Posts on ‘December 14th, 2006’

December 14, 2006]  Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column One of the rules of engineering states that things don’t fail catastrophically without warning. There’s almost always an indication of trouble ahead some time before the event. As the gruesome facts of the disaster that overtook BP’s Texas City refinery leak out like a toxic spill, [...]

Crude-oil futures rose more than $1 a barrel to close at $62.51 after OPEC announced plans to cut production in February. Here is Thursday’s roundup of oil and energy news: * * * OPEC AGREES TO CUT: In a strong signal it will try to prevent oil prices from sliding further, OPEC said it plans [...]

Dec 14, 2006 12:18:00 PM MST   MOSCOW (AP) _ Russia‘s natural resources minister has rejected a call to reprimand outspoken environmental regulator Oleg Mitvol, who has led a controversial environmental probe against a major Shell-led liquefied gas project, a spokesman said Thursday. Sergei Sai, the head of state environment watchdog Rosprirodnadzor, had asked Natural [...]

By Jim Efstathiou Jr. Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Corp. reached agreement with the U.S. Minerals Management Service to pay oil and gas royalties under botched Gulf of Mexico leases from 1998 and 1999. The companies are among a group of about 50 oil and gas [...]

Terry Macalister Thursday December 14, 2006 The British lawyer who represented Greenpeace in the battle with Shell over the disposal of the Brent Spar oil platform has been hired by Russia to prepare a case against the Anglo-Dutch oil company over problems at its development project on Sakhalin island off Siberia. Mark Stephens, partner at [...]

Oleg Mitvol Sergey Say, who is the chief of Russia’s Federal Service for Natural Resources Supervision (Rosprirodnadzor), has set into motion the ousting procedures for his deputy, Oleg Mitvol, RIA Novosti reported referring to a source with Rosprirodnadzor. Sergey Say addressed Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev, urging him to arrange the office probe into Mitvol [...]

Posted on : Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:09:00 GMT | Author : Amsterdam & Peroff News Category : PressRelease   LONDON, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ — Following news of the dismissal of Russia’s chief environmental inspector, Oleg Mitvol, just two days after Shell’s offer to give up a majority stake in the Sakhalin-2 project to the Russian [...]

Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:57 PM ET (Updates with reprieve for Mitvol) By Tom Miles MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Russia’s resources minister on Thursday backed environment watchdog Oleg Mitvol, who has rocked the $22 billion Shell-led Sakhalin-2 energy scheme, even after the official’s own boss demanded he be brought to heel. News that Sergei [...]

The Associated Press December 14, 2006, 10:32AM EST MOSCOW The head of Russia’s environmental watchdog has called for an official review of his outspoken deputy, Oleg Mitvol, who has led a controversial environmental probe against a giant Shell-led liquefied gas project, a spokesman said Thursday. Mitvol has been the face of an environmental campaign against [...]

By Tom Miles MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Russia’s outspoken environment watchdog Oleg Mitvol, who has waged a campaign against the Royal Dutch Shell-led Sakhalin-2 energy project, faced a disciplinary rap on Thursday that could herald his dismissal. News that Mitvol’s boss at the state environmental agency had asked Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev to give [...]

December 14,2006 The Freedom View The Russian government has successfully pressured Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil company, into reducing its stake in a promising but difficult oil and natural-gas field in Siberia from a majority share to a minority share. Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy group, which has invested little or nothing in exploiting the energy [...]

15:36 | 14/ 12/ 2006  MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) – The head of Russia’s environment watchdog has proposed firing his deputy, who led a recent crackdown on a vast Shell-run hydrocarbon project in Russia, a source in the federal service said Thursday. Oleg Mitvol has overseen inspections of a series of leading Russian and [...]

December 15, 2006 By John Helmer MOSCOW- There are three opponents of Russia’s strategy to become a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter – the western gray whale, the US government and Gazprom. Until this week, and for quite different reasons, all three, including the LNG producer itself, Gazprom, have succeeded in delaying and redirecting [...]