International Petroleum Finance articles from December 2003

International Petroleum Finance archives from December 2003

Full of hot air.
December 1, 2003... The three supermajors, Exxon Mobil, BP, and Royal Dutch/Shell, and other merged oil giants of recent years all identified natural gas as their key growth market when they formed. In fact, major oil companies talked so extensively about...

Lofty goals have market skeptical of ConocoPhillips.
December 1, 2003... In its second annual meeting with equity analysts, ConocoPhillips reaffirmed its plan to close the "return gap" with more profitable supermajors, in part by selling an additional $1 billion in underperforming assets, increasing its merger...

Solar business proving a challenge for BP and Shell.
December 1, 2003... Buried in the fine print of this year's third-quarter results, BP and Royal Dutch/Shell revealed something intriguing--their solar businesses have run into trouble. Both companies took restructuring charges, $45 million in BP's case and $127...

Statoil starts search for Fjell's successor.
December 1, 2003... Statoil has begun its post--"Irangate" management rebuilding work with the appointment of a new chairman, Jannik Lindbaek, and the hiring of a firm of executive head-hunters to find a long-term replacement for former chief executive Olav Fjell,...

Slow and steady wins the race for Exxon.
December 1, 2003... Nothing seems to move very fast for Exxon Mobil, the world's largest private oil and gas company, but when events do happen, they tend to be mega-scale, for only projects of that magnitude measure up to Exxon's standards. IPF spoke to Exxon...

Repsol back in growth mode after surviving crisis.
December 1, 2003... Repsol YPF's management must be among the industry's most battle-hardened. The Argentine economic crisis has dominated investor thinking, management time, and the company's share performance for the past two year. That should hardly come as a...

State holds all cards after collapse of YukosSibneft deal.
December 1, 2003... The grandiose deal to set up the Russian giant YukosSibneft that was supposed to become the world's largest company in terms of oil reserves and the fourth biggest private oil producer, is on the verge of collapse. Sibneft decided to put the...

Indian privatization stumbles again; oil sector suffers.
December 1, 2003... Indian Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said recently that India's economy hasn't looked better since the country became independent more than half a century ago. The economic mood in India is certainly boisterous these days with the government...

Oil sands Capex soars.
December 1, 2003... About one-quarter of the C$24.7 billion (US$18.8 billion) spent by the oil and gas industry in 2002 was invested in oil sands, data from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (Capp) show. Companies such as Suncor Energy, Petro-Canada,...

Exxon decries huge penalty.
December 1, 2003... Exxon Mobil denounced the decision of an Alabama state court ordering it to pay $11.8 billion in punitive damages and $63 million in actual damages, plus $40 million in interest, in a dispute with the state over royalties on off-shore natural...

Whiting goes public.
December 1, 2003... Signs of life in the initial public offering market for exploration and production companies cropped up in November for the first time since 2001. Whiting Petroleum went public on Nov. 20 and saw its stock climb immediately. Denver-based...

Hess near junkyard.
December 1, 2003... It's hard to imagine a company of Amerada Hess' stature worrying about its credit rating falling below investment grade, but that is exactly the position the US integrated firm currently finds itself in. Operating problems and asset...

TNK-BP sees big growth.
December 1, 2003... The TNK-BP joint venture in Russia has begun to map out an ambitious growth strategy, as soaring production in 2003 raises the prospect of upward revisions to its forecasts. Production is currently running at around 1.3 million b/d and should...

Mixed results for Pemex MSCs.
December 1, 2003... Mexico's maiden effort at attracting upstream oil companies while retaining control over its hydrocarbon resources has had mixed success. The smaller multiple service contracts (MSC) will save state oil company Pemex $750 million in financing...

PDV courts US investors.
December 1, 2003... Venezuela's oil leadership visited the US last month to assure US officials, financiers, and possible business partners that the devastating 62-day strike in the world's fifth-biggest producer is just a bad memory, and to reveal expansion plans...

Kovykta costs rising.
December 1, 2003... BP's mammoth Kovykta project to pump gas to China and South Korea could end up costing a lot more than originally planned. Working groups from Russia, China, and South Korea signed off on Nov. 12 in Irkutsk on an international feasibility study...

Mol, PKN Orlen move closer.
December 1, 2003... The long courtship between Hungarian oil firm Mol and Polish refiner PKN Orlen blossomed with the signing of a memorandum for greater cooperation on Nov. 20, the first step towards a merged firm straddling the downstream growth market from the...

Kukes cold to Yukos deal.
December 1, 2003... New YukosSibneft CEO Simon Kukes does not believe a partnership with a Western major would be a "super deal" that would give any strategic advantages, casting further doubt on the prospects of a large equity acquisition in Yukos by the likes of...

Petronas frees energy Africa.
December 1, 2003... South African upstream independent Energy Africa has welcomed Malaysian Petronas' decision to put up for sale a 56.5% stake in the company held by affiliate Engen. Petronas is also expected to put its own 8% direct holding in Energy Africa on...

Woodside's expansion plan.
December 1, 2003... Australian Woodside Petroleum plans to almost double its production by 2007, and will start by spending up to A$4 billion (US$2.9 billion) on eight new projects in 2004 to help it achieve that goal. The company wants to pump more than 100...

NNPC outlines 2004 budget.
December 1, 2003... State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and its joint venture partners have budgeted $6.5 billion for oil ventures in 2004. NNPC, which has an average 57% equity stake in the joint ventures, expects to be allocated $3.7 billion for...

Oil shares beat market in November; still lag in 2003.(Equity Markets)
December 1, 2003... Shares of leading oil companies outperformed the broader equity market in November but appear destined to trail major indices by a wide margin for the full year. For a second straight month, a strong performance by European companies was...

Sinochem bulks up in Asian refining.(Emerging Markets)
December 1, 2003... China is about to launch another big player into the international energy market as state-owned trading company Sinochem makes final plans to buy into Royal Dutch/Shell and ChevronTexaco's joint venture refining assets in Thailand. The...