International Petroleum Finance articles from April 2005

International Petroleum Finance archives from April 2005

A different context.
April 1, 2005... Perhaps the only thing more surprising than seeing oil prices close to $60 per barrel is that leading oil companies still think it is possible to make major acquisitions against this kind of price backdrop. ChevronTexaco's takeover of...

Chevron swoops for Unocal.
April 1, 2005... Following weeks of speculation, ChevronTexaco finally did the deed earlier this month and announced an $18.4 billion friendly takeover of leading US independent Unocal, the biggest merger or acquisition in the oil sector since the tie-up...

Caspian pipeline access adds to Unocal's appeal.
April 1, 2005... ChevronTexaco's $18.4 billion purchase of US rival Unocal has some interesting ramifications for the Caspian oil business, boosting Chevron's reserves and providing timely access to an important export pipeline. Unocal owns 10.3% of the...

Russian drilling investment plumbs new depths.
April 1, 2005... The Russian oil industry--among the world's fastest growing--appears to be heading for a slowdown. Russia's Federal Energy Agency has so far estimated the rate of production growth for 2005 at 5%, though that number might go lower, Sergei...

Gulf producers spending big in refining.
April 1, 2005... The national oil companies of the Middle East are pushing ahead with a series of refinery projects--new plants, upgrades and expansions--to produce cleaner fuels and take advantage of higher refining margins for product exports. At the...

Manana finally arrives in Venezuela.
April 1, 2005... After much delay, the government of Venezuela has finally set in motion its machinery for boosting private investment, with a much heralded bidding round to offer offshore gas blocks in Western Venezuela announced Apr. 1, and attracting a lot...

Chinese demand drives Sinopec, CNOOC earnings.
April 1, 2005... Surging demand for crude and oil products translated into record earnings for two of China's largest oil and gas companies--integrated major Sinopec and exploration and production company China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). For Sinopec,...

Contrariness pays off for EnCana's Morgan.(Interview)
April 1, 2005... Some in the industry view Gwyn Morgan, the president and chief executive of Calgary-based EnCana, as an iconoclast who rejects the conventional strategy of the super-independent oil and gas company. Others credit his foresightedness for finding...

Icahn turns up heat on Kerr-McGee.
April 1, 2005... After soaring in tandem with crude prices for the last 12 months, oil company shares are starting to look pretty fully valued in the eyes of investors anxious to avoid a rerun of their tech stock traumas. Nevertheless, it can also be argued...

Abu Dhabi picks Exxon.
April 1, 2005... Abu Dhabi's Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) has chosen Exxon Mobil as its preferred candidate to acquire a 28% stake in Zakum Development Co. (Zadco), Gulf industry sources have told IPF. Zadco is led by state-run Adnoc, which operates the...

Hunt shunned in Yemen.
April 1, 2005... The Yemeni government has bowed to parliament's veto over the extension of US independent Hunt Oil's concession agreement when it expires later this year and decided to seek a new operator. The cabinet's decision came just a week after...

BP Rebrands chemical unit.
April 1, 2005... BP is this month launching its new Chicago-based olefins and derivatives subsidiary, which will be known as Innovene. Innovene will be a separate entity within BP, with more than $9 billion in assets, $15 billion in third-party sales...

Gazprom eyes Mol again.
April 1, 2005... For the second time in the last six months, Russia's Gazprom has expressed an interest in picking up a stake in Hungary's Mol, the biggest importer of Russian natural gas in Eastern Europe. On a recent trip to Hungary, Gazprom Chief...

Conoco ups Lukoil stake.
April 1, 2005... ConocoPhillips has bought a further 1.3% in Russia's Lukoil, taking its stake in the company to 11.3%. This latest batch of shares was picked up on the open market and has been valued at $390 million, reflecting the recent strength in Lukoil's...

Kashagan sale completed.
April 1, 2005... The UK's BG has completed the sale of its 16.67% interest in the giant Kashagan oilfield offshore Kazakhstan. The sale to five of BG's partners in the Eni-operated North Caspian Production Sharing Agreement (NCPSA) for $1.8 billion paves...

BP blast costs seen lower.
April 1, 2005... Last month's explosion at BP's Texas City refinery in the US is expected to cost the company less than initially expected, with analysts and industry sources now putting total damages at under $400 million. In the immediate aftermath of...

Shell bids big in Alaska.
April 1, 2005... Royal Dutch/Shell has built a major new lease position in Alaska's Beaufort Sea after a strong bidding performance in the US Minerals Management Service's offshore lease sale 195 in Anchorage at the end of last month. Shell spent a total of...

Petrobras in Lyondell talks.
April 1, 2005... Brazilian state oil company Petrobras and its Venezuelan counterpart PDV are in talks with Lyondell Chemical to buy or rent its 59% stake in a 286,000 b/d refinery in Houston. If the deal goes through, it would mark Petrobras' first significant...

PwC pinpoints CAO errors.
April 1, 2005... Auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has criticized China Aviation Oil (CAO) in Singapore for flawed assessments and controls of derivatives trading in its initial findings from a probe of the company's collapse, which saw speculative trading...

Reliance seeks partner.
April 1, 2005... India's Reliance Industries wants to attract a major Western investor to help develop extensive natural gas discoveries in the deepwater Krishna-Godavari Basin, according to local sources--with Exxon Mobil among those considering the...

Cairn reserves boost.
April 1, 2005... UK independent Cairn Energy has raised its oil-in-place estimate for its N-V field in India's Rajasthan province after drilling two more successful appraisal wells. The latest wells, N-V-2 and N-V-4, confirmed further extensions to the...

Oil equities give back some gains in March.(EQUITY MARKETS)
April 1, 2005... Oil shares typically move in the same direction as oil prices. On Mar. 31, for example, surging oil prices sent many oil equities up as much as 3%. The share price jumps seen Mar. 31 weren't enough, however, to reverse declines experienced...

China, India seen setting pace in Asia's upstream advance.(EMERGING MARKETS)
April 1, 2005... As Asian consumers vie for equity oil and gas overseas, China has pursued by far the most geographically aggressive policy over the last couple of years, according to speakers at this month's Seapex 2005 exploration conference in Singapore....