Ukraine, Shell Shale Gas Deal
Extracts from article by Maxime Zech published on Friday 7 March 2014 by NL Times.nl
The Ukrainian parliament asked the new government on Wednesday for an investigation into the gas contract with Shell. There is suspicion that money is being funneled to ousted president Yanukovych and his cronies via the contract. The deal with Shell must be entirely clarified and must be off the table as soon as possible. As well as suspicion of corruption, Shell is also causing environmental damage in Ukraine by the application of techniques which are illegal in the Netherlands…
Royal Dutch Shell cavalier approach to corporate governance
Extracts from an article by Alex Brummer published on 6 March 2014 by thisismoney.co.uk (The Daily Mail)
Royal Dutch Shell has often shown a rather cavalier approach to corporate governance. Its annual general meetings have become a battle ground over directors pay with institutional investors notably concerned over less than stretching bonus arrangements.
There has also been irritation over the failure to fulfil an undertaking to hold parallel annual meetings in London and the Hague.
It is a general principle on the London Stock Exchange that all shareholders, from the smallest private investor to big institutions, receive price sensitive information at the same time. So it is unfortunate that Shell chose selectively to release details of its views on Scottish independence before the new chief executive Ben van Beurden formally confirmed that the oil major – a key player in the North Sea – wants Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Kazakhstan sues Kashagan oil group for $737 mln in pollution case
Extracts from article by Dmitry Solovyov published on 7 March 2014 by Reuters
ASTANA, March 7 (Reuters) – Kazakhstan is suing the multinational consortium developing the huge Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea for 134.2 billion tenge ($737 million) over damage to the environment, the Environment Protection Ministry said on Friday. Production at Kashagan, the world’s biggest oil discovery in 35 years, which took 13 years and some $50 billion to bring onstream, began in September but was stopped just weeks later after gas was found to be leaking from its pipelines. Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Eni and Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGas each hold a 16.81 percent stake in Kashagan.
RELATED: ‘CASH ALL GONE’
Third time unlucky: why Gazprom wants no new gas war
Extracts from an article by Dmitry Zhdannikov published on 7 March 2014 by Reuters
Over the past decade, Gazprom, 51-percent controlled by the state, has twice cut its supplies to Ukraine over pricing disputes with Kiev. That action also cut supplies to the EU, which gets 50 percent of Russian deliveries via Ukraine. Gazprom also helped the Kremlin nationalise Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin gas project as Putin re-established Russia’s grip on the energy sector after predecessor Boris Yeltsin let it slip with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite setbacks at Sakhalin, Shell remains Gazprom’s partner in the project, calling it a very successful investment.
Big oil counts the cost of tapping new discoveries
Extract from an excellent article by Ed Crooks of The Financial Times published 6 March 2014
The issue has come to a head after three years in which the price of crude has drifted down… while costs have continued to rise. Chevron’s and ExxonMobil’s shares have both risen by 11 per cent in the past three years, and Total’s by 8 per cent, while Royal Dutch Shell’s have fallen 2 per cent.
The TRUTH will set you FREE.
