royal-dutch

Netherlands- Shell profits soar on high oil prices

by on July 30, 2011

menafn.com…

(MENAFN) Royal Dutch Shell said that net profits almost doubled to $8.6bn (¤6bn) in the second quarter as improved income from high oil prices offset a drop in production. “Our second quarter 2011 …

Read this article:
Netherlands- Shell profits soar on high oil prices

Find our Weekly Commercial Real Estate, Private Equity and Fund Newsletters at www.WeeklyBrief.net

BP: Libya State Oil Contract Still Valid

by on March 17, 2011

Huffington Post…

LONDON (Alex Lawler/Reuters) – BP Plc said on Thursday it saw its contract with Libya’s National Oil Corporation as still valid, a day after Italy’s Eni became the first Western oil and gas firm to try to rebuild bridges with NOC. BP has no oil and gas production in Libya and in February was preparing for the start of exploratory drilling in western Libya when it suspended the effort due to the uprising against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. “At the moment we just have to wait and see. We’re monitoring the situation. We have a contract with NOC and as far as we know it is still in place,” a BP spokesman said. Oil firms pulled out staff and shut operations in what is usually Africa’s third-largest producer and holder of the continent’s largest oil reserves. The revolt against Gaddafi is now struggling to hold its ground one month after it started. Eni, which produces oil and gas in Libya, on Wednesday called on Europe to abandon sanctions against Libya and Austria’s OMV, also an important player there, said it still saw Libya’s NOC as its partner. “Europe is the main importer of Libyan oil and its chemical composition and proximity makes it very attractive, which is one of the reasons you have some companies indicating that they are keen to go back to normal and cement cordial ties perhaps regardless of whether their governments do so or not,” said Henry Smith, Libya analyst at risk consultancy Control Risks. Some Libyan officials have sent signals that foreign companies would be welcome back. The head of NOC, Shokri Ghanem, said on Wednesday Libya’s government will honour existing contracts with Western oil companies, although this appeared at odds with earlier remarks from Gaddafi. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which like BP was also doing exploration work in Libya and has no production there, said on Thursday its foreign staff remained outside the country. “Shell has temporarily relocated its expatriate staff from Libya. The safety and security of all our staff remain our primary concern and we are in touch with our staff in country on a regular basis,” a Shell spokesman said via email. “Shell offices remain closed.” Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

Here is the original post:
BP: Libya State Oil Contract Still Valid

Find our Weekly Commercial Real Estate, Private Equity and Fund Newsletters at www.WeeklyBrief.net

Transocean Ltd. Board Nominates New Director

March 2, 2011

ZUG, SWITZERLAND–(Marketwire – March 2, 2011) – Transocean Ltd. ( NYSE : RIG ) ( SIX : RIGN ) today announced that the Board of Directors is recommending that the company’s shareholders approve at the 2011 Annual General Meeting the election of Steve Lucas as a Class III Director for a three-year term. Mr. Lucas is the retired Group Finance Director of National Grid plc and has previously served in a variety of finance roles with the Lattice Group plc., the BG Group plc and Royal Dutch/Shell.

Read the full article →

Royal Dutch Shell profits

February 3, 2011

Royal Dutch Shell profits

Read the full article →

Video: Johnston Says Drilling Moratorium to Cost Oil Producers: Video

May 28, 2010

May 28 (Bloomberg) — Robert Johnston, director for energy and natural resources at Eurasia Group, talks with Bloomberg’s Lori Rothman about the outlook for offshore drilling in the U.S. following BP Plc’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack Obama yesterday extended by six months a moratorium on new deep-water drilling permits that began after oil started to spill from BP’s well. The president also canceled a proposal to drill for oil off the coast of Virginia and suspended planned drilling by Royal Dutch Shell Plc of exploratory wells in the Arctic off Alaska. (Source: Bloomberg)

Read the full article →

Shell Agrees to Purchase Subsidiaries of East Resources for $4.7 Billion

May 28, 2010

By Fred Pals May 28 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, agreed to buy subsidiaries which own substantially all of the businesses of East Resources Inc. for $4.7 billion.

