April, 2008:

Bloomberg: Australian Aboriginals Seek `Economic Partnerships’ in LNG

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

April 30 (Bloomberg) — Australian aboriginal groups will seek “economic partnerships” with ventures planning to develop liquefied natural gas projects in the far northeast, the head of a group representing indigenous communities in the region said.

Such alliances are the best way to ensure “responsible development” of the gas reserves in the Browse Basin, which could yield A$20 billion ($19 billion) a year in revenue for more than 50 years, Wayne Bergmann of the Kimberley Land Council said today in Canberra. The government needs to help ensure indigenous people benefit from the resources “boom,” he said. read more

Bloomberg: Nigerian Oil Workers Return to Work Amid Exxon Talks (Update2)

By Julie Ziegler

April 30 (Bloomberg) — A Nigerian oil workers’ union is sending members back to work today as part of a bargaining agreement as talks with management at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s local unit were scheduled to resume.

Union and company representatives will meet at 10 a.m. local time today in Abuja in an attempt to end a seven-day strike that has cut crude output by 860,000 barrels a day, according to Olusola George-Olumoroti, branch chairman of the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria. read more

Calgary Herald: Shell speeds plans for Russian north

From Herald News Services
Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Royal Dutch Shell PLC and its partners will accelerate planning to develop far-northern natural gas fields in Russia, Dutch premier Jan Peter Balkenende said.

Balkenende held talks on energy projects with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov in the Dutch city of The Hague. Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Shell, and Gertjan Lankhorst, CEO of gas trader GasTerra BV, also attended, Balkenende said. read more

Financial Times: Do not rest on your laurels, Hayward tells BP’s reformers

By Ed Crooks
Published: April 30 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 30 2008 03:00

Rarely can there have been such a clear case of the embarrassment of riches.

Not many companies reporting a near-50 per cent rise in profits would immediately explain away much of the growth and warn of more challenging times ahead but that is what BP did yesterday.

Cazenove calculated that it was the biggest positive quarterly earnings surprise BP had ever given investors, with replacement cost earnings more than $1.4bn (£705m) higher than the consensus of analysts’ forecasts. read more

Financial Times: Petrobras confident over deep water well

By Ed Crooks
Published: April 30 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 30 2008 03:00

In more than 2,000 metres of water off the coast of Brazil, Petrobras, the Brazilian national oil company, is drilling what could become one of most important oil wells of recent years.

Sergio Gabrielli, chief executive of Petrobras, told the Financial Times that results from a well now being drilled in the offshore Carioca field, the subject of fevered excitement, should provide some answers about its true potential in about three months’ time. read more

Financial Times: Shell output up

Published: April 30 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 30 2008 03:00

For Royal Dutch Shell, which has been dogged by concerns about falling production, the rise in its first-quarter output reported yesterday, though small, was particularly welcome. The reason was the growth in its gas business.

Shell still has 164,000 barrels per day of production shut-in as a result of the violence in Nigeria, and its total crude oil production was 6 per cent lower in the first quarter of this year than the equivalent period of 2007. But gas production was up 9 per cent. read more

Financial Times: Lex Column: Shell and BP

Published: April 30 2008 03:00 | Last updated: April 30 2008 03:00

Mega-cap energy stocks are not supposed to move this much. Yesterday’s first-quarter figures from BP and Shell – comfortably above consensus in both cases – sent the pair’s shares up about 6 per cent. Investors may have been waiting for an excuse to pile back in; BP had underperformed the sector by 13 per cent over the past 12 months and Shell had lagged behind by 8 per cent. read more

oil fat cats should be hung up and beaten like scalded dogs

Comment posted by Daniel Dillard

Shell, BP, Chevron, Exxon and all of you other money grubbing oil fat cats should be hung up and beaten like scalded dogs. YOur practices sicken me and the rest of the world. I hope we find another source of power that has nothing to do with oil so we can see your fat butts suffer like the rest of us. We have a baby on the way and now that childs future is in jeopardy and she hasn’t even been born yet. Mommy and daddy can’t afford to put gas in the car to get to two separate jobs. You should be ashamed of yourselves. read more

Photograph: David McNew/Getty images

Brown wants profits poured into North Sea

· BP and Shell announce £7bn bonanza
· Motorists and greens united in condemnation

Terry Macalister
The Guardian, Wednesday April 30 2008

Gordon Brown stepped into a growing row about oil company profits yesterday, calling on BP and Shell to spend more of their combined £7bn first-quarter earnings on activity in the North Sea.

