Energy Watchblog

ANALYST TIP: Royal Dutch Shell to drop stake in Woodside

<div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-12 inpage-widget-1000057 " style="border: 0px; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="lead_text" style="border: 0px; clear: left; color: #1b1b1b; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Royal Dutch Shell's 23.1% stake in Australia-based Woodside Petroleum is seen as more likely to be split up and/or sold to institutional shareholders than to go in one piece to a strategic buyer, bankers said.</div></div><div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-12 inpage-widget-1000056 " style="border: 0px; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="body" style="border: 0px; color: #474747; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhITwGsObBQQU7P4an6fbHaeFdXl7bBfeskLalEpX24HI5rr6Ow9-XgJ5Ll0RL4eqtml_Ukz31OomK8SrXS2OAo_RjwmaA_zTEpNaVXTzHSt7f4HM-2-OdaLSp2UOsUhTure23WP1r06G/s1600/shell.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhITwGsObBQQU7P4an6fbHaeFdXl7bBfeskLalEpX24HI5rr6Ow9-XgJ5Ll0RL4eqtml_Ukz31OomK8SrXS2OAo_RjwmaA_zTEpNaVXTzHSt7f4HM-2-OdaLSp2UOsUhTure23WP1r06G/s400/shell.jpeg" width="400" /></a><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Media speculation has tipped Shell would move to sell down its interest in Woodside as part of a wider asset sell-down.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to Reuters, the holding, worth about $6.4 billion and left over from Shell's abortive attempt to acquire Woodside in 2001, has long been viewed as non-core to Shell.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This year, the Anglo-Dutch company promised to accelerate asset sales to reflate a narrowing cushion between cash inflow and investment spending.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reuters was unable to verify Shell's intentions for the stake. Shell and Woodside declined to comment on its future.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bankers say the holding is an obvious sell-off candidate for incoming chief executive<a href="" style="border: 0px; color: #192273; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ben van Beurden</a>, who takes the job on 1 January and will offer strategy pointers on 30 January along with fourth-quarter results.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">However, they say, other investor-owned international oil companies big enough to buy it are also in sell-off mode.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Meanwhile, a strategic buyer such as one of China's top oil companies or the national oil companies of gas-hungry countries such as India or Thailand might be put off by Shell's experience with the Australian government when it tried to take full control of Woodside in 2001.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Bidder-wise, it's a tricky one," one banker told Reuters.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The deal is big enough to require a review by the government, and although Woodside is not as important as it was at the time when Shell's bid was blocked, it is still the largest independent oil company in Australia, so I don't think the Chinese NOCs would be welcome."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The banker suggested Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian sovereign wealth funds might be interested, but said Shell probably would not find a buyer among them for the entire stake and would have to sell in small blocks.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The banker predicted Shell would exit via a combination of strategic sales, market placements and probably a share buyback by Woodside.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A second banker said the stake as a single block had been "shopped" to a number of potential strategic buyers without result, and predicted the shares would be spread in the market among institutional investors.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shell's interest in the plentiful offshore gas under Australia's northwest shelf dates back decades and remains strong through its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas project, which will draw gas from below the seabed and process it on board the world's largest vessel.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The company built a 34% holding in Woodside as part of that interest. Shell also became, and remains, a partner in the Woodside-operated Browse LNG project, which is set to use Prelude FLNG technology.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 2001, Shell's attempt to increase its Woodside holding to a majority was blocked by the Australian government on the grounds that the move might slow gas development in Australia.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The country is set to become the world's biggest LNG exporter later in the decade, overtaking Qatar, as a number of major LNG projects come to fruition.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shell sold a third of its Woodside holding in 2010, reducing that 34% stake to the 23.1% it holds now.</div></div></div>

ANALYST TIP: Royal Dutch Shell to drop stake in Woodside

Royal Dutch Shell's 23.1% stake in Australia-based Woodside Petroleum is seen as more likely to be split up and/or sold to institutional...

