New Player Enters the Decommissioning Market
A new entrant to North Sea decommissioning, Well-Safe Solutions was established by a group of oil industry stalwarts Alasdair Locke, Mark Patterson and Paul Warwick, setting out to provide a new approach to the safe and cost-efficient decommissioning of subsea wells. The new start company, which aims to attract £200 million ($260 million) in investment and create 400 new jobs, will offer a specialist well abandonment service. Well-Safe has secured funding from Scottish Enterprise…
Sinopec Serves $5.5 bln Arbitration Notice to Repsol
China's Sinopec and its subsidiary Addax Petroleum UK Limited have served an arbitration notice to Talisman Energy Inc and Talisman Colombia, both owned by Spanish oil major Repsol, demanding pay back of its 2012 investment in Addax and Talisman joint venture TSEUK, Repsol said in a statement on Friday. The total value of the demand is around $5.5 billion, Repsol said. Reporting By Sonya Dowsett
Conoco to Cut 7% of Canadian Workforce
Oil company ConocoPhillips plans to cut about 7 percent of its workforce in Canada, or about 200 employees, as tumbling oil prices have made its operations in the country less profitable. The company, which operates conventional and oil sands operations in Canada, told Reuters on Wednesday the cuts came as oil prices continue to weaken after falling more than 60 percent since June. "The challenging economic environment has required us to make some difficult decisions," Andrea Urbanek, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an email.
Talisman Energy to Cut up to 15% of Head Office Jobs
Talisman Energy Inc, the Canadian oil and gas company being acquired Spain's Repsol SA, plans to cut as much as 15 percent of staff at its Calgary head office as a result of collapsing crude oil prices, a company spokesman said. Around 150 to 200 employees and contractors will be laid off, Talisman spokesman Brent Anderson said, and employees will be notified beginning this week. Other Canadian producers that have already announced job cuts include CNOOC-owned Nexen Energy, Suncor Energy Inc and Royal Dutch Shell.
Talisman Shareholders Approve Repsol's $8.3b Offer
Talisman Energy Inc common shareholders on Wednesday voted to approve an $8.3 billion offer for the Canadian oil and gas producer from Repsol SA, clearing the way for the Spanish company to acquire Talisman's worldwide operations. Talisman shareholders voted 99.9 percent in favor of Repsol's Dec. 16 offer to pay $8 per share for the company, a 56 percent premium to the day-prior closing price for the company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Repsol will also assume Talisman's $4.7 billion long-term debt.
Husky Energy Swings to Loss, Cuts 2015 CapEx
Husky Energy Inc, Canada's No.3 integrated oil company, swung to a quarterly loss and cut its capital budget for the second time in three months as oil trades at five-year lows. The company, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, said it expects to spend C$3 billion to C$3.1 billion ($2.47 billion) in 2015. The company cut its budget by a third to C$3.4 billion in December. Husky joins Cenovus Energy Inc, MEG Energy Corp and other Canadian oil producers, who have lowered capital investments due to a 50 percent drop in global prices since June.
Talisman Sinopec Energy UK to Cut 300 Jobs
North Sea oil and gas field operator Talisman Sinopec Energy UK said it would cut 300 jobs due to falling production levels and rising operating costs hurt by low oil prices. The company said the number represented a split between 100 employees and 200 contractor positions. The company also introduced immediate reductions in contractor rates. Talisman Sinopec Energy UK is a joint venture between Canada's Talisman Energy Inc and Addax Petroleum UK Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group).
TSX Boosted by Repsol Purchase of Talisman
Canada's main stock index jumped on Tuesday, with Talisman Energy Inc surging 46 percent after Spanish oil major Repsol agreed to buy the independent producer for $13 billion. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.61 points, or 1.26 percent, at 13,877.75 in mid-morning trading. "People are recognising that there is a difference between stock prices and business value," said Barry Schwartz, a portfolio manager at Baskin Financial Services.
