International Petroleum Finance articles from April 2007

International Petroleum Finance archives from April 2007

Nothing personal.
April 1, 2007... Mikhail Khodorkovsky's arrest at gunpoint in October 2003 was a turning point for the Russian oil and gas industry. Three and a half years later the battle is still rumbling on as the Kremlin consolidates its creeping renationalization of the...

Exchanges compete to attract start-ups.
April 1, 2007... Investor appetite for oil and gas stock offerings has been voracious over the past four or five years. Start-up ventures that often have little in the way of assets or cash flow have raised millions from investors looking for exposure to the...

Algeria puts screws on foreign investors.
April 1, 2007... Recent assurances by Algeria's energy ministry that most international oil companies are satisfied with state-owned Sonatrach's explanation of the country's new windfall profits tax are at odds with reality. Companies say talks with the...

Steel magnate Mittal branches out into energy.
April 1, 2007... Not content with building a global steel empire, Indian-born billionaire Lakshmi Mittal has recently turned his attention to acquiring oil and gas assets around the world. Progress has been swift, in accordance with his reputation as an...

Report on refinery blast faults US safety watchdog.
April 1, 2007... You didn't need a crystal ball to realize that supermajor BP would be pilloried in the final report of the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) into the Texas City refinery disaster. More noteworthy, perhaps, was the report's criticism of the...

Exxon, BP upbeat about Middle East opportunities.
April 1, 2007... Some three decades after major resource-holding nations in the Middle East nationalized their oil industries, international supermajors Exxon Mobil and BP say there are still many good deals to be had in the region. One key driver of...

US majors more bullish on growth than Europeans.
April 1, 2007... Europe's leading oil majors came clean over their growing pains in February, with BP and Royal Dutch Shell telling investors that production will not be as strong in the coming years as earlier forecasts suggested. The US majors had their turn...

Shell extends CEO van der Veer's contract.
April 1, 2007... Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer has agreed to stay on the job until Jun. 30, 2009, extending his tenure for one year longer than expected. Van der Veer, who joined Shell in 1971 and has led the company since 2004 when...

M & A deals boosted by Anadarko and NOCs.
April 1, 2007... Last year was another big one for upstream mergers and acquisitions with 282 deals adding up to a combined transaction value of $166 billion. That compares with 302 deals worth $160 billion in 2005, according to the annual review of upstream...

Key data from Herold/Harrison Lovegrove global upstream M & A review.
April 1, 2007... Worldwide Merger & Acquisition Activity 2006 5-Yr 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Avg Asset Deals 145 156 188 ...

Partnership structure moves into US upstream.
April 1, 2007... Master limited partnerships (MLPs) have long played an important role in the midstream segment of the US oil and gas industry, investing in assets such as pipelines and storage facilities. But more recently the MLP structure has started to find...

Hess makes huge bid down under.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... US independent Hess has signaled its arrival in the Australian upstream with a record US$408 million (A$500.9 million) bid for acreage near Chevron's giant Jansz gas field--one of 12 new offshore exploration blocks awarded by the Australian...

Court rejects Bush climate policy.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... In a 5-4 decision that could help reshape US climate change policy, the US Supreme Court has rejected the Bush administration's firm and long-standing view that it cannot regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions under...

EU sets 20% CO2 reduction.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... As part of its effort to combat climate change, the European Union (EU) has adopted a wide-ranging set of binding energy and environmental measures in a deal that was hailed as a breakthrough, even though it included some compromises for newer...

Halliburton CEO moves to Dubai.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... US-based Halliburton's chairman and chief executive, Dave Lesar, and some other senior staff of the world's second-largest oil-field services company, will move to Dubai and open what Lesar called a new corporate headquarters office in the...

Pemex reserves fall.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Mexico's proved oil and gas reserves dipped to 15.5 billion boe at the end of 2006, down from 16.5 billion boe a year earlier, according to an announcement by Jesus Reyes Heroles, the head of state oil company Pemex. As production from the...

Reliance sets investment plan.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... India's Reliance Industries said it will invest about $9 billion to develop gas from the Krishna Godavari Basin offshore eastern India and to build pipelines to transport the gas to key markets. Privately owned Reliance, India's biggest...

Ecuador outlines ambitions.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Ecuador plans to invest nearly $3 billion over the next five years in its oil industry in a bid to revive production and lower reliance on imports of refined products like diesel and gasoline. President Rafael Correa announced plans to...

Nigeria launches upstream round.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Nigeria launched its delayed 2007 upstream licensing round for 45 exploration blocks on Apr. 3. Most of the blocks have been offered before and are being reoffered either because the winning companies failed to develop them and their licenses...

China, Venezuela cement ties.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... China and Venezuela have reinforced their commitment to strategic cooperation by forming a joint venture for oil development at the Zumano field in eastern Venezuela and agreeing to set up a joint $6 billion energy fund. The...

Shell closes in on Canada unit.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Royal Dutch Shell has secured over 90% of the shares in subsidiary Shell Canada, enabling the company to launch a compulsory buyout of the remaining shares and take full control of the business. Shell said it has now secured around 94.5% of...

Total scores offshore Congo.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... Total and its partners have made two new oil discoveries in the northern part of the offshore Moho-Bilondo permit off the coast of Congo (Brazzaville). The Moho Nord Marine-1 well encountered a 140-meter oil column while the Moho Nord...

E.On quits battle for Endesa.(IN BRIEF)
April 1, 2007... German power company E.On has withdrawn its [euro]42 billion ($57 billion) bid for Endesa, Spain's biggest electricity company, after striking a deal with rival bidders Enel of Italy and Acciona of Spain. Under the agreement with its...

March oil price rally sends equities sharply higher.(EQUITY MARKETS)
April 1, 2007... Oil equities shot higher in March as world oil prices exhibited a level of strength not seen for several months. The 15 companies tracked by International Petroleum Finance all moved higher last month, led by Marathon's impressive 8.9%...

Uganda looks forward to joining Africa's oil producers.(EMERGING MARKETS)
April 1, 2007... The land-locked East African nation of Uganda is gearing up to join the ranks of the continent's oil producers, with expectations that first oil will flow in 2009. UK-based Tullow Oil, one of the leading explorers in the country, says recent...