Oil
The Squeeze on PetroChina
With domestic production falling, it must buy costly oil abroad to sell at subsidized prices at home
PetroChina (PTR) has been the sweetest of China plays for global investors in recent years. Warren Buffett started investing in the mainland’s biggest oil producer back in 2003, and the company’s shares appreciated more than sevenfold from that point [...]
Oil surpasses $103 for first time
SINGAPORE - Oil prices surpassed $103 a barrel for the first time Friday as persistent weakness in the U.S. dollar and the prospect of lower interest rates attracted fresh money to the oil market.
Prices were supported by comments Thursday from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the American economy is not immediately threatened with [...]
Mexico’s oil output falls, Pemex needs cash infusion
Should the national oil company allowing private investments? Critics worry about foreign control.
Coatzacoalcos, Mexico - Oil output in Mexico, the third-biggest supplier to the US, is declining, and the state company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) lacks the technology to explore for new reserves. For many the [...]
Oil passes $101 on weaker dollar
SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose above $101 a barrel Wednesday as a slide in the U.S. dollar prompted investors to pump more money into energy futures as a hedge against inflation.
The greenback sank to a record low against the euro after the release of three disheartening U.S. economic reports Tuesday that show that the economy [...]
Oil Jumps Above $100 on Refinery Outage, OPEC cuts.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil futures shot to a new record above $100 Tuesday for the first time since Jan. 3 as investors bet that crude prices will keep climbing despite evidence of plentiful supplies and falling demand. At the pump, gas prices rose further above $3 a gallon.
There was no single driver behind oil’s [...]
Exxon wins freeze on $12 billion worth of Venezuelan assets
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) has won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets around the world as it fights for compensation for operations lost to President Hugo Chavez’s nationalization drive.
The largest U.S. company sought the asset freeze to guarantee repayment should it win arbitration over the Cerro Negro [...]
Exxon’s 2007 tax bill was more than the bottom 50% of American taxpayers
Corporate profits receive a lot of media attention, but what receives considerably less attention are the corporate taxes paid on corporate profits. Do a Google search for “Exxon profits” and you’ll get about 8,000 hits. Now try “Exxon taxes” and you’ll get a little more than 300 hits. That’s a ratio of about 33 to [...]
Don’t be taken in by the oil giants and their billions
Bloated with profits and rolling in cash, but it isn’t nearly enough. Oil companies confound our senses with big numbers - BP earned $17 billion (£8.6 billion) last year, a meagre performance compared with Shell’s $28 billion, revealed last week. The European twins are hopelessly outclassed by ExxonMobil. The American ended the year with $40 [...]
Oil falls sharply as stocks rise more than expected, recession worries remain
Oil fell sharply as worries over a looming US recession will crimp demand combined with improved supply side news in the form of better-than-forecast increases in US energy inventories.
The US Energy Information Administration said earlier US crude stocks rose by 7 mln barrels last week to total 300 mln barrels. Analysts were expecting stocks to [...]
BP to cut 5000 jobs as record oil price cuts profits by 1/5
BP is to cut 5,000 jobs after announcing that its profits plummeted by more than a fifth in 2007, a record year for the price of oil.
BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, said yesterday that he would deepen a restructuring aimed at righting the oil giant and branded its performance, which fell short of analyst forecasts, [...]
