Santos Ltd. reported a 24 percent drop in fourth-quarter sales and flagged asset writedowns after a further decline in oil prices since its November announcement of $2.5 billion program to cut debt.
Quarterly sales fell to A$828 million from A$1.09 billion a year earlier, the Adelaide-based company said Friday. That beat estimates from UBS Group AG and Macquarie Group Ltd. Output dropped 1 percent to 14.9 million barrels of oil equivalent, and spending decreased 43 percent to A$477 million.
The pace of drilling in the North Sea, the center of UK oil production for the past 40 years, has sunk to a record as crashing energy prices force explorers to abandon costly projects.
Just 63 percent of oil and gas rigs in the UK North Sea were being used as of Jan. 19, according to data provider RigLogix. That’s the lowest since the Houston-based company started tracking their operation in 2000. In the Norwegian North Sea, the 71 percent rate is also the worst on record.
Stick with oil, it’s could be the “trade of the year,” according to Citigroup Inc.
The outlook for crude isn’t all bad, even as prices head for the worst start to a year since 1991 and there are dire warnings of the world drowning in supply. Forecasters from UBS Group AG to Societe Generale SA are predicting a rebound in the second half and Citigroup says the market just needs to weather a surge of exports from Iran after the removal of sanctions.
Schlumberger Ltd. posted a fourth-quarter loss as the company cut another 10,000 jobs and took a $1.46 a share charge to account for restructuring as the oil market downturn deepened.
Keppel Corp., the world’s biggest builder of oil rigs, said it stopped work in the fourth quarter on projects for a Brazilian client that is more than a year behind on its bills, and took a S$230 million ($160 million) charge on the delinquent projects.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second- largest oil and gas producer, expects writedowns of as much as $1.2 billion for 2015 after the slide in energy prices.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a mob attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran earlier had “hurt” the Islamic Republic, in a speech that also praised officials who secured the lifting of sanctions over the weekend.
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran after protesters stormed the mission in response to the execution by Saudi authorities of a prominent Shiite cleric on Jan. 2, deepening tensions between two powers on opposing sides in many of the region’s conflicts.
The world’s largest oil companies, grappling with lowest crude prices in 12 years, met behind closed doors at Davos in a push to cut costs by standardizing some of the equipment used in exploration and production, according to two people attended.
BG Group Plc, which agreed to be acquired by Royal Dutch Shell Plc last April, expects to report full-year profit of at least $2.3 billion after crude oil prices extended their decline.
Oil extended its decline from the lowest close in more than 12 years before weekly U.S. government data forecast to show crude stockpiles expanded, exacerbating a global glut.
Given a choice, Statoil ASA and the other owners of the giant Johan Sverdrup oilfield would have preferred to avoid the collapse of crude prices that has upended the industry.
Brent oil rebounded after closing at the lowest level in more than 12 years in London. A persistent oversupply means prices still haven’t staved off the threat of further declines.
Refining profits that buttressed earnings for Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc as crude prices plunged are now slumping, further pressuring all of the world’s biggest oil companies as they move into 2016.
Brent oil traded near $28 a barrel as it extended declines after international sanctions on Iran were lifted, paving the way for increased exports from the OPEC producer amid a global glut.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said crude prices will rise and foresees that market forces and cooperation among producing nations will lead in time to renewed stability.
Iran is beginning efforts to boost oil production and exports amid a global supply glut after the removal of sanctions that shackled its economy and capped crude sales.
Saipem SpA is nearing a plan to sell new shares worth as much as 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) as the Italian oil-services company seeks to shore up its balance sheet amid a slump in crude prices, according to people familiar with the matter. The shares dropped.
Never has corporate turnaround expert Jeff Huddleston been more needed or more dreaded.
Huddleston says he’s gotten used to being “the most hated guy” in the room over the past year as oil industry job losses topped 250,000and companies sought ways to curb spending. Turnaround specialists like him are about to get even busier in 2016, advising companies how to keep the lights on through the ugliest oil-market downturn in decades.
For all the talk of Saudi Arabia’s oil company becoming the first trillion-dollar business if it goes public, some see the chatter as a sign of oil’s weakness. The Saudis, they say, know it’s time to start hedging their bet on fossil fuels.
While the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. sits on a preposterously large reserve of 260 billion barrels of oil, the kingdom’s discussion of a share sale amid a global collapse in crude prices suggests another motive to those who preach about the financial risks of climate change: The Saudis may want to capitalize on an asset that’s only going to lose value if the world gets serious about global warming.
Oil in New York headed for its third weekly decline as Brent crude’s discount to U.S. prices increased on signs Iran is moving closer to boosting exports.
West Texas Intermediate futures dropped as much as 3.3 percent in New York and are down 8.4 percent for the week after slipping below $30 a barrel on Tuesday. International sanctions on Iran may be lifted Monday, allowing for a boost in oil shipments from the fifth-biggest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The European benchmark’s discount to WTI widened to the biggest intraday gap since July 2010.
