September 4th, 2007:

By Mark Mulligan in Madrid and Dino Mahtani in London
Published: September 4 2007 22:17 | Last updated: September 4 2007 22:17

Repsol YPF was on Tuesday reeling from its latest run-in with a national oil company, but Spain’s biggest energy group could at least take solace from the fact that it is not alone.

The decision by Sonatrach of Algeria to expel it, and related utility Gas Natural, from a €5bn ($6.8bn) gas development and liquefaction project is just the latest sign of the growing assertiveness of countries rich in oil and gas. read more

By Isabel Gorst in Moscow
Published: September 4 2007 19:12 | Last updated: September 4 2007 19:12

Kazakhstan said on Tuesday it would seek $10bn of compensation for econ­omic damage from escalating cost and late development of the Kashag­an oilfield, led by Italy’s Eni .

Eni opened talks last week with Kazakhstan about the dispute, which erupted after Eni presented the government with a revised development plan for Kashagan delaying first production until 2010 and doubling the cost of the first, 300,000 barrels a day, phase to $19bn. read more

September 04, 2007: 02:08 PM EST

ABERDEEN, Scotland -(Dow Jones)- Developing commercially viable carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology should be a major priority for companies and governments all over the world because renewable energy sources will not be able to replace oil and gas quickly enough, a senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) said Tuesday.

“Without CCS, fossil fuel use would have to be cut by more than half,” Malcolm Brinded, Executive Director of Exploration and Production at the Anglo-Dutch company, said at the Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen. read more

By Billy Youngson
Filed from Aberdeen
9/4/2007 1:43:51 PM GMT
 
UK: Shell is not pulling out of the North Sea or Aberdeen, the company’s executive director of exploration and production Malcolm Brinded said as he addressed the city’s Offshore Europe exhibition.

In his presentation, called “Who needs international oil companies?”, he touched on Shell’s controversial decision to sell off a string of mature assets in UK waters earlier this year.

Addressing the conference, he said, “International oil companies have played a central role in developing areas like the North Sea. We’re still needed, but not everywhere, doing everything. read more

RBC, 04.09.2007, Moscow 18:56:42.

Sakhalin Energy will replace some of its Shell-appointed managerial staff with Gazprom representatives over the next 12 months, the company’s CEO Ian Craig said in a statement at the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Conference 2007 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk today.

Craig claimed that Gazprom’s arrival as the major stakeholder in the Sakhalin-2 project had been the most significant corporate event of 2006. He emphasized that the shareholders’ objective was to maintain continuity in corporate activity in case of an ownership transfer and phases to follow. However, Sakhalin Energy will remain the project operator, while Shell will continue as the project’s technical advisor, he added.
 
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20070904185642.shtml read more

By JUDY DEMPSEY and KATRIN BENNHOLD
Published: September 4, 2007

BERLIN, Sept. 3 — The European Union’s ambitions to open its energy sector to greater competition were dealt a fresh blow Monday after the French state-owned company Gaz de France announced that it would merge with the utility Suez to create one of the world’s largest energy groups.

The deal, which creates Europe’s largest buyer and seller of natural gas as well as its biggest natural gas distributor, reinforces France’s position as a major player in European and global energy markets. But it also runs directly counter to the centerpiece of proposals by the European Commission to break up control of the production, transportation and distribution of energy, analysts cautioned. read more

Reuters – Tuesday, September 4YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia, Sept 4 – Russia’s gas export monopoly Gazprom said on Tuesday it needs gas from Exxon Mobil’s Sakhalin-1 project for domestic use, mounting pressure on the U.S. major to drop plans to export gas to China.

Gazprom, which controls another major gas project, Sakhalin-2, off the Russian Pacific coast, said Exxon should take into account Russia’s priority to supply the domestic market first.

“Given that nearly all the gas from the Sakhalin-2 project has already been sold under long-term contracts, and other Sakhalin projects are not expected to start production in the middle term, the gas from Sakhalin-1 can be the only source for domestic supplies until at least 2015,” said Vladimir Kozlov, head of Gazprom’s Sakhalin office. read more

04 Sep 2007

Shell Eastern LNG (Shell) and PetroChina International Company Limited (PetroChina) have concluded a binding Heads of Agreement (HOA) for the long-term supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with the primary source being the Gorgon project in Western Australia. The HoA constitutes a milestone in the development of LNG supplies to China.

