremlin’s latest attempt to gain control of Russia’s energy supplies. read more

Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
Published: Jun 01, 2007

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deferred its decision on awarding an integrated pollution licence to the Corrib gas terminal.

An EPA spokeswoman confirmed that a date of September 28th has been given to the applicant, Shell E&P Ireland, and to the objectors.

Extra time is allowed for under the legislation, but the board may come to a decision before this date – or may seek a further extension, the spokeswoman said. The integrated pollution prevention control (IPPC) licence is one of the key consents in a series handled by different State agencies for the 900 million project. The licence covers emissions from the terminal to the atmosphere and the marine environment, and preliminary approval has already been given by the EPA. read more

By Alex Turkeltaub and Eleanor Thorp
Published: June 1 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 1 2007 03:00

TNK-BP, the joint venture between the British oil company and Russia’s Alfa Access Renova, is likely to have its licence for the giant Kovytka field in Siberia revoked in the next few days. The move is a prelude to Gazprom, the Russian state-owned oil and gas giant, taking a majority stake in the gas field and possibly in TNK-BP itself.

Paradoxically, while this change is not good news for TNK-BP it is a sign of progress for Russia and for other foreign oil companies seeking to do business in the country. read more

By Catherine Beltonin Moscow
Published: June 1 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 1 2007 03:00

Gazprom said yesterday that it had approved an 11 per cent cut in 2007 capital expenditure even as it comes under fire from the International Energy Agency for under investing in production amid warnings of a supply crunch.

Gazprom said it was making the cut in order to nearly triple financial investments as it expands its grip over Russia’s energy sector via its $7.4bn purchase of control of Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-2 oil and gas venture and increases its sway over other sectors such as electricity. read more

By Catherine Belton
Published: June 1 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 1 2007 03:00

A senior western diplomat warned yesterday that Russia risked further damage to its investment climate if it went ahead with threats to revoke today the licence of a key project for TNK-BP, BP’s Russia venture.

The diplomat said revoking TNK-BP’s licence to develop its vast east Siberian Kovykta gas field would cause “serious concerns about the investment climate” as well as raise questions about the sanctity of property rights and the proper separation of the executive and judiciary branches. read more

By Paul Betts
Published: June 1 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 1 2007 03:00

Britain and the Netherlands have always had long and fruitful business relations. These have spawned such multinationals as Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever, Reed Elsevier and the Corus steel group now under Indian ownership. Yet France now seems to be steadily encroaching on this traditional Anglo-Dutch connection. With some remarkable results, if recent Franco-Dutch mergers in the property sector and the airline business are anything to go by. As a measure of this success, both Unibail and Air France-KLM are now set to make their entry later this month in the Paris CAC40 blue chip stock index. read more