Ex-BP Boss Browne Warns Oil Will Stay Low
The oil price will stay low for some time as supply exceeds demand and the current situation on global oil markets is reminiscent of the 1980s oil glut, former BP boss John Browne said on Tuesday.U.S. crude prices dropped below $0 for the first time ever on Monday, with May futures for U.S. crude plummeting to -$37.63 a barrel, though the prices returned to positive territory on Tuesday.Browne, who ran BP from 1995 to 2007, said the negative prices were a U.S. issue due to a lack of storage…
BP Eyes Smaller Renewable Investments
BP is targeting smaller and wider-ranging investments in renewable energy to avoid large losses in the sector like those it suffered earlier in the decade, Chief Executive Bob Dudley said on Wednesday. BP and peers including Royal Dutch Shell and Total have recognised the need to reduce carbon emissions in the fight against global warming, but their investment in renewables remains tiny compared to oil and gas. "We're making smarter, in many cases, smaller bets, and making more of them across a wider range of technologies and business models…
Oil Firms Deepen Cost Cuts as Price Recovery Remains Elusive
Oil companies are deepening cost cuts through efficiency and standardisation to stay profitable while maintaining dividends as a supply glut pushes back a potential recovery in the price of crude, top executives and analysts said. The sector has slashed jobs, projects and investments to cope with a 60 percent downturn in crude prices over the past two years, with consultancy Wood Mackenzie putting the drop in exploration and production spending by the top 56 oil and gas firms at 49 percent, or $230 billion, over the period.
BP Increases Stake in Egypt Gas Field
BP has increased its share in the $12 billion West Nile Delta gas field in Egypt to above 80 percent after buying a stake from DEA, the energy group owned by Russian billionaire Mikhial Fridman. Germany-based DEA said it had sold roughly half of its stake in the field and now owns 17.25 percent of the concession deal to develop 5 trillion cubic feet of gas resources and 55 million barrels of condensates. Fridman appointed in March former BP boss John Browne to head DEA. The West Nile Delta field is planned to start production in 2017 and to produce 1.2 billion cubic feet per day…
UK Pressure Forces Russian's North Sea Asset Sale
Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne fund offers 11 gas fields. Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne fund is set to formally launch the sale of North Sea gas fields it had acquired from RWE, bowing to British threats to revoke the assets' licences unless the Russian tycoon relinquishes ownership. The move signals that the Russian billionaire has decided against challenging the British government's rare intervention that comes amid a standoff between the West and Moscow over Russia's actions in Ukraine.
Kemp: BP Must Remain British, says Whitehall
"Downing Street has discreetly let it be known in the City that it would oppose any takeover of BP," the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The prime minister's office has signalled it would make life difficult for any bidder, although no bid has been mooted yet, the newspaper said ("UK ministers make Gallic gesture to keep the British in BP", April 26). The company formerly known as British Petroleum was rebranded as the more neutral BP at the turn of the millennium after absorbing U.S. oil firms Amoco and Arco.
UK Shale Gas Firm Cuadrilla Appoints New Chairman
British shale gas company Cuadrilla Resources has appointed board member Roy Franklin as chairman with immediate effect, the firm said on Wednesday. Franklin will replace former BP boss John Browne who is now chairman of LetterOne, the investment vehicle owned by Russian billionnaire Mikhail Fridman that bought RWE's DEA oil and gas unit last month. Franklin's career has also included working at BP, where he headed up the exploration unit's acquisition and divestitures group. He has had a seat on the board of Cuadrilla since 2012.
UK Firm on RWE North Sea Deal
Britain will not back down over its opposition to Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman's purchase of North Sea gas licences having cemented its objections at a meeting attended by Prime Minister David Cameron, a government source told Reuters. The British government discussed the sale of German utility RWE's oil and gas production unit to Fridman at its National Security Council in recent weeks, the source said on Wednesday. "It was discussed at the highest level, a sign of how seriously we take the matter," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Former BP Boss Browne is DEA Chairman
FRANKFURT, March 3 (Reuters) - DEA, the oil and gas company that German utility RWE sold to Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, has appointed former BP boss John Browne as its new supervisory board chairman. Fridman's investment vehicle LetterOne bought the firm from RWE in a 5.1 billion euro ($5.7 billion) deal finalised on Monday, brushing aside British opposition against the sale of some licences held by DEA in the North Sea. The transaction was first announced a year ago…
BP Ex-chief Browne to Run Russian Oligarchs' Oil Venture
John Browne, the former chief executive of BP, will take charge of a $10 billion oil and gas venture backed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman to help it expand internationally through partnerships and acquisitions, the Financial Times reported. Browne told the newspaper he will be appointed executive chairman of L1 Energy on Monday, giving up his jobs at private equity firm Riverstone and UK gas explorer Cuadrilla. The appointment comes as L1 Energy, backed by investment funds owned by Fridman and his partner German Khan…
UK Council Defers Shale Permit Decision
A local English government council has voted to delay a decision on whether shale gas firm Cuadrilla can progress with two fracking projects, in a case that is being closely watched by the industry and environmental campaigners. Cuadrilla's projects near Blackpool in north west England are expected to become Britain's first shale gas production wells, kick starting the government's drive to develop the uncoventional resources to help stem a decline in North Sea energy reserves.
After Crash Diet, Oil Majors May Need New Growth
The global oil majors' crash diets may be going too far. That at least is the view of a small number of critics who believe sweeping programs of asset sales and the trimming of investment plans risk doing longer-term damage. Pushed by investors demanding higher returns, the industry's slimming regime after more than a decade of acquisitive expansion in search of scale is worrying, argue some oil executives and bankers. They say the need to build new income streams for a new decade may see the cycle turning back to growth again only a few years down the road.
