After cutting debt, Vallourec pays first dividend after 10 years
French steel tube maker Vallourec announced on Friday that it will pay its first dividend for 10 years, after further reducing its debt and completing its financial restructuring plan. However, the group's shares fell 3% at 0805 GMT after it reported a decline in its third quarter earnings. The group's net debt was 240 million euros (253.42 millions) on Sept. 30. This is down from 1.49 billion euro two years earlier. It confirmed that it would reach zero net by 2025. He said that this will be a regular return for investors.
U.S. NatGas Prices Near 25-year Low as Glut Weighs
In the shale field that helped launch the U.S. natural gas boom a decade ago, Chesapeake Energy Corp this month set aside its last drilling rig. The problem for the once No. 2 U.S. gas producer was not a lack of gas, but too much of it.A long, steady increase in U.S. gas production – much of it a byproduct of the shale oil boom – has prices for the fuel heading toward a 25-year low, with output outpacing U.S. consumption and expected to hit 91.6 billion cubic feet…
US Energy Companies Fume over Rejected Steel Tariff Exemptions
The U.S. Commerce Department recently granted a tariff exemption to oil major Chevron for its imports of 4.5-inch Japanese steel tubes for oil exploration.But the department rejected a similar request from Borusan Mannesmann Pipe to exclude 4.5-inch steel pipes imported from Turkey for casing used to line new oil wells.The reason: multiple U.S. steelmakers objected to Borusan's application, arguing they could supply the product, according to the department. Chevron drew no such objections.When U.S.
US Oil Pipeline Companies, Producers Seek Relief from Steel Tariffs
Major U.S. energy companies including Plains All American Pipeline, Hess Corp and Kinder Morgan Inc are among many seeking exemptions from steel-import tariffs as the United States ratchets up trade tensions with exporters including China, Canada and Mexico.There have been nearly 21,000 requests overall for exclusions submitted to the U.S. Commerce Department since the Trump administration imposed levies this year. Of those, more than 500 petitions involve pipes and related materials.Initial decisions are expected this month…
U.S. Steel Tariff Could Impact Shell GoM Decisions
A potential tariff on U.S. steel imports could affect Royal Dutch Shell's plans to go ahead with a major oil field development in the Gulf of Mexico, a company executive said on Wednesday. Wael Sawan, who heads Shell's deepwater operations, said President Donald Trump's intention to slap up to 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminium could materially impact the value of the Vito development off the Louisiana coast, one of a handful of projects Shell is planning to greenlight this year. U.S.
Germany: EU Should Present United Response to U.S. Tariffs
Germany's transatlantic coordinator told a group of newspapers that the European Union should take a common line in responding to proposed U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. After visiting Washington, Juergen Hardt - a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats - told the RND group of newspapers that an escalation of the conflict with the United States was not in Europe's interests and Europe would stick to a "rule-based world order". He added: "It's important that the European Union does not let itself become divided." Reporting by Michelle Martin
Trump's Steel Import Tariffs May Hurt US LNG Exports
U.S. natural gas trade groups said on Thursday they are concerned that new U.S. steel import tariffs could delay or reduce new pipeline projects as well as dent exports of liquefied natural gas. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States will impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum next week. The type of pipe and the steel used to make large diameter, thick-walled pipe used for interstate natural gas…
S.Korea Scores Partial Win in WTO Ruling on US Steel Pipe Duties
South Korea won a partial victory on Tuesday when a World Trade Organization panel ruled on its legal challenge to U.S. anti-dumping duties on steel pipe used in the oil industry, but Seoul lost most of the arguments it had made. In a ruling that can be appealed by either side, the WTO panel faulted the U.S. Department of Commerce for the way it calculated the tariffs applied to the South Korean pipes, known as oil country tubular goods (OCTG). Reporting by Tom Miles
Keystone XL Pipeline Fate in Balance as Nebraska Opens Hearings
Nebraska regulators will hear final arguments for and against TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline this week before deciding whether to approve its route later this year, the last big hurdle for the long-delayed project after President Donald Trump gave it federal approval. The proposed 1,179-mile (1,897-km) pipeline linking Canada’s Alberta oil sands to U.S. refineries has been a lightning rod of controversy for nearly a decade, pitting environmentalists…
Trump Greenlights Keystone XL Pipeline, but Obstacles Loom
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration approved TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, cheering the oil industry and angering environmentalists who had sought for years to block it. The approval reverses a decision by former President Barack Obama to reject the project, but fresh obstacles loom: To get built, TransCanada will need to win financing, acquire local permits, and fend off likely legal challenges. "It's not done yet," said Michael Wojciechowski, vice president of Americas, oil and refining markets research at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
White House: Keystone XL Can Be Made from Non-US Steel
The Keystone XL oil pipeline does not need to be made from U.S. steel, despite an executive order by President Donald Trump days after he took office requiring domestic steel in new pipelines, the White House said on Friday. "It's specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One, when asked about a report by Politico that Keystone would not need to use U.S. steel, despite Trump's executive order issued on Jan. 24.
Opinion (John Kemp): Trump Can't Require Pipelines to use U.S. Steel
President Donald Trump on Tuesday invited the promoter of the Keystone XL pipeline to re-submit its application for a permit and promised an expeditious review. But Trump's memorandum on Keystone was twinned with another ordering the secretary of commerce to develop a plan to ensure all pipelines built, repaired or upgraded in the United States use domestically made steel. The secretary was ordered to submit a plan within 180 days "under which all new pipelines, as well as retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipelines, inside the borders of the United States ...
US Senators Press Keystone XL Despite Obama Veto Threat
U.S. Senate Republicans were poised to move ahead on Thursday with a bill to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, their top priority in a new campaign to roll back President Barack Obama's policies. The Senate Energy Committee was expected to advance the bill later on Thursday toward a debate in the full Republican-controlled chamber next week. The House of Representatives has scheduled a vote to approve the pipeline on Friday. Obama has threatened to veto the measure…
US Steel Producers Win Anti-dumping Case
The United States has approved anti-dumping duties against South Korea and other producers of steel pipes for the energy sector, a victory for domestic producers hoping to benefit from a boom in the U.S. shale oil and gas industry. U.S. steel companies lodged a complaint in 2013 as foreign manufacturers cashed in on soaring U.S. energy infrastructure demand. Imports doubled last year and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the domestic market, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Although subject to appeal, the decision puts the U.S.
Russian Officials at Odds over Mechel Bailout
The head of Russia's state development bank has ruled out taking part in a rescue of ailing miner Mechel, possibly making a rival government-promoted debt-for-equity deal involving creditors a more likely option to save the company. Russia has been looking into ways to help Mechel, a coal-to-steel group with $8.6 billion in debt and 70,000 workers, for several months and has proposed two schemes, both involving a change in ownership. The first option would involve the participation of development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB)…
