Prince Charles shuns fossil fuel investments
Pilita Clark, Environment Correspondent Enter your email address Select an access level You may also be interested in our corporate or newspaper only subscriptions.
U.K. Tells BP it Would Oppose Foreign Takeover of the Company
ENLARGE The U.K. government told BP it would intervene to prevent any foreign takeover of the oil company. Photo: NICK ANSELL/ZUMA PRESS LONDON—The U.K. government told BP PLC that it would oppose any potential foreign takeover of the company because it wants the oil giant to remain a British company with global clout. With a market cap of more than $132 billion, BP would be a huge takeover target—and a big bite for even its largest rivals. But amid today’s low oil prices, speculation has swirled over possible deal making. Earlier this month, Royal Dutch Shell PLC reached a deal to buy UK-based BG Group PLC for some $70 billion. A British government official said Sunday that the U.K. government told BP it would intervene to prevent any foreign takeover bid of BP, one of the world’s biggest oil companies. It would also seek to prevent a takeover from […]
War Haunts Russia’s Southern Fringe, Threatening Pipelines
Armenian soldiers during a cease fire during the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1993. Russia’s southern periphery is closer to open war than at any time since the 1990s. Hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia are mounting 21 years after a cease-fire froze a conflict that flared in the dying days of the Soviet Union. During the relative calm, companies including BP Plc poured billions of dollars into producing oil and gas in Azerbaijan and building pipelines to link the country with southern Italy. The upswing in violence now threatens to put some of those investments at risk and destabilize a region that separates Russia from Turkey and Iran. A May 3 election looming in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region Armenians took over in the war more than two decades ago, may trigger a wider confrontation, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said. The vote “could further escalate the tensions, increasing the risks […]
Greece’s Day of Reckoning Inches Closer as Payments Loom
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Greece is struggling to amass cash to pay its pensioners and employees this week, as the country and its creditors resume efforts to break the deadlock in bailout talks. Europe’s most-indebted state is counting on deposits of local governments, cities and other funds to meet end-of month payments of over 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) after euro area finance ministers on Friday said they won’t disburse more aid until bailout terms are met. That may further strain liquidity buffers at banks, after households and companies withdrew almost 1.3 billion euros in savings last week, according to a person who’s not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “Despite the inelegant way the government did it, we will deposit our reserves at the Bank of Greece,” Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, said in comments on Mega TV. As polls show that a […]
Cause behind African migrant flood has terrifying implications for the world
Tags: Africa | climate change | Migrant | sahel | shipwreck Italian coastguard and Armed Forces of Malta personnel in protective clothing carry the body of a dead immigrant off the ship Bruno Gregoretti in Senglea, in Valletta’s Grand Harbour, April 20, 2015. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi The migrant crisis in the Mediterranean is symptomatic of deep dislocation in the Sahel region and sub-Saharan Africa — dislocation exacerbated by climate change. Climate change is affecting such basic environmental conditions as rainfall patterns and temperatures and is contributing to more frequent natural disasters like floods and droughts. Over the long term, these changing conditions can undermine the rural livelihoods of farming, herding and fishing. The resulting rural dislocation is a factor in people’s decisions to migrate. Migratory decisions are complex, of course, and nobody would argue that climate change is the only factor driving them. But climate change cannot be ignored. […]
The Last Two Oil Crashes Show Peak Oil Is Real
Summary Recent oil crashes show you the hard floor for gauging value oil company equities. Properly understood, the crashes lend an insight into the concept of Peak Oil. All oil equity investors should understand the overarching upward trend on display here. PLEASE NOTE: ALL prices used in this article are using current 2015 dollars, inflation adjusted using the US BLS inflation calculator Generally, when I invest, I try to keep my thesis very simple. Find good companies, with good balance sheets and some kind of specific catalytic event on the horizon. But when one starts to concentrate their holdings in a sector, as I have recently in energy (see my recent articles on RMP Energy (OTCPK: OEXFF ) and DeeThree Energy (OTCQX: DTHRF ) , you need to also get a good handle on the particular tail or headwinds that are affecting it. Sometimes a sector like oil (NYSEARCA: […]
A Look At The “Confounding” Global Supply Glut
On Saturday we once again explored the question of whether central banks are creating deflation. The idea that post-crisis DM monetary policy may be causing disinflationary pressures to build is somewhat counterintuitive on its face but in fact makes quite a lot of sense. Here’s how we explained it: The premise is simple. By keeping rates artificially suppressed, the central banks of the world effectively make it impossible for the market to purge itself of inefficient actors and loss-making enterprises. As a result, otherwise insolvent companies are permitted to remain operational, contributing to oversupply and making it difficult for the market to reach equilibrium. The textbook example of this dynamic is the highly leveraged US shale complex which, by virtue of both artificially low borrowing costs and the Fed-driven hunt for yield, has retained access to capital markets in the midst of the oil slump and has thus continued […]
Oil Prices Retreat
An oil drill near a construction site for homes and office buildings in Midland, Texas. ENLARGE Photo: Getty Images U.S. oil prices slipped Friday as crude traders refocused on signs of oversupply. Light, sweet crude for June delivery lost 59 cents, or 1%, to $57.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the global benchmark, pared its gains from early in the session but still ended at a fresh five-month high of $65.28 a barrel, up 43 cents, or 0.7%, on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Investors were swayed by indications that global oil production is growing. John Kilduff, founding partner of Again Capital in New York, said there was news that Russia is unexpectedly increasing production. Norway is also pushing to approve a $15 billion project in the North Sea that could be profitable when oil costs $32 a barrel. Signs from earlier this month […]
Oil prices edge down from 2015-highs, but set for weekly gain
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices held steady on Friday near 2015-highs reached the session before, remaining on track for weekly gains after renewed air strikes in Yemen stoked concerns on the security of Middle East oil shipments. Crude prices on both sides of the Atlantic have surged almost $10 a barrel this month amid rising tension in the Middle East, while slowing U.S. production growth and signs of stronger global demand have also provided support. Brent crude for June delivery had climbed 22 cents to $65.09 a barrel by 0706 GMT (3.06 a.m. ET), after settling up $2.12 on Thursday. The benchmark touched its highest since Dec. 10 at $65.58 on Thursday. U.S. crude for June delivery rose 8 cents to $57.82 a barrel, after settling up $1.58. The front-month contract hit a 2015-high of $58.41 on Thursday and is on course for its sixth straight weekly gain. The […]
Oil firms face further cuts as low prices linger
LONDON (Reuters) – Oil majors may need deeper cuts to oil and gas exploration and production spending as they grapple with an extended period of low crude prices. The industry is expected to reveal another set of grim earnings for the first quarter when benchmark Brent prices averaged $55 a barrel, almost half the level of a year ago. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, BP and France’s Total have already responded by cutting 2015 capital spending by 10 to 15 percent, delaying and scrapping projects and cutting operating costs. And despite a sense among some industry executives that oil prices may have hit their 2015 lows following a decline in U.S. shale production, more cuts may be needed. Exxon, the world’s biggest listed oil company, has reduced 2015 capital spending by 12 percent to $34 billion. "We’ll see throughout the year whether we stay there (capex) or not, […]