Exxon attacks Kazakh oilfield delays
By Carola Hoyos in Madrid
Published: July 2 2008 03:00 | Last updated: July 2 2008 03:00
ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest listed integrated energy group, yesterday blamed the government of Kazakhstan for delaying the development of the world’s biggest new oilfield, significantly raising the level of acrimony surrounding the troubled project.
Rex Tillerson, Exxon’s chief executive, barely contained his anger as he warned the Kazakh government to stop delaying the development of the field, into which he said a consortium of the world’s biggest energy companies had already invested $17bn (10.8bn, £8.5bn) but which has yet to produce a barrel of oil or a dollar of revenue.
He said: “It is time for the government of Kazakhstan to stop delaying the project, [to] be supportive of the consortium and see the project through to a successful start-up.”
Christophe de Margerie, chief executive of Total – which is also in the consortium with Eni, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips among others – said that he agreed with Mr Tillerson and that Exxon and Total had long believed that earlier start-up dates had been far too optimistic.
However, the usually blunt Mr de Margerie sounded uncharacteristically diplomatic in comparison with his US counterpart.
Previous tensions surrounding the Kashagan project have stayed behind closed doors as oil executives are generally loathe to antagonise governments on whom they depend for access to oil reserves.
Kashagan, which at its peak is expected to pump 1.5m barrels of oil a day, so becoming one of the world’s three largest fields, is now expected to start operations in 2013, two years later than previous forecasts and eight years later than the initial target of 2005.
The field, which lies in the shallow waters of the Caspian Sea, is a huge technical challenge because of floating ice, high reservoir pressure, lethal levels of hydrogen sulphide gas and the environmental sensitivities surrounding native sturgeon and other species.
How an industry can develop the field when its costs are escalating and supplies of labour and equipment are tight has been a large issue of contention among both the partners in the project and between the oil companies and the Kazakh government.
But the relationship became even more strained when Kazakhstan began to demand a bigger slice of the partnership, insisting that Kazmunaigas, its national oil company, joined the group and then raised its share by forcing the other companies to take a smaller stake. Meanwhile, following the trend of oil-rich states demanding a greater share of the profits that come with $140-a-barrel oil prices, the government has also toughened its contract terms.
Last year relations between the two sides hit a nadirwhen the government stripped Eni of its operating licence for the second phase of the project, which will begin with the start of production. And earlier this week Sauat Mynbayev, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, announced strict new sanctions if deadlines slipped further.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
