International Petroleum Finance articles from January 2003

International Petroleum Finance archives from January 2003

Changing of the guard.
January 1, 2003... In a major switch, the largest private sector oil companies are now in the majority among the top l0 firms in the world. According to the latest annual rankings from IPF sister publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, industry consolidation...

Low recoveries seen from bad loans to merchants.
January 1, 2003... With various credit agencies cutting their ratings on El Paso, Williams, and Reliant recently, the specter of default by US energy merchants has been raised once again. Analysts are now trying to ascertain the complete ramifications of such an...

Landscape of US downstream to shift again--but when?
January 1, 2003... After a frenzied year of US refinery deals in 2001, only three such transactions were struck in 2002, prompting analysts to ponder why the market has dissipated so sharply and suddenly. It is certainly not because of a dearth of assets on the...

Global E&P spending to grow despite capital flight from US.(exploration and production)
January 1, 2003... Worldwide exploration and production (E&P) expenditures are forecast to rise by 4.2% in 2003--a slower rate of growth than many analysts had anticipated--due mostly to a surprise decline in US spending. These are the principal findings of an...

Schlumberger takes ax to hurting technology, seismic units.
January 1, 2003... Oil field services giant Schlumberger is taking a fourth-quarter after-tax charge of $3.17 billion and will cut 3,300 jobs in a radical shake-up of its struggling Sema information technology business and its WesternGeco seismic unit. Sema will...

Latigo launches under rainmaker Foutch.(Randy Foutch, Latigo Petroleum)
January 1, 2003... Randy Foutch has taken the reins of another exploration and production start-up. Tulsa-based Latigo Petroleum officially opened its doors for business recently, and Foutch, who built up the former Lariat Petroleum before selling it to Newfieid...

Sibneft holds upper hand over TNK in $1.9 billion Slavneft deal.
January 1, 2003... A winning joint bid by Sibneft and Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK) for the Russian state's 74.95% stake in fellow oil producer and refiner Slavneft has left many analysts scratching their heads about how the country's largest privatization will pan out....

Upstream costs continue to March upward.
January 1, 2003... The business of finding oil and gas reserves and getting them ready for production is not getting any cheaper. Average finding and development costs around the world jumped 60% to $6.33 per barrel of oil equivalent in 2001, according to a...

Mol, OMV battle for downstream supremacy in Eastern Europe.
January 1, 2003... As the consolidation and privatization of Eastern Europe's oil and gas industry continues, Hungary's Mol and Austria's OMV are confirming their positions as the two regional players playing for dominance. This is not surprising--unlike the more...

Mergers vault more private firms into industry's elite.
January 1, 2003... For the first time since IPF sister publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly began its annual rankings of the world's top oil companies in the late 1980s, private sector oil firms now make up a majority of the top 10, eroding the past...

Gazprom budget gets OK.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Russian government has approved natural gas monopoly Gazprom's investment program for 2003, setting out expenditures of $5.6 billion. This compares with the $5.9 billion program proposed by the gas giant's executive board. Russian gas...

Indian sales delayed.
January 1, 2003... The on-off privatization of top Indian refiners Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) is off once again. In another setback for energy reforms, the Cabinet Committee for Disinvestment (CCD) has delayed the launch of the twin...

Crown resurfaces.(Crown Resources oil tankers)
January 1, 2003... Swiss-registered trader Crown Resources, disgraced by the sinking of the Crown-chartered Prestige oil tanker on Nov. 19 off Spain's northwest coast, has been reborn with a new name and ownership. The management of Crown has bought all of the...

Gaz de France pounces.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Spreading its wings in Europe, state Gaz de France (GdF) is to buy German oil and gas producer and trader Preussag Energie in a deal worth about $1.04 billion. The deal brings with it hydrocarbon reserves in the northwest German basin,...

BP won't up Caspian stake.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... BP is poised to turn down the offer to buy Lukoil's 10% stake in the Azerbaijan International Operating Co. (AIOC), leaving the door open for Japan's Inpex to close the deal for $1.25 billion. AIOC is developing the Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli...

China mulls next IPO.(initial public offering)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... In another possible privatization step in China, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the parent of PetroChina, is considering spinning off its oil services arm in a public share listing in 2003. CNPC recently set up two subsidiaries: BGP, a...

Costly LNG project.(liquefied natural gas)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The cost of developing the world's most northerly LNG project has ballooned by $805 million to an estimated $6.28 billion, according to Snohvit LNG operator Statoil. The cost of work by the main contractor, Germany's Linde. on the gas...

PKN enters Germany.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... In a bold move into new territory, Poland's largest refiner and distributor of fuels, PKN Orlen, has signed a deal to buy 494 gasoline service stations in Germany from BP, which is selling them off to satisfy the anti-monopoly authorities. PKN...

Iran's last gasp.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... In what may be the last gasp for Iran's upstream opening in its current form, the small group of companies negotiating upstream `buyback' contracts is under orders to conclude negotiations within six months or the projects may be re-tendered....

Lukoil's bad luck.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Baghdad dealt a blow to Russia by scrapping a contract with Lukoil to develop the West Qurna oil field, one of the biggest on offer to foreign oil companies, with 7.3 billion bbl of recoverable reserves. Having long threatened to end the deal,...

AOC, Fuji to list.(Arabian Oil Co., Fuji Oil)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The stock exchanges of Tokyo and Osaka have cleared the way for Japan's soon-to-merge Arabian Oil Co. (AOC) and Fuji Oil to list shares of their planned joint holding company, AOC Holdings, on the two bourses at the end of this month. The move...

Halliburton settles asbestos.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... US oil services giant Halliburton has reached agreement in principle to settle numerous lawsuits by people claiming injury from asbestos exposure, agreeing to pay up to $2.8 billion in cash and 59.5 million shares of Halliburton stock and notes...

On the move.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Norway's Statoil is selling its shipping unit, Navion, to Canada's Teekay Shipping for around $800 million. Navion operates 26 shuttle tankers, two storage vessels, 12 crude tankers, nine product tankers, and one gas carrier, mainly in the...

Oil shares beat market in tumultuous 2002. (Equity Markets).
January 1, 2003... In a year when it was tough to pick any winners in the equity market, oil and gas was not a bad place to be. While only a handful of top oil companies posted share price gains, the overall performance of the sector was strong compared to that...

Strike in Venezuela hits on many fronts. (Emerging Markets).
January 1, 2003... The oil workers' strike in Venezuela, part of a lingering general strike seeking the ouster of President Hugo Chavez, is having a growing and substantial negative impact on the country's economy and oil industry. Internal fuel deliveries...