Ford To Sell Solar Panel System Alongside With Electric Cars

- Ford To Sell Solar Panel System Alongside With Electric Cars



Aug 17, 2011

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is joining forces with SunPower to offer a rooftop solar system option, which will be sold alongside the upcoming Ford Focus EV. The "Drive Green For Life" program, as its being called, includes mounting solar panels on a customer's home.

Pricing and an exact launch date for the new 2012 Ford Focus isn't available yet, but the car will go on sale first in California and New York in Q4 2011.

Ford also plans to launch 5 other electric or hybrid-electric models in 2012 in North America, and in Europe by 2013.

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) has a potential upside of 81.1% based on a current price of $11.07 and an average consensus analyst price target of $20.05.

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Ford's June Sales Grow 13.6% Year-Over-Year

- Ford's June Sales Grow 13.6% Year-Over-Year



Jul 1, 2011

Ford Motor's (NYSE:F) June sales totaled 194,114, growing 13.6% from June 2010, the company reported today.

Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service said, "Strong demand for Ford's fuel-efficient cars and crossovers continues, and we now are seeing truck buyers return to the market with significant appetite for our fuel-efficient V6 engines. The Fiesta and Focus are driving Ford's retail share gains in markets beyond our traditional geographic areas of strength. In California, Ford's retail share is the highest since 2006. We also have seen gains in the East and Southeast."

Ford's small cars powered the sales figures, as the all-new Fiesta and the Ford Focus accounted for 26,920 sales in June, up 66% from a year ago. The Fiesta and Focus recently were named to Kelley Blue Book's 2011 Top 10 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000.

Ford's utilities were also strong, with 6-month sales now totaling 280,875, a 25% increase over the first six months of 2010, making it the top selling utility brand in the U.S.

Shares of Ford Motor are trading up 1.16% at $13.95.

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Strike Shifts Focus to Eagle Ford Shale

- Strike Shifts Focus to Eagle Ford Shale

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Strike Energy Ltd.

Strike announced the following update on its US activities. Substantial progress is being made on several fronts to expand the US business in the onshore Gulf Coast.

EAGLE FORD SHALE INITIATIVE (STX 27.5%)

The near term focus of Strike's US activities has shifted to leasing in the Eagle Ford shale, Texas.

Currently the joint venture has secured 10,000 acres, with 2,750 acres net to Strike.

The leasing activities are focused within the interpreted oil fairway where drilling by other operators has resulted in published projected recoveries in the range of 450,000 to 1,000,000 barrels of oil equivalent per well based on 160 acres spacing. Similar recoveries, if extended onto leases secured by the Eagle Ford joint venture to date, provide a target potential of gross 28 to 62 million barrels of oil equivalent or 8 to 17 million barrels of oil equivalent net to Strike's acreage position.

WILCOX PROGRAM

Homeplace Prospect, Sadie 1 discovery (STX 40%)

Facilities installation and pipeline tie in is advancing well at the Sadie gas/condensate discovery location. Once this work is completed a fraccing unit will be contracted for the completion of the well for testing. Discussions are already underway to secure this equipment.
The completion of this development work prior to testing is expected to take a further 6 to 8 weeks.

The Sadie 1 well was drilled on the Homeplace Prospect, and was successful in finding hydrocarbon bearing sands in the Wilcox Formation. Successful completion and testing will mark the fourth discovery for Strike after Mesquite, Rayburn and Louise and could significantly increase Strike's production and revenue commencing in the third quarter this year.

Louise Prospect, Gardner Duncan 1 well (STX 40%)

The Gardner Duncan 1 well continues to perform exceptionally well. The well has now been on production since April 2010 without decline. In recent weeks the operator has been able to increase production by 15% to 5.2 million cubic feet of gas equivalent per day (4.2 MMcf gas plus 100 bbls of condensate).

Evaluation of production data and new mapping of seismic will continue prior to any decision with respect to further drilling.

EXPLORATION DRILLING

Strike is planning to participate in the drilling of 3 to 5 wells before the end of 2011. These will come from a combination of Wilcox, Eagle Ford shale or new plays being secured. The drilling program is being restructured in light of these new activities and project priorities.

The Wilcox drilling is likely to start up in the fourth quarter this year once new mapping is completed with the results incorporated from the recent discoveries and production history from the Sadie 1 well at Homeplace.