Petrobras platforms inflate Brazil trade surplus

<h1 class="border-none titulo_sector" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 25px; margin: 0px; position: relative;"></h1><div class="text-contenido" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 1.1em; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><div class="p1" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMFt19TN4uyqh8yVDLAjKESuHYZDUrHFKUqZmLlJUCs-jyOrxqosU1ocqLON1LtEe6fUg0zSo0msZ63mOtIvIWGo1kcdr7l-lGM25qz0lo3TfSF89bZbKLBVAYP6XclWTShqSiE_Ib5SM/s1600/brazil_oil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMFt19TN4uyqh8yVDLAjKESuHYZDUrHFKUqZmLlJUCs-jyOrxqosU1ocqLON1LtEe6fUg0zSo0msZ63mOtIvIWGo1kcdr7l-lGM25qz0lo3TfSF89bZbKLBVAYP6XclWTShqSiE_Ib5SM/s320/brazil_oil.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 1.1em;">Brazil's federal government has been accused of artificially inflating the country's 2013 trade surplus by including the delivery of locally made oil platforms in outbound accounts.</span></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p2" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p1" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;">According to national daily Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil exported seven production units this year worth US$7.4bn to the country's balance sheet.</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p2" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p1" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;">"This is despite the platforms not having left Brazilian shores," the newspaper said.</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p2" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p1" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;">The units are acquired by state-run oil company Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) and its subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Panamá, Mexico and Switzerland.</div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p2" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"></div><div class="p3" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;">"Thereafter they are used in Brazil by local firms as if they were under a lease contract," the report added.</div><div class="p3" style="line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><br /></div></div>

Petrobras platforms inflate Brazil trade surplus

Brazil's federal government has been accused of artificially inflating the country's 2013 trade surplus by including the delivery of...

