World News

RIO DE JANEIRO (Bloomberg) — Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s $5.2-billion sale of a natural gas distribution unit to Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and other investors has just hit a legal snag. A Brazilian federal judge granted an injunction against the acquisition of Nova Transportadora do Sudesteon Friday on grounds that the sale wasn’t sufficiently publicized to foster competition, according to a copy ...

LONDON (Bloomberg) — BP Plc is falling behind competitors in one crucial measure of its resilience to oil’s slump. The UK company now needs benchmark Brent crude to rise to $60/bbl this year to be able to fund investments and dividends without borrowing, up from a previous estimate of $50 to $55. That means BP is moving in the opposite ...

OSLO (Bloomberg) — Statoil ASA reported an unexpected loss in the fourth-quarter after deepening writedowns on its U.S. shale assets. The adjusted net loss, which excludes financial and other items, was $40 million in the fourth quarter compared with a profit of $185 million a year earlier, the Stavanger-based company said in a report Tuesday. That missed the average forecast ...

HOUSTON — Halliburton has announced the release of the Dash Large Bore Subsea Safety System, which provides full electrohydraulic control of well safety and intervention functions. The fully customizable system brings new benefits to deepwater operators for completion and intervention work that improve critical well control of the subsea safety system, tubing hanger and deepwater subsea field developments. Halliburton collaborated ...

ST. PETERSBURG — Gazprom Neft has met its annual production targets at the Prirazlomnaya offshore platform, with a total 2,154,000 tonnes of ARCO (Arctic Oil) being produced at the field in 2016—a more than 2.5-fold increase on 2015 volumes. Prirazlomnaya is the only field on the Russian Arctic Shelf at which commercial hydrocarbon production is ongoing. Oil produced at Prirazlomnoye ...

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — OPEC appears to have persuaded investors that it’s making good on promised production cuts. Money managers are the most optimistic on West Texas Intermediate oil prices in at least a decade as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers reduce crude output. Saudi Arabia has said more than 80% of the targeted reduction of ...

STAVANGER — Total E&P UK Limited has awarded Prosafe a contract for the provision of the Safe Caledonia semisubmersible accommodation vessel at the Elgin-Franklin Facility in the UK sector of the North Sea. The firm period of the contract is 134 days, plus additional 30 days option to extend with on-site operations planned to commence May 15, 2017. Total value ...

HOUSTON — W&T Offshore, Inc. has announced that the Ship Shoal 349 A-18 well, its most recently completed well at Mahogany field, was successfully brought on production on Jan. 17, 2017. The well is ramping up to full rates and, thus far, has achieved a production rate of 3,275 bopd and 5.6 MMcfgd, for a total of approximately 4,200 boed ...

CHICAGO (Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp. posted its first annual loss since at least 1980, signaling the difficulties faced by the world’s biggest oil companies as they struggle to emerge from the worst collapse in a generation. The company had a $497 million loss last year and failed to replace all of the crude and natural gas it pumped with new ...

HOUSTON — BP today announced that it has started up the Thunder Horse South Expansion project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, 11 months ahead of schedule and $150 million under budget. The project is expected to boost production at the facility by an estimated 50,000 boed gross, further increasing output at one of the largest oil fields in the ...