Don Sebastian News

Solar company SunEdison Inc said a U.S. court has restrained the company from making any unusual asset transfers until a hearing in a lawsuit brought on by investors of renewable energy company Latin American Power. SunEdison's shares fell as much as 33 percent to $1.37, hitting its lowest in more than 14 years. SunEdison said in October that it terminated a deal for Latin American Power five months after agreeing to buy the company, which owns wind and hydropower projects in Chile and Peru. The restraining order also affects SunEdison's yieldco TerraForm Power, SunEdison spokesman Ben Harborne said on Friday. "The judge's order will remain in place pending a hearing on Feb. 25 and does not affect either company's ability to conduct normal business operations," Harborne said in an email.

U.S. pipeline giant Kinder Morgan Inc swung to a fourth-quarter loss as it moved lower volumes of oil and gas amid falling prices.   The company said it does not expect to access the capital markets to fund growth projects in 2016 as it slashed dividend by 75 percent in December.   The company said it cut its 2016 capital budget by about $900 million.   The Houston-based company posted net loss available to shareholders of $637 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with profit of $126 million a year earlier.     (Reporting by Anet Josline Pinto in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)

Royal Dutch Shell Plc's  icebreaker vessel Fennica returned to the Dutch Harbor in Alaska with a small breech in the hull, raising concerns about the company's plan to resume drilling in the Arctic later this month. Shell said in June it plans to restart drilling for oil in the Arctic off Alaska as early as the third week of July after a conditional approval by the United States. "Any impact to our season will ultimately depend on the extent of the repair," spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said in an e-mail to Reuters.

Drilling contractor Hercules Offshore Inc's shares fell as much as 33 percent to a record low on Friday, a day after Deutsche Bank cut its price target on the company's stock to $0. State-owned oil company Saudi Aramco terminated its contract for one of Hercules Offshore rigs on Thursday, prompting the brokerage to downgrade the stock to 'sell' from 'buy'. Rig operators are struggling to find work as oil producers scale back spending and drilling activity in response to a near 50 percent fall in crude prices since June. "With demand nearly non-existent and a steady stream of new capacity entering the market, the prospect for recovery in the short to intermediate term is bleak," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note to its clients.

Rig contractor Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc said it expected a significant number of ultra-deepwater rigs to be idled across the industry by year-end as oil producers' capital budget is likely to be lowered by a fifth this year. The company also said it would not pay a special dividend as it had been doing since 2006 to save cash to take advantage of opportunities in a distressed market. "...This action saves the company about $415 million over the next year, potentially equivalent to the cost of an ultra-deepwater asset," Evercore ISI analyst James West wrote in a note.

Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise operator, forecast an adjusted profit below market estimates for the current quarter, blaming increased competition in the Caribbean. Shares of the company, which operates the Carnival, Holland America and Costa cruise lines, fell as much as 3 percent. "The North American brands are ahead on price but are still behind on occupancy as a result of the large increase in industry capacity in the Caribbean," Chief Financial Officer David Bernstein said on a conference call.

Carnival Corp, the world's largest cruise operator, said its quarterly profit more than doubled as costs fell. Net income rose to $106 million, or 14 cents per share, in the second quarter ended May 31, from $41 million, or 5 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned 10 cents per share. Revenue rose 4 percent to $3.63 billion. (Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

National Oilwell Varco Inc, the largest U.S. oilfield equipment provider, said orders fell by nearly a quarter in the first quarter and it expects demand for new offshore rigs to slow during the second half of the year. The company's shares fell about 7 percent. Demand for contract drilling is softening as rigs ordered during boom times are being delivered now. Large oil companies are tightening spending after a decade of double-digit increase in budgets as oil prices stagnate and project costs rise.

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd said it filed for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling with weak rates due to an oversupply of vessels. The drybulk shipper said it expected its operations to continue normally and did not require debtor-in-possession finance. Lenders backing a $1.06 billion credit facility would convert their debt into about 81.1 percent of company's stock, the company said earlier this month. Genco said on Monday Baltic Trading Ltd, a company formed by Genco, and its units are not included in the restructuring program.