British Petroleum says 2013 net profit more than doubles to $23.45 bn

British Petroleum says 2013 net profit more than doubles to $23.45 bn

 

London (AFP)

 

British Petroleum, BP, said Tuesday that net profits more than doubled in 2013, compared with the previous year when it faced huge fines linked to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

 

Earnings after taxation soared to $23.45 billion (17.33 billion euros) last year, boosted by strong oil and gas output growth, the British energy giant said in a results statement.

 

That compared with $11.017 billion in 2012.

 

(Agence France-Presse, 4 Tuesday February 2014 The Roman)

Abu Dhabi, Dubai reveal 2014 economic growth forecasts

Abu Dhabi, Dubai reveal 2014 economic growth forecasts



[caption id="attachment_11726" align="alignnone" width="400"] (The UAE capital Abu Dhabi expects GDP growth of 6.7 percent this year. (File photo: Shutterstock))[/caption]



Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the largest economies of the United Arab Emirates, today released growth forecasts for 2014, Reuters reported.



The UAE capital Abu Dhabi sees gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.7 percent this year, according to Shorooq al-Zaabi, head of development indicators at the Department of Economic Development.



The emirate posted real GDP growth of 7.4 percent in 2013, up from 5.6 percent in 2012, Reuters reported.

Zaabi added that Abu Dhabi’s oil production would rise steadily to 3.114 million barrels per day (BPD) in 2017 from 2.907 million BPD in 2015.



But it expects oil prices to fall moderately, to $95 a barrel in 2017 from $109 last year.



Dubai expects its economy to grow by an inflation-adjusted 4.7 percent this year, accelerating to over 5 percent in 2015, according to a Department of Economic Development official quoted by Reuters.



Dubai’s economy reportedly expanded by 4.9 percent in the first half of 2013.



(With Reuters)



(By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News, Dubai)



(Al Arabiya News, 3 Monday February 2014 The Roman)

ExxonMobil profits fall as oil and gas output dips

ExxonMobil profits fall as oil and gas output dips

 

New York (AFP)

 

US oil giant ExxonMobil Thursday reported a drop in quarterly earnings due to lower oil and gas production and much weaker results in refining, especially outside the US.

 

ExxonMobil, the biggest US oil company, said fourth-quarter earnings came in at $8.4 billion on revenues of $110.9 billion, down 16.1 percent from the year-ago level of $10 billion on $114.7 billion.

 

The results translated into per-share earnings of $1.91, a penny shy of analyst expectations.

 

Results were hit by a 1.8 percent decline in oil and gas production, underscoring anew the oil giant's difficulty in maintaining or boosting output amid declines in older fields.

 

Refining earnings fell sharply, with profits outside the US tumbling to $319 million from $1.1 billion.

 

"ExxonMobil delivered strong business results in 2013 while remaining focused on improving profitability and long-term shareholder value," said chief executive Rex Tillerson.

 

"Over the next two years, ExxonMobil will start up numerous major projects delivering profitable new supplies of oil and natural gas while strengthening our refining and chemicals businesses."

 

For the year, ExxonMobil reported net income of $32.6 billion on revenues of $438.3 billion, down 27.4 percent from 2012 profits of $44.9 billion on revenues of $480.7 billion.

 

Shares were 1.2 percent lower at $94 in pre-market trade.

 

(Agence France-Presse, 30 Thursday January 2014 The Roman)

 

Energy giant Shell posts sliding 2013 profits

Energy giant Shell posts sliding 2013 profits

 

London (AFP)

 

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday posted a 39-percent slump in annual net profits, two weeks after shocking the market with a profit warning.

 

Earnings before taxation dived to $16.371 billion last year, compared with $26.712 billion in 2012, the London-listed company confirmed in a results statement.

 

The Anglo-Dutch energy major also outlined plans to sell off $15 billion of assets over the next two years and slash capital expenditure.

 

Shell shocked investors earlier this month with its first profit warning in a decade, blaming high exploration costs, pressures across the oil industry and disruption to Nigerian output.

 

The group confirmed Thursday that profit on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis or current-cost accounting -- which strips out changes to the value of oil and gas inventories -- sank to $16.7 billion from $27.2 billion.

 

CCS profit plunged 70 percent to $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter, or three months to December, compared with $7.4 billion in the same part of 2012.

 

"Our momentum slowed in 2013. We must improve our financial results, achieve better capital efficiency and continue to strengthen our operational performance and project delivery," said chief executive Ben van Beurden in the earnings release.

 

He added: "Our overall strategy remains robust, but 2014 will be a year where we are changing emphasis, to improve our returns and cash flow performance."

 

Van Beurden revealed that the group would increase the pace of asset sales to $15 billion in 2014-2015.

 

Capital spending will also be reduced to $37 billion in 2014, from $46 billion in 2013.

 

The group also confirmed that CCS profit excluding one-off items sank to $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $5.6 billion.

 

Shell's 2013 performance was also hit by higher depreciation, lower upstream volumes and weak industry conditions in downstream oil products.

 

This month's surprise profits warning and dire results mark a disappointing start to van Beurden's tenure as chief executive.

 

The Dutch national took over from Peter Voser on January 1.

 

(Agence France-Presse, 30 Thursday January 2014 The Roman)

 

Energy agency raises oil demand forecast

Energy agency raises oil demand forecast

 

Paris (AFP)

 

Global oil demand will rise faster than previously expected this year, the IEA forecast on Tuesday, reporting that consumption accelerated at the end of 2013 as advanced economies led by the United States recovered.

 

Highlighting huge changes in the undercurrents of the oil market despite stable prices, the IEA said that emerging economies were now driving growth of oil demand, but its monthly report focused strongly on a huge rise in US output.

 

This was accelerating debate about whether or not the United States should lift a ban dating from the oil shocks of the 1970s on the export of oil, the IEA said.

 

In the 34 countries belonging to the OECD group of advanced democracies, and for the first time since 2010, "demand appears to have swung back into growth in 2013," the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report on the oil market.

 

It raised its estimate of global demand for oil in the last quarter of 2013 by 135,000 barrels per day to 91.2 million barrels per day "led by a significant upward revision of 700,000 bd to the US demand assessment pegged to industrial fuels".

 

That was an increase of 40,000 bd from the IEA's estimate in December and was equivalent to a gain of 1.2 mbd or 1.4 percent in 2013.

 

"Momentum is forecast to accelerate modestly to 1.3 mbd in 2014," the agency said.

 

That represented an increase from the December forecast of 90,000 bd and took total demand to 92.5 mbd, "supported by the strengthening macroeconomic picture."

 

(Agence France-Presse, 21 Tuesday January 2014 The Roman)