Read the full article →

Video: Royal Dutch Shell’s Voser Discusses Alternative Energy: Video

March 26, 2010

March 26 (Bloomberg) — Peter Voser, chief executive officer at Royal Dutch Shell PLC, talks with Mark Crumpton and Lori Rothman about his company’s outlook for producing alternative energy and its sponsorship of the 2010 Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition. (This is an excerpt of the full interview. Source: Bloomberg)

Read the full article →

Video: Royal Dutch Shell’s Voser Discusses Alternative Energy: Video

March 26, 2010

March 26 (Bloomberg) — Peter Voser, chief executive officer at Royal Dutch Shell PLC, talks with Mark Crumpton and Lori Rothman about his company’s outlook for producing alternative energy and its sponsorship of the 2010 Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition. (This is an excerpt of the full interview. Source: Bloomberg)

Read the full article →

Shell, PetroChina Offer $3 Billion for Arrow Energy to Tap Coal-Seam Gas

March 7, 2010

By James Paton March 8 (Bloomberg) — Arrow Energy Ltd. , the Australian coal-seam gas producer, said it has received an offer of more than A$3.3 billion ($3 billion) from a company jointly owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co. Arrow shareholders would receive A$4.45 a share in cash and shares in a new company made up of Arrow’s international division, the Brisbane-based energy company said in a statement today. An offer of A$4.45 a share is worth about A$3.3 billion based on the company’s 733 million shares outstanding. Arrow’s 25 percent decline in Sydney trading since August, its increase in reserves and its move to acquire 100 percent of the Fisherman’s Landing gas project in Queensland have made the company a more attractive takeover candidate, Nik Burns , an analyst at RBS Morgans in Melbourne, said by phone. “It seems a very opportunistic bid from Shell,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if ultimately a higher bid would have to be put on the table to ensure the deal got over the line.” To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney jpaton4@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

BP to Raise Annual Profit $3 Billion by Boosting Production, Cutting Costs

March 2, 2010

By Brian Swint March 2 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc , vying with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as Europe’s largest oil company, plans to increase annual pre-tax profitability by $3 billion over the next two to three years by bolstering production and cutting costs. BP will increase average annual oil and gas output by 1 to 2 percent through 2015, the company said in a annual strategy update today in London. Most of the increased profitability will come from making the refining and marketing business more efficient. The company will centralize exploration and production project management to save money, it said. “The challenge and the opportunity for us is that while our portfolio ranks amongst the best in the industry, our financial performance has yet to fully reflect this,” Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward said in a statement. “There is now a real opportunity to make our portfolio work harder for us, and we intend to do just that.” BP missed analysts’ earnings estimates in the fourth- quarter as weaker refining margins weighed on profits. BP said it can save an additional $2 billion in its refining and marketing business in the next few years after exceeding cost- cutting targets in 2009. Oil production in 2010 will be “slightly lower” than last year’s output of 4 million barrels a day, Hayward said Feb. 2. BP’s output portfolio is shifting toward natural gas. The company will start 42 new major projects by 2015, which are expected to contribute about 1 million barrels of oil equivalent a day to total production, the company said today. To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Swint in London at bswint@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

