International Petroleum Finance articles from February 2008

International Petroleum Finance archives from February 2008

Searching for guidance.
February 1, 2008... Increasingly it seems oil companies' guidance is not worth the paper it's written on. Chevron recently said its 2007 reserves replacement ratio (RRR) had fallen to 10%-15%. Analysts, acting on earlier guidance from the company, had expected...

Credit crunch stymies rush to go private.
February 1, 2008... Gone, it seems, are the days when every chief executive's dream was to take his or her company public. In recent years, many US companies, including several energy groups, have instead gone private, opting to delist their shares and do business...

Exxon set to gain as Eni loses Kashagan role.
February 1, 2008... The future of Kazakhstan's huge Kashagan project looked clearer after the six foreign consortium members agreed to pay the Kazakh government compensation for cost over-runs and production delays. It was also agreed that state Kazmunaigas (KMG)...

Russia-focused firms move to cut tax bills.
February 1, 2008... The agreed merger between Russian downstream group Alliance Oil Co. and Stockholm-listed West Siberian Resources (WSR) would appear to be as much about saving on tax payments to Moscow as on the strategic merits of the merger, which are...

Correa boosts Petroecuador while squeezing foreign firms.
February 1, 2008... Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, is taking a two-pronged approach to expanding state control over the country's hydrocarbon resources. He has been tough on foreign oil companies--most recently setting a Mar. 8 deadline to reach...

Tullow's Heavey promises busy year ahead in Africa.(Interview)
February 1, 2008... Fast-growing UK independent Tullow Oil will spend this year attempting to prove up the early promise of recent big oil discoveries in Ghana and Uganda and trying to turn its exploration success into profitable long-term development, Chief...

Majors' profits rise but reserves and output slide.(Financial report)
February 1, 2008... Higher crude prices had a predictable impact on oil company profits, with almost all of the big players reporting higher earnings. Exxon Mobil's fourth-quarter and full-year 2007 profits were the biggest ever for a US company, while Royal...

Sovereign Funds' higher profile courts controversy.
February 1, 2008... Traditionally preferring safe homes for their money and shunning publicity, sovereign wealth funds (SWF) have been making headlines in recent months, pumping tens of billions of dollars into stricken Western banks. Their big, and very public,...

Courts freeze PDV assets.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Exxon Mobil secured court orders freezing up to $12 billion in assets of Venezuelan state PDV around the world as part of the US supermajor's battle for compensation for Venezuela's takeover of its Orinoco Belt heavy oil project last year (IPF...

Rio rejects BHP bid.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Mining group Rio Tinto Feb. 6 rejected a sweetened takeover bid from rival BHP Billiton. The Australian mining and energy group upped its hostile offer to 3.4 of its shares for every Rio share--up from its original three-for-one...

Total exits Saudi gas JV.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Total has pulled out of the South Rub al-Khali (Srak) upstream gas joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell and state Saudi Aramco. Shell and Aramco will split Total's share and continue with the project. The French major's decision to activate...

Halliburton earnings soar.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Oil services group Halliburton announced its full-year net earnings rose 52% to $3.5 billion from $2.3 billion in 2006, while fourth-quarter 2007 net income rose 5% year-on-year to $690 million, and revenues rose 19% to $4.2 billion. ...

CNOOC earnings rise.(IN BRIEF)(Financial report)
February 1, 2008... China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) said 2007 pretax profits rose 17.5% to 56.5 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) while revenues rose 33% to $22.3 billion, boosted by high international crude oil prices. Investment earnings from China's...

RWE joins Nabucco.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... As widely expected, German utility RWE has become a member of the Nabucco gas pipeline consortium. RWE joins Austria's OMV, Hungary's Mol, Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), Transgaz (Romania) and Botas (Turkey) in the consortium. Each will hold a 16.67%...

BG bullish on Tupi.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... BG Chief Executive Frank Chapman suggested reserves at the giant Tupi find offshore Brazil could be larger than those of Kashagan. BG now estimates total hydrocarbons initially in place at Tupi, in which BG's share is 25%, at 12 billion-30...

Petro-Rabigh shares soar.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Shares in Saudi Arabia's Petro-Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co., had a stellar debut on the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange late last month. On the first day of trading, the company's shares surged almost 150% from the issue price of 21...

Russian output declines.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Russian crude and condensate production dropped for the first time in several years in January. Preliminary Industry and Energy Ministry data said output averaged 9.78 million b/d in January, nearly 1% down on January 2007. Russian...

Iraqi licensing round.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Iraq plans to receive the first bids in its long-awaited upstream licensing round for undeveloped fields by the end of July or early August, Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said. Speaking in London Feb. 5, al-Shahristani said the tender...

Lukoil Overseas mixed.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Lukoil's international upstream subsidiary Lukoil Overseas said its oil production in 2007 fell 3% to 104,000 b/d in 2007 while gas output rose 45% to 2.53 Bcm. The decline in oil output was due mainly to the sale of a 50% stake in Kazakh...

Santos output down.(IN BRIEF)
February 1, 2008... Australian independent Santos said its 2007 production dropped 3% and revenue fell 10% to A$2.5 billion (US$2.2 billion), despite record oil and gas prices. Santos' fourth-quarter activity report said output averaged 162,000 boe/d, which...

Shares down on US economy worries and oil's slide.(EQUITY MARKETS)
February 1, 2008... There were not many places for investors to hide in January--particularly in the second half of the month--as oil equities, along with other commodity-linked stocks, took an even bigger tumble than weaker global stock markets overall. ...

OMV goes to European Commission in ongoing pursuit of Mol.(EMERGING MARKETS)
February 1, 2008... Earlier this month, Austrian group OMV filed an official merger notification with the European Commission's competition authority relating to OMV's proposed takeover of Hungary's Mol. The move, although relatively unusual at an early stage of a...