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February 16th, 2006:

The Business Online: BP leaves investors to spend $65bn surplus

Published comment By John Donovan in response to the headline story about BP
12 February 2006

Sir- It is no wonder that under US Securities & Exchange Commission rules, Shell’s replacement rate of new oil is only 60%-70% of what it has pumped out.

Directors of Royal Dutch Shell Plc may perhaps be slightly distracted by the fact that 11 out of their 15 board members, including CEO Jeroen van der Veer, are the subject of a US class action in relation to the 2004 reserves fraud. The action has been given permission to proceed by a US District Court Chief Judge (John Bissell). The US Justice Department also has an investigation in progress against individual directors allegedly implicated in the fraud. read more

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ShellNews.net: Could Shell Run Short of Cash?

Shell is paying out a lot of cash to it’s shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks, while at the same time facing huge capital expenditure in respect of Sakhalin, Pearl, Bonga, and other new developments.

In the E&P world, LNG and Deep Water always mean one thing: enormous capital costs.

The developments which Shell must undertake in order to maintain reserves and production volumes require huge up-front capital expenditure.

Can Shell really afford both the largesse with which it is placating it’s shareholders and the investments needed to remain in business?
read more

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BLOOMBERG: North Sea Companies May Sell More Oil, Gas Fields Than in 2005

(Bloomberg) — Oil companies will probably sell at least as many U.K. North Sea assets as they did in 2005 to cash in on high prices and get rid of maturing oil and gas fields, a U.K. acquisitions consultant said.
The U.K. had 28 offshore-asset sales last year, worth about $5 billion, including a $3.5 billion sale by Kerr-McGee Corp. This year, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and other major oil companies will probably sell the most assets while mid-sized European and North American independent companies, start-up explorers and utilities are the likely buyers, said Paul Willcocks, managing director of London-based consultant Harrison Lovegrove & Co.
“The overall value of asset sales may be less in 2006 and you may see more deals in the $50 million to $100 million range,'' Willcocks told reporters at an Energy Institute conference in London. “Major oil companies will remain the main sellers.''
Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Total SA, who together own 42 percent of the U.K.'s oil and gas reserves, down from about 50 percent four years ago, are gradually turning to new regions where larger discoveries can be made.
“The U.K. is not where our future growth is going to come from,'' said Martin Tiffen, Total's U.K. business development director. “The U.K. is already one of the highest cost basins in the world and the only direction is up.''
Another 37 percent of U.K. reserves are held by 10 companies, among them majors, independents and utilities, including BG Group Plc, Chevron Corp., Talisman Energy Inc. and Centrica Plc.
The biggest buyers in 2005 were A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S and Centrica, which bought Kerr-McGee's North Sea fields, and E.ON AG's Ruhrgas unit, which bought Caledonia Oil & Gas Ltd.'s assets for $834 million.
Russians, Chinese Ignore
Russian and Chinese companies are “not interested'' in the North Sea, Willcocks said. Indian companies probably would only consider an exploration joint venture with a major oil company. North American independents, Japanese companies, U.K. startups and European utilities are gaining more acreage, though.
Japan's Osaka Gas Co. and Mitsui & Co. are among companies considering entering the U.K. North Sea for the first time, according to Harrison Lovegrove's analysis. Other possible new entrants include Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Canada's Pengrowth Energy Trust.
Buyers typically assume Brent crude oil will be worth at least $35 to $40 a barrel for the next few years, said Willcocks, whose team has advised on 21 energy asset sales around the world in the past two years.
Mature Business
Shell sold the most U.K. fields over the past three years, though it also participated in the largest number of exploration and appraisal wells over that period.
“We cannot ignore the fact that it is a mature business,'' Robert Jan van Melson, Shell's business development manager for Europe, told the conference. With maturing fields, “we are not always getting the best value. There are other companies that can extract more value.''

