IF YOU THOUGHT STALIN WAS BAD, HERE COMES PUTIN

We may long for the day of $5 gasoline
Russian oil grab 'puts western supplies at risk'

· BP and Shell face bids, says energy expert
· New UN body may be needed to police markets

Terry Macalister
Monday October 2, 2006
Full article is at The Guardian

A former government adviser has warned it is "only a matter of time" before BP or Shell faces a bid from a Russian state-owned group such as Gazprom which could threaten western oil supplies.

Professor Peter Odell, an energy economist, says ExxonMobil is also vulnerable to a Chinese takeover as the large UK and American stock-listed oil groups lose their influence in global markets.

"A Chinese bid for Exxon and/or Chevron and/or a Russian bid for Shell and/or BP, backed by funds provided by the wealthy member countries of Opec seem likely to be only a matter of time.
Russian oil grab 'puts western supplies at risk'

· BP and Shell face bids, says energy expert
· New UN body may be needed to police markets

But WSJ thinks this is a good thing:

Apart from the rough-and-ready tactics, it could prove a good match. Russian gas giant Gazprom has finally said openly that it wants to buy out BP's local partners in its Russian operation, TNK-BP. BP has first refusal over that 50% stake, which has a market value of about $20 billion. Yet it probably will have little choice but to defer to Gazprom.

True, the U.K. oil major would then have to live with a Russian state-controlled behemoth at its side instead of its current partners, a group of oligarchs

India Daily panics like hell, sees a world wide power grab:

Rosneft and Gazprom ready to give Putin his ultimate weapon – control of worldwide energy sources