Oil Companies Swap Stakes in Mexico
With Mexico's government insisting that energy companies increase oil and gas output before it auctions off more of the country's vast reserves or offers more partnerships with state-run Pemex, firms ranging from foreign majors to local players are scrambling to buy and sell blocks they already own.The negotiations are creating a dynamic secondary market for oil acreage, which could be the only investment opportunity left for firms until leftist President Andres Manuel…
ExxonMobil Misses Q1 Profit Estimates
Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported a 49 percent fall in first-quarter profit that missed forecasts due to weakness across its major businesses that showed the turnaround at the company remains a work in progress.The largest U.S. oil producer posted its first loss in its refining business since 2009 on higher maintenance costs and reported lower profits in chemicals and oil and gas."It was a tough market environment for us this quarter," Exxon Senior Vice President Jack Williams said on a call with analysts.First-quarter profit fell to $2.35 billion…
Orsted Lifts 2018 Outlook
Danish energy group Orsted posted third-quarter profit well above analyst expectations on Thursday and lifted its outlook for the year, in part thanks to the contribution from new offshore wind projects.Orsted now expects EBITDA for the year excluding new partnership deals at 13 billion to 14 billion Danish crowns, up from 12.5 billion to 13.5 billion previously guided."The increase is primarily due to good progress on our offshore construction projects," Chief Executive Henrik Poulsen said in a statement…
Neptune Energy Reports $70 mln H1 Profit
Private equity-backed oil and gas producer Neptune Energy on Thursday reported a profit of $70 million and a cash pile of over $500 million in the first quarterly results it has published, adding that it was on the lookout for more assets.Several private equity-backed players have entered the British oil and gas sector since the downturn of 2014 and investors are expecting some will eventually move towards an initial public offering (IPO) on the stock exchange.Neptune…
Neptune Energy Buys VNG's O&G Assets off Norway, Denmark
Private equity-backed Neptune Energy has agreed to buy the Norwegian and Danish offshore oil and gas assets of German gas utility VNG, the companies said on Thursday.Headed by former Centrica boss Sam Laidlaw and backed by the Carlyle Group and CVC Capital partners, Neptune seeks to become a leading independent exploration and production (E&P) firm, it added.The transaction follows a deal by Neptune last year to buy the oil and gas unit of France's Engie for $3.9 billion.The deal is also a continuation of a trend among European utilities selling out of upstream oil and gas busin
GE Profit Tops Estimates
General Electric Co posted quarterly results that topped expectations on Friday, as earnings from aviation, healthcare and transportation offset weak power and oil-and-gas profits, sending shares sharply higher. GE affirmed its forecast for 2018 earnings and cash flow, and said it expects to book as much as $10 billion in proceeds from divesting industrial assets this year. Those comments eased concern that GE would post poor results. GE's profit reflected 7-percent revenue growth and vigorous cost cutting.
BHP Hires Four Banks for U.S. Shale Exit
BHP hires Barclays, Citi, BAML and GS. BHP , the world's largest miner, has asked four investment banks to help it prepare for either a sale or spin-off of its underperforming U.S. shale oil and gas unit, with a view to taking a decision in early 2018, sources said. BHP said in August it aimed to sell its unconventional onshore shale assets in the Eagle Ford, Permian, Haynesville and Fayetteville basins, which it acquired at the height of the oil boom and could be valued at more than $10 billion.
Big Oil turns to Big Data for Drilling Economies
In today's U.S. shale fields, tiny sensors attached to production gear harvest data on everything from pumping pressure to the heat and rotational speed of drill bits boring into the rocky earth. The sensors are leading Big Oil's mining of so-called big data, with some firms envisioning billions of dollars in savings over time by avoiding outages, managing supplies and identifying safety hazards. The industry has long used sophisticated technologies to find oil and gas.
