International Petroleum Finance articles from August 2007

International Petroleum Finance archives from August 2007

Hard truths.
August 1, 2007... In last month's report from the US National Petroleum Council (NPC), Big Oil admits that conventional oil and gas will probably not be able to keep pace with surging worldwide energy demand between now and 2030, suggesting that high prices are...

Shtokman deal shows Russia open for business.
August 1, 2007... After months of Moscow expanding its presence in Russia's energy industry at the expense of Western majors like Royal Dutch Shell and BP, the agreement that saw France's Total land a 25% stake in the development of state Gazprom's massive...

Tullow bets future on African oil finds.(Company overview)
August 1, 2007... Irish independent producer Tullow Oil caught investors' attention in June with the announcement of a significant new oil discovery in Ghana, potentially the largest find the London-listed group has ever been involved with (IPF Jul,p14). ...

Malaysia's Petronas finds success abroad.
August 1, 2007... Malaysian state oil company Petronas' net income for the year ended Mar. 31 rose 13.2% to a record $12.9 billion, taking its profit up almost to the same heady heights as those of US major ConocoPhillips or Italian Eni. But while the firm's...

Al-Falih seen as next Saudi Aramco boss after promotion.
August 1, 2007... The recent promotion of Khalid al-Falih to head Saudi Aramco's newly created "Operations" division--combining Aramco's upstream, downstream, marketing and international businesses under one umbrella--said as much about Falih's career path as it...

Ecopetrol uses Petrobras as private business model.
August 1, 2007... The Colombian government is planning to float a 20% stake in state Ecopetrol to raise capital for investments in oil and gas projects both at home and abroad. In a region where most oil-producing nations are increasing state control over...

Output slips for oil majors in second quarter.
August 1, 2007... The second-quarter earnings reports from the oil majors obviously were huge, thanks largely to the remarkably robust US refining environment during the period. But investors looking for output growth were left scratching their heads after...

KBR gets boost from flow of new contracts.
August 1, 2007... Receipt of several significant energy-related construction contracts has pushed up the price of shares of KBR, the former engineering-construction, contract maintenance and logistics unit of energy services giant Halliburton. Shares jumped...

US pension funds targeted for Iran disinvestment.
August 1, 2007... A growing number of US states are moving to force their public pension funds to sell shares of foreign companies doing business in Iran and other nations accused of sponsoring terrorism. The movement is picking up steam across the country as...

Iraq: Russian firms won't get special treatment.
August 1, 2007... Russian companies that want to participate in the development of Iraq's oil reserves won't be given any special privileges and will have to compete with other contenders on equal terms, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said during a...

Kashagan partners feel heat.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... The Eni-led Agip-KCO consortium developing the massive Kashagan oil field offshore Kazakhstan may pay dearly for the repeated delays in getting first production on stream and its failure to prevent the costs of the project from spiraling....

Shell sells European assets.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... Royal Dutch Shell raised more than $2 billion through the sale of its three French refineries and stakes in two undeveloped Norwegian gas fields. The French refineries were sold in two separate deals, with Swiss-registered independent...

Major US drillers merge.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... Two major US drilling companies, Transocean and GlobalSantaFe, will merge to create an offshore drilling powerhouse, after striking a deal to combine into a company valued at $53 billion. The deal was described as a merger of equals--and it...

Marathon buys oil sands firm.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... Marathon Oil is paying US$6.2 billion to acquire Canada's Western Oil Sands. With one of the industry's strongest US refining networks, Marathon has spent much of the past eight months trying to find an oil sands partner, a move that would...

Chavez extends energy ties.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has put on a flamboyant show of checkbook diplomacy, offering substantial sums of money for new energy investment projects in politically friendly countries throughout Latin America. In Ecuador, Chavez...

Mexico plans oil outlays.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has announced investments in oil and gas exploration and production of around $80 billion through 2012. For the oil industry as a whole, the investment goal is $116.5 billion during that period, Calderon...

Magnate bids for Russneft.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... Russia's second-richest man, aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, is making a spectacular breakthrough into the oil industry by buying privately held independent oil company Russneft. Russneft and its founder, president and major shareholder,...

Reliance eyes Jizan stake.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... India's Reliance Industries has become the third Asian company to confirm an interest in holding a stake in the planned 400,000 b/d Jizan refinery project in Saudi Arabia. Malaysia's state Petronas, in partnership with local Saudi firm...

Iran names new minister.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... Gholamhossein Nozari, managing director of state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC), has been named as Iran's acting oil minister following the dismissal of Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, who had held the position since late 2005. Reasons for...

Kurdistan passes oil law.(IN BRIEF)
August 1, 2007... The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) took advantage of growing weakness and disarray in the Iraqi central government to pass its own hydrocarbons law. The KRG parliament approved on Aug. 6 the Kurdistan Oil and Gas Law, which--together...

Oil equities not immune to July's broad market sell-off.(EQUITY MARKETS)
August 1, 2007... The final days of July were not kind to oil company investors. Oil equities got caught up in the late-month sell-off on Wall Street, with oil company shares moving sharply lower with the broader market. The majors also reported...

Mol's profit plunge won't help effort to fend off OMV.(EMERGING MARKETS)
August 1, 2007... In more moves aimed at fighting off a takeover by Austria's OMV, Hungary's Mol has told investors to expect average annual earnings growth of 6.5% over the next four years--without any acquisitions--as well as capital expenditure of $5.3...