Shell downplays Namibia's oil discovery as a blow to the country
Shell has written down $400 million in oil discoveries offshore Namibia, which it considered commercially unviable. This is a major blow to Namibia's attempts to become a crude-producing country. Shell, its partners QatarEnergy, and Namibia's National Oil Company discovered hydrocarbons in block PEL39 2022. This discovery along with a second TotalEnergies in a block nearby sparked colossal global interest in this southern African nation that has no oil or gas production.
Chevron CEO: Chevron targets a growth of $6-8 billion in free cash flows next year.
Michael Wirth, CEO of Chevron, said on Wednesday that the company is in a position to increase its cash flow from free to $8 billion and to reduce expenses "by a couple of billion dollars". The U.S. oil producer No.2 expects to benefit from the start of new or expanded oil production projects in Kazakhstan, U.S. shale and offshore Gulf of Mexico. The No. 2 U.S. Oil Producer expects to see positive results from new or expanded oil projects in Kazakhstan, U.S. Shale and offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
US offers PG&E a conditional loan of up to $15 billion for climate resilience
The Department of Energy announced on Tuesday that the United States had offered PG&E, a California-based utility, a conditional $15 billion loan to upgrade its electrical grid and support climate resilience. PG&E is a natural-gas and electric utility and the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company. It serves about 16,000,000 people in northern and central California. The loan will be paid in cash over several years if the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office finalizes the record amount.
Siemens Energy extends CEO Contract as Recovery Continues
Siemens Energy announced on Wednesday that it had extended Christian Bruch's contract for another five years. This is the latest indication that the power equipment provider has made a turnaround following a major wind turbine crisis. Bruch has been leading the former Siemens AG division, since 2020. Last year, a plan to buy the remaining shares of Siemens Gamesa, a wind unit, caused the company to be in turmoil because of quality issues.
Turkey's Botas talks to Iran's National Gas Company for long-term supply
The Turkish energy company Botas announced on Wednesday that they had been in talks with Iran's National Natural Gas Company NIGC about a long-term supply from Iran of natural gas to Turkey. Turkey consumes more than 50 billion cubic meters of gas each year. The country currently imports LNG from different suppliers and relies on a mixture of pipeline gas imported from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran. The long-term contracts that govern the supply of Iranian Gas to Turkey…
Blue Ocean, the US overnight trading platform, has completed a fix for its capacity issue
The company Blue Ocean Technologies LLC announced that it completed an upgrade to its trading platform on Monday, which will increase capacity by several hundredfold. This comes two weeks after the overnight trading system of the platform crashed during a sell-off in global markets. The fix highlights the need for upgrades in order to cope the massive growth of retail overnight trading. This is especially true as investors attempt to cope or exploit the market volatility caused by geopolitical issues, uncertainty about U.S.
Sources say that the owner of energy producer Maverick is interested in selling it for $3 billion.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the private equity owner of Maverick Natural Resources has been exploring the possibility of selling the U.S. oil-and-gas producer for a price that would be around $3 billion including debt. Sources said that the Houston-based exploration company, owned by the energy-focused investment group EIG, was working with Jefferies investment bankers on the sale process. They requested anonymity because the discussions were confidential.
Exxon Secures Lead in top US Oilfield with $60B Buy of Shale Rival Pioneer
Exxon Mobil agreed to buy U.S. rival Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion that would make it the biggest producer in the largest U.S. oilfield and secure a decade of low-cost production.The deal, valued at $253 a share, combines the largest U.S. oil company with one of the most successful names to emerge from the shale revolution that turned the U.S. into the world's largest oil producer in little…
ConocoPhillips Posts Smaller-than-expected Loss
Oil producer ConocoPhillips, which is buying Concho Resources Inc for $8.3 billion, posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday as it benefited from a recovery in crude oil prices from pandemic-driven lows.Oil prices began recovering in the third quarter after a number of countries started easing their months-long cornonavirus-led lockdowns, which has slammed fuel demand and forced some oil companies to merge for survival.ConocoPhillips reported a loss of $450 million…
Petrobras Sees No Need to Cut Oil Production
Brazil's state-run Petrobras sees no need for cuts in oil production, executives say, as the market for its crude remains robust in China, while domestic demand for fuel picks up amid social distancing fatigue in Latin America's largest economy.On a Friday earnings call with analysts, executives credited the company's strong relationship with independent refineries in China's Shandong Province, known as "teapots,"' for allowing Petrobras to export a record amount of crude in recent months…
Oil Giants Set Health Checks, Work-from-home Rules
Major energy companies in the United States imposed work-from-home rules for office staff and began health checks for remote or critical workers as coronavirus spread and threatened an industry reeling from falling demand and profits.BP, Exxon Mobil, Kinder Morgan, Motiva Enterprises and Royal Dutch Shell told most office staff to work from home starting Monday. Federal regulators on Friday were pressed by companies to ease work rules for pipeline operators and to limit visits to some sites.