BP Said to Complete Work on Rotterdam Refinery, Second-Largest in Europe

November 25, 2009

By Nidaa Bakhsh Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc completed two months of maintenance at its Rotterdam refinery, Europe’s second-largest, two people familiar with the work said. The resumption of output may boost gasoline stockpiles at a time of below-normal demand. Maintenance at the plant ended on schedule and units are starting this week, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is confidential. Jacoline Poldervaart, a BP spokeswoman based in Rotterdam, couldn’t immediately comment. A 62,000-barrel-a-day fluid catalytic cracker for gasoline production and an associated alkylation unit were due to be halted at the end of September for as many as eight weeks, two people with knowledge of the plans said on Feb. 6. BP’s plant is able to process 400,000 barrels of oil a day. Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Pernis facility, also in the Rotterdam area, is Europe’s largest refinery with a daily processing capacity of 416,000 barrels. The global recession has eroded demand for fuels such as gasoline and diesel, cutting profits for refiners and forcing some to lower operating rates, idle plants and put others up for sale. Gasoline inventories in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp area, Europe’s oil-trading hub, rose to 784,000 metric tons in the week to Nov. 19, according to PJK International BV. That’s the highest level since Sept. 10. BP’s Global Indicator Margin , a broad measure of refining profitability, sank to an average of $1.13 a barrel in October through Nov. 19, according to data on its Web site . That compares with an average of $5.19 in the fourth quarter of 2008. To contact the reporter on this story: Nidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Video: Shell Outpacing BP in Production

September 25, 2009

The Race is On – Royal Dutch Shell Set to Overtake BP in Expansion, Boosting Oil & Gas Output by a Third and Spending $40 Billion (Bloomberg News)

Read the full article →

BP Makes `Giant’ Oil Discovery Almost Seven Miles Beneath Gulf of Mexico

September 2, 2009

By Eduard Gismatullin Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc , Europe’s second-largest oil company, said it made “a giant oil discovery” at its Tiber Prospect in the deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico. The well is located in Keathley Canyon block 102, which is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) south east of Houston, the London-based company said today in a statement. The Tiber well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 35,055 feet (10,685 meters) “making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled by the oil and gas industry,” BP said in a statement. “The well found oil in multiple Lower Tertiary reservoirs,” BP said. “Appraisal will be required to determine the size and commerciality of the discovery.” The British company plans to increase production in the Gulf of Mexico by about 13 percent to 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2013 by linking its platforms with undersea pipelines. BP is developing nine projects in the Gulf of Mexico and in 2007 became the largest oil and gas producer in the region ahead of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. BP gained as much as 15 pence, or 2.9 percent, to 534.5 pence in London after the announcement and traded 13.5 pence higher at 533 pence at 10:21 a.m. local time. “Tiber represents BP’s second material discovery in the emerging Lower Tertiary play in the Gulf of Mexico, following our earlier Kaskida discovery,” Andy Inglis , chief executive for exploration and production at BP, said in the statement. BP is operator of the project with a stake of 62 percent, while Petroleo Brasileiro SA , Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, holds 20 percent and ConocoPhillips 18 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

BP Makes `Giant’ Oil Discovery Almost Seven Miles Beneath Gulf of Mexico

September 2, 2009

By Eduard Gismatullin Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc , Europe’s second-largest oil company, said it made “a giant oil discovery” at its Tiber Prospect in the deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico. The well is located in Keathley Canyon block 102, which is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) south east of Houston, the London-based company said today in a statement. The Tiber well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 35,055 feet (10,685 meters) “making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled by the oil and gas industry,” BP said in a statement. “The well found oil in multiple Lower Tertiary reservoirs,” BP said. “Appraisal will be required to determine the size and commerciality of the discovery.” The British company plans to increase production in the Gulf of Mexico by about 13 percent to 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2013 by linking its platforms with undersea pipelines. BP is developing nine projects in the Gulf of Mexico and in 2007 became the largest oil and gas producer in the region ahead of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. BP gained as much as 15 pence, or 2.9 percent, to 534.5 pence in London after the announcement and traded 13.5 pence higher at 533 pence at 10:21 a.m. local time. “Tiber represents BP’s second material discovery in the emerging Lower Tertiary play in the Gulf of Mexico, following our earlier Kaskida discovery,” Andy Inglis , chief executive for exploration and production at BP, said in the statement. BP is operator of the project with a stake of 62 percent, while Petroleo Brasileiro SA , Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, holds 20 percent and ConocoPhillips 18 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →