International Petroleum Finance articles from July 2006

International Petroleum Finance archives from July 2006

Bad publicity.
July 1, 2006... With Big Oil under constant attack from politicians and consumer groups in the US for alleged price gouging, the last thing the industry needs is accusations that one of the world's largest oil firms manipulated energy markets. But that's...

Rosneft values itself Russia's number one.
July 1, 2006... Russian state oil champion Rosneft has finally unveiled the framework for its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO). The company has valued itself between $60 billion-S80 billion for the offering, through which it plans to raise a Russian...

Venture capital ventures further afield.
July 1, 2006... Walter van de Vijver, Royal Dutch Shell's former upstream chief, is back in business. After going to ground following his March 2004 sacking in the wake of the supermajor's reserves debacle, he has reemerged at the helm of a private equity...

Troubled beginnings for Shell's problem child.
July 1, 2006... It's one year now since Royal Dutch Shell admitted that costs for its Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas development in Russia had doubled to $20 billion, and much about how the project will advance remains unclear. The Russian government...

Anadarko spends big on growth close to home.
July 1, 2006... Anadarko has made a big bet that the US natural gas business will remain a revenue-generating machine for years to come, with two blockbuster corporate deals last month worth more than $23 billion that will provide it with over 1 billion...

Duke divorce marks end of convergence experiment.
July 1, 2006... Last month's announcement by US utility Duke Energy that it is going ahead with a plan to split its businesses into two separate publicly-traded companies--gas and electricity--may mark the end of the line for a now discredited business model...

New delays threaten Kashagan timetable.
July 1, 2006... Kazakhstan's bid to treble oil production to more than 3 million barrels per day over the next ten years hinges largely on the future success of its flagship upstream project--the development of the giant Kashagan structure in the North...

Rosneft and Sinopec snap up Udmurtneft.
July 1, 2006... China has made its first breakthrough into the Russian oil industry with Sinopee's purchase of 120,000 barrels per day producer Udmurtneft from Russian-UK joint venture TNK-BP for a reported $3.5 billion. Sinopec's ally in bidding was...

Upstream fashion favors OECD, North Africa.
July 1, 2006... In a world where resource nationalism is putting more and more oil and gas off limits, some publicly traded firms appear to be rediscovering the charms of the 30 economically developed countries that make up the OECD. Returns and rewards from...

Exxon in top spot.
July 1, 2006... Exxon Mobil last year consolidated its position as the leading international oil company in the Middle East, according to a report by UK consultants Wood Mackenzie. Exxon--whose portfolio is valued at $18 billion, including LNG assets in...

In Amenas comes onstream.
July 1, 2006... BP and its partners Sonatrach and Statoil have commenced production from their In Amenas gas development in Algeria. The project is Algeria's biggest joint development for wet gas and involves the development of tour primary gas fields plus gas...

BP to sell Coryton.
July 1, 2006... BP has put its 172,000 b/d Coryton refinery in the UK up for sale, and Russia's Lukoil--already among the bidders for Kuwait Petroleum Corp.'s 80,000 b/d Europoort refinery in the Netherlands--has been quick to throw its hat into the ring as a...

Petroplus buys refinery.
July 1, 2006... Dutch refiner Petroplus has bought Exxon Mobil's 110,000 b/d Ingolstadt refinery in Germany and its related businesses in the region for an undisclosed sum, the second refining asset deal the company has completed since the arrival of the...

Gazprom takes Novatek stake.
July 1, 2006... The main shareholders in independent Russian gas producer Novatek, Levit and SWGI Growth Fund, have agreed to sell an equity stake of up to 20% at market value to ZGG, a German subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom. The deal, slated for...

Hydro ties up rigs.
July 1, 2006... Anxious to ensure its ambitions are not thwarted by the tight global rig market, Norsk Hydro has struck deals worth $1.4 billion that will sustain its deepwater exploration and development program well into the next decade. The biggest is...

Conoco takes pipeline stake.
July 1, 2006... ConocoPhillips has exercised its option for a 25% stake in the Kinder Morgan and Sempra Energy's Rockies Express natural gas pipeline project, agreeing to invest $1.1 billion for its share in the $4.4 billion transportation system from the...

Athabasca cost fears.
July 1, 2006... Alberta's ambitious oil sands development efforts, coupled with high demand for engineering-construction services and an ultra-tight labor market, are pushing up costs radically for the Shall Canada-operated Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP)....

Ecuador hit for Oxy.
July 1, 2006... Occidental is planning to take a second-quarter after-tax charge of $306 million to reflect the recent seizure of its oil assets in Ecuador. Oxy said it had reclassified its oil assets in the country and its stake in the OCP Pipeline as...

Repsol ups Argentina spend.
July 1, 2006... Repsol YPF is stepping up its investment in Argentina as it attempts to reverse the anticipated decline in production by diversifying into new non-conventional areas such as deepwater exploration, heavy oil and tight gas. Repsol will now...

Roc rolls into China.
July 1, 2006... Australian explorer Roc Oil has bought US Apache Corp.'s 24.5% interest in the Zhao Dong Block in China's Bohai Bay for $260 million. Zhao Dong currently produces 30,000 b/d, of which operator Apache has a net 7,300 b/d, and has remaining...

Kupe gets green light.
July 1, 2006... Partners in New Zealand's offshore Kupe gas field development have given the project the go-ahead despite a $100 million jump in its costs to $586 million. The field's operator, Australia's Origin Energy, blamed the budget overruns on spiraling...

Oil equities steady in June as investors pause for breath.(EQUITY MARKETS)
July 1, 2006... June wasn't the most interesting month for oil equities. However, with oil prices and equities seesawing over the past several months, a boring month was likely a welcome break for some oil investors. The IPF Index ended June just 0.6%...

Brazil stands firm as Bolivia seeks gas price hike.(EMERGING MARKETS)
July 1, 2006... Latin American gas may not be the cheapest in the world for much longer following Bolivia's successful attempts to secure a higher tariff for its 195 million cubic feet per day of exports to Argentina. Starting Jul. 15, and until December,...