Royal Dutch Shell Plc reported the lowest quarterly earnings in 11 years and missed estimates by more than $1 billion as a mix of lower energy prices, weaker refining margins and production halts weighed on Europe’s largest oil company. Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes sank 72 percent from a year earlier to... Continue Reading →
Statoil Suffers Surprise Loss Amid Collapse in Oil Prices
Statoil ASA deepened spending cuts after Norway’s biggest oil producer reported an unexpected loss amid lower crude prices and taxes on unprofitable international operations. The adjusted loss after tax, which excludes financial and other items, was $28 million in the second quarter after a profit of $929 million a year earlier, the Stavanger-based company said Wednesday.... Continue Reading →
Anadarko Loss Narrower Than Expected as Driller Cuts Costs
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. posted a loss that was narrower than expected for the second quarter as it cuts costs and sells assets to weather the oil industry downturn. The loss was $692 million, or $1.36 per share, compared with a profit of $61 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier, the Woodlands, Texas-based company said... Continue Reading →
Special Report: In Venezuela’s murky oil industry, the deal that went too far
Even for Venezuela's notoriously opaque economy, it was a sweetheart deal that went too far. Last August, state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA issued one of its largest tenders in recent years: a multi-billion dollar project in the Orinoco Belt, the world's largest crude reserve. The project was designed to shore up the OPEC... Continue Reading →
BP Profit Sinks as Lower Oil, Weak Refining Strain Industry
BP Plc posted a 45 percent slump in earnings, pointing to a poor set of results from the industry as oil production barely breaks even and profits from refining sputter. The U.K. company, the first oil major to report second-quarter results, said adjusted profit dropped to $720 million from $1.3 billion a year earlier, missing... Continue Reading →
Brazil Banks’ Lower Provisions Seen Masking Credit-Quality Woes
Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Bradesco SA and Brazil’s other major banks are expected to post their first quarter-over-quarter decline in bad-loan provisions in at least a year when they report results in coming days. The good news will probably be short-lived. Provisions jumped in the first quarter as banks took into account the looming... Continue Reading →
Ecuador Ends One Chevron Battle. What Does It Mean for the War?
Ecuador last week paid Chevron Corp. $112 million in an arbitration case dating back to the 1970s. The accord, while dealing with obscure contractual matters, could have ramifications for bigger court fights between the two fierce adversaries. The government of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has taken an extremely hostile stance in other, pricier legal battles with the U.S. energy company. The natural... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Economic Gloom Shows Signs of Lightening
Brazil’s Economic Gloom Shows Signs of Lightening Amid a litany of other challenges, some indicators suggest prospect of a recovery, however plodding By ROGERIO JELMAYER and JEFFREY T. LEWIS/WSJ July 24, 2016 7:34 p.m. ET SÃO PAULO—As the world starts to focus on the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, economists here say they see... Continue Reading →
Morgan Stanley on Oil Prices: ‘A Refinery-Driven Correction Is Upon Us’
Gear up for a fall in oil prices. The global oil market is "severely oversupplied" with gasoline — with stocks at a five-year high — serving as a blow to crude prices from next month, reckon Morgan Stanley analysts led by Adam Longson. In a report published on Sunday, the analysts foresee "worrisome trends" for oil supply and demand,... Continue Reading →
GE Orders Drop, Led by Weakness in Oil and Transportation
General Electric Co. is selling fewer locomotives and less oil-field equipment as global economic uncertainty takes a toll on demand for big-ticket industrial products. Orders fell 2 percent in the second quarter -- and tumbled 16 percent when excluding the effects of acquisitions and currency shifts -- the company said in a statement Friday. That... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 