Only drastic change can save RIM now January 23, 2012 FEW in the telecoms industry will mourn the departure of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. As co-chairmen and co-CEOs of BlackBerry maker RIM, the pair wielded far too much power over the troubled handset maker. It was an open secret that the chief executives of the big network operators found it incredibly hard to do [...]
Halliburton says disruptions could hit earnings this year January 23, 2012 HALLIBURTON yesterday warned that its response to a deep slump in US natural gas prices would cause disruptions that will pinch first-quarter earnings, sending its shares falling. The world’s second-largest oilfield services company posted a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and gave a fairly upbeat outlook for 2012, but investors remain worried about what wider US drilling [...]
Pan American buys Minefinders January 23, 2012 Pan American Silver said it will buy Canadian precious metals miner Minefinders for about C$1.5bn (£955m) to boost production from Mexico and cut output costs. Vancouver-based Minefinders owns and operates the multi-million ounce Dolores gold and silver mine in northern Mexico. The offer of C$15.60 per share isa premium of 36 per cent to Minefinders’ [...]
Afren to ramp up 2012 output January 23, 2012 Afren’s shares fell more than five per cent yesterday, despite the firm forecasting a rise in average output to 42,000-46,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day this year – up from 19,200 boepd in 2011. It said yesterday the commissioning and ramp up of all 14 production wells associated with the initial phases of the [...]
Cairn joined by Statoil in Arctic hunt January 23, 2012 CAIRN Energy yesterday announced a deal that will see Norwegian giant Statoil share the costs of its Arctic exploration. The area is a notoriously difficult and expensive place to drill, with the inhospitable climate hiking costs. Statoil has acquired a 30.6 per cent stake in one of Cairn’s exploration licences off the coast of Greenland. [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS CAIRN’S STATOIL DEAL A SHREWD MOVE TO REDUCE RISK? January 23, 2012 SANJEEV BAHL | NUMIS Statoil brings credibility to the project, but uncertainty remains on how much cash Cairn is to throw at further high risk/reward exploration. STUART JOYNER | INVESTEC This is a good move for Cairn, as it reduces their risk in Greenland and is a positive tie-up. Statoil is solid and will provide [...]
UK Coal goes back into the black January 23, 2012 UK Coal returned to profit last year, and agreed land sales worth £18m, the company said yesterday. The company said in a trading update for the year ending 31 December that it had continued to make progress on the group’s three year strategic recovery plan, which was launched in May last year. In a statement [...]
Gulf Keystone reports best well January 23, 2012 Oil company Gulf Keystone yesterday said its The Shaikan-4 well, located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, achieved a flow rate of 563 barrels of oil per day and 3.65m standard cubic feet per day of gas in the first well test. Two well tests in the Triassic have been completed to date, with five [...]
Petrobras picks new chief exec January 23, 2012 Petrobras plans to name engineer Maria das Graças Foster as chief executive, promoting a respected technocrat from the Brazilian oil giant’s ranks to turn around its lacklustre performance in recent years. Foster, the firm’s natural gas and power director, would be the first woman to run Petrobras if the board approves her promotion on 9 [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 23, 2012 WEIR GROUP JP Morgan Cazenove has downgraded the engineering group from “overweight” to “neutral”, and says it expects uncertainty about near-term development in demand for fracking equipment to weigh on its share price. The company has been in the top three share price performers over the last two years. The broker expects continued growth this [...]
