Rolling Strikes to Begin At BHP Billiton Mine Tonight

- Rolling Strikes to Begin At BHP Billiton Mine Tonight



Jun 24, 2011

Rolling strikes will begin hitting BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE:BHP) late Friday, beginning in its Blackwater coking coal mine in northeastern Australia, which it co-owns with Mitsubishi Corp.

The strikes are then planned move on to six other mines over the weekend and into next week, a union official said.

The strikes are being conducted by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, which is one of three unions representing more than 3,000 workers involved in contract talks with the BHP-Mitsubishi Alliance.

Earlier this month a series of six-hour strikers was conducted by workers at six mines in Queensland. The workers are demanding equal pay for contract workers and employees and a say by union reps in recruitment, among other things.

BHP Billiton has a potential upside of 22.5% based on a current price of $88.38 and an average consensus analyst price target of $108.3.

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MODEC, Mitsui, Mitsubishi to Charter FPSO for Guara Field

- MODEC, Mitsui, Mitsubishi to Charter FPSO for Guara Field

Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Mitsubishi Corp.

MODEC, Mitsui and Mitsubishi have agreed to invest in building and chartering a floating production, storage, and offloading system (FPSO) to GUARA B.V, a Dutch company belonging to BM-S-9 consortium members. The FPSO will be delivered offshore Brazil and used to develop the giant pre-salt region of the Santos Basin, in the BM-S-9 block (Guara Area) under concession to the consortium comprised of the following three companies: Petróleo Brasileiro S.A – Petrobras (45%), BG E&P Brasil Ltda – BG (30%), and Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A – Repsol Sinopec (25%).

Mitsui and Mitsubishi shall soon finalize their capital investment in Dutch company Guara MV23 B.V. (MV23), a subsidiary established by MODEC. MODEC is currently converting the VLCC (very large crude oil carrier) Radiant Jewel into an FPSO under the ownership of MV23. Upon completion of the conversion, the system shall be named the FPSO Cidade de Sao Paulo MV23 and be deployed to the BM-S-9 (Guara) Block off the Brazilian coast, where vast oil reserves lay beneath a layer of rock and salt at a depth of 5,000 meters.

The topsides modules will be lifted and integrated on the FPSO in Brazil. The FPSO is scheduled for delivery during the 4th quarter of 2012, and is expected to be engaged in oil production for 20 years. MODEC is responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, mobilization, and operation of the FPSO, including topsides processing equipment as well as hull and marine systems.

This is the second FPSO chartering project for the pre-salt area oil field, following the one announced in March 2010 also by us. MV23’s Brazilian local partner as joint venture partner in the tender, Schahin Group, is considering the participation as a shareholder of MV23 for a certain share. Schahin Group will also take some roles in the operation of the FPSO.

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Iraq, Shell Resolve Last Obstacle to $12B Gas Deal -Official

Iraq, Shell Resolve Last Obstacle to $12B Gas Deal -Official

Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires

by  Hassan Hafidh

 

The Iraqi Oil Ministry and Shell have removed the last obstacle preventing them from signing a long-awaited $12 billion joint-venture deal, a senior Iraqi oil official said Tuesday.

The main dispute was over the rights of export. Shell, along with its partner Japan's Mitsubishi, wanted to handle exports, while under current Iraqi hydrocarbon laws the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization should do so.

"The issue is nearly resolved," Ali H. Khudhier, head of the state-run South Gas Company told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview in his office in Zubair, south of Basra.

"Shell wanted to handle exports, but now it is agreed that SOMO would handle export," he said. Shell, however, has asked for further discussions as it needs to install an export mechanism, he said.

Last week, the energy committee at the Iraqi council of ministers asked the Oil Ministry to review the Shell draft deal which aims to capture and exploit millions of cubic feet a day of gas flared from four super-giant oil fields near Basra.

The gas project is crucial to Baghdad's ambitious oil expansion that will also boost much-needed power generation in Iraq.

"Once the energy committee approves the recent changes, we need to sit with Shell to adjust these changes in the draft contract," Khudhier said. He preferred not to give a specific date for signing the deal, but he said it could happen in a matter of weeks.

The joint venture--Basrah Gas Co, or BGC--will process associated gas produced from three supergiant Iraqi fields--Rumaila, West Qurna 1 and Zubair--all located in Basra. The three fields are being developed by international oil companies.

"We are expecting these three fields to produce up to 3 billion cubic feet a day in the coming six to seven years," Khudhier said.

In total, the three fields are currently producing some 1.05 billion cubic feet a day, but only 450 million cubic feet a day are utilized while the rest is flared, he said.

The project is vital to Shell's strategy of positioning itself as a leading gas supplier and producer in the Middle East. After domestic needs are met, an LNG terminal will be built in the Gulf to handle the export of 600 million cubic feet a day.

"The extra gas will be exported to East Asia and Gulf states including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates," Khudhier said.
He also said Iraq could revive a disused pipeline to export gas to Kuwait. "If the Kuwaitis want to import gas from us, we are ready to supply them," he said. Iraq used to export an average of 200 million cubic feet a day gas to neighboring Kuwait, but sales were suspended when Iraq invaded its neighbor in 1990.

Iraq is home to 126 trillion cubic feet of gas, but produces only around 1.5 billion cubic feet a day--of which 700 million cubic feet a day are burned for lack of infrastructure.