The HOA covers the key terms of the transaction and provides that Shell and PetroChina will work together to conclude and execute a detailed LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement before December 2008. During the 20-year contract term, Shell will sell one million tonnes per annum of LNG to PetroChina. The Shell-PetroChina agreement is conditional upon a Final Investment Decision being taken by the Gorgon Joint Venture Partners. read more

By Christian Schmollinger

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — OAO Gazprom’s Sakhalin Energy project will import a cargo of liquefied natural gas from Alaska to aid in starting up the facility, said chief executive Ian Craig.

Tokyo Gas Co. and Tokyo Electric Power Co., customers of the Sakhalin-2 project, will provide the cargo to help top up storage tanks at the LNG export terminal before operations begin next year, Craig said today in a speech at the Sakhalin Oil and Gas Conference in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. read more

Tom Shiel in Castlebar, Irish Times
Published: Sep 04, 2007

Environmental activists opposed to the Corrib gas project have been given until January 1st by a Circuit Court judge to vacate and demolish a “solidarity camp” that they erected two years ago in sand dunes at Glengad, Co Mayo.

The camp, which comprises a portable cabin, six beehive-shaped tents, toilets and a wind turbine, was erected, in what Mayo County Council says is “a particularly fragile landscape”.

The council, which said the camp was unauthorised and causing “irreparable damage” to the local environment, successfully obtained an injunction against three named defendants, Eoin O LeidhIn, Bob Kavanagh and Niall Harnett, at a sitting of the Circuit Court yesterday in Castlebar. read more

By Isabel Gorst
Published: September 4 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 4 2007 03:00

When a delegation of executives from five of the world’s biggest oil companies led by Italy’s Eniwent to Kazakhstan last week to seek to resolve a dispute at the giant Kashagan oilfield, they were met with news that the government had halted work on the development on environmental grounds and had launched a criminal inquiry into alleged tax evasion on equipment imports.

It was an inauspicious start to what Paolo Scaroni, Eni’s chief executive, had said would be “friendly talks” about the future of Kashagan. Irked by surging costs and sliding production deadlines, Kazakhstan is demanding improved terms. read more

By Martin E Simons

Published: September 4 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 4 2007 03:00
From Mr Martin E. Simons.

Sir, Three main inter-related aspects of the current financial turmoil have attracted insufficient comment.

First, how odd that the use of conduits by banks has not led to searching questions. These vehicles are run by banks which consolidate the resultant profits and losses. Why is there no audit qualification if the related assets and liabilities are not consolidated? We have had the implosion of Enron and a world-renowned firm of accountants linked to the use of conduits. Why are such frothy practices still apparently acceptable? read more

By GREGORY L. WHITE
September 4, 2007; Page A8

The government of Kazakhstan expects compensation for what it sees as “tens of billions of dollars” of economic harm due to massive cost overruns and delays at the Kashagan oil project, led by Italy’s Eni SpA, a government official said.

In a telephone interview Friday, Deputy Finance Minister Daulet Ergozhin said Kazakh authorities are looking for more than financial compensation from Eni and its partners. Mr. Ergozhin said Kazakh officials want changes to the structure of the deal to ensure smooth implementation. read more

The Associated Press
Published: September 4, 2007

MELBOURNE, Australia: Royal Dutch Shell PLC signed a conditional agreement with PetroChina Co. to sell 1 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas a year from the Gorgon project off the coast of Western Australia.

Shell, the second largest oil and gas company by revenues, said the agreement covers a 20-year period and is conditional on the Gorgon partners reaching a final investment decision on the project.

The pair will work on concluding a detailed LNG sales and purchase agreement before December 2008, Shell said. read more

The Shell company logo are displayed outside a Shell service station at Abingdon, near Cambridge, July 23, 2007. Photographer: Si Barber/Bloomberg News

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, signed an initial accord to sell liquefied natural gas to PetroChina Co. from the delayed $10 billion-plus Gorgon project in Western Australia.

The accord is for the sale of 1 million metric tons a year of LNG over 20 years to PetroChina, Asia’s biggest oil company by market value, with Gorgon as the main source, Shell’s Australian unit said today in an e-mailed statement. The accord is conditional on the Chevron Corp.-led Gorgon project going ahead. read more

EXTRACT: In September 2002, Berger & Montague filed a class action complaint against Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport. The oil giants are charged with “purchasing ammunition and using … helicopters and boats and providing logistical support for ‘Operation Restore Order in Ogoniland'” which was designed, according to the law firm, to “terrorize the civilian population into ending peaceful protests against Shell’s environmentally unsound oil exploration and extraction activities”. read more