Lawsuit Against BP Tossed

- Lawsuit Against BP Tossed

Monday, July 18, 2011
Houston Chronicle
by Tom Fowler

A federal judge has dismissed racketeering claims brought by Gulf Coast businesses and residents against BP for last year's massive oil spill.

The plaintiffs alleged that BP defrauded regulators in connection with the safety of its drilling operations and its response to the spill. They invoked the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law typically used against organized crime.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier dismissed the claims Friday. The decision does not affect other damage claims still pending from the same plaintiffs.

The judge also set aside a lawsuit filed against BP by Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one of its partners on the Macondo well. He ruled that the two companies' prior contractual agreements required them to try to settle such disputes through arbitration before suing.

Anadarko argued that BP had voided that requirement by, among other things, demanding that Anadarko produce evidence in the civil case.

"We respect today's decision, which does nothing to diminish our claims; it simply addresses the venue in which they may be resolved," Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen said in a statement.

Anadarko has not set aside funds explicitly for possible spill-related liabilities but has said during analyst meetings that it has up to $3.4 billion in cash on hand and a $5 billion credit line it acquired after the accident.

BP, which has set aside more than $40 billion in reserves, said in a prepared statement after the ruling that Anadarko shares liability under the federal Oil Pollution Act.

"Anadarko has blatantly disregarded its responsibilities to the residents of the Gulf Coast by failing to pay its fair share of the costs relating to the accident and resulting spill," it said. "BP remains focused on ensuring that Anadarko lives up to its obligations as a co-leasehold owner of the Macondo prospect and as a 'responsible party' under OPA."

Copyright (c) 2011, Houston Chronicle. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Anadarko Announces Lucius Unitization

- Anadarko Announces Lucius Unitization

Monday, July 18, 2011                                               
Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Monday announced the finalization of a unitization agreement with Exxon Mobil Corp. and co-owners to develop the Lucius field.

The unitization includes portions of Keathley Canyon blocks 874, 875, 918 and 919 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Anadarko will operate the unit with a 35-percent working interest. Following the unitization agreement, the Lucius interest owners entered into an agreement with the Hadrian South co-venturers whereby natural gas produced from the Hadrian South field will be processed through the Lucius facility in return for a production-handling fee and reimbursement for any required facility upgrades.

"As a result of these agreements, we expect Lucius to be among the most economically efficient projects in our portfolio, while providing important infrastructure in an emerging area of the Gulf of Mexico," said Al Walker, Anadarko President and Chief Operating Officer. "We've already placed orders for the long-lead items, including the truss spar floating production facility, which will have a capacity of more than 80,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and 450 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. We look forward to working with our new co-owners and anticipate sanctioning the project later this year, with first production expected in 2014."

Anadarko and the co-owners also recently completed an extended well test at the Lucius discovery that provided assurance regarding the flow rates and excellent reservoir characteristics of the field. With equipment-constrained rates in excess of 15,000 BOPD of high-quality oil (29 degrees API gravity), the test provided additional confidence in Anadarko's previous resource estimates and indicated that Lucius can be developed with a minimal number of wells.

Co-owners in the Lucius unit include Plains Exploration & Production Co. with a 23.3-percent working interest; Exxon Mobil Corp. with a 15-percent working interest; Apache Deepwater LLC, a subsidiary of Apache Corp. with an 11.7-percent working interest; Petrobras with a 9.6-percent working interest; and Eni Petroleum with a 5.4-percent working interest.

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Toyota Motor Said It Will Increase Production Capacity At Its Indonesian Plant

- Toyota Motor Said It Will Increase Production Capacity At Its Indonesian Plant



May 25, 2011

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) said it will increase production capacity at a plant in Indonesia in its first manufacturing investment deal since the earthquake in Japan as the company continues efforts to bring output operations back to normal.

Toyota plans to lift annual output capacity at Karawang to 140,000 vehicles, up from the current 100,000.

Toyota Motor has a potential upside of 14.4% based on a current price of $80.76 and an average consensus analyst price target of $92.4.

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El Paso Corp. to Solely Develop Eagle Ford Play

El Paso Corp. to Solely Develop Eagle Ford Play

Thursday, April 14, 2011
El Paso Corp.

El Paso Corporation has decided to develop its Eagle Ford Shale program without a partner. This decision follows an extensive evaluation of proposals from potential partners.

"While interest in our Eagle Ford shale position was high, we believe that we will create greater value for shareholders by developing it
ourselves," said Brent Smolik, president of El Paso Exploration & Production Company. "The Eagle Ford shale program is one of our most
valuable assets, and we are very excited about the future of this program. It is a key resource for oil reserves and production growth;
the wells in our Central area in LaSalle County, Texas are exceeding our expectations, and we continue to drive efficiencies in our
drilling and completion processes as we have in the Haynesville shale program."

PetroChina Drills China's 1st HZ Shale Gas Well

PetroChina Drills China's 1st HZ Shale Gas Well

Thursday, March 31, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires

by  Jing Yang

PetroChina completed the drilling of China's first horizontal shale gas well last week in Sichuan province, parent China National Petroleum Corp. said Thursday in its in-house newsletter.

Horizontal shale gas wells are more productive and have proven to be more commercially viable, having made a marked contribution to the success of shale gas development in the U.S., industry officials said.

China is at an early stage in its cracking of shale gas, trapped in relatively impermeable rock, but it hopes to unlock its massive shale gas reserves to meet robust domestic demand for the cleaner-burning fuel.

The International Energy Agency estimates that China has reserves of 26 trillion cubic meters of shale gas, which it hasn't been able to access due to a lack of technical expertise.
China's Ministry of Land and Resources has identified 20 potentially shale-gas-rich blocks in the provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou and the city of Chonqing, the state-controlled China Energy News reported earlier this week.