June 6th, 2007:

Guest 1764 on Live Chat says:

“Why dont you all leave the guy alone? No of you even know him and have no appreciation of either how great a leader he is or the stress he is under on this monster project. I wish him and his team well”

Response by Alfred Donovan 

It is true that I do not know Mr Greer personally, only his literary work. Less said about that subject the better.

If Mr Greer wishes to rebut anything published on this website I will happily undertake to publish his comments on an entirely unedited basis.  read more

By Ed Crooks
Published: June 7 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 7 2007 03:00

Headline in FT Newspaper: “Sakhalin motivational memo borrows heavily from Patton

The FT.com headline on the same story: “Shell man’s motivation memo is straight from the Patton script”

THE ARTICLE

“Talent borrows, genius steals”, the saying goes, but the leaked motivational e-mail sent to staff at the Sakhalin 2 gas and oil project is a salutary warning of the perils of appropriation.

Trying to stir up his managers and engineers, some of whom he suspected of “running the risk of becoming a team that doesn’t want to fight and lacks confidence in its own ability”, David Greer, deputy chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, borrowed heavily from the words of General George Patton. read more

BBC Monitoring Service

The following is a selection of quotes from articles published in the 7 June editions of Russian newspapers, as available to the BBC at 2300 gmt on 6 June.

G8 summit

Nezavisimaya Gazeta (centrist daily) www.ng.ru – “Today’s meeting of the G8 leaders will be the most difficult for Vladimir Putin. Never before has he arrived at a summit with so much baggage of mutual demands…During his visit to the Czech Republic President Bush accused Moscow of abandoning democratic reforms…Tony Blair plans to raise the issue of relations with BP and Royal Dutch Shell…and it is entirely possible that the new French president, Sarkozy, a person friend of [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili, may also find something unpleasant to say to our president.” read more

Martyn Wingrove
Published: Jun 07, 2007

PETROFAC has farmed into MEO Australia’s potential Tassie Shoal gas project off northwest Australia aspart of its resources investment strategy.

The London-listed engineering group has taken a 10% stake in Timor Sea permit NT/P68, which is 300 km off the Darwin coast and holds the previously drilled Heron gas discovery.

As part of the deal with block operator MEO, Petrofac will help to fund two appraisal wells this year in the licence area and can take control of future phases that may lead to production and export of methanol or gas by 2012. read more

Published: June 7 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 7 2007 03:00

European oil stocks may be about to outperform as earnings momentum turns, says Nick Nelson at UBS.

“There have been fewer earnings upgrades for the oil sector than the wider market over the last year. But there are now signs this may be changing. We saw a similar event in June 2006 in the telecoms sector when relative earnings momentum turned positive, and it was one of the best performing sectors in the second half.

“We see four near-term supports for oils. First, we suspect we are past the peak of dollar weakness [now down just 4 per cent year on year versus the euro]. Second, valuations are attractive [the price/earnings relative to the market is 79 per cent, close to a 17 year low]. Third, balance sheets appear underleveraged. Fourth, the European oils have underperformed the US oils by 23 per cent over the last two years. The price relative of European oils is back down to where it was three years ago when oil was at $30 a barrel.” read more

By James Politi in New York and Ed Crooks in London
Published: June 7 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 7 2007 03:00

Colony Capital, the US private equity group, yesterday clinched a deal to pay €2.6bn ($3.5bn) for a majority stake in Tamoil, the European refining and service station group owned by the Libyan government.

Colony, which is based in California and run by billionaire investor Thomas Barrack, will control Tamoil through a 65 per cent stake after emerging with the winning bid in an auction that has been running since 2005. read more

By Daniel Dombey in London, Neil Buckley in Moscow and Jean Eaglesham in Heiligendamm

Published: June 7 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 7 2007 03:00

The British government is stepping up its warnings to businesses about the risks of investing in Russia in the wake of Moscow’s moves to take control of energy assets from foreign companies.

