December 1st, 2007:

By Helen Power
2 December 2007

There are few more long-suffering PRs in the City than one Bobby Morse at Buchanan.

For the past five years the spinner has been doing his best to ensure his client, Regal Petroleum which is backed by colourful Romanian entrepreneur, Frank Timis, gets just the right kind of PR. Difficult to do if your client claims to have found a huge oil field in Greece which then turns out to be dry.

Glory seemed to have been restored to Regal with news that oil giant Shell had agreed to a deal to take a stake in its Ukrainian gas fields, but this was abruptly called off after Regal suddenly replaced the management team. Critics have claimed Timis, who still controls 20 per cent of the shares, was behind the move. read more

The Wall Street Journal: Standoff on Kazakh Oil Field

Talks Stall on Fines
Firms Should Pay
For Project Delays
By GUY CHAZAN
November 30, 2007; Page A8

Talks between Kazakh authorities and a group of Western companies developing an oil field in the Caspian Sea have bogged down over a multibillion-dollar fine Kazakhstan wants to impose on the consortium.

The slowdown sets the stage for a standoff over the future of one of the world’s biggest oil projects.

Kazakhstan and the consortium, led by Italy’s Eni SpA, had hoped to conclude talks aimed at resolving their conflict over the Kashagan field by today. But officials in the Kazakh capital of Astana said the deadline will pass without a resolution.
People familiar with the matter said Kazakhstan was demanding $7 billion in compensation for holdups to the project, while the consortium is prepared to pay no more than $4 billion. read more

By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: November 30, 2007

The United States could shave as much as 28 percent off the amount of greenhouse gases it emits at fairly modest cost and with only small technology innovations, according to a new report.

A large share of the reductions could come from steps that would more than pay for themselves in lower energy bills for industries and individual consumers, the report said, adding that people should take those steps out of good sense regardless of how worried they might be about climate change. But that is unlikely to happen under present circumstances, said the authors, who are energy experts at McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm. read more

By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 2:25am GMT 01/12/2007

Kazakhstan is demanding about $7bn (£3.5bn) in compensation from a group of Western oil companies including Eni and Royal Dutch Shell for delays at the giant Kashagan oilfield.

Talks to agree a compensation deal by a deadline of last night are thought to have broken up without conclusion. The Caspian Sea oilfield is among the biggest finds in 30 years and oil companies are desperate to get their hands on some of the crude to replenish reserves. read more

MARK WILLIAMSON
December 01 2007

The joint head of Shell’s North Sea operations has called on the government to reverse tax rises which, he suggested, could jeopardise the future of the province.

John Gallagher, vice-president, technical, for the oil giant’s European exploration and production business, said increases in corporation tax on North Sea profits in 2002 and 2005 had exacerbated the serious challenges faced by oil and gas firms.

While North Sea operators have been benefiting from record oil prices driven by buoyant demand, Gallagher said steep increases in the price of essential support services had wiped out much of the benefit. read more

•No established link to former VP
By Yemi Adebowale, 12.01.2007

Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former finance minister under the General Muhammed Buhari military regime, Dr. Onaolapo Soleye have again resurfaced as alleged beneficiaries of the $6 million bribe distributed by American oil service company, Wilbros Group to secure contracts for the eastern gas gathering system (EGGS) in Nigeria.

Also middle level officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are believed to have been named as being beneficaries of the bribe. read more

MARK WILLIAMSON
December 01 2007

JOHN Gallagher has had big jobs around the world but cannot have faced a tougher judgment call than the one he made when he and his family found themselves in the path of the hurricane that devastated New Orleans.

As head of the Shell oil group’s operations in the western Gulf of Mexico, the Scot was advised to take his wife and their four children to a local emergency centre in the city when Hurricane Katrina loomed in August 2005.

But, recalling the fateful decision to leave the city in which he had been living for three years just a day before Katrina swept in, Gallagher says he and his colleagues felt more decisive action was needed. read more