The prime minister’s comments came as lorry drivers took a protest on the soaring cost of petrol to central London, while other motoring organisations and environmentalists accused the oil industry of profiteering at the expense of car drivers and the planet. read more

The Times: Chemistry

April 30, 2008

The rising price of oil should not bring tax relief

Seeing petrol prices rise on the electronic boards outside filling stations is nothing compared to the shock when it comes to paying. A year ago the driver of an average-sized family saloon would have left the forecourt with a £60 bill for a full tank of petrol. The same driver will now be nursing a £70 hole in the pocket. Diesel users have had it even worse. Today they will be lucky to leave the pumps with change out of £80. The price of diesel has risen by a quarter in the past 12 months and by nearly half since 2003. read more

The Times: Hurrah! Oil profits are up

Without the inflated earnings of multinationals, we’d be even worse off than we are now

April 30, 2008
Carl Mortished

Hurrah for big oil profits. Seven million dollars an hour for BP and Shell, as the cost of jet kerosene bankrupts airlines and dear diesel puts up the price of just about everything from corn flakes to cucumbers. The cheer is not ironic; we should celebrate these gazillion- dollar profits because our world is now in deep trouble and without the grotesquely inflated earnings of the oil multinationals, we should be even deeper in the mire. read more

The Times: Fuel crisis Q&A

April 30, 2008

Why do oil prices keep on rising?

Oil is becoming scarcer and harder to produce. Several former big areas of oil production are in decline while other top oil-producing countries, including Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, are either unwilling or unable to lift production. Chinese demand is expected to more than double by 2030. Hedge funds and investment banks have been placing big bets that oil prices will continue to rise, amplifying the volatility in prices.

Is petrol rising in tandem with oil? read more

Daily Telegraph: Nigeria’s Delta is where Western oil giants meet local militants

Last Updated: 1:21am BST 30/04/2008

Political unrest has made the Niger Delta a high-risk region for Western majors and their staff, write Russell Hotten and Mike Pflanz

It is early morning, just after the 7pm-to-6am curfew is lifted, and convoys of minibuses led and tailed by armed escorts speed oil industry workers to their offices, refineries and workshops. The threat of kidnap is everywhere. Oil pipelines and facilities are regularly attacked. For employees of Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and a host of other companies, there is no such thing as a normal day at the office.

Welcome to Nigeria, the world’s eighth largest crude exporter – but where concerns about the worsening security situation have contributed to the recent surge in oil prices. read more

Soaring oil prices have boosted Shell and BP’s earnings

Daily Telegraph: Shell and BP investors get $5bn payout

By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 1:20am BST 30/04/2008

A surging oil price has showered investors with a $5bn (£2.5bn) bonanza earned in just 12 weeks, with further payouts throughout the year expected to make 2008 a record for shareholders.

The dividend payouts announced yesterday on the back of bumper profits by Royal Dutch Shell and BP, Europe’s two biggest oil companies, will deliver much needed cheer to investors, both private individuals and the institutions that manage the country’s pension schemes including Legal & General and Standard Life. read more

The Times: Outcry as Shell and BP make billions on back of price rises

Wednesday April 30, 2008
Robin Pagnamenta and David Robertson

Surging oil prices helped to boost profits at BP and Royal Dutch Shell to a combined record of £7.2 billion for the first quarter of the year.

Amid growing accusations of profiteering by big oil companies, it also emerged that BP had earned a one-off trading profit of $400 million (£203 million) by correctly betting on the direction of oil and gas prices.

The figures provoked an immediate outcry from campaign groups, which said it was a disgrace that at a time of increased public concern about climate change Shell and BP were earning their biggest profits, while compounding the problem of rising global carbon emissions. read more