Pemex Seeks Offshore Deepwater Partners
Mexico's state-run oil company Pemex plans to reach out to existing partners to form new joint ventures for a pair of deepwater blocks it won in a January auction, the company's chief told Reuters on Monday. Pemex is running out of time to find partners for key oil and gas projects as the government looks to show progress from its energy agenda ahead of a July presidential election. The oil company is relying on foreign capital to reverse declining output and refining amid an ambitious energy reform. Finding partners willing to take part in the ventures "has indeed taken more time than planned…
BHP, ExxonMobil to Retain Aussie Oil & Gas Assets
BHP Billiton Ltd and ExxonMobil Corp's Esso Australia said on Friday they have dropped a sale process started 20 months ago for some of Australia's oldest and largest oilfields. "BHP and Esso have reached a decision to not progress with the sale of some offshore assets owned by the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture," a BHP spokeswoman said in an email. The resource giants had said they were looking to sell 13 fields, licenses and associated infrastructure held in the basin. The venture in Australia's Victoria state began operations in 1969, according to BHP's website. BHP and Esso Australia each hold a 50 percent share.
ExxonMobil, BHP End Australia Gas Sales JV
ExxonMobil, BHP avert court action by regulator. ExxonMobil Corp and BHP Billiton Ltd have agreed to end a nearly 50-year-old gas marketing joint venture in Australia, bowing to pressure from the nation's competition watchdog amid concerns about gas supply and soaring prices. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the companies said on Monday they would start marketing their gas from the Gippsland Basin separately, starting in 2019. "The ACCC was concerned that the joint marketing arrangements were likely to have resulted in a substantial lessening of competition in the market for the supply of gas to buyers in the southern states…
Cerrejon's Coal Exports, Output Fall in 2016
Output and exports of coal by Cerrejon, Colombia's biggest coal producer, fell in 2016 for the second straight year, the company said on Tuesday. Production reached 32 million tonnes, down 3.6 percent from the previous year when output was 33.2 million tonnes. Cerrejon did not provide a reason for the decline. Exports slipped 2.99 percent to 32.4 million tonnes from 33.4 million tonnes a year earlier. Cerrejon is a joint venture between Australia-based BHP Billiton Ltd, London- and Johannesburg-based Anglo American Plc and Swiss-based Glencore Xstrata.
Vale, BHP, Samarco Ordered to Ante up $354 mln for Dam Burst
Brazilian iron ore mining joint venture Samarco Mineração SA and its controllers Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd have 30 days to make a deposit of 1.2 billion reais ($354 million) to fund preparatory measures after last year's dam disaster, Vale said on Friday. According to a securities filing, a Brazilian federal court ruled that the companies have 90 days to prove that the Mariana dam burst has been fully contained. Over the next six months, they will have to present plans to clean up the remaining waste that spewed from the Samarco mine. Reporting by Bruno Federowski
Samarco Could Resume Operations by Mid-2017
It is "feasible" that iron ore miner Samarco could resume operations by the middle of next year, a senior executive at Brazilian miner Vale SA said on Tuesday. "It does not make sense that every time there is an accident, as a penalty, the company should cease to exist," Clovis Torres, director of human resources, health and security, sustainability and energy at Vale, said at an event. In November the collapse of a dam used by Samarco, a joint venture of Vale and BHP Billiton Ltd, left hundreds homeless and triggered Brazil's worst environmental disaster on record. Reporting by Martha Nogueira; Writing by Bruno Federowski
Vale Q2 Profit falls 34 pct, Beats Outlook
Brazilian mining company Vale SA said on Thursday that second-quarter net income fell 34 percent as provisions for potential losses from the burst dam at its Samarco subsidiary and higher taxes undermined productivity gains. Vale, the world's largest iron ore producer, reported net income of $1.11 billion in the quarter, beating analysts' estimates but down from $1.68 billion a year earlier. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Reuters was for net income of $1.03 billion in the quarter. Net sales which is minus taxes also fell 5 percent…
Brazil President Surveys Dam Disaster Site
President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday flew over a devastated part of Brazil's southeast region where two dams burst at an iron ore mine last week, killing at least seven people and swamping a vast area with mud and mine waste. Her visit comes as federal prosecutors said Wednesday they would work with state prosecutors to investigate possible crimes behind the disaster, and the country's mining minister said the government would conduct an audit of other dams in the sector. The moves by federal officials toughen the discourse of a national government that until recently had left much of the response to the disaster in the hands of the state government of Minas Gerais…
Vale, BHP to Create Fund for Brazil Dam Burst Recovery
Mining companies Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd plan to create a fund for rebuilding efforts after two dams burst at their iron ore venture in Brazil, their chief executives said in a visit to the site on Wednesday. Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira said Samarco, the joint venture operating the Germano mine complex, had shown it was able to deal with the disaster last Thursday that left at least six people dead and another 22 still missing. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer and Marta Nogueira; Writing by Brad Haynes and Caroline Stauffer)
BHP, Vale CEOs Visit Brazilian Mine Disaster Site as Toll Mounts
The chief executives of BHP Billiton Ltd and Vale SA on Wednesday surveyed the devastation caused by burst dams at a Brazilian mine owned by the mining giants, as the human and environmental toll from the disaster mounted. Six people are confirmed killed and another 22 are missing as a result of the ruptures at an iron ore mine in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais nearly a week ago. The search for more victims is continuing along nearly 100 km (62.5 miles) of mud-caked floodplain. Authorities in Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo states have…
Peaker Energy Building Texas Condensate-export Terminal
The first company to get U.S. government approval to ship minimally processed super-light oil to international markets is building its own export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast aimed at topping off massive tankers to keep them full. Matthew Goitia, chief executive of privately held Peaker Energy, received the first U.S. government approval to export ultra-light oil known as condensate in September 2013, months before other companies followed suit to exploit the first cracks in the decades-old domestic crude export ban. But Goitia's efforts to put that approval into action faltered…
Vale Debt Rating Cut On Iron Ore Price Drop
Brazilian mining company Vale SA was downgraded late on Thursday by the Standard & Poor's credit-rating agency over concern that a drop in iron ore prices will erode revenue at the world's largest producer of the main steel-making ingredient. New York-based S&P reduced the company's rating to "BBB," the second-lowest investment grade level, from "BBB+." S&P had cut the company's rating to BBB+ in January. A BBB rating means a company has "adequate capacity to meet financial commitments, but (is) more subject to adverse economic conditions" than higher-rated companies, according to the agency.
