Oil Giants News

The state of California has sued major oil companies including Exxon Mobil, Shell PLC, and Chevron, accusing them of playing down the risks posed by fossil fuels, according to a court filing on Friday.The lawsuit, which also targets BP and ConocoPhillips, alleges the energy giants' actions have caused tens of billions of dollars in damages and accuses them of deceiving the public, the filing in a superior court in San Francisco showed.The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group…

Akastor's subsidiary DDW Offshore has won a one-year contract with Petrofac for the AHTS vessel Skandi Atlantic. The AHTS will support the disconnection of the FPSO "Northern Endeavour" together with towing and well isolations work in the Laminaria Corallina oil fields in the West Timor Sea. The contract start date is September 27th, 2022.The Australian Government earlier this year awarded London-listed oilfield services giant Petrofac a contract for Phase 1 of the decommissioning of the Northern Endeavour FPSO, offshore W.

China has entrusted a defense-focussed state firm to ship millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil despite U.S. sanctions, part of a deal to offset Caracas' billions of dollars of debt to Beijing, according to three sources and tanker tracking data. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) stopped carrying Venezuelan oil in August 2019 after Washington tightened sanctions on the South American exporter. But it continued to find its way to China via traders who rebranded the fuel as Malaysian, Reuters has reported.

Members of the U.S. commercial fishing industry are teaming up with an oil industry-backed lobbying group to fight offshore wind energy development on the East Coast, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with people involved.The unusual alliance reflects the breadth of opposition President Joe Biden faces as his administration pushes to expand offshore wind power and other clean energy sources dramatically to combat climate change.The fishing industry believes offshore wind farms will interfere with vessel navigation and hurt crucial stocks like squid and scallops…

Russia's second largest natural gas producer, Novatek has signed share purchase agreements with two Chinese oil giants for the sale of participation interest in the Arctic LNG 2 project.Novatek announced that it has signed the Share Purchase Agreement with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in relation to the sale of a 10% participation interest in the Arctic LNG 2 project.The Agreement will close in the nearest future subject to approval by regulatory authorities of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.Novatek signed a separate Share Purchase Agreement with wholly owned subsidiary of China National…

China's state-owned offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd said it is confident of achieving its spending target this year, the highest since 2014, as its responds to a call to build up the nation's petroleum output and reserves.The company plans to spend 70 billion to 80 billion yuan ($10.3 billion to $11.8 billion) on exploration and production, CNOOC said in a press release on Wednesday, compared with an expected 63 billion yuan in capital spending for 2018.Beijing has called…

Following Indianan Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s June 2017 visit to the U.S., where President Donald Trump and PM Modi agreed to deepen the energy engagement between the two countries, India oil companies have started the process of procuring crude oil from the U.S. Now six weeks after the visit, the first orders for $1 billion of crude are being placed. Two Indian oil giants, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum, have already taken delivery of the first 2 million barrels that have shipped from ports in Texas and Louisiana.

As industry embraces gas, emissions regulations loom large and bunker logistics options develop, LNG’s fortunes nevertheless get a boost. For every gleeful consumer at the pump, and stockpiling tanker anchored offshore, there’s a corresponding trail of businesses that are struggling to ride out the worst price drop in crude since the mid-1980s. As oil giants slash CapEx, Halliburton and other industry players layoff thousands and record numbers of oil rigs go offline, less obvious is the impact of the latest oil market blow out on the growth of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In 1864 Abraham Lincoln was president, and the U.S. was embroiled in the midst of civil war. In 1864, McAllister Towing was established (originally as the Greenpoint Lighterage Co.) in New York City. McAllister Towing has persevered, and at times, served, through nine wars, 28 presidents, at least three catastrophic stock market crashes; collapsing oil prices, generations of advances in ship technology and vessel construction and design; and an explosion in maritime regulation.

Thirty years after the Statfjord field started production, one of the largest oil fields in the North Sea has now become a gas field. “On 24 November 1979 we brought one of the North Sea’s largest oil fields on stream,” said Øystein Michelsen, executive vice president for Statoil’s Exploration & Production Norway business area. “Today we operate a field where 65% of the total output is gas. Through the Statfjord late life project, Statoil has made massive alterations and investments in recent years to prepare the three Statfjord platforms for production of gas and oil with lower pressure.

