Weatherford Files Bankruptcy Plan
Oilfield services firm Weatherford International on Friday filed a prepackaged restructuring plan with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a regulatory filing.The company, which has struggled under a heavy debt burden and years of losses, warned in May that it expected to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to obtain new financing and after the loss of key employees.Holders of roughly 79% of its outstanding notes have agreed to the restructuring, according…
EnVen Co-founder Exits, Sues Company
An EnVen Energy Corp co-founder claims the chief executive of the offshore oil and gas producer provided misleading production and financial data to the board and forced him out as president, according to a lawsuit in a Texas court.David Dunwoody alleges CEO Steve Weyel and other company employees inflated production forecasts presented to its board of directors to influence 2018 and 2019 budgets, according to the lawsuit filed this month and made public on Wednesday.EnVen declined to comment on pending litigation.
Shale Innovator Mark Papa Joins Schlumberger Board
Oilfield services company Schlumberger NV has appointed shale pioneer Mark Papa and energy researcher Tatiana Mitrova to its board of directors, according to a filing on Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Papa, who built independent energy producer EOG Resources into one of the most profitable U.S. shale companies, currently heads Centennial Resource Development.His appointment comes just a few months after Helge Lund, former chief executive of BG Group and Statoil, resigned…
Shell Targets Former Senior Executive in Nigeria Graft Complaint
Royal Dutch Shell has filed a criminal complaint against a former senior employee over suspected bribes in the $390 million sale of an oilfield in Nigeria, where the company is already under investigation over a separate deal. Dutch prosecutors confirmed they had received the complaint against Peter Robinson, a former vice president for sub-Saharan Africa. They said it would be included in an ongoing investigation into Shell and Italy's Eni over the acquisition of a different Nigerian oilfield, known as OPL 245. Shell and Eni deny any wrongdoing related to OPL 245.
Russian Oil Industry Pipe Maker TMK Prepares for U.S. Spin-off
TMK, Russia's largest maker of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry, is preparing its U.S. subsidiary IPSCO Tubulars for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares. The announcement comes amid concerns among some Russian officials about a potential expansion of U.S. sanctions against Moscow and as Russia itself has pledged to cut its oil output by 300,000 barrels per day as a part of the global deal. OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers look poised to agree at a meeting on Thursday to extend output cuts until the end of 2018…
BP Midstream Partners Seekup to $893 mln in IPO
BP Midtsream Partners, a unit of British energy company BP Plc, said on Monday it expects to raise up to $893 million from its initial public offering. BP Midtsream expects to sell 42.5 million shares, excluding underwriters' option, at a suggested price range of $19 to $21 each, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BP Midstream Partners, a master limited partnership (MLP) formed by BP's U.S. pipeline unit, plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BPMP".
US Charges Penn West Petroleum with Accounting Fraud
U.S. securities regulators on Wednesday filed civil accounting fraud charges against Canada-based oil and gas company Penn West Petroleum Ltd and several of its former top finance executives. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Penn West Petroleum, which this week changed its name to Obsidian Energy, moved hundreds of millions of dollars from operating expense accounts to capital expenditure accounts. That maneuver, the SEC said, artificially reduced the company's operating costs by as much as 20 percent at times, and improved metrics for oil extraction efficiency.
As Trump Targets Energy Rules, Oil Companies Downplay their Impact
President Donald Trump’s White House has said his plans to slash environmental regulations will trigger a new energy boom and help the United States drill its way to independence from foreign oil. But the top U.S. oil and gas companies have been telling their shareholders that regulations have little impact on their business, according to a Reuters review of U.S. securities filings from the top producers. In annual reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 13 of the 15 biggest U.S.
Weatherford CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner Leaves
Weatherford International Plc said on Wednesday Chief Executive Bernard Duroc-Danner has left the company, effective immediately, and the oilfield services company named Chief Financial Officer Krishna Shivram its interim CEO. The company's shares, which were halted for news pending, surged 33.2 percent in late trading and closed up at $5.06. Shivram will continue as chief financial officer until a new CFO is named, Weatherford said. Weatherford's unit, Weatherford International LLC , agreed…
FMC Technologies to Pay $2.5 Mln for Overstating Profits
Energy technology company FMC Technologies Inc will pay a $2.5 million penalty to settle charges that it overstated profits in one of its business segments, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday. Two now former executives made the improper adjustments after being pressured to improve the financial performance of the Houston-based company's energy infrastructure department, the SEC said. FMC Technologies and the two executives consented to the SEC's order without admitting or denying the findings, the agency said.
