June 7th, 2007:

Jun 7, 2007 2:22:00 PM MST

CALGARY (CP) _ Shell Canada officially welcomed its new, interim leader Adrian Loader on Thursday, signalling a turnover of senior management as the corporation transitions from a public entity into a unit of its parent Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Speculation about how the newly privatized company would be run – and by whom – was put to rest Thursday morning with internal and public communications releasing some details of the company‘s refit into Royal Dutch Shell‘s business model. read more

ALEX NICHOLSON,
Published: Jun 07, 2007

After tense talks with Western leaders at the Group of Eight summit, President Vladimir Putin will turn genial host this weekend, showing off Russia’s economic transformation to some of the world’s top executives and trying to soothe the concerns of foreign investors.

The St. Petersburg Economic Forum will bring together a list of corporate heavyweights, testimony to the investment potential of Russia’s booming economy despite Moscow’s increasingly strained diplomatic and political ties with the West. read more

SANTO DOMINGO. – Representatives of the Government and of the Shell maintain a confrontation over the Dominican Petroleum Refinery’s (Refidomsa) Governing Board, when officials asked that 3 plant executives be fired, which the multinational company opposes.

The newspaper Listin Diario reports that Shell as well as the Government officials who are in the Board have kept silence on the confrontations, but it was learned yesterday that one of the reasons is the official sector’s requests of explanations on the operations to purchase and market fuels. read more

Wednesday Newspaper Review – Irish Business News and International Stories
By Finfacts Team
Jun 6, 2007, 07:12

The FT also reports that 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

Days ago, Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s second largest corporation, took over management of Shell Canada.The takeover means that the company behind the decades-long bloody conflict in the Niger Delta is now in charge of a controversial gas project in the wilderness of northern British Columbia.

Shell’s Klappan project is a massive coalbed methane development planned for an alpine basin known to local indigenous people as the Sacred Headwaters. It is the shared birthplace of three of the northwest Canada’s greatest rivers: the Nass, the Skeena and the Stikine. read more

A Sakhalin Mayor Says Shell Unit Offered Cash Payment
October 27, 2005 – from the Dow Jones newswire (Read Dutch version here).

By Benoit Faucon

LONDON (Dow Jones)–A senior executive of a Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN)-led joint venture on Russia’s Sakhalin Island offered $50,000 in cash payment as part of land rental negotiations, a local mayor told Dow Jones Newswires.

Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. Ltd., the company involved, denied the allegation. And the mayor himself withdrew it shortly after Sakhalin Energy denied it. read more

Daniel Dombey, London and Neil Buckley, Moscow
June 08, 2007

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 Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to hold what he termed “frank” talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations summit in Germany. read more

Thursday 7th June, 2007

Moscow’s move to take control of energy assets from foreign companies has prompted a warning from the British government.

The Foreign Office has stepped up warnings about Russia and has told British companies there is now more evidence of risks faced by outside investors.

The Kremlin’s most recent assaults on energy companies have involved U.K. interests: Royal Dutch Shell’s controlling stake in the $20bn Sakhalin-2 project in Russia’s far east and the license held by BP’s Russian venture for the huge Kovykta gas field in Siberia. read more

Financial Times

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”.

Sakhalin 2 has had a troubled history, hit by rising costs and concerns about its environmental impact. read more

“Pipeliners All ! Many thanks to all of you for your contributions to this week’s Bi-Annual Challenge………..and what a Challenge it is going to be for all of us!” Thus begins an email from David Greer, the deputy chief executive officer of Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, the consortium running the Sakhalin 2 project, revealing that he despises “cowards” and urges his staff to “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way”. Is this the worst motivational email you’ve ever read? Do you have examples of similar memos – or worse?
Hosted by – FT.com

   

In Nigeria’s Violent Delta,
Hostage Negotiators Thrive
Joshua Benamaisia
Helps Rescue Captives;
More Woes for Big Oil
By CHIP CUMMINS

June 7, 2007; Page A1

YENAGOA, Nigeria — In January, gunmen dynamited their way into the compound of a construction firm here, forced nine South Korean workers onto waiting boats, and sped off into the Niger River Delta’s maze of mangrove-lined creeks.

The next day, Joshua Benamaisia was on the case. A 44-year-old adviser to the local government, Mr. Benamaisia leads a band of state-sponsored vigilantes and plays another murky role: gumshoe and hostage negotiator. Mr. Benamaisia phoned an old friend who is a prominent militant leader, and two days later the Koreans walked out of the swamps unharmed.
 
WSJ’s Chip Cummins reports from Yenagoa, Nigeria on how bandits and corruption are plaguing Africa’s most populous nation. read more