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Shell sells stake in Brazilian field for $1bn

Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell a stake in one of its Brazilian offshore assets to Qatar’s state-owned oil and gas company for $1bn. The disposal of a 23 per cent share in Parque das Conchas project, also dubbed BC-10, to Qatari Petroleum International comes with the Anglo-Dutch major expected to step up efforts to raise cash in 2014 and 2015. Shell, Europe’s largest oil company by market value, has been accused by investors of spending too much in recent years and Ben van Beurden, new chief executive, who took the reins at the start of this year, is under pressure to improve capital discipline. As part of that, Shell is expected to sell some $15bn worth of assets over the next two years in one of the largest disposal programmes in its history. Already this year it has announced the sale of a […]

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Shell Sells Stake in Offshore Brazil Oilfield for $1 Billion

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) sold part of its stake in an offshore Brazil oilfield as Europe’s largest oil company steps up disposals to offset capital spending. Shell agreed to sell a 23 percent stake in the Parque das Conchas field, or BC-10, to Qatar Petroleum International Ltd. for about $1 billion, it said in a statement today. The Hague-based company will retain a 50 percent stake and will continue to operate the field, it said. Shell is selling assets to bring down its net capital investment, or spending on projects adjusted for acquisitions and disposals, which climbed to a record $45 billion last year. Shell issued its first profit warning in a decade this month, saying fourth-quarter earnings will be about half those of a year earlier as the cost of projects rises. The BC-10 field is currently producing about 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The […]

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Ecuador, China advance refinery plans

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and the Ecuadorean government have reached an agreement regarding cooperation in a plan to construct a long-delayed refinery on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast ( OGJ Online, Feb. 4, 2008 ). On Jan. 21, Ecuador’s Vice-President Jorge Glas and CNCP Chairman Zhou Jiping reached a joint-approval of the feasibility report for the Refineria del Pacifico (RDP), according to a release from Ecuador’s government. During a second meeting on Jan. 23, Glas further solidified the deal with representatives of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, who expressed an interest in handling financing for CNPC in the refinery project , Glas said. This latest arrangement, for which no official financial details have been disclosed, follows the signing of June 2013 of a framework agreement between Ecuador and CNCPC on integrated cooperation in developing RDP. While no firm timetable was available regarding final funding for RDP, once realized, the […]

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Airlines halt ticket sales in Venezuela

Tempers flared at airline offices in Caracas on Friday as Venezuelans reacted angrily to international carriers’ refusal to sell tickets after the government devalued the bolivar for flights abroad. The offices of American Airlines, Delta, United and Panama’s Copa were all either closed or had halted sales on Friday as the higher exchange rate took effect, adding to uncertainty as carriers try to collect $3.3 billion they say they’re owed by the socialist government. "Don’t waste your time," a United representative, sticking her head out from behind a closed glass door, told a group of 10 waiting customers standing outside a ticket office at Caracas’ Centro Lido shopping mall. "It’s out of our hands. We can’t sell any more tickets." When customers protested that they’d never experience such poor service in the US, the agent, who didn’t identify herself by name, said "our […]

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Venezuela Bonds Slide as Economic Measures Deemed Insufficient

Venezuelan bonds fell hard Thursday, a day after the government announced a partial currency devaluation seen largely as insufficient to resolve the oil-rich country’s growing economic challenges. Economists said the government’s plan to sell more dollars to Venezuelans at a weaker exchange rate against the dollar would produce a marginal difference in its fiscal deficit, and likely prompt the central bank to continue printing the bolivar currency. That is likely to potentially exacerbate an inflation rate that is already at 56%, one of the world’s highest. Economy Vice Minister Rafael Ramirez, who also heads the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, said Thursday that private companies would also be allowed to sell dollars. But details of the plan are scant, and observers said there was little indication that the state would do much to ease its rigid dollar controls. "It’s a case of too little, too […]

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U.S. Fuel Shipments to Latin America Surge on Wealth Gain

Latin American nations are poised to accelerate imports of U.S. refined-oil products after failing to build refineries to meet demand from a growing middle class. Freight traders booked tankers to send 19 million metric tons of fuels from the U.S. to Latin America in the spot market last year, 5.4 percent more than in 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Volumes may rise again because demand is expanding and no new regional refining capacity will be added in the short term, according to Houston-based Hart Energy Research & Consulting. While growth in some Latin American economies slowed in 2013, the region has outpaced the world for the past seven years, helping lift more than 50 million people out of poverty. For the first time there are more Latin Americans classified as middle class than poor, according to a 2012 study by the World Bank . Lower […]

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For Venezuela, the magic land of cheap gas, a big hike

Gasoline is so dirt-cheap in this country that the comparison undervalues dirt. Or, for that matter, almost any other element Venezuelan drivers can think of. “It’s cheaper than water,” said one motorist, pointing out that bottled water costs far more than the 95-octane gasoline gushing into his Ford Explorer. Click Here to View Full Graphic Story “Cheaper than air,” said the driver of a Chevy Tahoe, after paying more to fill a tire than the tank. “The cheapest in the world,” a third SUV owner boasted. “We could wash our hands with it.” And why not? Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, and its government sets the price of premium gasoline at about 5 cents a gallon. Its real price — adjusted to the soaring street value of the U.S. dollar — is half a penny per gallon. Unlimited access to virtually free gasoline […]

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Panama Canal Expansion: Standoff Worries Locals

ABOARD THE MAERSK BATAM, On the Panama Canal—Everything about this Danish-flagged ship is big. It is longer than two football fields, as high as a seven-story building and carries 3,000 cargo containers weighing 30,000 tons. But as shipyards from India to Korea continue to build vessels that are longer, wider and taller, the Maersk Batam actually is a midsize ship. Some people even call it small. "Not that there’s anything wrong with smaller ships," says Capt. Mike Hands, a Briton who has spent 40 of his 57 years working on ships. "Smaller ships go to smaller ports, which are always more interesting," he says, as the Batam begins its 10-hour passage through the Panama Canal. Interesting isn’t what the Panama Canal is about. Panama’s government has kicked off a multibillion-dollar project to widen the canal’s navigation channels and build larger locks—the pools of water that lift boats from sea […]

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Panama Canal expansion project: Have American fears come true?

A view of Panama canal construction work on August 20, 2013. The US has a lot riding on a successful expansion of the Panama canal More than four years ago, when Panama awarded the lucrative contract to expand its inter-oceanic canal to a mostly European consortium, the United States was not pleased. An American company whose bid was unsuccessful, Bechtel, thought the winning tender would barely pay for pouring the concrete and that the consortium would probably try to renegotiate the price at some stage during the construction process. Some might argue that those American doubts have been justified, especially in view of the ongoing economic row between the European consortium and the Panamanian government agency that runs the waterway. The spat has threatened to bring work to a grinding halt , unless the two parties manage to resolve a $1.6bn (£1bn) dispute over cost overruns. A series of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple