International Petroleum Finance articles from January 2005

International Petroleum Finance archives from January 2005

One year on.
January 1, 2005... It's one year now since Royal Dutch/Shell shocked the petroleum industry with a staggering multi-billion barrel downgrade of its oil and gas reserves, and plunged itself into the most difficult twelve months in its long and mostly illustrious...

Unocal settlement a setback for big oil.
January 1, 2005... The long-running battle over the application of the US' controversial Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) took some fresh twists in the final weeks of 2004. The latest developments--the dismissal of one case relating to multinationals operating in...

Moscow may sell China slice of Yukos assets.
January 1, 2005... Proving that nothing is ever simple in Russia, the authorities have embarked on a scheme to bring Yukos' assets under state control that grows more complicated by the day. In the latest twist, the Russian government has decided to fold...

Opec diversifies portfolio as dollar drops.
January 1, 2005... Opec producers had a bumper year in 2004. Unexpectedly high prices and output pushed up export earnings to record levels, leaving governments, particularly in the Middle East, basking in the glow of huge current account surpluses. The bulk of...

Dropping dollar prompts Russian reserves rethink.
January 1, 2005... Opec members are not the only oil producers whose finances have been hit by the crumbling dollar--Russia has also been forced into a rethink, shifting its foreign currency reserves from dollars into euros. Soaring international oil prices...

Chevrons new team lays out plan for growth.
January 1, 2005... ChevronTexaco trotted out its newly reshuffled management line-up last month at its annual meeting with investment analysts in New York. And for the most part, Wall Street liked what it saw. In addition to introducing a revamped executive...

Balancing risk and return in and out of OECD.
January 1, 2005... Conventional oil wisdom holds that returns on upstream plays in risky areas like Africa or the former Soviet Union are higher than returns on low-risk areas in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). However, high oil...

Subtle shifts in latest PIW company rankings.
January 1, 2005... The latest annual rankings of the world's 50 largest oil companies from IPF's sister publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW) reveal several striking shifts in the usually stable standings of the world's top 10. Petroleos de Venezuela...

South Korea tackles import dependence.
January 1, 2005... South Korea is attempting to address its overwhelming dependence on imported oil and natural gas by intensifying its drive to gain more overseas production and expanding its investments in upstream projects. The recent spike in oil prices,...

Qatargas finance finalized.
January 1, 2005... Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Exxon Mobil have finalized some $7.6 billion in project financing for their $12 billion Qatargas-2 project to supply LNG from Qatar to the UK. The financing agreements involved 57 lenders, including Islamic...

Petroplus deal at risk.
January 1, 2005... Plans by The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings to buy Petroplus are hanging in the balance, with the two US private equity funds forced to increase their offer to the troubled Dutch refiner's debt investors in order to secure their consent...

Boynton leaves Shell.
January 1, 2005... Royal Dutch/Shell's controversial former chief financial officer, Judy Boynton, has finally parted ways with the company, leaving "by mutual agreement" more than eight months are being removed from the CFO position in connection with last...

Dong plans bumper booking.
January 1, 2005... Denmark's state-owned Dong is expecting to book around 275 million boe of reserves from its stake in Norway's Ormen Lange gas and condensate development, but will not be able to book the volumes in time for inclusion in its 2004 accounts,...

Lundin severs Seven Heads.
January 1, 2005... Sweden's Lundin Petroleum has offloaded its interest in Ireland's troubled Seven Heads gas development to Irish junior Island Oil & Gas. In return for its 12.5% stake and interests in other Irish offshore acreage, Lundin will receive 4 million...

Conoco's Shtokman deal.
January 1, 2005... ConocoPhillips has signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia's Gazprom for joint studies related to the Shtokman gas development. Conoco joins a long list of major oil groups to have inked similar MOUs with the Russian gas giant,...

Novatek sells equity.
January 1, 2005... Novatek, Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, is taking the first step in tapping financial markets by distributing 3% of its shares among institutional investors. The stake will come from the Cypriot SWGI fund, currently...

Turgai spat worsens.
January 1, 2005... The rift between the partners in Kazakh oil producer Turgai Petroleum--Russia's Lukoil and Canada's PetroKazakhstan--is worsening, with Lukoil announcing that a local court had ordered PetroKazakhstan to unblock Turgai's access to Kazakhstan's...

Devon eyes Surmont sale.
January 1, 2005... US Devon Energy has put up for sale its 13% stake in the C$1.4 billion ($1.1 billion) 27,000 b/d Surmont oil sands project in northern Alberta, and "wouldn't be surprised" if there was interest in the sale from China. "The Chinese have...

Anadarko rethinks budget.
January 1, 2005... Anadarko is shifting $150 million to $200 million from its 2005 drilling budget to additional share repurchases because of the recent decline in oil and gas prices and the continued rise of upstream service costs. The company said recent market...

CAO's debt plea.
January 1, 2005... Embattled China Aviation Oil (Singapore) has asked its creditors to agree to reductions in their debt claims, through its financial advisor Deloitte and Touche, as part of negotiations on debt restructuring in the wake of recent massive trading...

Cairn bubble bursts (a bit).
January 1, 2005... Shares in Cairn Energy lost more than a quarter of their value in December after the UK independent revealed that recent appraisal drilling on its Rajasthan acreage in northwest India had led it to lower significantly oil-in-place estimates....

Slumping oil shares miss out on seasonal cheer.(Equity Markets)
January 1, 2005... December didn't offer much seasonal cheer for oil equities--with oil prices falling 12% over the month, oil shares followed commodity prices lower in the final weeks of 2004. But while December may have been a down month, it was, happily...

2005 may see progress in Middle East oil and gas investments.(Emerging Markets)
January 1, 2005... After a slow 2004, this year could prove to be a period of progress in oil and gas developments in the Middle East, with the conclusion of many large deals for upstream developments and a greater role for foreign companies in the region,...