International Petroleum Finance articles from December 2007

International Petroleum Finance archives from December 2007

What credit crunch?
December 1, 2007... In the first few days of December, BP and Canada's Husky Energy committed to spend $5.5 billion over seven years on an oil sands venture. The previous month Italy's Eni bid $3.5 billion for UK independent Burren Energy, and Russia's Gazprom...

Africa attracting wide range of companies.
December 1, 2007... The scramble for sub-Saharan African oil and gas is well and truly under way as national oil companies (NOCs), majors and independents vie for acreage, influence and rigs. Although many of the key countries in the region are plagued by...

Producers blame Alberta taxes for spending cuts.
December 1, 2007... Several big producers--including EnCana, Nexen, ConocoPhillips, Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) and Talisman Energy--threatened to reduce their spending in the Canadian province of Alberta if higher royalties were introduced--and a few have...

Nazarbayev says Eni will continue to lead Kashagan.
December 1, 2007... The Kashagan imbroglio appeared to be entering its final stages earlier this month as Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev entered the fray. Speaking to reporters Dec. 7, Nazarbayev said there was no likelihood of Italy's Eni being...

Gas-rich Turkmenistan open for business.
December 1, 2007... One year after the death of Turkmenistan's long-serving President Saparmurat Niyazov, there have been big changes in the oil-and gas-rich Central Asian republic. Most notable has been the determination to end the creeping isolation that...

Eni's Burren bid focuses attention on UK midcaps.
December 1, 2007... The end of the year saw a flurry of bid talk around the UK's midsized independents. The speculation did not even end after the board of Burren Energy accepted a [pounds sterling]12.30 ($25.29) per share offer from Italy's Eni Nov. 30, valuing...

Five groups apply to build new Alaska gas pipeline.
December 1, 2007... Ambitious plans to build a pipeline across Alaska to transport gas from the state's massive North Slope fields to Canada and the rest of the US advanced a little last month after five companies applied to build the estimated $30 billion...

Majors shun Brazil's ninth bidding round.
December 1, 2007... Brazil's ninth upstream bidding round at the end of last month failed to draw interest from foreign majors, but raised a record $1.2 billion (2.1 billion reais), with most of the 117 blocks that were awarded snapped up quickly by local...

Qatar-Shell LNG shipping deal shakes up cozy club.
December 1, 2007... South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo recently handed over two brand new, 210,000 cubic meter "Q-Flex" LNG vessels to state Qatar Petroleum (QP), the first of their kind. It might seem an innocuous enough event, but it was a sign of a subtle...

Aramco remains top oil co.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... National oil companies took four of the top 10 spots in the annual Petroleum Intelligence Weekly top 50 rankings of the world's leading oil companies. The rankings, based on operational data for 2006, showed Saudi Aramco holding on to first...

Opec decides to hold output.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Opec oil ministers decided to hold members' output steady at their meeting in Abu Dhabi Dec. 5, despite pressure from consuming countries to pump more oil. Many had predicted an increase of at least 500,000 b/d, but after the meeting an Opec...

Four majors meet Iraqis.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Representatives from BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell met with Iraqi oil ministry officials in Jordan between Nov. 26 and Dec. 3 to discuss the first commercial technical support contracts to be awarded since the US-led invasion...

Shell restructures Nigeria ops.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Royal Dutch Shell announced a restructuring its Nigerian upstream operations, merging many of the functions of Shell Production and Development Co. (SPDC), Shell Exploration and Production Africa and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co....

Sarkozy trip boosts French firms.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... France's Total and Gaz de France (GDF) both benefited from French President Nicolas Sarkozy's early-December visit to Algeria--his second since he was elected in May and his third in just over a year. GDF agreed to extend its LNG supply...

Rosneft reshuffle weakens boss.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Three vice presidents have left state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft, weakening the position of company President Sergei Bogdanchikov. Alexei Kuznetsov, in charge of science, development and new projects and Valery Borisenko, head...

StatoilHydro to miss target.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Four weeks after Norway's StatoilHydro affirmed its 2007 production target of 1.735 million boe/d, the company said it would narrowly miss the target because of problems at its Snohvit and Kvitebjorn-Visund fields. StatoilHydro also said...

Woodside expects flat output.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Australia's Woodside Petroleum cut its 2008 production forecast and said output in both 2009 and 2010 would be flat, despite the expected start-up of several new projects over the next few years. Woodside said its output in 2008 is now...

Saudis' new strategic storage.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Saudi Arabia opened a strategic storage facility in the western city of Medina--the fourth in a series of five storage units designed to hold emergency oil supplies in locations outside the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province. When...

Gazprom-GDF co-op deal.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Russia's Gazprom signed a cooperation deal with Gaz de France (GDF) in early December. The accord envisages joint research and technical cooperation in areas including gas pipelines, refining, energy-saving technologies, underground gas storage...

Nicaragua moves against Exxon.(IN BRIEF)
December 1, 2007... Nicaragua's leftist president, Daniel Ortega, has asked his government to draw up a plan for nationalizing oil imports. The move follows clashes between the government and Exxon Mobil subsidiary Esso Standard Oil, which has previously handled...

Crude drop causes equities to stumble in November.(EQUITY MARKETS)
December 1, 2007... Oil equities failed to maintain their October momentum last month, as the drop in oil prices pushed most oil company shares lower. Seesawing crude prices neared $100 per barrel at one point, but ended the month below $90/bbl. Most oil...

Rosneft plans IPO of oil service companies following Eurasia listing.(EMERGING MARKETS)
December 1, 2007... Russian state-run Rosneft is mulling floating shares in its oil-field service subsidiaries within the next few years. The suggested initial public offering (IPO) follows the successful listing of Eurasia Drilling in London last month and comes...

Oil and gas equities in emerging markets.(EQUITY MARKETS)
December 1, 2007... Oil and Gas Equities in Emerging Markets Company/Country 30 Day 52 Week Latest % Chg. High Low Asia PetroChina 15.02 -22.6 19.90 8.57...