May 2nd, 2007:

Published: May 02, 2007 in Knowledge@Wharton
 
In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez is threatening to snatch control of several major projects from American and European firms. In Russia, the government recently strong-armed Royal Dutch Shell into relinquishing control of a large field called Sakhalin II. In developed countries, home to the six so-called “supermajor” oil producers, politicians have debated imposing windfall profits taxes.

Across the oil-producing world, governments are responding to higher petroleum prices by imposing new taxes on oil companies and forcing the renegotiation of contracts giving foreign firms access to critical reserves. read more

JOB LOSSES AFTER 1982 BUST STILL VIVID

By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/02/2007 01:53:52 AM MDT

Grand Junction – The promise of oil shale collapsed in thousands of pink slips and many more broken dreams and fortunes on May 2, 1982 – a day known here as Black Sunday.

On the 25th anniversary of the oil-shale industry bust, the resource still dangles the enticing prospect of a new domestic source of fuel. And once again, there is a concerted push to get at it. read more

More than half of the active oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico are now in depths of greater than 1,000 feet, only about 15 years after drilling in the deepest regions became technologically practical, a report said Tuesday.

In 2006, 70 percent of the oil and 40 percent of the gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico was from deepwater leases, the Minerals Management Service said in a report for the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

Last year, petroleum companies made 12 new deepwater discoveries, the deepest in 7,600 feet of water. Those discoveries are expected to add about 1.3 billion barrels to Gulf reserves, according to the MMS. read more

EXTRACT: Woodside’s Pluto project, along with its stake in the operating North West Shelf LNG venture and in the undeveloped Browse and Sunrise LNG projects, also in Australia, may drive 34 percent shareholder Royal Dutch Shell Plc to renew an attempt to take control of the company…

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

May 2 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-biggest oil company, may swap a stake in a proposed A$10 billion ($8.3 billion) liquefied natural gas project in Asia for assets in the faster-growing Atlantic market. read more

As the industrial powers race to extract the continent’s natural resources to feed their own consumption, they are fostering environmental degradation, corruption and human rights abuses. Mandy Turner reports

Published: May 02, 2007

T owards the end of last year, at Cape Town’s swanky Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, businessmen and African politicians networked and closed deals. They were attending Africa Oil Week, a key annual event that attracts the energy sector’s biggest players, such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron. One candidly named conference session, The Scramble for Africa, suggested the motives of those attending: to profit from the continent’s wealth of natural resources. read more

Published: May 02, 2007

Although the weather in April was almost unbearably hot, a record-breaking 115,000 fans flocked to the Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix to support their favourite racing teams.

The large crowd at the Sepang International Circuit was a highly encouraging sign for the sponsorship efforts of Petroliam Nasional Berhad, better known as Petronas.

“Our nine years in motor sports have definitely made a huge impact. In European countries, they know immediately who we are and what business we are doing,” said Mohd Azhar Osman Khairuddin, senior general manager for corporate affairs of Petronas. read more

Aine Ryan
Published: May 02, 2007

The politicisation of the Corrib gas project was not the fault of Shell E&P Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) oral hearing into the issuing if an integrated pollution prevention licence (IPPC) was told yesterday.

On the 10th day of the hearing in Belmullet, Co Mayo, Micheal O Seighin, one of the Rossport Five, said Shell and the other partners (Statoil and Marathon) had been “led astray in this project”.

Mr O Seighin was addressing the fact that due to project splitting, the removal of 350,000 tonnes of peat from the proposed refinery site was progressing in the absence of an IPPC licence and a specific route. read more

EXTRACT: Almost until the end, Lord Browne and his executive team were thinking about the next big deal. In recent years, say two people familiar with the matter, they even considered a tie-up with Anglo-Dutch rival Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

THE ARTICLE

First Page

BP Chief’s Tenure
Was Increasingly Rocky;
Then He Lied to Court
Hiding an Escort Service

By CHIP CUMMINS, CARRICK MOLLENKAMP, AARON O. PATRICK and GUY CHAZAN
May 2, 2007; Page A1

The career of John Browne, one of modern Britain’s most celebrated business leaders, has unraveled in a personal scandal. But the story of the BP PLC executive’s demise has deeper roots and a more traditional moral: that of a legendary executive who allowed his company to lose its way in the autumn of his tenure. read more

LAGOS (Reuters) – Armed militants killed a Nigerian and kidnapped six foreign oil workers in an attack on an oil industry vessel off Nigeria’s coast on Tuesday, security sources and the Italian government said.

Italy’s Foreign Ministry said four of the hostages were Italians. Security sources said one of the others kidnapped was believed to be American, while the nationality of the sixth person could not be immediately established.

“The militants shot one navy personnel and compelled the crew to throw a rope down to give them access by using dynamite,” one security source said. read more

Patrick Collinson
Wednesday May 2, 2007

It’s called the “pink plateau”. It’s the glass ceiling that makes gay men and lesbians virtually invisible in the boardrooms of global multinationals.

Homophobia may be withering in offices and on the shopfloor but among Britain’s business elite the closet remains firmly shut. At the global oil majors, routinely negotiating deals in countries not known for their tolerance of homosexuality, being openly gay is simply not an option. read more

EXTRACT: While there were rumours in the past that Lord Browne was looking for his own final coup – a takeover of Shell – in recent months analysts have been musing over the reverse: a weakened BP potentially falling victim to a takeover by Shell.

THE ARTICLE

· Reign of the ‘Sun King’ of financial world ends
· Browne lied in attempt to shield private life

Terry Macalister
Wednesday May 2, 2007

John Browne, the chief executive of Britain’s biggest company, was lauded just days ago by his chairman as the “greatest businessman of his generation” after building BP into Britain’s biggest company with a series of calculated business risks. But yesterday’s revelations also show he was willing to gamble in his private life. read more

Last Updated: 1:17am BST 02/05/2007

The sun has finally set on the Sun King. Lord Browne of Madingley earned the soubriquet after 10 frenetic years in which he transformed BP into one of the most successful and admired companies in the world. But the past two years have witnessed a rapid fall from grace – both for BP and for Browne himself.
 
His supporters say that 10 years of success should not be overshadowed by two years of grief. Critics, though, believe the root of BP’s recent problems – including a fatal explosion, oil spillages, allegations of market manipulation – lay in the company’s rapid dash for growth. read more

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 1:17am BST 02/05/2007

At rallies of the Socialist faithful, Ségolène Royal has variously proposed the creation of a vast French energy combine under state control, the renationalisation of Électricité de France (EdF), an assault on nuclear power, and a windfall profits tax on the oil group Total.

Whether she actually means to carry out any of these schemes if elected president on Sunday is a question that keeps most of France’s energy bosses awake at night. read more

EXTRACT: One alludes to a discussion between Lord Browne, the Prime Minister and Gordon Brown over the prospect of BP potentially taking an important strategic decision. The court documents shed no further light on the discussion. But the reference might have been about Lord Browne’s wish to merge with Shell which would have resulted in the BP head office moving to the Netherlands with the loss of hundreds of jobs in Britain. The BP board was opposed to such a move.

By Andrew Pierce
Last Updated: 1:52am BST 02/05/2007 read more