Russia flexes muscles over oil and gas

A new militancy is emerging from Moscow in dealings with foreign companies operating in Russia. The government has severely criticized a number of international oil companies engaged in major oil and gas developments, including Shell, ExxonMobil, BP and Total. In several cases, the companies have been told that their environmental plans covering the development of new fields are unsatisfactory. The latest arguments concern two large oil and gas developments on the Pacific island of Sakhalin. The environmental criticisms, however, are simply the outward sign of a growing sentiment inside Russia that foreign companies have been granted lucrative upstream opportunities on terms that are much too favourable to them.