THE TIMES: Need to Know: Global Business Briefing: “The Salym joint venture of Royal Dutch/Shell, the oil giant, said that it had pumped the first oil from a Siberian field a year ahead of schedule and expected total output to exceed one million barrels next year.” (ShellNews.net) 16 Dec 04

Edited by Neelam Verjee, Joe Bolger and Tom Roundell

December 16, 2004

Natural Resources

Down 0.2%

BP, the world’s second-largest listed oil company, said that the cost of its Azeri gas project in the Caspian Sea was likely to be about 25 per cent higher than the $3.2 billion (£1.7 billion) estimated, because of the weakness of the dollar and higher commodity prices.

Shareholders in Yukos gave warning that the embattled oil giant’s attempt to seek bankruptcy protection in the United States was unlikely to prevent the auction of Yuganskneftegaz, the company’s main asset, which has been ordered by the Russian Government.

Anglo American, the diversified miner, and its Japanese venture partner, Mitsui, plan to invest more than $600 million to boost production at their Moura coal mine in Australia.

The Salym joint venture of Royal Dutch/Shell, the oil giant, said that it had pumped the first oil from a Siberian field a year ahead of schedule and expected total output to exceed one million barrels next year.

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have signed finance and engineering agreements to move ahead with their $12 billion Qatargas 2 project, which will export liquefied natural gas to Britain.