Some types of drilling rigs in U.K. waters now cost $300,000 to $350,000 a day, compared with about $80,000 in 2004, Total's Tiffen said.
The U.K. has extracted about 35 billion barrels of oil and gas from the North Sea and 21 billion to 27 billion barrels remain, said Joan MacNaughton, director general of energy at the U.K.'s Department of Trade and Industry.
Total's Tiffen said the U.K. would benefit from having a cabinet-level energy minister. The country has a minister of state for energy, Malcolm Wicks, who reports to Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson.
“Energy is clearly now very much on the table for general discussion in the media,'' Tiffen said. “An energy minister that could look across the table at the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be a good thing.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephen Voss in London at [email protected] read more

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The Scotsman: Livewire prize can electrify your business says winner

LOTHIAN'S top young businessman today urged other business hopefuls to emulate him as he helped launch the Lothian Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur contest for 2006.
Donald MacFarlane, creator of Edinburgh-based Tangent Multimedia, said scooping the title last year had helped pull in clients such as Capital “cashmere queen” Belinda Robertson.
He said: “Winning the award was a great boost for my business and I'd urge other young Lothian-based businesses to enter and try to win the honour.”
The winner of the Lothian title will go forward to challenge for the Scottish title and, if successful there, go on to compete in London in June for a £10,000 prize and the UK title, an accolade previously won by Peebles-based Black Circles founder Michael Welsh.
James Smith, chairman of Shell UK, said: “Helping young people to start their own businesses is important for the continued growth of a diverse, successful economy.”
The Shell Livewire awards are open to all young entrepreneurs aged 16-30, whose businesses will have been trading for between three and 18 months on March 31.
Online Applications are available at www.shell-livewire.org/win10k.
This article: http://business.scotsman.com/management.cfm?id=236702006 read more

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The Australian: Fuel delivery drivers strike

February 16, 2006
OIL giant Shell will hire extra fuel carriers to avert problems with petrol supplies after delivery drivers in Victoria called a 72-hour strike.
The tanker drivers, who are members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), voted to stop work after the breakdown of talks on a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) with Shell yesterday.

A Shell spokeswoman said the stopwork would begin at 3am (AEDT) tomorrow and would affect the delivery of fuel statewide.
But she said the company expected fuel supply disruptions to be minimal.
“About a third of the fleet operate on Saturday and Sunday,” the spokeswoman said.
“We've hired additional carriers to deliver fuel to clients across the state tomorrow and on the weekend,” she said.
Apart from Shell outlets, the oil giant also supplied fuel to Coles Express and some independent operators.
Shell, who has been in negotiations since November with the TWU over the new EBA, said it expected talks to resume early next week.
“We had a four-hour meeting with the union yesterday, and there is another one planned for Monday,” the spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for the TWU confirmed the stopwork would take place tomorrow.
He said the strike followed the breakdown of talks between Shell and the TWU over an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.
But he could not confirm that the TWU would meet Shell again on Monday to resume negotiations. read more

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Daily Independent (Lagos): Nigeria: Shell Debunks Allegations Of Attack On Militants

Thursday, 16 February 2006

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) yesterday denied allegations by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

The military choppers belonging to the Joint Task Force (JFT) on security in the Niger Delta used its Osubi Airport to launch attacks on private facilities in Warri, Delta State.
A company spokesman said in a text message that the JTF helicopter, during their routine surveillance in the area, sighted some illegal oil bunkering barges and decided to destroy them.
He did not, however, give details but it was gathered that since Tuesday’s ultimatum by MEND which gave multinational oil workers 96 hours to vacate the Niger Delta region, the Federal Government’s security outfit has resolved not to leave any thing to chance to avoid being taken unawares by the militants as was the case in the past. read more

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Total's Net Profit Declines 37% Despite Jump in Energy Prices

