International Petroleum Finance articles from June 2007

International Petroleum Finance archives from June 2007

Early warning.
June 1, 2007... Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson is usually far less abrasive than his predecessor Lee Raymond. But Tillerson was quite blunt last month in expressing his views about the prospects for two big Arctic gas pipeline projects in North...

Crunch time for Orinoco operators.
June 1, 2007... June is a crucial month for the six Western oil companies that have previously presided over the extraction of extra-heavy crude from Venezuela's Orinoco Belt and its conversion into lighter, refinery-ready crudes. The four Orinoco Belt oil...

Eni and Statoil keep M & A on the agenda.
June 1, 2007... With earnings constrained by rising operating costs and commodity prices unlikely to surpass the levels seen in 2006, it seems improbable that oil and gas merger and acquisition activity for 2007 will match last year's $166 billion bonanza. But...

Familiar feel to Nigeria's new start.
June 1, 2007... President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria wants to calm the anarchic Niger Delta, promising to draw up a blueprint within his first 100 days to address "once and for all" the crisis in Nigeria's oil-rich southern heartland. But his inauguration last...

Halliburton goes where the oil is.
June 1, 2007... When asked why he robbed banks, US outlaw Willie Sutton is supposed to have replied: "Because that's where the money is." And while he might not appreciate the comparison, a similar, irrefutable logic underlies Halliburton Chief Executive Dave...

Alliances, acquisitions key to Lukoil ambitions.
June 1, 2007... Russian major Lukoil is already no small player in the global oil and gas industry, with production of around 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and refining capacity of close to 1 million barrels per day. But under a recently approved...

Investors in Egypt press for price reform.
June 1, 2007... Some of the industry's biggest names are preparing to invest billions of dollars in Egypt in the coming years. But they are also pressing the government to remove caps on natural gas prices to sustain exploration activity and ensure that the...

Mixed fortunes for BP in Libya and Russia.
June 1, 2007... BP has made a triumphant return to Libya, signing a natural gas exploration agreement that marks the UK super-major's return to the North African nation more than three decades after Tripoli nationalized its assets there. However, the good news...

Taqa helps Abu Dhabi recycle its petrodollars.
June 1, 2007... In past oil booms, Abu Dhabi, the Mideast's fourth-largest oil producer, mainly let its shadowy investment authority channel the emirate's surplus revenues into low-risk funds. But this time around it is adopting a more diversified approach to...

Independent refiners deliver stellar returns.
June 1, 2007... There have been few US stock market sectors that have performed as well so far in 2007 as the independent refiners. Tesoro, the third-largest independent refiner, has watched its shares soar 80% this year while Valero, the top independent...

Reliance CEO Ambani sets out his game plan.
June 1, 2007... Reliance Industries Chairman and Chief Executive Mukesh Ambani likes to think about the future, and he likes to think big. Reliance is a conglomerate that looks very different from a conventional oil company. In addition to petrochemicals, it...

Upstream spending rises.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... Global exploration and development spending is now expected to increase by 13% this year over 2006 levels, up from a projection of 9% growth made at the end of last year, according to the latest spending survey by Lehman Brothers. Worldwide...

US firm buys Tamoil.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... US-based private investment firm Colony Capital has agreed to buy a 65% stake in state-owned Libyan refining and marketing company Tamoil and its parent company, Oilinvest, for $3.4 billion. The Libyan government will retain a 35% stake in the...

BP scores in US Gulf.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... BP has announced a hydrocarbon discovery with a deepwater exploration well that tested its Isabela prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. The well is located on Mississippi Canyon Block 562 in 6,500 feet of water, about 150 miles southeast of New...

Marathon inks Ukraine pact.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... US integrated oil and gas company Marathon Oil has signed a deal to carry out technical studies in the Dnieper-Donets Basin of north-central Ukraine. The studies, to be conducted over the next three years with Ukrainian state oil and gas...

PetroVietnam in Cuba deal.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... Petrovietnam has joined a growing list of foreign energy companies that have signed contracts to take part in drilling operations in the southeast Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Cuba. Cuban and Vietnamese officials said the drilling and...

BP exec to head Talisman.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... Embattled BP refining boss John Manzoni is leaving the UK supermajor to become the next president and chief executive of Canadian independent producer Talisman. Manzoni, who was criticized for his handling of safety at BP's downstream...

US utility sells gas assets.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... US utility Dominion has sold a huge chunk of its US upstream gas assets to conglomerate Loews and independent oil and gas firm XTO for a combined $6.5 billion. Loews purchased Dominion's operations in the Permian Basin, Michigan and...

India postpones bid round.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... A shortage of rigs has led India to delay the country's next auction of oil exploration rights until August. The seventh round under India's New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) was originally to be launched in April and had already been...

US Gulf Coast pipe planned.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... Canadian pipeline company Enbridge and US supermajor Exxon Mobil are jointly exploring construction of a crude oil pipeline that would deliver Canadian crude to US Gulf Coast refiners. The two companies said they are considering development...

Repsol mulls YPF offering.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... Spanish energy giant Repsol YPF is mulling the sale of a stake in its Argentine unit YPF, possibly through a public offering, company Chairman Antonio Brufau said last month. The company has held preliminary talks about a public offering of YPF...

Majors score in Angola.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... French major Total and its partners have made two more oil discoveries in Angola's offshore Block 32. Technical studies are underway to evaluate the drilling results and further exploration drilling is underway or planned across the block. ...

Big find for PetroChina.(IN BRIEF)
June 1, 2007... PetroChina, the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), has confirmed a discovery offshore China that could turn out to be the country's biggest find in a decade. The company said its Jidong discovery in the Nanpu...

Downstream strength lifts oil equities in May.(EQUITY MARKETS)
June 1, 2007... Strong oil prices and a remarkably robust US refining market lifted oil company share prices in May, led by Marathon Oil's industry-leading gain of nearly 22% on the month. Of the 15 integrated oil companies tracked by International...

Pressure mounts for tougher sanctions against Sudan.(EMERGING MARKETS)
June 1, 2007... A leading international human rights organization has floated a plan under which the United Nations would take charge of Sudan's oil revenues to prevent the Khartoum government from using them to fund military activity in the Darfur region. ...