Texas 2014 Oil Output to Surpass Some OPEC Members

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUYRkE7jYSI5SePtswtytLPGbfym4LyWAXuN-zRkuinlYsMu7fq5Xsux_ow8PzEMEqCV4pkfXsNCbIkaWKpccfkNhhB7L7WN77kLwauNwxIi7zwXFwZvQ00_IDoiqkjnMY66WuVD5VkjY/s1600/1001_indust.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUYRkE7jYSI5SePtswtytLPGbfym4LyWAXuN-zRkuinlYsMu7fq5Xsux_ow8PzEMEqCV4pkfXsNCbIkaWKpccfkNhhB7L7WN77kLwauNwxIi7zwXFwZvQ00_IDoiqkjnMY66WuVD5VkjY/s320/1001_indust.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Texas oil production is surging, and estimates for 2014 predict that output of more than 2.7 million barrels per day will push the Lone Star State’s production above OPEC members Nigeria (2.524 bpd), Venezuela (2.489 bpd) and Algeria (1,875 million bpd.).<br /><br />The news comes as University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development Research Director Thomas Tunstall, an expert on the Eagle Ford shale deposit, told the annual meeting of the South Texas Energy and Economic Roundtable that next year output from the Eagle Ford shale deposits and the Klein shale fields in the Permian Basin in west Texas would surpass 1 million barrels apiece per day, up from their current rate of 650,000 bpd, which will help Texas alone to produce more oil than several nations who are current OPEC members.<br /><br />Tunstall added that 25,000 wells are being drilled into the Eagle Ford shale in southern Texas over the course of its field life using fracking to liberate tight oil, a technique developed in the United States, but as the technology is fully developed in Mexico, Canada, China and elsewhere, all of which are known to have extensive tight oil reserves, pressure on OPEC will intensify.<br />Tunstall’s optimism is supported by statistics from the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration, which reported that in September Texas pumped 2.7 million barrels of crude per day, an extraordinary 30 percent increase over September 2012 figures, the highest average oil production in Texas since monthly record-keeping began in January 1981.<br />According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, “oil and gas companies in Texas and nearby states are expecting continued growth next year.” Mark Perry of the conservative Washington DC American Enterprise Institute noted, “1.35 million bpd increase in oil output in only 29 months in one U.S. state is remarkable, and would have never been possible without the revolutionary drilling techniques that just recently started accessing vast oceans of Texas shale oil in the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin oil fields.”<br />But if all that is good news for the Texan economy, concerns are growing that increased fracking injection well activity is producing regional surges in seismic activity, including around Eagle Ford. Researchers at the University of Texas found that underground injection of carbon dioxide to boost oil production "may have contributed to triggering" a series of earthquakes north of Snyder several years ago. Texas already has had some of the best-documented seismic activity around injection wells, causing some researchers to link injection to earthquakes in the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and the Barnett Shale in the Dallas area, and in 2009 Chesapeake Energy Corp. shut down two wells linked to quakes near the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.<br /><br />What is leading to rising anxiety in small towns like Azle and Springtown northwest of Fort Worth, bracketed by numerous fracking sites, is last month’s swarm of 20 earthquakes, the biggest a magnitude 3.6.<br /><br />On 11 December the Dallas City Council passed new restrictions barring hydraulic fracturing within 1,500 feet of a home, school, church, and other protected areas, effectively barring the practice within the city. Dallas had previously outlawed fracking within 300 feet of protected areas.<br />The ordinance was approved by a 9-6 vote, with Mayor Mike Rawlings voting in favor.<br /><br />Not surprisingly, the natural gas industry was quick to react. Trinity East representative Dallas Cothrum, which had hoped to exploit the city’s location on the edge of the massive Barnett Shale region lamented, “You just can’t drill under these conditions. It’d require more than 250-acres of property and in an urban area it’s just not possible.” Dallas City Council Lee Kleinman, who opposed the new restrictions said, “We might as well save a lot of paper and write a one-line ordinance that says there will be no gas drilling in the city of Dallas. That would be a much easier ordinance to have.”<br /><br />As Texan oil and natural gas production continue to surge due to fracking, so do local concerns over the technique’s possible consequences, including increased seismic activity. With the U.S. Geological Survey and researchers from Texan universities all studying the phenomena, more data will inevitably be forthcoming, but whether a “smoking gun” will be found linking fracking and earthquakes remains to be seen. What is beyond debate is the increased rate of seismic activity.<br /><br />One oil major has decided that increased seismic activity risks are acceptable; ConocoPhillips (COP) “is planning to make $16.7 billion in capital expenditures to boost drilling in U.S. shale plays, including the Eagle Ford.”<br />So, while Texas has an obviously sunny hydrocarbon future, it appears to have significant potential environmental costs, many of which are presently poorly understood. The IEA reports that in 2010 Texas led the nation in wind-powered generation capacity and became the first state to reach 10,000 megawatts of wind capacity. Accordingly, while embracing the revenue stream from oil and natural gas produced by fracking, increasing state usage of renewables will at least spare the state from increased seismic activity and polluted subterranean water sources.<br /><br />By Oilprice.com,  December 16, 2013<br />Read the original article at OilPrice.com

Texas 2014 Oil Output to Surpass Some OPEC Members

Texas oil production is surging, and estimates for 2014 predict that output of more than 2.7 million barrels per day will push the Lone Star...