By ANNE-SYLVAINE CHASSANY
February 16, 2006; Page A2
PARIS — French oil company Total SA said the impact of the Sanofi-Aventis merger and a switch in accounting for inventory led to a 37% drop in quarterly earnings, despite a surge in global energy prices.
However, high oil prices and solid refining margins led to a 13% rise in full-year profit and Total said it would boost its dividend by 20%.
Fourth-quarter net profit for Total, the world's fourth-largest oil company by market capitalization, slipped to €2.34 billion ($2.79 billion) from €3.73 billion a year earlier. Its latest results include a new inventory accounting method, while year-earlier results included a gain related to the merger that created Sanofi-Aventis, in which Total holds a stake.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 19% to €39.9 billion.
Total reported a record full-year net profit of €12.3 billion, 13% higher than the year before. The company said it would return some of the money to shareholders by increasing its dividend to €6.48 a share.
Total's shares ended at €214.40 ($255.51), off 90 European cents, in Paris.
Total's closely watched estimated reserves-replacement ratio for the year was 95% using rules set by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Companies typically try to achieve a replacement rate of 100% to satisfy investors worried about future production growth. Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC each reported a ratio below 100% earlier this month. Total's ratio means that it didn't replace all the energy it pumped out of the ground last year.
Total said its reserve-replacement rate would have been 120%, exceeding what it pumped out of the ground, excluding the impact of changing oil prices and assuming an oil price of $40 a barrel.
Probable hydrocarbon reserves, the basis for Total's future output estimates and capital expenditure decisions, stood at 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2005, up from 18.4 billion a year earlier.
The exploration and production division was Total's main growth driver in 2005, benefiting from soaring oil prices. Total's hydrocarbon output fell 6% in the fourth quarter, leading to a 4% drop for the whole year to 2.49 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, mainly because of the effect of oil-price climbs on some production-sharing contracts, the company said. Oil prices jumped around 40% last year, reaching $70 a barrel at one point.
Its refining operations were hit by outages after the hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, especially in the fourth quarter. But robust margins throughout the year more than offset the storms' impact.
Write to Anne-Sylvaine Chassany at [email protected] read more

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Woodside's earnings drop 3.4%

By STEPHEN BELL
February 16, 2006
PERTH, Australia — Woodside Petroleum Ltd. said its 2005 net profit fell 3.4%, but revenue rose 29%, driven by high oil and gas prices.
While the profit result met expectations, the operator of the multibillion-dollar North West Shelf gas project disappointed investors as it cut its 2006 production forecast by 2% to 76 million barrels of oil equivalent. Nevertheless, Australia's biggest energy group remains on target to double production by 2011, said managing director Don Voelte.
Woodside, which is 34% owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, said profit fell to 1.11 billion Australian dollars (US$823.6 million) from A$1.15 billion in 2004. Removing the impact of asset sales and other items, earnings would have risen 55%, helped by the jump in revenue to a record A$2.75 billion, from higher product prices and volumes. The 2004 results included gains from the sale of a 40% stake in the Enfield oil field and related permits.
Woodside shares fell 2.6% to A$40.21 ($29.84) in closing Sydney trading yesterday.
The company had a “pretty tough January,” Mr. Voelte said, referring to weather-related difficulties at several fields that cut production by one million barrels.
Output this year will rise 27% as new fields come on stream, including the US$705 million Chinguetti venture off the Mauritania shore that is expected to produce its first oil in a few days. The revised output forecast was below earlier expectations of a 30% jump.
Production rose about 4% to 59.7 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2005.
John Hirjee, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, noted that Woodside's forecast may prove conservative because of the potential for its A$1.48 billion Enfield oil project to come on stream in the third quarter, months ahead of schedule. “Woodside's long-term potential and very significant production growth over the next two to three years is still intact,” Mr. Hirjee said.
Mr. Voelte, a former Mobil executive who joined Woodside in April 2004, expects oil prices to remain firm over the next 12 months, while liquid-natural-gas markets are “as strong as we've seen them in a long time.” He said a “stream of buyers” continues to knock on Woodside's door, including China, which is scheduled to receive its first LNG exports from the North West Shelf in June.
Write to Stephen Bell at [email protected] read more

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The Independent: Energy industry jobs: Big bucks and big machines

Despite concern about declining oil stocks, the energy industry is booming and on the lookout for new recruits. Nick Jackson reports
Published: 16 February 2006
Energy is big business. Just how big was shown last week when BP's share-price dropped after it published its annual report: £11bn profits were just not enough for BP shareholders.

