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Sakhalin

Prison terms for corruption in oil and gas contracts

Photo shows Sakhalin II, Russia’s first liquified natural gas project. Courtesy of Gazprom.

Hi John,

I case you haven’t seen it, looks like there has been a corruption conviction involving Sakhalin II.  Although the story below does not mention Sakhalin II by its exact name, the story says the project “is one of the largest integrated oil and gas projects in the world and involves the exploration and development of several different oil and gas fields in the Sea of Okhotsk off Sakhalin Island (part of the Russian Federation).” read more

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BP to End Sakhalin Venture With Rosneft

By ALEXIS FLYNN

LONDON—BP PLC said it will end its 13-year alliance with Russian state-owned oil company OAO Rosneft to explore for oil and gas in Sakhalin, due in part to the economics of the Far East project.

The U.K.-based energy producer said that in recent meetings with the shareholders and board of ZAO Elvary Neftegaz it confirmed its intention to exit the joint venture. “There are many reasons for this decision, including the challenging economics of the discovered resource in the KV [Kaigansky-Vasuykansky] block,” BP said Friday. read more

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Shell Sees Window to Expand Sakhalin LNG in Asia Market

By Stephen Bierman – Dec 7, 2011 12:15 PM GMT

Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA) said its Sakhalin venture with OAO Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas export monopoly needs to expand fast to sell liquefied natural gas to Asia at maximum profit.

There’s a window of opportunity in the Asia Pacific from 2015 to 2020, Harry Brekelmans, the head of the energy company’s Russian unit, told reporters today in Moscow. The market will tighten after that with additional LNG volumes coming from Australia, Shell spokesman Maxim Shoob said today. read more

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Russia’s oil exploration threatens gray whales

Postponing seismic work may help the whales recover, say scientists

BBC NEWS

Oil exploration plans in eastern Russia are a serious threat to gray whales in the area, say scientists with the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The Rosneft company is due to begin a seismic survey around Sakhalin island within the next few weeks.

The IWC’s Scientific Committee is “extremely concerned” about the plans and is calling for a postponement.

The gray whale population is critically endangered, with only about 130 animals left and only 20 breeding females. read more

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Russia invites Shell back to Sakhalin as finances plummet

In a surprise move, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin invited Royal Dutch Shell to help develop two new oil and gas fields on Sakhalin Island, just three years after the government forced the company to cede majority control in the Sakhalin 2 project to state-controlled group Gazprom.

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Russia to Cooperate With Shell on Sakhalin 3 and 4

June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Russia is prepared to cooperate with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil producer, on oil and gas projects in the Russian Far East known as Sakhalin-3 and Sakhalin-4, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

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Oil and gas consortium will suspend seismic activities to protect gray whales

During a meeting of the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP), Sakhalin Energy - a partnership between Shell, Gasprom and other shareholders - agreed to cancel its proposed 2009 seismic activities, despite having already put plans in place for the work.

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BP & Exxon ignore pleas to help worlds most endangered whales

"On the one hand, we have Shell and Gazprom at least looking at their plans to see if impacts on whales can be reduced and on the other hand we have BP, Exxon and Rosneft not even telling scientists what their plans are."

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Gazprom names Shell as top potential partner in Sakhalin-3

April 14, 2009

Need to know

Natural Resources

: The oil and gas group will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, when Peter Sutherland, the chairman, will face calls for his departure because of his involvement as a non-executive director of the troubled Royal Bank of Scotland.

Gazprom: The Russian gas group has named Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company, as a top “potential partner” in its new upstream Sakhalin-3 project in Russia’s Far East.

Oil and Gas UK: The leading lobby group for the North Sea oil and gas industry has called on the Chancellor to introduce tax concessions for its members or risk the loss of about 50,000 jobs and a sharp decline in investment in offshore exploration. read more

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“Wow!” said Ollila

The dispute ended in victory for the Russian side. Shell and its partners in Sakhalin Energy sold their controlling interest in the venture to the Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, and are now minority shareholders.

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BP quits failed Russian test area

BP has abandoned the Sakhalin 4 oil exploration area in Russia after wells drilled there came up dry, marking a further disappointment in what had previously been seen as one of its most promising regions.

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Resource-holders still hold power

Royal Dutch Shell was forced to cede control of the Sakhalin II liquefied natural gas project in 2007 to the state-controlled Gazprom. Shell was stung by Russia's action, but in an interview on the island this week, its Chief Executive Officer Jeroen van der Veer said the company was willing to discuss more projects with the Russian gas monopoly and possibly with other national firms. "If you look at our history, we have many partnerships with NOCs, not only Gazprom," he said.

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BP’s unhappy marriage to the Russian oligarchy

If it is any consolation, Shell's venture with Gazprom in Sakhalin went even further awry. It is arduous indeed, but it is hard to see a company of the stature and ambition of BP, or Shell for that matter, opting out of the Russian growth story.