The Foreign Office is telling companies looking to invest in Russia that there is now more evidence of risks faced by outside investors.

News of the move comes as Tony Blair is due tomorrow to hold “frank” talks with Vladimir Putin, Russian president, at the group of eight leading industrialised nations summit in Germany. read more

By Peter Marsh
Published: June 7 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 7 2007 03:00

TMK, the Russian maker of specialist steel pipe that floated on the London stock exchange last year, intends to cut its mainly Russia-based workforce bya third as part of an effortto increase efficiency, according to Konstantin Semerikov, the company’s chief executive.

TMK, which has a market capitalisation of $7.9bn, is among a trio of little-known steel companies operating in a sector niche that, because of a surge in demand from oil companies for their pipes, have become stock market stars over the past 18 months. read more

06.06.07
 
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Royal Dutch Shell PLC blamed escalating security problems in the Niger Delta as one of the major factors hampering its effort to end gas flaring in Nigeria.

Malcolm Brinded, head of Shell’s exploration and production business, told Thomson Financial News on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference in London that ‘security and funding remain a challenge’ to the group’s plan to stop flaring.

Shell’s facilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta have been the target of the series of violent attacks by separatist militants who have been kidnapping employees of foreign oil companies and blowing up pipelines. This has forced the Anglo-Dutch oil giant to shut some of its key facilities in the area. read more

POSTED ON FT.com

Plagiarism
by Mark Bisset   06 Jun 2007  10:29 AM
This memo is not even in fact original; here is part of a speech delivered by General Patton on 5th June 1944:

“Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle…When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.” read more

By Ed Crooks
Published: June 6 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 6 2007 03:00

As if laying pipelines across Sakhalin Island, notoriously described by the writer Anton Chekhov as “hell”, were not tough enough, the engineers battling the elements off Russia’s far east coast have to put up with their boss’s motivational memorandums.

In a leaked e-mail, enticingly addressed to “Pipeliners All!”, David Greer, the deputy chief executive officer of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, the consortium that has run Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin 2 project, urges his staff to “Lead me, Follow me or Get out of my way”. read more

EXTRACT: Nowhere is the decay more pitifully on display than in the Niger Delta, where the crude is located. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of oil have been drilled, but few villages have basic schools or health clinics.

By EDWARD HARRIS — Associated Press Writer
    
KOROKORO, Nigeria (AP) Young boys scamper along weed-entangled pipes, transforming an oil-pumping station marked ‘Not In Use’ into a jungle gym in the heart of Nigeria’s lawless oil region. Nearby wells rust under the palm trees, and gas-flaring chimneys have gone cold. read more

EXTRACT: Russian President Vladimir Putin was much clearer on this issue than Gazprom at a news conference with foreign journalists on June 1. Talking about Kovykta and the Sakhalin-2 project, he emphasized that in the 1990s the agreements were signed with Western companies on very unfavorable terms. The president illustrated his statement with the recent Sakhalin-2 saga. The British-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell was in change of this LNG project. For a long time, it tried to lure Gazprom into buying its shares. read more

Vanguard (Lagos)
Hector Igbikiowubo With Agency Reports

CRUDE oil exploration and production activities in Nigeria is now one of the most unprofitable among developing countries of the world owing to the activities of militants in the Niger-Delta who engage in kidnappings, arson, sabotage of products pipeline, among other unwholesome practices.

Mr. Peter Voser, the chief financial officer of Royal Dutch Shell, said last month that the profit on the oil major’s Niger- Delta production was $3 – $4 per barrel whereas in the United States it was around US$20 per barrel. The drop in profitability is accentuated by cost of production including insurance, cost of security, sustained community development and a number of other considerations with cost implications.
 