It is an industry that seems to never have had it so good, with big oil companies Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell breaking US and British records with their 2005 profits.
And it is not just the money that is exciting. If anything, energy has outgrown its “big country” Texan stereotypes, looking ever further and deeper for fresh reserves. Energy is at the top of everyone's agenda, from grunts to politicians, engineers to environmentalists.
So whether you're tut-tutting about the terrible damage done to the environment by our oil addiction, or asking yourself how to get a golden crumb from the energy cake, there are an increasing number of graduate opportunities out there. This year Shell will take on 150 graduates, up 50 per cent on a couple of years ago, while RWS Group, which heads NPower and Thames Water, has recruited 120 graduates this year, six times the number it brought into the business in 2004. Starting salaries are at nearly £30,000, rising to the £100,000 mark by your thirties. Most recruits are engineers, but for the commercial side of the business – buying and selling energy – the energy companies recruit from a range of backgrounds. Enthusiasm to learn and character count most.
But you wouldn't have an energy business unless you had someone to pump the gas in the first place. Ben Firbank, 25, is a chemical engineer working on one of Shell's refineries near Liverpool. He says it was the sheer scale of engineering involved in the energy industry that first attracted him. “Probably one of the biggest crunches was scale. It's massive,” he says. “In other industries it's on a much smaller scale.”
Firbank was sponsored by Shell through his chemical engineering BSc at Cambridge. But it wasn't just the big bucks and big machines that drew him in. “The energy industry is going to be pretty interesting over the next two decades,” he says. The challenges of securing a regular energy supply, making China's energy boom sustainable, and adapting to the new awareness of climate change are going to keep energy at the top of the agenda, and recruits like Firbank busy.
It is Mark Daniels's job, on the commercial side, to figure out the cost of that future. Daniels, 27, graduated with a business degree not exactly sure what he wanted to do. He joined the utilities company E.ON that owns Powergen because the graduate programme offered a wealth of opportunities. “It's a great chance to go and see what you want to do,” he says. Daniels, 27, found his home in energy as a commodities trader, calculating whether it was better to buy in natural resources like oil and gas, or electricity from other companies. He now works with E.ON's industrial client's to get them the best deals.
E.ON's size brings diversity, which is what fascinates Daniels most. “It's an exceptionally dynamic environment,” he says. “No two days are ever the same.” A newly liberalised gas market and carbon emissions caps make energy more exciting than ever. “It's great to be in a market as sophisticated and mature as oil and then also deal in a market that's just starting out,” he says. “Trading in carbon emissions began last year and I was one of the first traders to do that.”
It's one thing trading in change and another to actually deliver it. That is what Dr Iftikar Khan is doing. A gas turbine engineer, Khan, 30, joined NPower four years ago after finishing his PhD on gas turbines – the technology being introduced to replace old power stations. Now he combines work on gas turbines, one of the cleanest ways of generating conventional electricity, with research into biomass substitution, using wood and crops in coal plants to reduce carbon emissions. “This allows me to make a difference to the environment,” he says. And it's at no cost to Khan's career. On the graduate scheme, Khan was encouraged, and given days off to study, to become a chartered engineer, chartered environmentalist and a chartered scientist.
“Energy is a very exciting industry that provides some interesting opportunities to learn, develop, and progress,” says Khan. “And it's very rewarding, too.” Who could ask for more than that, except perhaps BP's shareholders? read more

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Financial Times: Total defends profits after outcry by unions

By Peggy Hollinger in Paris
Published: February 15 2006 10:49 | Last updated: February 15 2006 21:50
Total, the world’s fourth largest oil group by income, on Wednesday reignited the debate about corporate profitability in France as it posted a record €12.6bn ($15bn) annual net profit on the back of last year’s high oil prices.
Thierry Desmarest, executive chairman, hit out at the latest wave of criticism over the oil company’s 31 per cent increase in net profits. He said France would have to decide whether it wanted strong independent companies or takeover targets.
“For a company to survive it has to make profits,” he said.
“If we want companies that can resist being taken over, you have to be the size of Total. If you want all oil companies to be based elsewhere, it only has to be said. Or else we want performing companies of a global scale that can remain independent and based in France.”
Mr Desmarest’s outburst came after Total’s profits were attacked by consumer groups and unions as excessive, and is likely to revive the debate over whether the basis on which companies are taxed should be re-examined. UFC-Que Choisir, the consumer lobby group, yesterday called for a €5bn tax to be imposed on Total profits to fund transport investment.
The outcry also echoes political concerns in the UK and US about oil company profitability in a climate of high oil prices.
Mr Desmarest said that clearly the group’s profitability in 2005 had been helped by high oil prices – Brent crude was 42 per cent higher than last year at $54.50 a barrel – as well as an improvement in refining margins. Oil and gas production net operating profit rose 37 per cent from €5.9bn to €8bn, while refining and marketing operations delivered a 25 per cent improvement to €2.9bn from €2.3bn.
However high oil prices, strikes and hurricanes had an adverse effect on the group’s production in 2005, which fell 4 per cent.
Mr Desmarest reiterated his forecast of a 4 per cent annual rise in production between 2005 and 2010, with significant growth expected in Africa.
He refused to be drawn on expectations for the oil price in 2006, although the production forecast was based on a price of $40 a barrel, significantly below the average for 2005.
Total had a reserve replacement rate of 120 per cent, he said, with proven and probable reserves of 20bn barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2005.
Mr Desmarest also said the group expected to step up its capital expenditure from an annual $11bn to roughly $13.5bn a year to 2010.
The dividend was increased 20 per cent to €6.48 per share. read more