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Big Oil Can’t Resist the Chavez Charm

You'd think BP or Royal Dutch Shell, for instance, would be especially hesitant about cozying up to the strongman again. After all, BP saw one of its executives flee Russia to escape trumped up charges while having a power-sharing agreement forced on it. Shell was forced to sell its Sakhalin Island interests to Russian gas giant Gazprom. Such are the dangers of signing over your soul to the devil.

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Shell may be allowed into Sakhalin III project

Royal Dutch Shell eyes participation in different projects in Sakhalin, Sakhalin III in particular. The company sees the projects as joint ventures with Russia’s holding the control stakes (51% and more). As for other Russian regions, the company is interested in the Yamal Peninsula.

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Construction of 800 kilometer pipeline completed on Sakhalin

Itar Tass reported that the construction of an 800 kilometer oil and gas pipeline by the Sakhalin Energy Company has been completed.

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Companies with poor track records on environmental damage try for change

Companies like Shell are facing new threats to their business. Communities that oppose big mining and drilling projects have caused costly delays...

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Trouble in the pipeline for Grey Whales

Sakhalin, Russia - The fate of the world’s few remaining Western Grey Whales now rests on the outcome of appeals to Russian authorities and courts following the refusal of an oil consortium to consider alternatives to a proposal to lay an oil pipeline through a shallow lagoon crucial to the whales’ food supplies.

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Shell plots $1.2bn Regal takeover bid

Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest energy company, has proposed a $1.2bn (£600m) takeover of Regal Petroleum, the oil and gas explorer trying to recover from a controversial past under former chief executive Frank Timis.

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Shell in talks on Urals Energy field unit – report

Shell has been trying to improve its position in Russia, after it had to cede control of major offshore project Sakhalin-2 to state-controlled Gazprom last year. Shell now owns 27.5 percent of Sakhalin-2, which is on the Russian Pacific island of the same name.

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Shell to take big stake in Sibir by year-end -paper

Shell has been trying to improve its position in Russia, after it had to cede control in major offshore project Sakhalin 2 to state-controlled Gazprom last year. Shell now owns 27.5 percent of Sakhalin 2.

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Talks over News Corp offshoot may create world’s biggest billboard firm

Its rival, Shell, meanwhile, eventually handed a large share of its Sakhalin gasfield business to the state-owned Gazprom after destabilising criticism from regulators.

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Law society warning over Russia’s ‘state-sponsored intimidation’

Hermitage's problems are likely to add to pressure on Russia after apparent political interference at TNK-BP and Royal Dutch Shell's Sakhalin 2 gas project.

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Kremlin attack dog who hounded Shell out of its controlling stake in Sakhalin-2 has been dismissed

RIA Novosti

Deputy head of Russian environmental watchdog dismissed

Kremlin attack dog Oleg Mitvol

"Kremlin attack dog" Oleg Mitvol

20:55|09/ 09/ 2008

MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – A plaque bearing the name of Oleg Mitvol has been removed from the door of his office at the Russian environmental watchdog, the out-of-favor deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Mitvol said the deputy natural resources minister, Semyon Levi, signed an order Tuesday on his dismissal due to personnel cuts, but failed to hand him the document.

Mitvol said the document was signed in the absence of Minister Yury Trutnev, who on Tuesday told journalists in Irkutsk that he hoped the conflict between Mitvol and his boss, Vladimir Kirillov, would be resolved. read more

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Tobacco: Russian regulator launches legal action against BAT

Shell handed over a large share of its Sakhalin gas field business to the state-owned Gazprom after destabilising criticism from regulators.

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Oil groups face capital stagnation in spite of price rises

Big oil companies' prospects have for years been overshadowed by their problems in getting access to resources to enable them to grow. If the oil price keeps falling, and the squeeze on profits continues, the pressure for change could be enough to prompt another round of restructuring.

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Shell comes under fire for role in Sakhalin audit

Email exchanges spanning three months and 40 pages show how officials at Shell sought to downplay the significance of a critical Russian environmental audit by persuading AEA to disperse its findings through the report, rather than leaving them in one potentially damning appendix

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Been Riding the Russian Boom? It’s Time to Cash In Your Chips

Royal Dutch Shell was pressured last year into selling local investments at a bargain price to Russian interests.

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Moscow transforms real-world game of RISK

For BP, the Russian invasion of Georgia could turn into a nightmare...

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LNG Price May Gain 80% as Plant Delays, Export Cuts Curb Supply

The BP Plc-led Tangguh venture in Indonesia, the OAO Gazprom-led Sakhalin-2 project in eastern Russia and a Total SA- led development in Yemen may start in 2009 instead of this year, said Frank Harris, global head of LNG at Wood Mackenzie.

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Big Oil’s Russian Retreat

BP's difficulties in Russia follow the stripping of Royal Dutch Shell from its position as operator at Sakhalin Island a year and a half ago. Most of Shell's assets were sold under duress to Russia's giant natural gas company Gazprom.