However, international oil firms have not been dissuaded from chasing after Africa’s hydrocarbon reserves to satiate the hunger for sources of energy supply for their fast paced economies. read more

By Daniel Dombey

Published: June 5 2007 21:42 | Last updated: June 5 2007 21:42

Britain’s relationship with Russia has been overshadowed in recent months by the continuing controversy over the killing in London last year of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent turned British citizen, who was poisoned by the radioactive isotope polonium 210.

The UK has requested the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian national who the Crown Prosecution Service accuses of Litvinenko’s murder, but this is unlikely to proceed. read more

EXTRACT: Miller had been expected to meet with chief executives of international energy companies including Tony Hayward of BP Plc and Jeroen van der Veer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this weekend. Shell last year agreed to cede control of its $22 billion Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project to Gazprom after Russian regulators tried to derail the project on environmental grounds.

By Maria Ermakova

June 6 (Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller, who has run the world’s largest gas company for six years, is being treated for a kidney ailment in a Moscow hospital and may not return to work for weeks. read more

Campaigners sceptical about companies’ new-found enthusiasm for environment

Terry Macalister
Wednesday June 6, 2007

It could be any other business conference: the utilitarian hotel complete with piped music, the corporate sponsors with their stands outside the main speakers’ hall and the crowds of suits with pink shirts and “creative” ties.

But the men – and one soberly dressed woman – from Marks & Spencer, BSkyB and other names were not discussing information technology or shareholder value. They were there to discuss a subject that has raced up the corporate agenda: climate change. read more

By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 1:02am BST 06/06/2007

Profits at BP’s joint venture company in Russia surged 40pc, underlining why Moscow seems intent on seeing the country’s energy assets return to state control. TNK-BP, owned 50-50 by the UK oil giant and three Russian billionaires, made $6.3bn (£3.3bn) last year on the back of the strong oil price and tighter cost control, the company announced yesterday.

The rise in profits was all the more impressive because TNK-BP faced a sharp rise in its tax burden, up 35pc to $10.1bn for export duties and up 58pc to $756m for excise taxes. The company’s total sales rose 18pc to $35.5bn. read more

Published: Jun 06, 2007

CALGARY – Shell Canada Ltd. executives are bracing today for their first look at the shape of the reorganized company following the minority buyout by its parent, Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

With control moving outside Canada, the top 100 managers will find out who will lead the various businesses and how they will be integrated in the Royal Dutch model, which is run along business units rather than countries, spokeswoman Jan Rowley confirmed yesterday.

The company denied speculation the announcement will lead to re-assignments as well as job cuts for people who will be redundant under the new management. read more

Keith Wallis,
Published: Jun 06, 2007

MARITIME executives were given an insight yesterday into three scenarios on how the world might develop over the next 23 years as conflicting social, political and market forces influence global development.

Speaking at the BIMCO bi-annual general meeting, Shell International chief political adviser Dr Cho Kong said the world’s focus is on four key pressure points China, energy security, climate change and the market.

On China, he said one of the key issues is whether the country follows the US in its profligate use of energy, or takes a European or Japanese path where economic growth outstrips energy use. read more

EXTRACT: About 15 people have come from Shell to Sea, the network calling for the proposed Corrib gas terminal and pipeline to be constructed offshore.

Derek Scallyin Heiligendamm,
Published: Jun 06, 2007

GERMANY: The G8 summit is a five-star event for eight people and their entourage. For the 80,000 opponents, protesters and critics who have descended on Rostock, it’s a camp-out.

Depending on your disposition, visiting one of the camps will either awaken your inner idealist or stoke your inner cynic. read more

Tom Shiel,
Published: Jun 06, 2007

Five eco-warriors are expected to appear in court next week after a four-hour protest over Shell E&P Ireland’s operation to remove peat from the site of the Corrib gas terminal in Bellanaboy, Co Mayo.

In a move described later by gardaI as “very sophisticated”, four female activists and one male locked on to each other and sat down on the ground near the gates to the Bord na Mona peat deposition site at Srahmore, Bangor Erris.

