Salamander discovers gas and oil November 29, 2010 Oil and gas explorer Salamander Energy said drilling results from its keenly awaited Angklung-1 exploration well in Indonesia found gas and noted deeper oil and gas potential. Chief executive James Menzies said the find of around 25m of gas and 120m of oil-bearing sandstones is “a highly encouraging discovery”. Richard Rose, analyst at Oriel Securities, [...]
Third oil strike for Cove’s group November 29, 2010 A partnership between Cove Energy, Videocon Industries, Anadarko Petroleum, BPRL Ventures and Mitsui E&P has discovered major natural gas presence off the coast of Mozambique. The discovery well at the Lagosta prospect has a net 550 feet of natural gas find, Videocon said in a statement. The group has made three discoveries in the area, [...]
Nighthawk closes projects November 29, 2010 Oil explorer Nighthawk Energy said it would focus on its Jolly Ranch prospect in Colorado and exit all other current projects yesterday, sending its shares down 23 per cent. The US-focused energy company also said yesterday that it had stopped looking for a farm-in partner for a part of the Jolly Ranch project. Writedowns from [...]
EUROPE AGREES €85BN BAILOUT FOR IRELAND November 28, 2010 IRELAND last night agreed an €85bn (£72.2bn) bailout package after a crunch meeting with European finance ministers. It accepted a total of €67.5bn in external support as well as raiding its state pension scheme for €12.5bn. A further €5bn from Ireland’s cash reserves was also committed. The beleaguered nation will immediately inject €10bn to recapitalise [...]
Tube strike begins… again November 28, 2010 A fourth “pointless” underground strike began last night, leaving millions struggling to get to work this morning. The strike, which began at 7pm yesterday, will continue until 7pm tonight, with many services not fully resuming until tomorrow morning. London Underground (LU) officials had hoped to strike an eleventh hour deal with its workers but talks [...]
Ireland’s bailout won’t halt contagion November 28, 2010 ONLY the naïve will believe that Ireland’s bailout will halt the Eurozone crisis. It is too late for that; the best that the EU/IMF/UK plan will achieve is to slightly delay contagion. The 6 per cent interest rate on the EU portion of the loans is far too high, especially given that Eire’s inflation rate [...]
Blackstone eyes Southern Cross November 28, 2010 Private equity firm Blackstone is considering a takeover bid of Southern Cross. The British care home operator said last week it was in early-stage talks with other potential buyers after private equity firm Towerbrook Capital announced it was no longer interested in making an offer. Blackstone owned Southern Cross before listing it in 2006 and [...]
Dubai considers state sell-off November 28, 2010 Dubai may sell off stakes in state-owned companies, top financial officials said yesterday, as the Gulf Arab emirate tries to dig itself out of a $100bn-plus (£64bn) debt pile. The emirate suffered a blow to its reputation a year ago when state-linked conglomerate Dubai World announced it would ask creditors for a standstill agreement on [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES AMAZON SEEKS TO EXPAND GLOBALLY Amazon says it plans to revamp its international e-commerce platform to make it easier for the company to reach customers in new markets. The online retailer, the world’s largest by number of visitors, operates online businesses in six countries outside the US. It says it has set up [...]
BP sells stake in Pan Am for $7bn to Bridas November 28, 2010 BP YESTERDAY said it had agreed to sell its stake in Argentina-based oil and gas group Pan American Energy (PAE) to Bridas Corp, half-owned by China’s CNOOC, for $7bn (£4.5bn), as it raises cash to pay for the Gulf oil spill. The planned sale of the 60 per cent interest, which sources previously said was [...]