UTSA Study: West Texas Shale Oil Field Could be Biggest Yet

<div class="detailSocial" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 25px; min-height: 25px; min-width: 350px; position: relative; z-index: 100 !important;"><div class="clearfix" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both !important; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;"> </div></div><div class="clearfix" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both !important; float: none !important; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;"> </div><div class="detailContent" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="thumbnail" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://content.clearchannel.com/cc-common/mlib/1229/01/1229_1327660990.jpg" /></div><div class="date"> <span style="font-size: small;">A study by the UTSA Institute for Economic Development concludes that the Cline Shale, a newly discovered tight oil formation in the Permian Basin of west Texas, has the potential to match and even exceed the Eagle Ford in terms of oil output, 1200 WOAI news reports.</span></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  Institute director Dr. Thomas Tunstall says it is already well on its way to doing just that.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  "There has always been some degree of oil and gas drilling out there, but their heyday was probably back in the forties," Tunstall said, adding that the exploitation of the Cline Shale has brought prosperity to communities that haven't seen it in decades.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  He says even in the early stages of development, the Cline Shale is already responsible for 21,450 full time jobs, $1 billion in salaries and benefits paid to workers, and $472 million in state revenues, including $187 million in severance taxes.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  Oil and gas revenues replenish the state's Rainy Day Fund, which continues to fill up despite voter approval of a $2 billion withdrawal to pay for water projects.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  Tunstall points out that the Midland Odessa area currently has the lowest unemployment in the entire country, and says that growth is also due to Cline Shale growth.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  "A lot of mid level energy folks coming in that has given that area a boost."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  Tunstall says the Cline Shale is growing so rapidly that it is hard to pin down its potential for growth.  But he says in 2014, Texas will have two separate shale oil formations, the Eagle Ford and the Cline, each producing one million barrels of oil per day.  That means just two tight oil formations in Texas, not counting all of the other drilling activity, will be outputting more oil than four OPEC nations.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  "The shales from one field and another will vary," he said, pointing out the early stages of what could be one of the largest shale oil deposits on earth.  "They are still experimenting with different ways to get the oil out."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  As with the Eagle Ford, Tunstall points out that a fall in world oil prices could kill the growth, because shale oil is far more expensive to recover than traditional oil plays, and if the world price of oil were to fall below $70 a barrel, producers would find continued shale production to be unprofitable.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">  But he says the future output of the Cline Shale could be as high as $34.3 billion, which would make it the largest producing oilfield in the nation, with greater output than the Bakken Shale in North Dakota or the Prudhoe Bay field in northern Alaska, which is now seeing declining production.</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.woai.com/articles/woai-local-news-119078/utsa-study-west-texas-shale-oil-11912802/#ixzz2oK154daI" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none !important;">http://www.woai.com/articles/woai-local-news-119078/utsa-study-west-texas-shale-oil-11912802/#ixzz2oK154daI</a></span>

UTSA Study: West Texas Shale Oil Field Could be Biggest Yet

A study by the UTSA Institute for Economic Development concludes that the Cline Shale, a newly discovered tight oil formation in the P...

Altenesol completes study, acquires land for Colombia LNG project

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgfxnhtnQt0DEge4Sdge9y8JHaoC5VeCsGW5BmeuPHmQ7EQANQeE1D7eyfYWjKn5Z_rS0vUyOLVmYKulxdv0au1WI3-FLMaj9mgDp34mP6ooqG7UpabeWWtXOBBGL_7HSr40vj9-MzHHx/s1600/Altenesol-LNG-Colombia-Inks-Contract-with-BYR-and-MVC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgfxnhtnQt0DEge4Sdge9y8JHaoC5VeCsGW5BmeuPHmQ7EQANQeE1D7eyfYWjKn5Z_rS0vUyOLVmYKulxdv0au1WI3-FLMaj9mgDp34mP6ooqG7UpabeWWtXOBBGL_7HSr40vj9-MzHHx/s320/Altenesol-LNG-Colombia-Inks-Contract-with-BYR-and-MVC.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.6em;">Natural gas firm </span><span style="font-size: small;">Altenesol<span style="line-height: 1.6em;"> and its local subsidiary completed a front end engineering design (FEED) study and finalized a land purchase for its </span>Nataly<span style="line-height: 1.6em;"> I LNG plant project in </span>Córdoba<span style="line-height: 1.6em;">, Colombia.</span> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">"The FEED study brings all aspects of the logistical, design, material, permitting and contingencies and cost estimates under a 3% margin," an Altenesol press release said. Local subsidiary Altenesol Colombia also completed the soil analysis, topographical, LNG plant placement and road access studies. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">"We will announce the winner of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in January of 2014," Altenesol said. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Nataly I has received commercial and financial support from <a document-type="company" href="http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Banco_BTG_Pactual_S,A,-BTG_Pactual" style="color: #001b96; text-decoration: none;">BTG Pactual</a> and Mountain View Capital and is backed by an alliance which includes Canadian oil and gas firm<a document-type="company" href="http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/canacol-energy-ltd-canacol-energy" style="color: #001b96; text-decoration: none;">Canacol Energy</a> (TSX: CNE).</span>

Altenesol completes study, acquires land for Colombia LNG project

Natural gas firm Altenesol and its local subsidiary completed a front end engineering design (FEED) study and finalized a land purchase fo...

