Posts on ‘February 17th, 2007’

Rising costs will take toll, analysts say BY LISA SCHMIDT Even as they raked in record profits, Canadian oil and gas companies saw a weaker finish to 2006. THE ARTICLE After swelling for most of the year, earnings in the fourth quarter have dropped for all the largest energy firms amid retreating prices for oil [...]

Vol. 12, No. 7  Week of February 18, 2007 BP PLC is looking into allegations by a longtime oil industry watchdog, including a claim that a company employee substituted water for more expensive chemical agents used to prevent corrosion in its Prudhoe Bay pipelines. The company ombudsman, retired federal judge Stanley Sporkin, said Feb. 7 [...]

Vol. 12, No. 7  Week of February 18, 2007 By Gary Park Haggling persists over parent takeover bid; sands partner explores options Normally a low-key operator in the Canadian oil patch, Shell Canada finds itself being tugged in all directions these days. Caught in an increasingly turbulent takeover bid by its parent Royal Dutch Shell, [...]

Published: Feb 17, 2007 A GROUP of up to 100 Shell to Sea activists caused a major security alert after they broke into the site of the controversial Corrib gas terminal yesterday. Gardai eventually escorted the group off the Corrib Oil site after a peaceful stand-off. The protesters were jubilant after they successfully breached the [...]

EXTRACT: This question of resources has been central to the recent rows between Russia and its neighbours, which could leave western Europe literally shivering if the pipelines are turned off for too long. Firms such as Shell have also seen the government use environmental controls selectively to pressurise them to give up dominant control of [...]

Published: Feb 17, 2007 The Shell to Sea campaign in north Mayo has dissociated itself from a security breach involving over 100 protesters at the Corrib gas terminal site, write Lorna Siggins and Tom Shiel in Bellanaboy, Co Mayo The incursion, which lasted over two hours yesterday, has been condemned by Shell E&P Ireland, while [...]

TOM GILLESPIE Published: Feb 17, 2007 MORE than 100 protesters breached security and entered the controversial Corrib gas terminal yesterday. Shell To Sea activists cheered as demonstrators entered the compound. Oil bosses were outraged and building work on the Co Mayo site was temporarily halted amid health and safety fears. Garda reinforcements were sent shortly [...]

By Michael Tindaledirectorsdeals.com Published: February 17 2007 02:00 | Last updated: February 17 2007 02:00 Royal Dutch Shell directors remain active with shares this year so far trading sideways. Wim Kok and chief executive Jeroen Van der Veer invested £78,000 on Wednesday. This was the first discretionary by either man for 18 months.

By Roland Gribben BP is attempting to hammer out a compromise with Gazprom to maintain a minority stake in a Russian gasfield regarded as a huge prize by the Russian state-owned business and an important source of future income by the British giant. Negotiations are understood to be centring on the TNK-BP Anglo-Russian joint venture, [...]

• Centrica, which owns and operates Rough, the UK’s largest natural-gas storage site, said the store contains more gas than it did a year ago because a warmer-than-average winter has reduced the need for stored fuel. • British Gas, the residential unit of Centrica, cut gas and power rates for customers who pay online one [...]

Business comment By Damian Reece, City Editor Hopefully Tony Hayward is brushing up his Russian as he prepares to move into the chief executive’s eyrie at BP’s St James’s Square headquarters. Russia, President Putin, the Kremlin and Gazprom are looming large on the long list of crucial and sensitive issues facing BP’s leader-elect. Huge Siberian [...]

Saturday February 17, 2007 Graham Searjeant, Personal Investor Energy is the most confusing sector on the stock market. Oil prices are still fluctuating wildly. Gas prices spiked last year and now Centrica’s British Gas is cutting prices by 17 per cent to stem the loss of customers. It is benefiting from new supplies from Norway. [...]

In yet another twist in the murky relationship between convicted Washington D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the U.S. Interior Department, it is now being reported that alleged ethical violations may extend into the U.S. Justice Department – the very cabinet branch charged with preventing and prosecuting corruption in government. In a story in Thursday’s Washington [...]

Activists in Edinburgh shut down eight shell petrol stations around the city centre as a soldarity action for the Shell to Sea campaign in Rossport. Between 7am and 8am this morning (16th February 2007) while the city was still in darkness, a number of activists shut down eight different Shell petrol stations in and surrounding [...]

By MASOOD FARIVAR February 17, 2007; Page B4 Oil futures rallied 2.4% and climbed above $59 after the government warned about more militant attacks in Nigeria and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ secretary-general said producers were showing compliance with the group’s new oil-production target. The rally followed a volatile week in oil markets and [...]