Nabucco trans-Caspian gas pipeline in jeopardy - March, 2008

Nabucco trans-Caspian gas pipeline in jeopardy - paper

The future of the Western-backed Nabucco trans-Caspian gas pipeline that is designed to bypass Russia could be in jeopardy, the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet said on Tuesday. Commenting on the results of talks held between the Turkmen president and Turkish leaders on Monday in Ankara, the paper said that the parties had failed to agree on the delivery of Turkmenistan's natural gas to Turkey for the Nabucco project. The $7-8 billion Nabucco pipeline, backed by the EU and the U.S., is expected to link energy-rich Central Asia to Europe through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria. Construction has been tentatively scheduled to begin in 2010. Without the support of Turkmenistan, a major natural gas producer in Central Asia, the Nabucco project is unrealistic, the paper said. In what was widely seen as a major blow to the Nabucco project, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan signed a deal in December to supply the Asian states' Caspian gas via Russia. Moscow also reached deals with Bulgaria and Serbia earlier this year on the South Stream pipeline to pump Central Asian gas to Europe.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080325/102139756.html


In related news:

Russia to continue Arctic shelf research

March, 2008

Russian scientists will continue to study the Arctic shelf in order to bolster the country's claim to a large swathe of seabed believed to be rich in oil and gas, a Russian lawmaker said on Thursday. President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia's Arctic research is aimed at establishing the country's right to a part of the Arctic shelf. Artur Chilingarov, a member of the lower house of Russia's parliament and a veteran explorer, said there had been sufficient funding for Arctic research in 2008, adding that international cooperation in the area would also continue. "We are for international cooperation in the Arctic, but we will never give away what is ours by right," he said. He also said Russia's economic interests should be given priority in Arctic research, adding that by 2009 Russia should submit "documentary substantiation of the external boundaries of the Russian Federation's territorial shelf to the UN." Last August, as part of a scientific expedition, two Russian mini-subs made a symbolic eight-hour dive beneath the North Pole to bolster the country's claim that the Arctic's Lomonosov Ridge lies in the country's economic zone. A titanium Russian flag was also planted on the seabed. The expedition irritated a number of Western countries, particularly Canada, and Peter MacKay, the Canadian foreign minister, accused Moscow of making an unsubstantiated claim to the area. Russia's oceanology research institute has undertaken two Arctic expeditions - to the Mendeleyev underwater chain in 2005 and to the Lomonosov ridge last summer - to back Russian claims to the region. The area is believed to contain vast oil and gas reserves and other mineral riches, likely to become accessible in future decades due to man-made global warming. Researchers have conducted deepwater seismic probes, aerial and geophysical surveys, and seismic-acoustic probes from the Akademik Fedorov and Rossiya icebreakers. Russia first claimed the territory in 2001, but the UN demanded more evidence. Under international law, the five Arctic Circle countries - the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia - each have a 322-kilometer (200-mile) economic zone in the Arctic Ocean.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080327/102381783.html

In related news:

Who owns the Arctic Commons Abyssal vast oil and gas resources?

“We believe, as many others do, that the most prolific remaining conventional oil and gas resources are in the Arctic or sub-Arctic, because we’ve pretty much developed the geologies south, whether that’s in the United States or whether that’s in Europe or Asia,” Shell's CEO john Hofmeister said recently. THE NORTH POLE IS OURS, NOT RUSSIA'S: The sensational headlines say, “Russian Arctic Team Reaches North Pole.” But the U.S. was there first—back in the early 1900s. America, not Russia, has a valid claim to the North Pole... Russian claims in this area are so flimsy that they were rejected before—by the U.N. itself. The proceedings of the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf demonstrate that Russian claims about the outer limits of the continental shelf in the Arctic and Pacific oceans were considered during a series of meetings in 2002 and they were told to make “revised” submissions. That is, the Russian case was weak. .......

Source: http://www.unoilgas.com/recent_arcti...news_links.htm

BP suspends 148 workers over visa dispute with Russia

BP’s problems in Russia escalated yesterday after the oil giant was forced to suspend 148 employees seconded to TNK-BP, its Moscow-based joint venture, after a dispute over visas. Fears that BP had become the latest victim of an ongoing power struggle between the Kremlin and Western energy groups were compounded when the Russian Interior Ministry said that it had launched a criminal investigation into allegations of “large-scale tax evasion” at a former unit of TNK-BP. BP said that the visa row affected specialist technical staff, such as oilfield engineers and reservoir managers, from countries including Britain, the United States, China and Germany. A spokesman in London said that most of the employees had chosen to remain in the country until the dispute had been resolved, although they were not permitted to work.

The suspension comes after difficulties experienced by BP in renewing visas after a recent legal change and the raid last week on TNK-BP’s Moscow headquarters, which led to a junior employee being charged with industrial espionage. BP and Russian law enforcement agencies insisted that there was no connection between the visa dispute and the raid or the claims of tax evasion, but the timing has fuelled concerns that a political motive may be behind the dispute. BP owns half of TNK-BP, Russia’s third-biggest oil company. The remainder belongs to a consortium of oligarchs – Mikhail Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg and Len Blavatnik. A lock-in agreement that prevented the Russians from selling expired at the end of last year and there has been speculation that Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled gas monopoly, wants to acquire an interest in TNK-BP.

TNK-BP said that the suspension was a temporary measure taken due to “a lack of clarity over their current visa status”. Russian officials said that the problems “have existed for some time and are due to violations of Russian migration law. Some employees entered Russia with business visas, although working visas were required for permanent residence and work in the country. Also, attempts were made to obtain visas on the basis of the quotas of other, “ ‘dummy’ firms, which is against the law.” About 40 more senior TNK-BP employees, including Bob Dudley, the chief executive officer, and Tim Summers, the chief operating officer, who used to work directly for BP were not affected.

The Interior Ministry said it was investigating allegations that more than one billion roubles (£231 million) of tax was evaded by Sidanco, the former TNK-BP oil unit that was liquidated in 2005 after its assets were merged into the parent group. BP declined comment on the investigation. The Russian environmental agency added to the pressures on BP last week when it began an inquiry into TNK-BP’s Samotlor oilfield. The investigation is being led by Oleg Mitvol, the rumbustious head of the RosPrirodNadzor state agency. Mr Mitvol also headed the inquiry into Shell’s gas development on Sakhalin Island in eastern Siberia, which carried a threat of large fines and ultimately led to Shell’s loss of control of the project and the transfer of a majority stake to Gazprom.

Other UK energy companies that have faced difficulty trying to do business in Russia include Sibir Energy, the oil firm which claimed to have been cheated out of its Russian assets, leading to a claim for damages against Roman Abramovich, who sold his majority stake in Russian energy giant Sibneft to Gazprom for $13 billion (£6.5 billion). Relations between Britain and Russia have sunk to their lowest point in years, despite claims by president-elect Dmitri Medvedev, the chairman of Gazprom, that there was no political motivation to the disputes concerning TNK-BP. The joint venture employs 66,000 people and is a major oil and gas company in its own right. At the end of 2006 it was producing 1.7 million barrels of oil per day and had reserves of 7.8 billion barrels, which is equivalent to a large multinational oil firm.

Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle3621968.ece