Ernst & Young to Pay $11.8 mln to Settle Audit Charges
Ernst & Young will pay $11.8 million to settle charges over "failed audits" of oil services company Weatherford International PLC, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday. An Ernst & Young partner who coordinated the audits and a former tax partner who was part of the audit team were also charged in the SEC's order, the agency said in a statement, which follows Weatherford's $140 million penalty announced last month to settle charges of inflating its earings. Reporting by Susan Heavey
JPMorgan sees Sharp Rise in Precarious O&G Loans
JPMorgan Chase & Co disclosed on Friday that its "criticized" loans to the oil and gas industry more than doubled in the first three months of the year. Criticized oil and gas loans, which are defined by regulators as doubtful, substandard or deserving of special mention, rose to $9.7 billion at the end of March from $4.5 billion at the end of December, according to a quarterly filing the company made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Of the criticized loans, $8 billion were still performing, according to the filing.
Texas 'Frack Master' Bilked Investors
Texas oilman Chris Faulkner built a high-profile public persona, raised millions for his oil and gas ventures and courted politicians. But the SEC has alleged that behind the scenes, he cheated investors out of $80 million to fund a "debauched" jet-setting lifestyle. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday filed a lawsuit that alleges a stunning failure of corporate governance at Faulkner's Dallas-based Breitling Energy Corp and other companies he helped to create. Based upon inflated estimates of the oil and gas that his companies controlled, the charges said, Faulkner lured hundreds of U.S.
'Frack Master' Bilked Investors out of Millions
Texas oilman Chris Faulkner built a high-profile public persona, raised millions for his oil and gas ventures and courted politicians. But the SEC has alleged that behind the scenes, he cheated investors out of $80 million to fund a "debauched" jet-setting lifestyle. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday filed a lawsuit that alleges a stunning failure of corporate governance at Faulkner's Dallas-based Breitling Energy Corp (BECC.PK) and other companies he helped to create.
Saudi Arabia's Oil Reserves: How Big Are They Really? Kemp
"How much oil lies beneath the desert sands of Saudi Arabia and how long will it last before running out?" is a question that has intrigued and confounded oil experts for five decades. The kingdom has proven reserves of 266 billion barrels according to government estimates submitted to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ("Annual Statistical Bulletin", OPEC, 2015). If these numbers are correct, Saudi Arabia's reserves will last for another 70 years at the average production rate of 10.2 million barrels per day reported for 2015.
Private Equity Mulls U.S. Energy IPOs
Private equity funds are looking to sell shares in two U.S. energy companies, people familiar with the plans said this week, deals that could end a year-long drought for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the oil and gas sector. Denver-based Extraction Oil & Gas LLC, an oil explorer and driller in Colorado's Denver-Julesburg (DJ) basin backed by private equity firm Yorktown Partners LLC, has filed a confidential registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicating it is planning on going public, people familiar with the matter said.
BlackRock withheld support from two Exxon directors
BlackRock Inc withheld support from two high-profile directors at Exxon Mobil Corp, securities filings show, a rare spat apparently driven by a board communications policy at the world's largest energy company. Because top fund managers like BlackRock rarely discuss their votes in detail, filings in late August to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provide a rare window into the influential ballots they cast at springtime shareholder meetings like the one held by Exxon on May 25, one of this year's more contentious.
Exxon Probe Faces Uphill Task
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman faces an uphill climb in building a case against Exxon Mobil Corp for not writing down assets amid the oil-price slump because of the broad leeway that energy companies have enjoyed reporting under U.S. rules, accounting experts said. Schneiderman is investigating Exxon's accounting practices and why the oil giant has not taken writedowns even while oil prices have fallen, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The price drop of more than 60 percent since 2014 has forced many integrated oil producers around the world to write down the value of their wells…
SEC Investigating Exxon's Asset Valuation
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating how Exxon Mobil Corp has valued its assets in the wake of plunge in oil prices, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The regulator sought information from Exxon and the company's auditor, PwC, in August, the Journal reported. The news follows reports last week that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was investigating the company's accounting practices. A more than 60 percent drop in oil prices has forced many integrated oil producers around the world to write down the value of their assets.
Weatherford to Pay $140 mln in Accounting Fraud Case -SEC
Oil services company Weatherford International LLC has agreed to a $140 million penalty to settle charges it inflated its earnings by using deceptive income tax accounting, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday. The company, in settling the case, neither admitted nor denied the SEC's allegations, the agency said. (Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn)
