Paragon Offshore Eyes Options after Court Denies Bankruptcy Plan
Paragon Offshore Plc said on Friday it was evaluating its options after a U.S. judge rejected the offshore rig contractor's plan to exit bankruptcy, an unusual setback for a corporate Chapter 11 proceeding. In an oral ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware, Judge Christopher Sontchi said the plan was not feasible because it removes too much cash from the company during the current downturn. The ruling does not preclude the company from a restructuring under a different plan, he said. "The company continues to believe, but cannot provide any assurances, that a positive resolution of the company's restructuring process can be achieved," Paragon said in a statement following the ruling.
US Offshore Regulator to Unveil Tougher Environmental Safeguards
The U.S. government agency created after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill plans in coming weeks to unveil tougher financial requirements for offshore oil producers aimed at protecting taxpayers from the risk of cleaning up abandoned oil rigs, an agency executive told Reuters. Under the new guidelines, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will demand additional guarantees to cover producers' legal obligation to plug offshore wells and dismantle rigs in the Outer Continental Shelf once they have extracted oil and gas…
Oakland Port Files for Bankruptcy after Tenant Ends Lease
Oakland's Outer Harbor Terminal filed for Chapter 11 protection on Monday, two weeks after one of its biggest tenants said it was terminating a 50-year lease with the northern California port. Last month, Ports America, one of the largest marine cargo operators in the country, said it was shifting its business from the Oakland port to other cities along the West Coast, including Los Angeles and Long Beach. In a Chapter 11 petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, Outer Harbor Terminal, which operates part of the Oakland port, listed both assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million. The Port of Oakland, located on the shore of San Francisco Bay…
Spain Gives Go-ahead to Canary Islands Drilling
Spain's Supreme Court approved on Tuesday a $7-billion oil exploration project off the Canary Islands, clearing one of the final hurdles for oil company Repsol to begin drilling within months. In 2012, Spain's government granted permits for hydrocarbon exploration off the coasts of the Fuerteventura and Lanzarote islands, but they were frozen while courts decided on a number of appeals on environmental grounds. Of the seven appeals against drilling rejected by the Supreme Court, one was from the local Canary Island government, which initially supported the project but then turned against it. Repsol, which leads a consortium including Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Germany's RWE Dea AG…
Pemex Selling 7.86% of Repsol Worth $3B
Mexico's national oil company Pemex is selling a 7.86 percent stake in Spanish oil firm Repsol, worth about 2.2 billion euros ($3.0 billion) at current market prices, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, the banks handling the sale, said on Tuesday. The sale, to be carried out through an accelerated book build, is nearly all of the Mexican firm's holding in Repsol, where it is the company's third largest shareholder with an 8.75 percent stake. Mexican government officials had opened the door to a Repsol stake sale in the past few weeks when Repsol appointed a chief executive officer whom Pemex had not backed. The sale comes before Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is due to make his first official visit to Spain on June 9-10.
Gamesa Turns to Profit in 2013
Reuters - Spanish wind turbine maker Gamesa posted on Thursday a 45 million euro ($61.50 million) profit in 2013, after making losses in the same period a year earlier when it booked writedowns for stalling demand and staff layoffs. Gamesa, whose main European competitor is Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems, said recurring earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) climbed 175 percent to 129 million euros in 2013 from a year ago. The company sold 1,953 megawatts of wind turbine capacity in 2013, in line with its target, and said it expected to sell between 2,200 and 2,400 megawatts of capacity this year. ($1 = 0.7317 euros) (Reporting by Andres Gonzalez; Writing by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Fiona Ortiz)