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Irish Independent: OIL – the slickest way to get a gushing profit

Feb 16, 2006
Is investing in this valuable resource as much a no-brainer as it seems?
OIL prices are at near record levels, American President George Bush has admitted his country is addicted to oil, and a slew of oil majors have produced billion-euro profits in the past few days.
In light of this, investing in companies such as BP, Shell or ExxonMobil could be considered a bit of a no-brainer. These oil majors have a higher valuation than Ireland's gross national product.
In other words, big oil could be the slickest investment around at the moment.
These oil majors have a higher valuation than Ireland's gross national product.
The attraction of investing in oil companies takes on an added dimension when you consider that five of the largest oil companies in the world – BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Total – are planning to give back to shareholders a staggering $250bn between dividends and share buybacks in the next two years.
According to international investment house Sandford Bernstein's Neil McMahon: “The years 2005-2006 could well prove to be the peak of profitability because they are having to spend their money on shareholders instead of reinvesting in oil projects that will yield production and revenue in the future.”
So, in the short-term, big oil could be a good bet.
Right now, with oil prices sky-high, the profits of the industry are mind blowing. In the past few weeks BP has reported fourth quarter profits of $4.43bn and a full-year profit of $19.31bn, up from $15.4bn the previous year.
Royal Dutch Shell has just reported annual profits of $22.9bn, up from $17.6bn in the previous year.
Chevron Corporation has pumped out $14.1bn in profits, jumping from $13.3bn in the year before. Similiarly, ConocoPhilips gushed out $13.5bn, up from $8.13bn.
ExxonMobil topped the lot with 2005 profits of $36.1bn, compared with $25.3bn in 2004.
However, despite these jumbo profits, shares in the oil giants fell back last week.
Shell and BP alone have produced annual profits of $42bn, and surprisingly, investors reacted with disdain when they announced the record results last week. BP shares fell back because its downstream business (which refers to refining and marketing of oil) is seen as structurally weak. In the case of Shell, investors have not forgiven it for overstating its reserves in 2004.
So what are the prospects for some of these companies in 2006?
Shell Last year Shell discovered six large fields known as 'big cats' in nations including Norway, Nigeria, Australia and Malaysia, according to Credit Suisse.
Big cat exploration projects are those where Shell hopes to discover at least 100m barrels.
In January, the company said its venture with Petronas Carigali, a unit of Malaysia's state-owned oil company, and ConocoPhilips made its fourth oil and gas discovery offshore Malaysia.
Shell began producing crude from Bonga in Nigeria in November after two years of delays boosted costs to $3.6bn from an original budget of $2.7bn.
It is aiming to add reserves through projects such as Bonga and a gas venture on Sakhalin Island, instead of with acquisitions.
Even with rising spending on equipment, continued high oil prices may allow Shell to reward shareholders, experts said.
Analyst at JP Morgan Chase & Co, Gordon Gray said in a recent note: “We believe Shell has the capacity to return around $10bn in buybacks in 2006, even with its increased capex (capital expenditure) burden.” He rates Shell “outperform”.
The shares are trading at GBP17.93, with the company having a market capitalisation of GBP122bn.
BP Dublin investment house Dolmen sees the oil sector as the top pick for 2006 with BP the pick of the bunch.
A substantial share buyback programme, good dividend yield and strong free cash flow yield make a compelling valuation argument for BP, according to Dolmen.
BP could give back as much as $56bn to shareholders over the next two years, international analysts have estimated.
Merrill Lynch rate the shares a “buy” with a price target of GBP7.30. The shares are currently at GBP6.44.
Exxon Mobil One of the top performers among the Dow Jones Industrial Average members, ExxonMobil is riding high on the back of the oil price spike. The shares are currently at $59.43.
Earnings for all of 2005 jumped to $36.1bnn, exceeding the US record of $26.3bn set by MediaOne Group in 1998, as rising demand and hurricanes lifted energy prices.
Full-year revenue was $371bn, pushing ExxonMobil past Wal-Mart Stores as the largest US company by sales.
“Exxon keeps coming up with these monumental quarters,” said Joe Ancona, an analyst at Burns Gustus & Co in Florida. Mr Ancona rates ExxonMobil shares as a “buy”.
“You've got to stay on this bucking horse,” he said.
But be warned – there are no guarantees that the big majors will deliver for shareholders.
It needs to be noted that record oil prices are reflected in the share prices. read more

