International Petroleum Finance articles from September 2005

International Petroleum Finance archives from September 2005

The buying game.
September 1, 2005... $60 oil, now $70 oil--surely these prices should be prompting a rethink for Big Oil executives scanning the horizon for merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities? Apparently not. The conventional wisdom propounded by industry leaders such as...

CNPC succeeds where CNOOC failed.
September 1, 2005... The Chinese are at it again. Just a few weeks after CNOOC Ltd.'s plans for acquiring US independent Unocal foundered on a wave of political opposition in Washington, one of its fellow Beijing-backed rivals, China National Petroleum Corp....

Unocal expected to jump start Chevron share price.
September 1, 2005... Chevron's share price has badly underperformed other oil majors over the past six months. The company's share price is up since early March--by about 10%--but when compared with the integrated oil sector's 25% climb, Chevron's share price...

Banks lend a hand to Russian oils.
September 1, 2005... The enthusiasm of Western banks for lending money to Russian oil companies seems to be increasing by the day, resulting in longer-term loans with lower interest rates. Whereas a couple years ago Russian companies were taking out three-to-five...

M&A frenzy hits Canada's oil sands.
September 1, 2005... Beginning in spring this year, a flurry of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Western Canada over the usually quiet summer season has analysts wondering whether this could be the beginning of a resource boom centered on Alberta's rapidly...

UAE leads growth in Gulf energy IPOs.
September 1, 2005... The current oil boom being experienced in the Arabian Gulf has brought with it phenomenal growth in the region's capital markets, led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which enjoyed 88% and 50% growth in their benchmark indices, respectively, in...

Steel price volatility complicates E&P planning.
September 1, 2005... Oil companies are wrestling with rising upstream costs, as Royal Dutch Shell's recent budget difficulties in Russia and Canada have underlined (IPF Aug.,p1). High oil and gas prices mean everyone has wells to drill and fields to develop, and...

Total looks to future as near-term volumes stumble.
September 1, 2005... France's Total outlined a project pipeline stretching to 2030 at its mid-year strategy presentation in Paris earlier this month, but also admitted it will likely not hit its previous target of increasing average annual production by 4%. ...

Angola balances on debt tightrope.
September 1, 2005... Angola's relations with international lenders are taking a turn for the worse. Even though sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest oil producer wants international help repaying its massive debts, the authorities told a visiting team from the...

Gabrielli keeps Petrobras focused on upstream.(Interview)
September 1, 2005... Academic-turned-oilman Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo took over the reins at Brazil's state-owned Petrobras in July at a time of turmoil in the country's political life. In contrast, change at the top of the national oil company is not...

New Shaybah phase moves ahead.
September 1, 2005... Saudi Aramco has set in motion the second phase of its Shaybah oil field development by awarding the front-end engineering design (FEED) and procurement contract to Canada's SNC-Lavalin, sources have told IPF. The development of Shaybah is...

M&P, Burren sell Congo stakes.
September 1, 2005... French independent Maurel & Prom and UK explorer Burren Energy have sold 8.9% of the 43,000 b/d M'Boundi field and 10% of the Kouilou permit area, both onshore Congo (Brazzaville), to the Congolese government and state oil firm SNPC for $157.5...

GN moves for Endesa.
September 1, 2005... Spain's Gas Natural (GN) has launched a hostile takeover bid for the country's biggest power generator Endesa in a move which, if successful, would create the world's third largest utility, with more than 30 million customers globally. The...

Nine bid for Tupras.
September 1, 2005... The Turkish government's tender committee has received nine binding offers for its divestment of a 51% stake in refiner Tupras. The bidders meeting the Sep. 2 deadline were Austria's OMV, Hungary's Mol, Italy's Eni, Poland's PKN Orlen with...

PKN eyes Mazeikiu Nafta.
September 1, 2005... The battle for Yukos' 53.7% stake in Lithuanian refiner Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) took an unexpected turn last month, with Poland's PKN Orlen throwing its hat into the ring. PKN is "interested in participating in the buying process of Mazeikiu...

Sakhalin-2 loan delayed.
September 1, 2005... Sakhalin Energy, the Royal Dutch Shell-led consortium that is developing the Sakhalin-2 project, is unlikely to receive a $5 billion loan by the end of the year, Sakhalin Energy's Chief Executive Ian Craig said last month. The main reasons for...

Is Shell eyeing EnCana?
September 1, 2005... Rumors have been rife in Calgary that Royal Dutch Shell may bid for EnCana, North America's largest independent natural gas producer and the second largest company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of $42 billion, and...

Pioneer plays it safe.
September 1, 2005... In a further strategic alignment following last year's acquisition of Rockies gas producer Evergreen Resources, US independent Pioneer Natural Resources plans to sell off its deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets and launch a $1 billion share buyback...

Eni moves into Alaska.
September 1, 2005... Italy's Eni is moving into Alaska for the first time after acquiring 104 North Slope exploration leases from privately owned Armstrong Oil & Gas for an undisclosed sum. The move is further evidence that high oil prices and a lack of...

CNPC inks deal with PDV.
September 1, 2005... State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) signed an agreement with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDV) during a visit to Beijing last month by Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez. Ramirez said PDV plans to invest up to $56 billion in...

Woodside buys Gryphon.
September 1, 2005... Australia's Woodside Petroleum is acquiring privately held US independent Gryphon Exploration for a total of $296.9 million, including net debt of $14.2 million. Gryphon was formed in 2000 by Warburg Pincus and Cheniere Energy, with stakes...

SK wins Inchon auction.
September 1, 2005... South Korean refiner SK Corp. has been named the top bidder for Inchon Oil, beating out China's Sinochem, investment bank Citigroup and others by agreeing to pay 1.5 trillion won ($1.47 billion) for the bankrupt 275,000 b/d refiner (IPF Aug.,p...

Hurricane Katrina gives late month boost to oil shares.(EQUITY MARKETS)
September 1, 2005... Hurricane Katrina's impact on commodity prices and refining margins provided a huge boost to oil company share prices in late August and early September. In the days following the powerful storm, shares prices jumped more than 10% in many...

Venezuelan operators facing new battle over tax.(EMERGING MARKETS)
September 1, 2005... Foreign oil investors in Venezuela are facing another battle over tax. Last year, it was the operators of four extra heavy crude upgrading projects--Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Total--who were told that royalty rates for their...