The protesters were attached to each other through a Wavin pipe filled with concrete and rod iron, according to Supt Joseph Gannon, and firemen had to be called to carry out the delicate operation of cutting them free. The drama began at about 7.30am and lasted until about 11.30am when the fire team completed its work. read more

Published: Jun 06, 2007

FOUR anti-Shell protesters were arrested yesterday after they tried to block an operation to remove peat from the site of the Corrib Gas terminal in Bellanaboy, Co Mayo.

Four female activists attached themselves to each other through plastic pipes filled with concrete and rod iron.

Garda Superintendent Joseph Gannon said firemen had to be called to carry out the delicate operation of cutting the activists free.

The four were taken to Belmullet Garda Station where they were charged later with obstruction, breach of the peace and failing to observe a Garda instruction. read more

By Jim Pickard,Property Correspondent
Published: June 6 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 6 2007 03:00

Gerald Ronson is set to bid for a 5.5 acre site around the Shell Centre on London’s South Bank which could be turned into a 1m sq ft-plus complex.

The property entrepreneur hopes to revive his plan for a “Heron City” mixed-use scheme at the site on the south bank of the Thames which could feature a multi-screen cinema, a hotel, apartments and an array of shops.

It is understood that Royal Dutch Shell, the oil group, has hired agents CB Richard Ellis to review its options for the land around its headquarters and no firm decision has yet been made. However, a sale process is likely to go ahead within weeks. read more

The following is a transcript of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates debate hosted by CNN, WMUR-TV and The New Hampshire Union Leader. The participants were Senator Sam Brownback, the former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Duncan Hunter, the former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul, the former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Tom Tancredo, and the former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and the moderator was Wolf Blitzer. read more

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KOROKORO, Nigeria (AP) — Young boys scamper along weed-entangled pipes, transforming an oil-pumping station marked ”Not In Use” into a jungle gym in the heart of Nigeria’s lawless oil region. Nearby wells rust under the palm trees, and gas-flaring chimneys have gone cold.

The scene in Ogoniland, where villagers ousted oil companies in the 1990s, offers a glimpse of the industry’s worst-case scenario: an absolute shutdown of production across the Niger Delta, where strife has already cut production by a quarter. read more

By Tim Annett: June 5, 2007 5:04 p.m.

Vladimir Putin may not tear off his shoe and begin pounding on the table Nikita Khrushchev-style at this week’s Group of Eight summit. But relations between Moscow and the West have scarcely been frostier since the Cold War.

Early today, President Bush sought to reassure Moscow that it has nothing to fear from the proposed missile shield that the administration wishes to install in Eastern Europe. Over the weekend, Mr. Putin, the Russian president, said in an interview that if Washington went ahead with its plans to install equipment for the shield in the Czech Republic and Poland, then he would retaliate by retargeting his missiles toward Europe. Mr. Putin accused the U.S. of trying to install bases and weapons around the old Soviet bloc in an effort to lure Russia into a new arms race. Today, Mr. Bush said that “Russia is not the enemy.” Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin will have a face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the G-8 gathering, and speaking to the media in Prague, Mr. Bush said he would tell his Russian counterpart that “the Cold War is over. It ended.” He said, “My message will be: ‘Vladimir — I call him Vladimir — you shouldn’t fear a missile defense system. As a matter of fact, why don’t you cooperate with us on a missile defense system?” Washington says that the shield is intended to protect against attack by Iran or other rogue or terrorist elements, and Mr. Bush vowed to make it open to scrutiny by Russian military officials and scientists. read more

Financial Times
Updated: 1:10 a.m. ET June 6, 2007

As if laying pipelines across Sakhalin Island, described by Chekhov as “hell”, were not enough, the engineers battling the elements there have to put up with their boss’s motivational memos.

In a leaked e-mail from David Greer, the deputy chief executive of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, the consortium running the Sakhalin 2 project, he reveals that he despises cowards and urges his staff to “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way”. read more