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Rowan Redirects Focus on Offshore Drilling with $1.1B Sale of LeTourneau

Rowan Redirects Focus on Offshore Drilling with $1.1B Sale of LeTourneau

Monday, May 16, 2011
Rowan Companies Inc.

Rowan Companies has entered into a share purchase agreement (the "Agreement") with Joy Global to sell all shares of common stock held by Rowan in LeTourneau Technologies for $1.1 billion in cash. The Agreement is subject only to regulatory approval, which the Company expects to obtain within 60 days.

Matt Ralls, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are pleased to enter into this agreement with Joy to monetize our investment in LeTourneau. This transaction is consistent with our stated strategy to separate non-core businesses, and we expect that most of the after-tax proceeds, estimated at approximately $875 million, will ultimately be redeployed into our offshore drilling business, either through continued growth of our high-spec jack-up fleet or expansion into the ultra-deepwater drilling segment.

"We also expect this transaction to create additional opportunities for LeTourneau and its employees, who will become part of an organization that is focused on manufacturing and will continue to encourage further innovations in both the mining equipment and drilling systems businesses. I want to personally thank the LeTourneau management team for the many organizational and operational improvements they have made in the company and their invaluable assistance in reaching an agreement with Joy. I likewise want to thank all of the LeTourneau employees for their dedication and service over the years as part of the Rowan family."

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PTTEP Turns Focus to S. America and Africa

PTTEP Turns Focus to S. America and Africa

Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Nalin Viboonchart, The Nation, Bangkok, Thailand

Thai oil giant PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) is exploring business opportunities in South America and Africa, with a view to turning the areas into the company's third business pillar, following Thailand plus Burma and Australia plus Canada.

The company's success in collaborating with Norway's national oil company Statoil in the Kai Kos Dehseh (KKD) oil sands project in Canada late last year is the inspiration behind further expansion of oil and gas exploration and production overseas, said president and CEO Anon Sirisaengtaksin.

"Since we acquired a 40-percent stake in KKD for US $2.28 billion, many big energy players in the world have been looking at PTTEP. They were surprised at our having joined a big project like KKD, as they didn't think a small player like us would do such a big deal. Now, PTTEP is attracting the interest of those giant firms and some want to do business with us," he said.

Anon said PTTEP's existing operations were now very strong and stable. Its first business pillar is oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf of Thailand and Burma.

This pillar comprises many fields, such as Thailand's Sirikit, Bongkot and Arthit and Burma's Yadana and Yetagun, for which PTTEP has to maintain production and revenue, as well as seeking new blocks for oil and gas production.

The company is also thinking about how to utilize new technology to increase capacity from the existing blocks, he said.

PTTEP is making its presence felt in the second pillar, which covers Australia and Canada. Production at the Montara field off Australia is expected to resume by the end of this year, while Canada commenced production early in the year.

The company is looking to invest in other Canadian exploration and production projects with Statoil, with the two businesses having just inked an agreement to cooperate in this area.

"PTTEP has set a target to have a production capacity of 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day [boe/d] by 2020. The production sites we have right now will produce half of our target by that year. Therefore, we have to look for new projects to help us accomplish the goal," said Anon.

He added that once PTTEP achieved its target, it should step up to become one of the top five oil and gas exploration and production companies in Asia, behind enterprises in China, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. It is currently in the top 10.

The company presently aims to produce and sell nearly 300,000boe/d of oil and gas, while the KKD project is expected to have a capacity of 150,000boe/d by 2020. KKD is scheduled to produce 8,000boe/d by the end of this year, rising to 80,000-100,000 within the next five years.

The company president said PTTEP had divided its projects into three groups: those that are already generating revenue; those that are going to generate revenue; and projects in which it has to invest for the exploration stage.

KKD and Montara are projects that are going to make money and in which the company has to invest more in order to drive output.

The new projects PTTEP is seeking may be greenfield sites or existing projects. The latter type of deal is more likely to be concluded, as the company needs projects that can generate revenue immediately, Anon said.

"We're looking for many deals in South American countries such as Brazil, and some in Africa. These are unfamiliar areas for PTTEP, so we have to consider everything carefully. We need partners if we want to grow in these regions, compete with existing players and learn new things in which we are not experts," he said.

Anon said he would not commit to concluding any new deals this year, saying that it depended on the opportunities presented.

PTTEP is currently exploring about 20 projects in the Middle East and Canada. The company will consider all the risks and opportunities carefully before making a decision on any of these, he added.