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To: isopatch who wrote (92149)	7/11/2001 9:07:38 AM
From: Roebear	Respond to of 95453

isopatch, Here's a good reason for doing the UN thing and turn in your guns. You can always trust the police, security guards and government to do the right thing, especially in Russia (LOL!). From Kitco again (the site has some good posts today, the shorts and provacateurs must be tending to business or something): Date: Wed Jul 11 2001 08:55 Goldteck (Russian seizure of oilfield ) ID#432286: Copyright © 2000 Goldteck/Kitco Inc. All rights reserved Canadian firm seeks Chretien intervention in Russian seizure of oilfield MOSCOW ( CP ) -- The head of a Canadian petroleum firm that had its Siberian oilfield seized at gunpoint by a Russian rival says he hopes Prime Minister Jean Chretien will get an explanation when he visits the Kremlin later this week. "I hope Chretien will do whatever he can to help our company survive," says Alex Rotzang, chairman of Calgary-based Norex Petroleum Ltd., which owns 60 per cent of the expropriated firm, Yugraneft. "This incident is very indicative of the investment climate in Russia, it shows that political risk is still a major factor." Chretien arrives Thursday to boost Toronto's bid for the 2008 Olympics, to be decided at an International Olympic Committee meeting in Moscow Friday. The prime minister is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin the same afternoon. Canadian officials have expressed concerns about the incident involving Norex and indicated the matter will likely be discussed during bilateral meetings with Russian leaders. On June 28, about two dozen gun-wielding security men sent by the Russian oil firm TNK attempted to storm Yugraneft's base camp in Tyumen region of western Siberia. Earlier, TNK guards occupied the company's head office in Nizhnevartovsk, about 80 kilometres away. Seven Canadian oil workers trapped in the base camp during the confrontation between Yugraneft security and the TNK forces said it was "tense and strenuous," but things have improved in the past few days. The standoff ended last week when police ordered Yugraneft's unarmed security guards to leave the site. The TNK guards moved in and, for a time, watched every movement the Canadian workers made, Canadian base manager Phil Rogers said by telephone. "Today the TNK people have been moved away from the base by police, but they still control our oilfield," Rogers said. "At least we don't have all those armed men at our gates anymore." The TNK company -- whose chairman is Sergei Sobyanin, governor of Tyumen -- owns a small minority of Yugraneft shares. But a local court had earlier frozen Norex's controlling share in the company pending resolution of a separate dispute. TNK used the opportunity to hold a shareholder's meeting, which only its own representatives attended, and appointed an entirely new management for Yugraneft. A TNK spokesman, Dmitry Ivanov, told the English-language Moscow Times last week: "We discovered that Yugraneft was being run as if it were completely owned by Norex. We approached Norex. They didn't want to work with us. We took action." Rotzang said there were never any constructive negotiations offered, only demands that Yugraneft sell its oil to TNK at well below market prices. "The local governor appoints the judges and controls the police, and the same man is chairman of TNK," Rotzang said. "Would we call this a conflict of interest in Canada or what?" The easing of tension at the camp may be a sign that TNK has won total control. Rotzang said local authorities handed over Yugraneft's corporate seal to TNK on Tuesday. "This means TNK has effective control of the whole company, its assets and bank accounts, everything," he said. "A Russian court battle can last years, during which TNK can strip everything from our company." Norex took over and rehabilitated the Soviet-era oil field about 10 years ago. It has fought a long court battle with TNK over what it says is $50 million Cdn in unpaid bills for oil deliveries made by Yugraneft. Yugraneft produces about 400,000 tonnes of oil per year, worth around $65 million, and has estimated reserves of about eight million tonnes. Three years ago, using local courts and officials, TNK arranged to invalidate the licence of Ivanhoe Energy of Vancouver, which had invested an estimated $60 million to revive another oilfield in the Tyumen region. After a struggle in local courts, Ivanhoe accepted $29 million in compensation from Tyumen and withdrew from Russia. TNK is owned by Alpha Group of Moscow, one of Russia's most powerful business empires with interests in banking, energy, real estate and telecommunications. It is allied with several regional governors and said to have close links to the Kremlin. Rotzang said he was introduced to Putin during the Russian president's visit to Toronto last December, and that Putin assured him the Kremlin would look into his troubles with TNK. "Putin promised there will be a dictatorship of law in Russia," Rotzang said. "But do men with machine-guns simply march in and take your property in a law-governed country?" canoe.ca Best Regards, Roebear

To: isopatch who wrote (92149)	7/11/2001 9:07:44 AM
From: SliderOnTheBlack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

...don't cry for me - Argentina ~ Go Gold ! Yellow Fever - catch it ~

To: isopatch who wrote (92149)	7/11/2001 9:08:20 AM
From: SliderOnTheBlack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

...don't cry for me - Argentina ~ Go Gold ! Yellow Fever - catch it ~ ...tic toc; when, not if & "how much ya got (gold that is) ?"