China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. shares slumped the most in over three months after Asia’s biggest refiner posted its lowest annual profit since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Inc. sparked the global financial crisis.
Net income in 2014 for the company known as Sinopec dropped to 46.5 billion yuan ($7.5 billion), or 0.397 yuan a share, from 66.1 billion yuan, or 0.53 yuan, a year earlier, according to a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange.
That compares with a mean of 53.5 billion yuan from 23 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales were 2.83 trillion yuan, down 1.9%.
About 100 oil and gas industry contractors are today taking part in what the host, Centrica Energy, has described as a “hackathon” of ideas aimed at reducing the costs for projects that are stuck in the pipeline.
The term is more usually used for gatherings of software developers and programmers, where they get together to look at problems and figure out how to solve them.
Centrica Energy hopes today’s event in Aberdeen will deliver new ways to approach some of its oil and gas projects, using new technologies which “might make the difference” between them going ahead or not in the currently difficult operating climate for North Sea firms.
An Aberdeen company's expansion to Houston in the US is just another example of the strong links between the two cities, the UK Government's representative in Texas says.
Consul-general Andrew Miller was speaking during a trip to the Granite City, leading a 14-strong delegation from America's oil capital for the third annual Aberdeen-Houston Gateway event.
Following a visit to electrical product and service provider AEL, which opened its Houston office last year, Mr Miller said: "It is another great example of a well-established Aberdeen company which is capitalising on the business links and synergies which exist between its home city and fellow global energy industry hub, Houston.
Two experienced industry figures have been appointed to the board at Aberdeenshire energy service firm Paradigm Drilling Services in the wake of a £5million investment in the business.
Nicholas Gee and Mike Hill have become directors at the drilling and intervention technology company following the injection of capital by Buckthorn Partners and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV), the corporate venturing subsidiary of Saudi Aramco.
Mr Gee, a former executive vice-president of strategy and development at Weatherford International, reprsents Buckthorn on the board. Mr Hill, who has over 17 years' investment experience in the oil and gas sector, represents SAEV.
German utility E.ON was staying silent about the future of its North Sea oil and gas interests last night after a report said the company was making plans for an exit.
A spokeswoman said she could not comment on speculation, and there would be no announcement of any kind until the conclusion of a strategic review launched by the firm late last year.
In November, Dusseldorf-based E.ON unveiled plans to split in two and spin off most of its conventional power generation, energy trading and oil and gas exploration and production (E&P).
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” So the saying goes and so it is true that crises can stimulate creative thought and challenge established norms in a way that seems difficult to achieve when all is calm and ticking over.
In calmer waters thinking reverts to ‘continuous improvement’ and its promise of a more steady and paced level of delivery. With a familiar sigh of relief, comfort levels are restored and with it the pressure to challenge deeply held beliefs and working practices. So how is all this relevant to $60 oil?
The answer is simple: The industry has an opportunity to make a real difference, to capitalise on a situation that is marked by great uncertainty but equally offers boundless possibility. It is a straight choice – the industry has only to give itself permission to frame it in terms of the latter.
The commercial wing of Scotland’s fishing fleet body has passed the 500 mark for the number of different vessels it has used for oil and gas sector work since the beginning of the century.
Rules brought in to allow stocks to replenish have restricted the amount of time fishing vessels can spend at sea catching fish, putting the fleet’s future at risk.
SFF Services Limited (SFFSL), set up by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation in 1986, said the work it has helped create has softened the impact of the downtime enforced on crafts.
Amec Foster Wheeler has appointed a new chairman to its remuneration committee.
Neil Carson, a non-executive director since 2010, will assume the role of senior independent director as well.
As the 2015 General Election approaches, the North Sea oil and gas industry has become a key focus for politicians.
The government recently outlined a raft of measures to support the sector, dropping the supplementary charge from 30% to 20% and decreasing the Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT) by 15%.
Representatives from Liberal Democrat, Labour, Conservative and SNP will be taking part in a special panel session in Aberdeen centered around the energy industry and what politicians can do to support it.
Total SA, Europe’s second-biggest oil company, is considering a sale of its gas pipeline in the UK North Sea as it seeks to offload assets amid a drop in oil prices, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
The French company has reached out to several potential buyers for the Frigg network, which could fetch about $1 billion, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
A sale may draw interest from pension funds seeking stable returns and energy-focused private-equity firms, they said.
Gulfsands Petroleum is said to be in talks with its major shareholders to secure working capital.
The company requires around $11million to settle a loan balance and would need access to around $15million of new capital to fund operational activities which are currently planned.
The US Government is set to unveil rules for oil companies that frack on federal land.
The proposals are expected to include a number of safety measures but are not expected to have as strict oversight as some environmental groups want.
Oil major Shell has completed the sale of its stake in a Nigerian oil field for $737million.
The company is nearing the completion of a strategic asset review in the West African country.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury visited Aberdeen as new powers for the OGA (Oil and Gas Authority) were unveiled.
The move comes just days after the budget which say the supplementary charge dropped from 30% to 30% as well as a decrease in the PRT (Petroleum Revenue Tax).
Speaking to Energy Voice at ASCO, the politician said the changes reflected The Wood Review 'Call for Evidence', which was set out in Autumn last year.
Today,March 20, is apparently the international day of happiness, inaugurated by the United Nations in 2012! Does the oil and gas sector share that happiness after the end of an eventful week?