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Financial Times: Magellan sets course for overseas markets

By Deborah Brewster
Published: February 16 2006 02:00 | Last updated: February 16 2006 02:00
Fidelity's flagship Magellan fund is undergoing a sharp change in direction, with its new manager dumping big-name US consumer stocks such as Home Depot and Pfizer and putting a quarter of the fund into overseas markets.
Fidelity last October appointed Harry Lange to head Magellan in an attempt to return the $51bn fund to its glory days. Once a star performer and the biggest fund in the US, Magellan has in recent years regularly underperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 index and is half its former size.
It appears that Mr Lange has moved quickly. During the December quarter, Magellan lifted its non-US holdings to 25 per cent from only 4 per cent, according to regulatory filings.
He has also taken the axe to nearly all of the fund's top holdings, and sharply lifted exposure to technology companies.
General Electric is the only name that remains in Magellan's top 10 holdings, and mobile phone company Nokia has replaced it as the fund's biggest holding.
During the quarter, Magellan bought 60m Nokia shares, lifting its holding by 56 per cent. At the same time, it sold 44.4m GE shares.
Magellan also massively increased its investment in Royal Dutch Shell, to 20.5m shares from just 1m.
The fund is not alone in its move to non-US markets. US investors last year put more money into international stock funds than they did into US domestic funds for the first time in at least a decade. At the same time, many diversified stock funds shifted money from the US market to other markets.
Magellan has been criticised for sticking too closely to the S&P 500, holding US large cap stocks and making it difficult for the fund to offer returns above the index, especially after trading costs and management fees were taken out.
It appears its new direction will see it sharply diverge from the index. In the December quarter, Magellan sold 88m shares of its second biggest holding, Microsoft – a stake worth about $2.4bn at yesterday's price. It also sold almost its entire stake in Home Depot, offloading 110m shares and keeping only 5m, and almost its entire stake in Pfizer.
It sold $5bn worth of Intel stock, which last year heavily underperformed. Procter & Gamble, Altria and AT&T are other stocks which Magellan sold down heavily, according to analysis from Georgeson ShareholderAnalytics.
Apart from overseas stocks, Mr Lange has lifted buying of tech stocks, which now account for 25 per cent of the portfolio, well above the benchmark.
Jim Lowell, who publishes a newsletter on Fidelity, said: “I upgraded Magellan from a sell to a buy as soon as Harry Lange took over, because I knew that he is a go-anywhere stockpicker and that he would do two things – significantly boost tech, and become a global growth fund.” read more

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New-Europe.info: Investment in Sakhalin PSA USD 4.7 bln in 2005

Investment in Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 offshore projects being implemented under production sharing agreements, amounted to USD 4.662 billion in 2005, a source in the region administration’s economics committee told Interfax. In particular, investment in the Sakhalin-1 project amounted to USD 1.719 billion, and in the Sakhalin-2 project – USD 2.943 billion.
The source said that the Orlan platform was launched at the Sakhalin-1 project in July 2005, from which drilling of oil and gas production wells began. Oil and gas production has been underway since October 1, with output being supplied to the domestic market. A temporary technological complex has been set up at the onshore complex of the Chayvo field. The seventh Sakhalin-2 production season at the Vityaz complex ended in December. Oil production this season amounted to 1.64 million tonnes, up one percent from 2004, the source said. Concrete substructures were installed at offshore rigs, construction of the first liquefied natural gas plant in the country was 75 percent completed and a project was started for trunk pipelines to cross rivers.
“Sakhalin is becoming a real center of oil and gas production in the Far East, successful drilling and seismic work is being carried out for Sakhalin-3 (Veninsky block), Sakhalin-4, Sakhalin-5 and Sakhalin-6. Oil and gas companies working in the Sakhalin oil and gas sector are studying other sections off the Far East coast – off Kamchatka and Magadan,” the source said. read more

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