Two recent shipping incidents in BC Canada waters have heightened the fears of the Gitga’at First Nation facing the prospect of the world’s largest oil-tankers passing right past their village of Hartley Bay. Enbridge has teamed up with other multinational oil giants to build the Northern Gateway Pipeline to carry oil from Alberta’s tar sands to a port in Kitimat where it would be loaded onto tankers roughly double the size of the infamous Exxon Valdez. The shipping lanes proposed by Enbridge plunge straight through the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest and prime whale habitat. In the first incident, a cruise ship docked in Vancouver with a dead Fin whale impaled on its bow. This second largest animal on Earth, is especially vulnerable to being struck by ships.

Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday it had cut ratings and price targets on five European oil service companies on fears the sector was not immune to a possible U.S. recession and global slowdown. Analysts at the investment bank cut their rating on Expro to "neutral" from "strong buy", on Coflexip and Stolt Offshore to "neutral" from "outperform" and on Bouygues Offshore to "outperform" from "strong buy". They cut their price target on Geophysique by 20 percent to 80 euros from 100, but increased their target for Technip by five percent to 200 euros from 190. Technip shares were the most attractive entry point to Coflexip exposure and had the most defensive and diverse earnings profile of the group, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a research note.

Recent Reuters reports state that the Federal Trade Commission has sent subpoenas to Big Oil companies in its investigation of gasoline price manipulation and oil refining capacity constraints, and hopes to complete the probe next spring. The agency sent out dozens of subpoenas to companies, including oil giants Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and the U.S. units of BP and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. The FTC probe was ordered by Congress last summer as part of a broad energy bill with $14.5 billion in industry incentives, according to the report. Lawmakers included the provision because of a steady climb in crude oil and gasoline prices throughout 2005.

Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras said Tuesday it declared force majeure on Monday on oil deliveries to barges in the ports of Santos and Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras said it was forced to declare force majeure to clients due to a federal police investigation into an alleged crime ring at the ports that is impeding deliveries. While the force majeure was declared to clients on Monday, Petrobras only confirmed it late Tuesday. "Petrobras declared force majeure on all of the oil delivery operations in Rio and Santos ports," a Petrobras spokesman said. He said he did not know how long the force majeure would be in place. The spokesman said the force majeure would hit outgoing oil deliveries to foreign and local clients…

Merrill Lynch on Thursday said it cut its rating on oil drilling companies Rowan Cos Inc., ENSCO International Inc. and Global Marine Inc., citing slack demand in the Gulf of Mexico drilling market. Merrill said that it previously believed drilling demand would improve by the late part of 2001, but it now looks as though that will not occur until early 2002. Shares of Global Marine were down $0.33 cents at $15.30. ENSCO was down $0.27 cents at $18.63, while Rowan was down $0.06 at $16.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.

TotalFina Chairman Thierry Desmarest said that relations with rival Elf Aquitaine had entered a more relaxed phase and said he would seek a friendly end to their takeover fight in the coming weeks. "The atmosphere has become more relaxed over the past week," Desmarest said. Desmarest confirmed he was ready to raise his offer if a friendly deal could be reached. "In order to secure a deal, if we want to move more quickly, we need to accept that there is room for discussion," he said. TotalFina launched a 42 billion euro hostile bid for Elf on July 5 and Elf responded with a 50 billion counter-bid two weeks later. Desmarest said that negotiations between the two oil giants had not yet begun.

BP Amoco Plc., Royal Dutch/Shell, Texaco Inc., and Chevron Corp. are developing an Internet site allowing energy companies to buy and sell fuel for ships. The companies said the site (www.OceanConnect.com) would be up and running by the second quarter of this year, marking the latest in a series of projects by energy companies aiming to jump into e-commerce.In the past week Shell, Chevron, and Norway's state-run Statoil have all unveiled separate Internet ventures in an effort to save costs. OceanConnect.com will provide users with up-to-the-minute market and weather information and feature an auction site and e-mail-enabled transactions for purchase and sale of marine fuels and services, the company said.

International oil companies reportedly rallied to Brazil's first-ever oil exploration auction, putting up a surprisingly high $93 million for the right to explore in just four areas on the first morning of a two-day bidding round.