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China, India Vie for Russian Oil

Russia's oil and gas fields have proved treacherous for other foreign investors. When Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced that costs at the Sakhalin-2 project had nearly doubled, Russian environmental regulators bombarded it with complaints until Shell sold a majority stake in the project to a Kremlin-run gas company in 2006.

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Oil: BP loses grip on troubled Russian venture as head of finance quits

The company has spent the past year fighting off claims from the tax, environmental and immigration authorities in what has been seen by some industry specialists as a rerun of the kind of problems that afflicted Shell until it sold part of its shareholding in Sakhalin to state-owned Gazprom.

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Positive omens combine for courtship of Imperial Energy

The British group was accused of overstating its reserves to boost its share price, provoking fears that it could face the same renationalisation moves as Shell’s natural gas venture in Sakhalin and BP’s Kovykta programme.

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BP Losing 23% of Production Looms as Russians Assail Investment

Nothing will happen to TNK-BP without the say-so of the Kremlin,'' says Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial Corp., a Moscow-based brokerage. ``The endgame is clear with Putin's government having set up the model of state control.''

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The Russia-Venezuela Alliance: Using Energy for Geopolitical Advantage

When Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez touches down in Moscow on July 22 to meet with the duumvirate of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, he will be ready for more than the usual diplomatic photo-op. This odd trio will be well-positioned to plan substantial international mischief.

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Russian roulette as oiligarchs battle over TNK

After the destruction of Yukos and marginalisation of Royal Dutch Shell at the Sakhalin gas field, TNK is next on the list.

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ENERGY PROJECTS FAIL TO MEET ’07 GOALS

Russia's energy projects, all of which have foreign participation, failed to achieve their oil production targets in 2007, the state auditor said Monday. The projects in question were ExxonMobil's Sakhalin-I, Gazprom's Sakhalin-II in the Far East...

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Russia chides oil majors on production

Letters have been sent to Exxon Neftegaz, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company - where Shell is the No. 2 shareholder after Gazprom - and Total. The auditor has also forwarded details of its claims to the Finance Ministry and the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service.

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Royal Dutch Shell has a new face in the driver’s seat for its U.S. operations: Marvin Odum

Shell experienced a host country taking control of an operation when Russia's Gazprom took over the majority of Shell's natural gas operation on Sakhalin Island in 2006. Other companies have had similar experiences in host countries.

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BP’s rivals shift in Russian tussle

A similar barrage of official harassment was unleashed in 2006 against Royal Dutch Shell to force it to sell a controlling stake in its giant Sakhalin gas venture to Russia's state-dominated energy champion Gazprom.

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Oil lubricates high-level links

In its attempt to take back control of its most precious resources, Russia dismantled Yukos, its most promising independent oil company; played hardball with Royal Dutch Shell in Sakhalin and appears to be making similar moves on TNK-BP.

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Higher oil could lead to a worldwide economic collapse, says top analyst at Germany’s largest bank

Russia Could be Trigger for $200 Oil and Global Recession

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Sakhalin Whales Panel Faults Gas Venture

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- A scientific panel report released Friday revealed ongoing concerns that the Sakhalin-II oil and gas joint venture hasn't complied with all of recommendations on the protection of the endangered Western Gray Whale.

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Another Rough Russian Road

That attack ended with the sale of Shell's interests on Sakhalin Island -- at what appeared to be a considerably below-market price -- to mammoth Russian gas producer Gazprom.

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BP ups stakes by accusing Putin of failing to stop hijack by oligarchs

The treatment of BP is seen as a bellwether of Kremlin attitudes to foreign investors, following the effective seizure of assets from Shell at Sakhalin after a long period of destabilisation.

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Japan banks set to extend loans to Sakhalin-2 project

TOKYO, June 3 (Reuters) - The state-run Japan Bank for International Cooperation and four private banks are in final talks to co-finance loans to back the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas project, the JBIC said on Tuesday.

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Rift Develops Among Investors in Russian Gas Venture

In 2006,Royal Dutch Shell was pressured into selling a controlling stake in its $20 billion Sakhalin-2 oil project to Gazprom at a below-market price after environmental regulators threatened it with billions of dollars in fines.

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As TNK-BP director Jean-Luc Vermeulen quits, spy allegations fly in Moscow

The Kremlin’s campaign against foreign ownership of Russian energy resources forced Shell to cede control of the $20 billion (£10 billion) Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project to Gazprom last year. As the only big energy company not under Russian control, TNK-BP is firmly in its sights.

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Shell Says Nigerian Changes May Deter Investment (Update1)

Governments are seeking more money from oil companies as crude prices have surged to a record and exploration for resources has heated up. Shell ceded a stake in the $22 billion Sakhalin-2 offshore oil and gas project in Russia to Gazprom last year after Russian regulators threatened to shut it down for environmental violations.

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