BASF: Role of Oil & Gas Unit to Decline
CEO says focus of profitability drive to be on chems, agchems, but sees no reason to exit oil and gas activities. BASF, the world's largest chemicals maker, said its focus would be on boosting profitability at its chemicals and crop protection businesses as the contribution to earnings from oil and gas, hurt by low crude oil prices, diminishes further. The company, whose products include catalytic converters, vitamins, foam chemicals and engineering plastics, would continue to buy businesses and sell non-core activities to boost growth and earnings stability…
DONG Energy Settles Platform Dispute
DONG Energy said it has reached a settlement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Technip over who bears responsibility for construction errors concerning an offshore platform for the idled Hejre field. The settlement clears a major hurdle for the Danish company's plans to divest its oil and gas unit to focus on its growing business of developing offshore wind farms. DONG said in a statement that the agreement will reduce the 2.5 billion Danish crowns ($367 million) of provisions it made in relation to the Hejre field ahead of its listing…
Subsidy-Reliant Offshore Wind Takes Cue from Big Oil
From a helicopter, it looks like just another North Sea oil rig, a grey cube supported by massive yellow pillars, 90 kilometres (56 miles) off western Denmark. But the DanTysk facility is the world's first accommodation platform for offshore wind, which is borrowing techniques and labour from the crisis-hit oil sector as it tries to cut costs and end an addiction to state subsidies. The wind industry is moving further offshore and into the deeper waters tamed long ago by oil companies to increase scale and capture stronger and more constant winds.
Anadarko to Buy Freeport's U.S. Gulf Assets
Anadarko Petroleum Corp said it agreed to buy deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets of Freeport McMoRan Inc's oil and gas unit for $2 billion. The deal, effective Aug. 1, adds about 80,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day to Anadarko's sales-volume outlook. (Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Freeport-McMoRan: Oil & Gas CEO Stepping Down
Energy and mining company Freeport-McMoRan Inc said the chief executive of its oil and gas unit, Jim Flores, is stepping down as the company restructures the business. Freeport-McMoRan said it would eliminate all executive management roles at the unit and integrate the financial and administrative roles with the company's corporate functions as it attempts to cut costs. Reporting by Arathy S Nair
DONG Postpones Major Oil Project Offshore Denmark
DONG Energy <IPO-DONG.CO> has terminated a contract to build an oil and gas platform for its Hejre field, postponing indefinitely the major development offshore Denmark, the Danish majority state-owned utility said on Tuesday. DONG said the supplier consortium, Technip France and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, had not been able to meet its commitments under the contract. DONG, which operates the field and holds a 60 percent stake, and Germany's Bayerngas…
Wintershall Delays Next Skarfjell Development Decision
Germany's Wintershall, the oil and gas unit of BASF, has delayed an upcoming decision on concept selection for its Skarfjell project off the coast of Norway in a bid to cut costs further, the firm said on Tuesday. "We are to choose between a tie-back to Gjoea, a semi-submersible or an FPSO," project manager Astrid Edvardsen told an industry conference, explaining the different options. Costs will be cut by some 40 percent from the original estimate, she said, adding that a concept decision is now expected to come in the third or fourth quarter of 2016.
GE Separates Renewable Energy from Power Unit
General Electric Co said it would separate its renewable energy business from its power unit, following the acquisition of Alstom's energy business. The new unit, called renewable energy, will include wind- and hydro-power businesses acquired from Alstom, the company said. GE will also move a part of its distributed power business, which makes turbines, to its oil and gas unit from its power unit. GE's shares were little changed at $31.18 on the New York Stock Exchange in afternoon trading on Wednesday.
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.
RWE Open to Splitting Group if Crisis Worsens
Keeps option open to explore split, no current need; crisis is far from over for utilities. Germany's largest power producer RWE will explore a split of its businesses if the sector's crisis intensifies, Chief Executive Peter Terium said, keeping open the option of a drastic overhaul similar to rival E.ON. Germany's utilities have seen their profits and share prices tumble as they grapple with a restructuring of the energy sector that has promoted solar and wind generation at the expense of their gas-fired power stations.
UK Decides to Revoke DEA Oil Licences Unless Ownership Changes
The British government has decided to revoke North Sea oil field licences owned by DEA, RWE's oil and gas unit bought last month by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne, unless the licences change ownership, the energy ministry said. "The Secretary of State Ed Davey ... proposes to revoke DEA UK's North Sea petroleum licences unless LetterOne arranges for a further change of control of the DEA UK gas fields in the North Sea," the ministry said in a statement. LetterOne has up to six months to make a change in ownership, the ministry added.
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.