Brazil's Wilson Sons in US$140mn emergency vessel deal

<div id="text_print" style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; color: #1e2228; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.390625px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: medium none; font-size: 22px; line-height: 25px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 10px;"></div><div class="p1" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 7px 12px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7MIaJphEQbJ54RzGnfldOBeMpvMBaVb3Sbizb1YlyLlbMchE7TupLGBOa9zvMHvtpACEh2DkFubHJIQYSAFtHD072jo_sxk1hdCD7OWCPn_OJ0idcyrsI-1TZtMUgwuE4BGtb3YgpFHaj/s1600/544f9ef4c1a3a17c5485baa3307b6929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7MIaJphEQbJ54RzGnfldOBeMpvMBaVb3Sbizb1YlyLlbMchE7TupLGBOa9zvMHvtpACEh2DkFubHJIQYSAFtHD072jo_sxk1hdCD7OWCPn_OJ0idcyrsI-1TZtMUgwuE4BGtb3YgpFHaj/s320/544f9ef4c1a3a17c5485baa3307b6929.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Brazilian oil and gas logistics firm Wilson Sons will build four spill recovery vessels in a 333mn-real (US$140mn) deal with local emergency services provider Oceanpact.</span></span></div><div class="p1" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 7px 12px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The units will be built at Wilson Sons' Guarujá shipyard in São Paulo state and are due for delivery by 2016, the Rio de Janeiro-based firm said in a statement.</span></span></div><div class="p1" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 7px 12px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Each 67m vessel will have an oil storage capacity of 1,050m3.</span></span></div><div class="p1" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; font-size: 1em; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 7px 12px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The deal takes Wilson Sons' vessel backlog to 20 units. They comprise of<span style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 0px 7px 12px;"> 12 tugboats, two platform supply ships, a remotely operated vehicle support vessel and an additional spill recovery unit.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: none; color: #606a82; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.6em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px 0px 7px 12px;"><br /></span></div></div>

Brazil's Wilson Sons in US$140mn emergency vessel deal

Brazilian oil and gas logistics firm Wilson Sons will build four spill recovery vessels in a 333mn-real (US$140mn) deal with local emergency...