Shale Pioneer Hess Says Key U.S. Fields Starting to Plateau
Shale pioneer John Hess said Tuesday that key U.S. shale fields are starting to plateau, calling shale "important but not the next Saudi Arabia."Production in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is starting to plateau, while the Bakken field in North Dakota where Hess is a major producer will hit its peak production levels within the next two years, said Hess, who spoke Tuesday in Houston at the Argus Americas Crude Summit.The Permian Basin, the top U.S.
Maersk, Tide Maritime Targeted in Petrobras Probe
Brazilian authorities on Wednesday targeted Maersk and other companies for allegedly paying bribes to get an edge in securing shipping contracts with state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, in the latest phase of a sprawling graft probe.Federal prosecutors said in a statement that Denmark's Maersk, the world's largest shipping company, was involved in allegedly paying $3.4 million in bribes related to 11 shipping contracts with Petrobras…
ConocoPhillips targets $50 bln free cash flow over next decade
ConocoPhillips unveiled a long-term plan on Tuesday to boost oil and gas production by about 3% per year, restrain annual spending to about $7 billion and return $50 billion to shareholders over the next decade.The announcement comes as investors, frustrated by weak commodity prices for 5 years, have been pressuring oil and gas companies to cut back on drilling and shore up cash to return to shareholders.The Houston-based company's…
Investors Brace for Poor US Shale Earnings
Investors are bracing for weaker results from U.S. shale players in coming days as lower oil and natural gas prices and cost-cutting measures have weighed on third-quarter operations.Major shale producers ConocoPhillips and Concho Resources this week kick off quarterly earnings reports for a group whipsawed this year by volatile pricing and investor demands for improved returns. Oil and gas producers have cut drilling and slashed jobs amid worries over pricing outlooks.U.S.
Reaping Wind at Sea: A $1 Trillion Industry
Offshore wind could become a cornerstone of the world's power supply as steep cost reductions and improved technology unleash the potential of the green energy source, said the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday.Renewables replacing fossil fuel is crucial to meet a globally-agreed goal of limiting temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius this century and the expansion of offshore wind could avoid 5-7 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions from the power sector globally…
Chrysaor Acquires Conoco's UK North Sea Assets
North Sea oil producer Chrysaor completed on Monday a $2.675 billion acquisition of ConocoPhillips' British North Sea oil and gas business, cementing the private equity-backed firm's position as one the basin's top producers.The Conoco assets will add around 72,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to Chrysaor's production, bringing their total output in the first half of 2019 to 195,000 boed, Chrysaor said in a statement. The deal has an effective date of Jan.
Exxon Mobil Profit Sinks
Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported a 21% drop in quarterly profit, its third period in a row of weaker year-over-year results, as sharply higher oil production was offset by weaker refining and chemicals business.Shares slipped 1.6 percent to $71.34 in early trading even though its 73 cents a share profit topped analysts' recently-lowered estimates. Analysts had reduced estimates to 66 cents per share after Exxon last month guided to lower year-over-year profit.Exxon’s weaker earnings mirrored those at rivals Royal Dutch Shell…
Petrobras Reports Higher Q2 Production
Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA posted a modest production boost in the second quarter, but failed to live up to market expectations, sending shares down over 2% in morning trade.In an early Friday securities filing, Petrobras, as the firm is known, said total second-quarter oil and gas production hit 2.633 million barrels per day of oil equivalent (boe), up 3.8% from the previous quarter.Despite the increase…
Halliburton Profit Beats Estimates
Halliburton Co on Monday beat analysts' estimates for second-quarter profit as its Completions and Production unit outperformed expectations, pushing its shares up 6.8 percent in early trading.The Houston, Texas-based company is a leading provider of hydraulic fracturing services in North America, a segment of the oilfield services business that has been hard-hit by an abundance of equipment, making it difficult to raise prices.Halliburton's…
