Volkswagen Halts Planned Merger with Porsche

- Volkswagen Halts Planned Merger with Porsche



Sep 8, 2011

Volkswagen (ETR:VOW) says on Thursday it's planned merger with Porsche (ETR:PAH3) will not go through as planned, at least not yet.

The company said the merger could not be implemented within the time frame agreed upon due to uncertainty of the economy, legal hurdles, as well as proper valuation of Porsche.

In the announcement the company said, "From Volkswagen's perspective, the continuing legal hurdles mean that it is currently impossible to quantify the economic risks of a merger and therefore to perform the valuation of Porsche SE required to determine the exchange ratio. The main causes of uncertainty are the ongoing proceedings and actions brought against Porsche SE in Germany and the USA for alleged market manipulation. According to the information currently available, these legal hurdles are no longer expected to be removed in time. One factor influencing the Board of Management's assessment was an indication by the Stuttgart public prosecutors of the length of time needed for the preliminary investigations."

In the coming weeks, members of Volkswagen's Board of Management will analyze whether there are other potential avenues to explore to complete the agreement. Both companies still believe the planned merger will continue at a later time

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Marathon Halts Production Offshore Norway

- Marathon Halts Production Offshore Norway

Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Lundin Petroleum AB

Lundin reported that production from the Alvheim field (Lundin Petroleum working interest (WI) 15%) and the Volund field (Lundin Petroleum WI 35%), offshore Norway was shut down for 13 days in May due to unscheduled maintenance on the Alvheim FPSO. The shut down was required in order for the operator Marathon Petroleum Norge AS to carry out preventative maintenance works on the Alvheim FPSO's fire prevention system.

The Alvheim FPSO has now resumed normal operations and the Alvheim and Volund fields have recommenced production.

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Noble Halts Drilling Ops at Leviathan Appraisal

- Noble Halts Drilling Ops at Leviathan Appraisal

Monday, May 16, 2011
Noble Energy Inc.

Noble has ended drilling operations at the Leviathan #2 appraisal well location, offshore Israel. During the drilling process, the Company identified water flowing to the sea floor from the wellbore. The source is a water sand that flowed behind the surface casing. It has been monitored closely and there are no indications of any hydrocarbons in the produced water. Drilling in the Leviathan #2 well had not yet reached the depth of the targeted gas intervals discovered in the Leviathan #1 well.

The Company has concluded that the current location and wellbore are unsuitable for continued drilling operations. As such, Noble Energy plans to relocate the drilling rig to a nearby location where it will resume the Leviathan natural gas appraisal drilling program.

Noble Energy operates Leviathan, offshore Israel in the Rachel and Amit licenses, with a 39.66 percent working interest. Other interest owners are Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration with 22.67 percent each and Ratio Oil Exploration with the remaining 15 percent.

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CNOOC: FPSO Malfunction Halts Oilfields in Bohai Bay

CNOOC: FPSO Malfunction Halts Oilfields in Bohai Bay

Friday, April 22, 2011
CNOOC Ltd.

CNOOC announced that a malfunction occurred on the single point mooring system of the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel Haiyangshiyou 102 serving in the Bohai Bay due to rough sea conditions. Operations were immediately shut down at the affected oilfields.

Till now, the Haiyangshiyou 102 FPSO has been safely secured and tugged to safe area. There were no injuries during the process and no oil spill was found. The Company is actively working on the recovery plan to resume production as early as possible.

The oilfields affected this time include Bozhong (BZ) 28-2 S, BZ 28-2 SN, BZ 34-1N and BZ 29-4. All of these four fields are owned and operated by the Company. The total production capacity was approximately 39,000 barrels per day.

The Company maintains appropriate insurance coverage of the operations related to the oilfields.

Leed Halts Production at GOM Platforms

Leed Halts Production at GOM Platforms

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Leni Gas & Oil plc

Leni Gas & Oil announced potential short-term impacts following the recent announcements by Leed Petroleum plc ("Leed").

Leed has notified the Company that with immediate effect it has temporarily suspended production from the Eugene Island -184 ("EI-184") and Ship Shoal-201 ("SS-201") platforms where LGO has interests in the Gulf of Mexico. This follows the decision of Leed's Board of Directors to cease business operations at the end of March. LGO holds net royalty interests in the EI-184 development ranging from 2.50540% to 6.04167% and receives a 0.4714% overriding royalty interest from SS-201. Leed has indicated that these suspensions are expected to be temporary and will be reviewed once their principle creditor, UniCredit Bank AG ("UniCredit"), has appointed a receiver.

Production from EI-184 has been seriously constrained during 2011 awaiting the planned recompletion of the A-8 well and consequently the present shut-in has only marginal impact on the Company's financial projections for 2011. The longer term impact is considered to be a deferral of production which is expected to be restored with reserves recovered at a later date.

The Company continues to monitor the situation closely and has notified Leed and UniCredit of its wish to see production operations restored without delay.

Noble Halts Drilling Ops Offshore Israel

Noble Halts Drilling Ops Offshore Israel

Friday, April 01, 2011
Noble Energy Inc.

Noble has suspended drilling operations at the Leviathan #1 location, which was testing deeper potential in the well, offshore Israel. The Company identified wear on the wellbore casing, requiring additional material and equipment necessary to complete the drilling of the well. Noble Energy is working to secure the needed items, which are not available in Israel.

Sedco Express

As a result, the Company is preparing to move the Sedco Express rig to the Tamar field, where development drilling is anticipated to commence in approximately one week.

The development of Tamar remains on schedule for commissioning in late 2012.
Noble Energy operates Leviathan, offshore Israel in the Rachel license, with a 39.66 percent working interest. Other interest owners are Derek Drilling and Aver Oil Exploration with 22.67 percent each and Ratio Oil Exploration with the remaining 15 percent.

The Company is also the operator of Tamar, offshore Israel in the Matan license, with a 36 percent working interest. Other interest owners are Isramco Negev 2 with 28.75 percent, Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration with 15.625 percent each and Dor Gas Exploration with the remaining four percent.