Big Oil sits out lobbying on Iran as Congress stands firm

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbu90f_IOaC9WRzLghYgI5ivuj007DcazP3evMVw94pjLmvWxoxFyejZPY_L9Na32h3mMLKdro2j-CvwTm8rPCSEIAWJB2vWqjEofkkq9rHWwxHwDtldVqlfXnTeCK_rAHpOAsnnD8oOT2/s1600/download+(1).jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbu90f_IOaC9WRzLghYgI5ivuj007DcazP3evMVw94pjLmvWxoxFyejZPY_L9Na32h3mMLKdro2j-CvwTm8rPCSEIAWJB2vWqjEofkkq9rHWwxHwDtldVqlfXnTeCK_rAHpOAsnnD8oOT2/s1600/download+(1).jpeg" /></a></div><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">The U.S. Capitol dome is pictured in the pre-dawn darkness in this general view taken in Washington, October 18, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst</span><br /><br />(Reuters) - As debate rises in Washington over the first thaw in relations between Iran and the United States in decades, powerful oil companies are opting for an unusual tactic: silence.<br />Oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp and ConocoPhillips could earn huge profits if the United States loosened economic sanctions on Iran, allowing access to its oil and natural gas fields, some of the world's largest and least costly to produce.<br /><br />But through September, at least, U.S. energy companies have largely opted to stand back even as Congress considers whether to further limit new oil exports from the Islamic republic.<br /><br />It is an unusual tack for an industry known for its strong Capitol Hill presence on every issue from taxes to pollution rules to international trade.<br /><br />But this particular issue may be too hot to touch.<br /><br />"You are unlikely to flip any lawmaker, but you could offend them," said one lobbyist familiar with sanctions issues, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid being seen as speaking for clients. He said his company had received no client requests this year to lobby on Iran sanctions.<br /><br />The oil and gas industry spent $105 million on lobbying in the first nine months of this year, behind only the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington watchdog group. Companies in the sector, and their employees, also donated a total of $20.5 million to candidates in last year's elections, ranking ninth overall.<br /><br />It is uncertain whether the six-month deal with Iran struck last month in Geneva will lead to comprehensive restrictions on its nuclear capabilities, which could bring a full rollback of sanctions. Under the interim deal, Iran will limit uranium enrichment in return for limited access to funds frozen by U.S. law.<br /><br />The June election of moderate President Hassan Rouhani offered a clear sign that 2013 could be the best year for relations between Washington and Tehran since Iran's 1979 revolution.<br /><br />Yet the U.S. Congress has been firm in its backing of further action against Iran. The House of Representatives voted 400-20 in July to choke funding to Iran's disputed nuclear program by slashing its oil exports further than sanctions enacted in 2010.<br /><br />The Senate also widely supports being tough on Iran, though President Barack Obama has pushed it to delay introduction of its version of the bill to give the Geneva agreement a chance.<br /><br />DEAF EARS<br /><br />For its part, Iran's oil ministry is hopeful a full deal could one day spur new investment by U.S. energy companies. Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh this month named seven Western energy companies it wants back to develop reservoirs if sanctions are lifted, including Exxon and Conoco.<br /><br />Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said that his company always looks for development opportunities, but that current U.S. laws prevent work in Iran.<br /><br />A Conoco spokesman said his company is not engaged in business discussions with Iran.<br /><br />Both companies have not lobbied Congress this year on Iran sanctions, records show. Neither has U.S.-based companies Chevron Corp or Halliburton Co.<br /><br />All four companies lobbied Congress in 2010 on the initial sanctions bill that targeted the OPEC member's oil exports.<br /><br />Conoco lobbied that year, the spokesman said, as part of a coalition called USA Engage. The coalition was concerned about the impact of sanctions on joint venture projects in foreign countries.<br /><br />"The 2013 legislation did not appear to have this impact, and no lobbying activity was required," the Conoco spokesman said.<br /><br />The other three U.S. companies declined to comment.<br /><br />Congressional aides agreed oil companies would be wasting their time if they attempted to persuade lawmakers to turn back existing sanctions or prevent enactment of new ones.<br /><br />The effort "would likely fall on deaf ears at a minimum and at worst create serious political repercussions" if oil companies were seen as undermining the resolve by the countries that reached the interim agreement with Iran, the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany, one Democratic House aide said on condition of anonymity.<br /><br />The companies that have lobbied Congress this year have largely been U.S. divisions of larger international oil companies, such as BP America, part of London-based BP Plc and Shell Oil Co, the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.<br /><br />BP lobbied Congress between April and September of this year on the House Iran bill, while Shell weighed in on "general issues related to Iran" between January and March, records show.<br /><br />"It is not unusual for BP to discuss proposed new legislation with lawmakers in order to understand its purpose and scope so that, among other things, we can remain compliant in the event it is enacted," said BP spokesman Scott Dean.<br /><br />Shell did not respond to questions.<br /><br />The American Petroleum Institute, the main oil industry trade association, lobbied on a provision in the bill that threatened U.S. shipping lanes, but not on the sanctions themselves, an oil industry expert said. The trade group declined to comment.<br /><br />(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Marilyn Thompson, Martin Howell and Lisa Shumaker)

Big Oil sits out lobbying on Iran as Congress stands firm

The U.S. Capitol dome is pictured in the pre-dawn darkness in this general view taken in Washington, October 18, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Erns...