Newcastle Coal Port Reopening as Storm passes
Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest marine coal export terminal, will reopen later on Thursday after shutting down earlier this week due to a heavy storm, according to the port. Australia's biggest coal companies, including BHP Billiton Ltd , Glencore Plc, Rio Tinto , Peabody Energy Corp and China's Yancoal Australia Ltd rely on the port. (Reporting by Sonali Paul
Enterprise Contracts to Boost U.S. Crude Exports
Enterprise bumps up exports through annual contracts; signs 2015 contracts with PDS, Vitol; seeks one more term buyer. U.S. exports of condensate have been given an important boost after pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners LP agreed annual contracts with at least two major trading companies to sell the light crude, trade sources said. Oil producers have been pressing to lift a 40-year-old U.S. ban on crude exports and the Department of Commerce broke its year-long silence in December and began approving a backlog of requests to sell processed light oil abroad.
BHP Tipped to Cut US Shale Spend
BHP Billiton Ltd may be forced to slash its planned $4 billion spending this year on U.S. shale wells and book writedowns on its shale assets as it battles plunging prices for its biggest earners iron ore, oil and copper. The mining giant, which has cut capital spending for the past two years, needs further savings to have enough cash to meet a promise not to reduce its dividend, analysts and investors said, with some tipping it could slice its U.S. onshore drilling budget in half. The spending cuts could come as soon as Wednesday, when BHP will release its December quarter operational review. U.S.
BHP Could Slash U.S. Shale CapEx
BHP Billiton Ltd may be forced to slash its planned $4 billion spending this year on U.S. shale wells and book writedowns on its shale assets as it battles plunging prices for its biggest earners iron ore, oil and copper. The mining giant, which has cut capital spending for the past two years, needs further savings to have enough cash to meet a promise not to reduce its dividend, analysts and investors said, with some tipping it could slice its U.S. onshore drilling budget in half. The spending cuts could come as soon as Wednesday, when BHP will release its December quarter operational review. U.S.
BHP Sells Second U.S. Condensate to Koch
BHP Billiton Ltd has sold its second cargo of processed condensate from the United States via a tender to U.S. firm Koch, traders said on Tuesday. The producer sold the 650,000-barrel cargo for delivery during the first half of January at the Houston Ship Channel at a premium of about $2 a barrel to West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the two traders said. They declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with media. BHP declined to make immediate comment. Koch did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment outside regular U.S. office hours. This is Koch's second purchase of U.S. condensate, traders said.
U.S.-Asia Crude Exports Stall on Cheap Mideast Oil
Asian refiners shift towards cheaper Mideast oil, naphtha-trade; U.S. light oil exports to Asia only started 4 months ago. U.S. exports now going to Europe instead. An aggressive strategy by Mideast Gulf producers to exploit the lowest oil prices in five years to defend market share is showing signs of bearing fruit as U.S. crude exports to Asia grind to halt. Asian refineries have suspended imports of condensate, a light crude oil produced from the U.S. shale boom, just four months after they began in favour of cheaper Middle East grades, according to trade and industry sources.
Testing US Oil Export Ban Carries Risks
Companies eager to export U.S. oil face fines and other risks if they stray from government-approved practices, trade lawyers said this week, but the challenge is figuring out what the government allows because its rulings have so far been private. As the drilling boom floods the Gulf Coast with light oil that local refineries cannot easily process, energy companies are under pressure to sell the petroleum to global markets, despite a 40-year ban on crude exports. A 20 percent drop in oil prices this fall has also made them anxious to find new buyers.
BHP to Test U.S. Oil Export Legal Limits
BHP Billiton Ltd is set to be the first company to export lightly processed ultra-light U.S. oil without explicit permission from the government, further testing the limits of an increasingly contentious ban on foreign sales. Eight months after two other U.S. energy firms said they had received the first formal authorization to sell domestic condensate abroad, BHP said it had determined that its oil would also meet the legal criteria for export since it was being minimally processed in distillation towers in South Texas. "We took the necessary time to thoroughly examine the issues involved and ensure that the processed condensate was eligible for export…
