International Petroleum Finance articles from June 2006

International Petroleum Finance archives from June 2006

Stormy weather.
June 1, 2006... The Atlantic hurricane season formally kicked off at the start of June, and although the first player to take the field this year, Alberto, failed to rise above tropical storm status and drifted benignly to the east of the bulk of the Gulf of...

Russia gets tougher for foreign players.
June 1, 2006... Life has never been easy for foreign oil and gas operators in Russia, but it's becoming harder and harder to gain access to resources. The government is now clearly back in the driving seat, setting the stage for a new era of resource...

Oryx start-up sees Qatar join the GTL set.
June 1, 2006... Qatar and South Africa's Sasol this month inaugurated the Oryx gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant, the first of several projects planned by Qatar as it seeks to become the world's biggest GTL producer. But while Oryx is moving ahead, albeit a...

Prison looms for former Enron bosses.
June 1, 2006... Maintaining their innocence even after a US federal court jury in Houston handed down multiple guilty verdicts against them, former Enron Chief Executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling now have to contemplate spending much of the rest of their...

Japan's sogo shosha go global.
June 1, 2006... The sizzling market in global oil and gas assets has been fired in part by the expansive ambitions of Asia's state oil firms, but things could get even hotter as Japan's big three trading houses--Mitsubishi, Marubeni and Mitsui--return to the...

Energy funds in fashion in the gulf.
June 1, 2006... Ask investors and analysts in the Middle East what has been the latest trend to emerge from the current oil price boom and what will they say? Initial public offerings? No, that was last year. So far, 2006 has been the year for energy...

Total, Conoco secure role in Saudi refining expansion.
June 1, 2006... Saudi Aramco last month signed separate memorandums of understanding with Total and ConocoPhillips for the construction of twin 400,000 barrel per day refineries on the east and west coasts of the kingdom. The new refineries in Jubail and...

Three-way fight in Eastern Europe.
June 1, 2006... With plenty of spare cash to spare and no shortage of ambition, Hungary's Mol, Poland's PKN Orlen and Austria's OMV are locked in a three-way battle for dominance of the Central and Eastern European oil market. The trio is currently running...

Lull in Russia, Canada as M&A treads water.
June 1, 2006... The upstream merger and acquisition (M&A) landscape so far this year bears little resemblance to the 2005 market. Missing is a lengthy list of Russian players eager to grab a piece of Russia's oil riches, gone are the natural gas-focused...

China adds LNG to its energy mix.
June 1, 2006... China has added a new element to its energy mix with the arrival late last month of its first-ever cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG), in the shape of the first commissioning cargo to be delivered at the Guangdong Dapeng LNG terminal from...

Inpex feels Iran pressure.
June 1, 2006... Japan's Inpex has played down reports that it may lose a $2 billion contract signed in February 2004 to develop Iran's onshore Azadegan field and says it remains committed to the project, which at its peak could provide over 250,000 b/d of...

Libya upbeat on US role.
June 1, 2006... Libya's oil sector will become a more attractive investment for US companies following last month's full restoration of diplomatic ties with the US, according to Shokri Ghanem, head of Libya's National Oil Corp. (NOC). The US decision to...

France wants control.
June 1, 2006... The French government intends to "assure state control" over the planned combination of energy firms Suez and Gaz de France (GdF) through "a specific action" in a draft law to be put before parliament, the country's finance minister, Thierry...

Yukos' Houdini routine.
June 1, 2006... Trying to stave off bankruptcy, beleaguered Russian oil company Yukos has outlined a financial restructuring plan that would pay back the company's debts while allowing it to maintain control over its core assets. Through the plan, Yukos has...

Valero seeks new deals.
June 1, 2006... US refiner Valero is interested in possible refinery acquisitions in Europe and continues to kick the tires on the Houston refinery recently put for sale by Lyondell-Citgo (IPF May,p14). Valero was considering an expansion into Europe, but...

Rigs quitting US Gulf.
June 1, 2006... With more than 1,000 leases on the Gulf of Mexico shelf set to expire over the next three years, exploration and production companies may be hard-pressed to find a rig to drill a well before time runs out. Jack-up rigs are leaving the Gulf of...

New thunder horse woes.
June 1, 2006... BP has run into fresh problems as it attempts to bring on stream its troubled Thunder Horse development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. According to BP, while conducting routine pressure tests of subsea systems late last month, problems...

Quito eyes oxy replacement.
June 1, 2006... Ecuador plans to have a new company in place to replace Occidental Petroleum as the operator of the 100,000 b/d Block 15 by August. The country's Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez said earlier this month that a number of regional, state-owned...

Three vie for refinery.
June 1, 2006... Panama, Honduras and Guatemala are the most likely countries to house a Central American oil refinery that will be supplied by crude produced by Mexico's state-owned Pemex. The construction of the $7.5 billion refinery is part of a...

BG debuts in China.
June 1, 2006... The UK's BG Group has made its first move into China with the signing of three deepwater deals with state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). The two sides have signed two production sharing contracts (PSCs) for deepwater...

Mitra in for Malampaya.
June 1, 2006... The Philippines' PNOC has picked a consortium led by privately-owned Malaysian independent Mitra Energy to develop the oil rim of the country's big Malampaya gas field. "With Mitra's proposal, production of oil will commence before the end...

Setback for Gorgon.
June 1, 2006... Chevron's Gorgon LNG project suffered a setback this month when the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) flatly rejected its proposal to develop Barrow Island as a processing site for the offshore project. "The...

Oil price drop sends equities lower in May.(EQUITY MARKETS)
June 1, 2006... The steep mid-May fall in world oil prices pushed oil equities lower last month. Although crude prices recovered in the second half of May, the midmonth slide in share values was too sharp to claw back to even territory. In May, oil...

Garcia's win gives boost to Latin American investors.(EMERGING MARKETS)
June 1, 2006... Latin American politics have produced little in the way of good news for foreign energy investors of late, but the voters of Peru provided some encouragement earlier this month when they elected Alan Garcia as the country's new president. ...