The start of the week saw a clarion call from Sir Ian Wood for the Chancellor to act decisively in reforming the North sea fiscal regime. Without decisive action Sir Ian warned of job losses of up to 100, 000 as the industry continues to struggle to come to terms with the oil price slump.
Drivers who enjoyed a slump in petrol prices at the turn of the year are now facing a sharp rise in the cost of motoring, according to the AA.
Prices at the pumps have surged by an average of 5.5p over the past six weeks, with average petrol prices now standing at 111.92p a litre.
This is 3.64p a litre more than in mid-February and compares unfavourably, too, with the low of 106.39p seen on February 1.
The next big threat to oil prices isn’t from OPEC or Bakken shale. It’s Russian samovars, or teapots.
Simple refineries that process crude into fuel oil are scaling back, because when oil prices slump, the government reduces the discount that these refiners -- known as teapots to those in the industry -- get for exporting fuel. They use less crude, freeing it up for sale abroad, which in turn adds to the global glut.
Russia may increase oil exports by as much as 250,000 barrels a day this year, according to James Henderson, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies who’s followed the country’s energy industry for more than 20 years. That would equate to 5% growth in shipments, the most in at least a decade.
“The pain Russia is feeling from low oil prices has made more crude available for export,” Henderson said by phone March 18. “Quite a few of Russia’s simple refineries could reduce their runs.”
Carlyle Group LP has raised $2.5 billion for an international energy fund as the private equity investor bolsters its oil and gas firepower after the collapse in prices.
Marcel van Poecke, head of Carlyle International Energy Partners, said the Washington-based firm closed the fund after commitments from 160 investors. The new fund, which will invest exclusively outside the US, will increase Carlyle’s war chest for energy deals to over $10 billion, the firm said.
“This is one of the best periods, if not the best, to invest in global energy,” van Poecke said in an interview.
Carlyle joins other private equity firms, including Blackstone Group LP, KKR & Co. and Apollo Global Management LLC, in raising extra funds for energy deals as oil and natural gas companies struggle to stay afloat.
A backdated tax cut? Am I dreaming? The Budget was good news indeed.
Proclaiming eternal life for the UKCS was always above the Chancellor’s pay grade, but George Osborne’s headlines certainly help.
The devil will be in the detail, and no doubt there will be some surprises (and I’m not talking of a winter fuel allowance for 4x4 drivers).
Beyond his party’s faithful, for George Osborne the question is has he given enough to get your cross at May’s General Election?
Before we declare a National George Osborne Day, let’s see how it pans out. Like an Easter Egg, this budget is definitely chocolate on the outside.
Thousands of offshore catering workers are to be balloted over possible industrial action after an expected pay rise was cancelled.
Around 2,000 members of the Unite and RMT unions were told by the Caterers Offshore Trade Association (COTA), which represents six separate catering companies, that the 2% rise planned for 2015/16 will not be paid on Wednesday.
Employees were told the news on the same day that Chancellor George Osborne announced a £1.3 billion tax break to the UK's offshore oil and gas industry.
A consultative ballot of union members will now gauge support for industrial action.
A North Sea leader has warned that more jobs will have to be cut in the sector despite a “regeneration” package announced in the Budget.
Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil and Gas UK, said the industry must put pressure on itself to reduce costs and improve efficiency, but urged firms to do it in a “careful” way.
He was speaking the day after the Treasury met demands for greater support during the downturn, announcing cuts to the supplementary charge, petroleum revenue tax and incentives for exploration.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael claimed on Wednesday that the measures would help protect thousands and potentially tens of thousands of jobs.
However, Mr Webb said there were still difficult decisions to be taken in the offshore sector.
Aberdeen-based oil and gas firm Seafab has ceased its operations due to “insurmountable” cash flow problems brought on by the crude price collapse.
The price of oil has fallen by about 50% since last summer due to chronic over-supply, prompting energy companies to resort to drastic belt-tightening measures, often at the expense of employees.
Those at Seafab are the latest casualties. The service provider’s 23 staff members at its facility in Dyce have been made redundant.
Jiang Jiemin, the former chairman of PetroChina Co., will be prosecuted for charges including accepting bribes and abusing power while he served in the country’s oil and gas industry.
Jiang used his positions, including chairman of PetroChina parent China National Petroleum Corp., for personal gain and caused “huge loses” to national interest, China’s top prosecutor said on its official Weibo microblog account today. Jiang failed to explain why his personal fortune and spending were beyond his known sources of income.
The anti-graft drive championed by President Xi Jinping has snared more than a dozen senior officials at CNPC and PetroChina, the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, since August 2013.
Falling oil revenues mean Scotland would face a “devastating” £7.6 billion of cuts if it had to raise all the cash it spends, Labour has claimed.
The party’s Scottish deputy leader Kezia Dugdale had previously claimed the country would be some £6.5 billion worse off if there was a change to the way funds are allocated throughout the United Kingdom.
But after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) yesterday revised down the amount of money it predicted North Sea oil revenues would raise, she said the impact was even greater.
Public cash is currently distributed across the UK using the Barnett formula, but the SNP wants Scotland to have full fiscal autonomy - meaning it would have to raise enough in taxes and borrowing to cover all its spending.
Ms Sturgeon told Holyrood the Scottish Government would publish a new bulletin setting out its latest forecasts for oil revenues “as soon as possible”.
But Ms Dugdale said plans for full fiscal autonomy had been based on significantly higher oil prices of 110 US dollars (£74) a barrel.
