International Petroleum Finance articles from October 2003

International Petroleum Finance archives from October 2003

Gray areas.
October 1, 2003... Ethics are back in the headlines. Statoil has lost its chief executive thanks to a scandal over a consultancy contract in Iran which involved paying millions of dollars to a murky offshore company understood to be linked to the son of a former...

Yukos and Sibneft complete Soviet Union.
October 1, 2003... The deal has finally been done. Russia's very own mega-merger, the union between Yukos and Sibneft to create not only the country's largest oil and gas holding but one of the top petroleum producers in the entire world, has now been completed....

Finding the deep value in Murphy's Malaysian upstream.
October 1, 2003... How much is Murphy Oil really worth? That's a question investors have been wrestling with since Jul. 30 last year, when the company announced the first of two large discoveries offshore Malaysia that could hold up to 1 billion barrels of oil...

Iran finds onshore buybacks an uphill struggle.
October 1, 2003... Iran is tapping international oil companies to develop giant onshore acreage that is central to its plan to nudge long-term production capacity from current levels of around 3.9 million barrels per day towards the 5 million b/d mark. But so far...

Rosneft not seeking foreign equity holder.
October 1, 2003... As the world's leading oil companies chew over their investment strategies for Russia, Sergei Bogdanchikov, the president of state-owned Rosneft and one of the most influential oilmen during the reign of President Vladimir Putin, has ruled out...

Statoil still afloat despite losing man overboard.
October 1, 2003... Statoil's unenviable reputation for losing its top management to financial scandals now seems to be set in stone, with the resignation last month of chief executive Olav Fjell and two senior executives over the controversy surrounding a $15.2...

Have board games worked for China's giants?
October 1, 2003... Although China's big state-controlled oil companies--PetroChina, Sinopec, and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC)--have all recently adopted more transparent, Westernized business methods, only CNOOC has made a concerted effort to begin...

Angola loan strategy risks IMF censure.
October 1, 2003... For all Angola's unattractive sovereign risk profile, state-owned oil company Sonangoi still appears capable of raking in yet more loans. Just as banks sold down the last pieces of its largest ever syndicated loan last month, the company opened...

Impatient majors give up on Bangladesh gas.
October 1, 2003... Small independents picking up unwanted assets from the big majors is a familiar story in mature provinces such as the North Sea. But it also seems to be happening in Bangladesh, where the apparent political stalemate on gas exports has prompted...

Iraq plans oil opening list.
October 1, 2003... Baghdad will invite international oil companies to develop fields and will produce a list of projects soon, Iraq's newly appointed Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum has said. "We intend to develop fast our huge oil resources with the help...

Saudi deal finalized.(Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos.)(Saudi Arabian Oil Co.)(TOTAL)
October 1, 2003... Royal Dutch/Shell, Total, and state-owned Saudi Aramco have finalized their landmark exploration and production contract covering 200,000 sq km in the Shaybah and Kidan areas in southern Saudi Arabia, sources in Riyadh tell IPF. The...

Sterling closes in on fusion.(Sterling Energy Corp.)(Fusion Oil and Gas)
October 1, 2003... UK-listed Sterling Energy appears to be closing in on its takeover target, African specialist Fusion Oil & Gas. Sterling acquired a 20.4% stake in Fusion from what had been the company's largest shareholder, Westmonnt Resources. Following...

BP data hints at good Q3.(British Petroleum Company PLC)
October 1, 2003... Big Oil looks to be heading towards another bumper set of earnings in the third quarter, at least if BP's quarterly trading statement is anything to go by. BP's numbers show benchmark Brent crude prices up 5.5% year-on-year and 9% compared...

Cepsa bid rocks Total.(Compania Espanola de Petroleos S.A.)(Santander Central Hispano S.A.)
October 1, 2003... Spanish bank Santander Centro Hispano (SCH) has thrown down the gauntlet to France's Total with a 1.2 billion [euro] ($1.4 billion) bid for a 16% stake in Spanish oil firm Cepsa. Total has long been thought likely to extend its 45% stake in...

Exxon's Sakhalin U-turn.
October 1, 2003... Demonstrating a dramatic change in its investment policy in Russia, Exxon Mobil is ready to develop the Sakhalin-3 acreage in the Russian Pacific shelf under the country's existing tax regime, rather than production sharing terms, according to...

BP works on Baku pipe loan.(British Petroleum Company PLC)
October 1, 2003... BP has invited around 20 commercial banks to join a management group that will underwrite a $1.2 billion syndicated loan to help finance the 1 million b/d Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The banks have until the end of October to come back...

Shell sells US assets.
October 1, 2003... Royal Dutch/Shell has largely reached its goal of selling $2 billion in non-core assets this year with the sale of its obscure Michigan exploration and production business for $445 million. Merit Energy, a private firm specializing in the...

Devon's deepwater drive.
October 1, 2003... US independent Devon Energy plans an active deepwater drilling program over the next three to five years in the US, West Africa, and Brazil, estimating that it exposes the company to net potential reserve additions of 9 billion-12 billion boe....

PDV won't renegotiate contracts.(Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.)
October 1, 2003... Petroleos de Venezuela's newly revived Corporacion Venezolana de Petroleos (CVP) subsidiary will administer all business ventures between the government giant and private operators, but will not seek to renegotiate existing contracts with third...

Chinese firms target Caspian.
October 1, 2003... China's cash-rich oil companies are continuing to target Caspian acquisitions, with China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) understood to have made an offer to buy Dragon Oil, which operates the Cheleken production-sharing agreement in...

Sinochem eyes Thai refiners.
October 1, 2003... Thailand's PTT has begun discussions with China's state oil trader Sinochem about the sales of equity stakes in local refining companies. Sinochem wants to buy the 36% stakes held by PTT in Star Petroleum Refining and Rayong Refinery, and...

Opec cut not enough to rescue oil shares in September.(Equity Markets)
October 1, 2003... Shares of leading worldwide oil and gas companies fell alongside the broader equity market in September, with a surprise decision by Opec to cut oil supplies and prop up prices coming too late to help. The IPF Oil and Gas Index, which is...

Gazprom bond makes big splash in debt market.(Emerging Markets)
October 1, 2003... Russia's Gazprom completed its second bond issue of the year last month, raising 1 billion [euro] ($1.1 billion) in new debt in an offer that was more than three times oversubscribed. Gazprom had originally been thinking in terms of a 750...