International Petroleum Finance articles from July 2003

International Petroleum Finance archives from July 2003

Mixed returns.
July 1, 2003... With many major oil companies--including BP, Royal Dutch/Shell, and Chevron Texaco--abandoning or watering down their commitment to oil and gas production targets over the past year, volume growth is likely to be less on investors minds than...

After the maths, the aftermath.
July 1, 2003... Finally, the numbers just didn't add up, but for the oil companies negotiating for a part in Saudi Arabia's $20 billion-plus gas opening, that may not be such a bad thing. The reluctance of lead players Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch/Shell to...

Contrasting foreign fortunes for Norway's majors.
July 1, 2003... The gap between the Norwegian majors' success in recreating themselves as international operators as their home fields mature grows ever wider. Statoil's cautious pursuit of lower risk development projects with other National Oil Companies...

Rewards justify risks for majors in China pipeline.
July 1, 2003... Concerns over returns might have been enough to make Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch/Shell balk at the terms of Saudi Arabia's $25 billion natural gas opening, but those concerns have not led them to the same conclusion in China. Despite similar...

Petronas chief aims to expand global reach.
July 1, 2003... Malaysia's Petronas sees itself as a national oil company with a thoroughly commercial ethos. In recent years it has struck out from its base in Southeast Asia with upstream acquisitions in Africa and it is now carving out a role as a truly...

Long war ahead for embattled El Paso board.
July 1, 2003... The incumbent board of directors at Houston-based El Paso may have won a major battle in their conflict with dissident shareholders who hoped to see the back of them, but the war is far from over. A victory at the Jun. 27 shareholder meeting...

BP digs deep for Caspian pipeline.
July 1, 2003... Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline by a BP-led group is well underway, yet the financing package for the $3 billion project is not expected to be wrapped up for several months more. In the meantime, BP and its...

The changing face of European power.
July 1, 2003... The gradual opening of European Union (EU) gas and power markets to competition in recent years has been the driving force behind a swathe of mergers and acquisitions that are gradually transforming the region's energy scene from a patchwork of...

Project Kuwait progress.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Kuwait has sent draft contracts and development guidelines to 17 companies interested in helping to develop the country's northern oil fields, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) chief executive Nader Sultan said last month. "The next step is for the...

ENI on track in Libya.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Italy's ENI is on course to bring its $4.6 billion West Libyan joint venture gas project on stream next year. Company officials expect the project's onshore Wafa field to be on stream in 2004 and the offshore Bahr Essalam field in 2005,...

Marathon moots LNG hub.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Marathon sees its planned LNG plant in Equatorial Guinea eventually expanding to become a regional hub for processing and marketing gas from several countries along the Gulf of Guinea, according to the head of the US company's Central Africa...

Sonangal inks bank deal.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Angola's Sonangol has signed a $1.15 billion oil backed loan, not for spending on oil and gas development, but to finance the country's postwar reconstruction and plug fiscal gaps. The five-year package, masterminded by BNP Paribas, is...

BP finalizes TNK deal.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... BP and the shareholders in Russia's Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK) have signed the formal sales and purchase agreement setting up the joint venture TNK-BP, though the cost of the deal has been watered down to reflect the extra debt taken on by TNK at the...

Mol sets loan record.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Hungary's Mol has signed a 600 million [euro] ($686 million) multi-currency revolving loan facility--the largest credit ever extended to a Hungarian company or to an oil and gas company in Central and Eastern Europe. BNP Paribas, ING, and...

Exxon gas hopes fade.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Exxon Mobil's hopes of shipping gas from its Sakhalin-1 project in the Russian Pacific shelf to the key market of Japan appear to be fading fast. Neil Duffin, chairman of Sakhalin-1 operating company Exxon Neftegas, has admitted that the...

Petro-Canada eyes more deals.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Petro-Canada is starting to keep its eye out for more overseas acquisitions, after digesting the upstream assets of Germany's Veba Oil & Gas. The deal, which launched Petro-Canada onto the international stage a year ago, means the company is...

Murphy shifts E&P focus.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Integrated US minnow Murphy Oil is mimicking larger rivals such as BP and ChevronTexaco and overhauling its upstream portfolio to focus on a smaller number of high-impact projects. The company last month formally closed the $35 million sale...

Trinidad approves LNG train.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Trinidad and Tobago has finally approved the $1.2 billion fourth train of the country's Atlantic LNG project. The planned 5.2 million ton/yr train will take the project's overall capacity to 15 million tons/yr, and is on track for completion by...

Petroperu not for sale.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Peru's Congress has voted against the sale of the country's state oil company Petroperu, although lawmakers did provide formulas for private participation in exploration and development. The country's Congressional Permanent Committee voted...

Unocal eyes Indonesian deep.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Undeterred by regulatory and political uncertainties, Unocal is prepared to spend $500 million/yr on projects in Indonesia, according to Unocal Indonesia President Brian Marcotte--with a large portion going toward deepwater exploration and...

Woodside spends on Enfield.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Australia's Woodside Petroleum has committed the first investment of approximately $1 billion it could spend on developing the 100,000 b/d Enfield project off Australia's northwest coast. Woodside's initial investment of $58 million will...

Oil shares can't keep pace with broad market in first half. (Equity Markets).
July 1, 2003... Shares of top worldwide oil and gas companies largely traded in line with the broader stock market in June, but they still trail leading equity indices at the halfway point of 2003, after outperforming the market by a considerable margin last...

New EU member states on road to energy reform. (Emerging Markets).
July 1, 2003... As a first group of new European Union candidate states make final preparations--including liberalization of their energy sectors--ahead of accession to the 15-member trading block in 2004, a second wave of potential members has started down...