Repsol Finalizing Bid for Talisman
Spanish oil major Repsol SA is finalizing a bid to acquire Canada's Talisman Energy Inc and has sent executives to Calgary to step up talks, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday. The potential takeover offer, first reported by the Financial Times, could be in a range of between $6 and $8 per Talisman share, the newspaper said, a premium of up to 118 percent to their closing price of C$4.26 on Thursday. Shares in the Calgary-based company, Canada's fifth-largest independent petroleum producer, were up 31.5 percent at C$5.60 at 1500 GMT.
Talisman Energy to Sell Kurdistan Assets
Talisman Energy Inc , Canada's No. 5 independent oil and gas producer, said on Wednesday it still plans to sell all or a portion of its exploration properties in Iraq's Kurdistan region despite the conflict in the area and expects to begin a sale process in the next several weeks. Brent Anderson, a spokesman for the Calgary-based company, said an advisor has been selected for the sale process. The company could sell all or part of its oilfields in the region depending on the amount of interest in the sale.
Talisman Energy Posts Surprise Loss
Talisman Energy Inc, Canada's fifth-largest independent petroleum producer, reported a surprise loss, hurt by lower gas prices in North America and higher royalty payments on production. The company, which was approached by Spain's Repsol SA last week for talks over a potential deal, said higher operating costs in the United Kingdom and Norway also weighed on netbacks. Netbacks is revenue a company gets from the sale of hydrocarbons, minus costs of getting the fuel to the market.
Repsol Profit Tops Forecasts on Refining Strength
Adjusted Q2 net profit 390 mln eur versus 296 mln forecast; refining margins up 19.2 percent, output down 5.8 pct. Shares up 1.8 percent, in line with market. Cash-rich Spanish oil company Repsol beat quarterly profit forecasts as a jump in its refining margin helped cushion production declines and said it would return money to shareholders if it failed to find suitable acquisitions. Repsol, the first oil major to publish second-quarter results, on…
Repsol Profit Tops Forecasts on Surprise Refining Strength
Cash-rich Spanish oil company Repsol beat quarterly profit forecasts as a jump in its refining margin helped cushion production declines and said it would return money to shareholders if it failed to find suitable acquisitions. Repsol, the first oil major to publish second-quarter results, on Thursday reported a 19.2 percent rise in its refining margin from a year ago as prices for heavier-grade crudes fell. The annual increase to $3.10 per barrel appeared at odds with shrinking margins throughout Europe…
Repsol: Return Shareholders Money if No Acquisitions
Spain's Repsol will return cash to shareholders if it fails to identify a company or assets that meets its acquisition goals, Chief Financial Officer Miguel Martinez said on a conference call on Thursday. Repsol has been searching for acquisitions to boost its exploration and production business and on Wednesday said a deal with Talisman Energy Inc had been among the options it was considering.
Talisman Says Approached by Repsol about Deal
Talisman Energy Inc said on Wednesday it has been approached by Repsol , a day after a report that the Spanish oil producer was considering a bid for Canada's No. 5 oil company. Talisman, which operates in North America, southeast Asia and the North Sea, has long been considered a takeover target as its stock slumped on weak natural gas prices and a poor performance from its North Sea operations. Talisman has been restructuring its businesses in an effort to boost its stock price and assuage disgruntled investors such as Carl Icahn.
Talisman to Sell Stakes in Two Australian Offshore Fields
Talisman Energy Inc said on Wednesday it plans to sell its stakes in two oilfields in the Timor Sea off the coast of Australia as Canada's No.5 independent oil producer continues to restructure its global petroleum properties. The company is looking to sell its 40 percent stake in the Corallina and its one-third stake in the Laminaria fields, whose production averaged under 6,000 barrels per day last year, a small fraction of the 373,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day that Talisman averaged over 2013.
Statoil to Become U.S. Shale Operator by 2013
Statoil ASA (STO, STL.OS), which built its oil and gas expertise in Norway's offshore waters, is stretching its land legs in the U.S., where it seeks to partake of the shale bounty. Like many international oil and gas companies, Norway's Statoil has poured billions into joint ventures with some of the North American independents that in the last decade figured out how to profitably unlock the oil and gas trapped in shale, bankrolling their drilling while hoping to learn some of their techniques.
