Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record (27/10/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 28.10.2006 (Article Archived on 11.11.2006)
Geopolitics are affecting crude prices today. Al Qaida has threatened to attack Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure and international shipping.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD: Friday, 27 OCTOBER 2006
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1800 LMT Friday, 27 October 2006 Light Sweet Crude lost .15 Cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to stand at $60.21 and Brent Crude lost1 Cent to stand at $60.75 on London’s ICE Futures Exchange.
TRENDS
The Royal Navy warns that Al Qaida has threatened to target Saudi Oil infrastructure and shipping. Despite the warning, crude prices lowered again today. Along with the nervousness caused by the threats traders continued to take profits.
THE MARKETS
FTSE
At the close of play today, the FTSE 100 was down 23.92 points to settle 6,160.90 and the FTSE 250 lost 109.63 points to end at 10,355.30. FTSE Small Cap lost 19.64 points to settle at 3,627.80.
DOW JONES AND NASDAQ
At the end of play today the Dow Jones Index lost 73.40 points or 0.60% to settle at 12,090.26 and the NASDAQ lost 28.48 points or -1.20% to settle at 2,350.62. The S&P500 lost 11.74 or 0.85% to settle at 1,377.34 and the NYSE lost 65.45 points or 0.74% to settle at 8,779.87.
DEVELOPING FACTORS
From a Press Release from Baker Hughes Incorporated
Baker Hughes Announces Third Quarter Results: Friday October 27
(NYSE: BHI - News) today announced that income from continuing operations for the third quarter 2006 was $358.6 million or $1.09 per diluted share compared to $220.6 million or $0.64 per diluted share for the third quarter 2005 and $1,395.0 million or $4.14 per diluted share for the second quarter 2006.
Net income for the third quarter 2006 was $358.6 million or $1.09 per diluted share compared to $221.9 million or $0.65 per diluted share for the third quarter 2005 and $1,395.0 million or $4.14 per diluted share for the second quarter 2006.
Operating profit, which is a non-GAAP measure comprised of income from continuing operations excluding the impact of certain identified non- operational items, was $358.6 million or $1.09 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2006 compared to $220.6 million or $0.64 per diluted share for the third quarter 2005 and $359.8 million or $1.07 per diluted share for the second quarter 2006. The non-operational item in the second quarter of 2006 related to the pre-tax gain of $1,743.5 million ($1,035.2 million after tax), recorded as a gain on the sale of our interest in an affiliate, resulting from the sale of our 30% interest in WesternGeco, our seismic joint venture with Schlumberger Limited, to Schlumberger on April 28, 2006 for $2.4 billion in cash. There were no non-operational items in the first or third quarters of 2006 or any quarter of 2005. Income from continuing operations is reconciled to operating profit in the section titled "Reconciliation of GAAP and Operating Profit" in this news release.
Third quarter results include a $0.02 per diluted share tax benefit attributable to the reduction of the company's estimated effective tax rate for the twelve months ending December 31, 2006 due to strong results from the Middle East and Africa.
Revenue for the third quarter 2006 was $2,309.4 million, up 29% compared to $1,784.8 million for the third quarter 2005 and up 5% compared to $2,203.3 million for the second quarter 2006.
Chad C. Deaton, Baker Hughes chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Quarter three was a good quarter for Baker Hughes. Our Drilling and Evaluation segment reported record revenue, record operating profit and record operating profit margins with 44% year-over-year incremental operating profit margins. INTEQ and Hughes Christensen had particularly strong quarters. Baker Atlas' results for the last several quarters reflect our ongoing investment in people and equipment and we expect to see the benefits of accelerating growth in the first half of 2007.
"Our Completion and Production segment had record revenue with year-over- year incremental operating profit margins of 29%. Baker Petrolite, in particular, had an outstanding quarter. We are experiencing some growing pains from several successful quarters of rapid expansion at Baker Oil Tools. Baker Oil Tools' backlog is limiting their ability to respond to short lead time orders which are generally associated with premium pricing. With the capacity additions coming on line in Q4 2006 and Q1 2007, we expect Baker Oil Tools' backlog to return to a more manageable level during the first half of 2007."
Mr. Deaton concluded, "We remain confident in our outlook for continued growth for 2007 and through the end of the decade. We expect the industry to take appropriate actions in the first half of 2007 to rebalance the North America natural gas market and we expect continued growth outside of North America. A series of significant recent contract awards around the world including Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Saudi Arabia support our outlook for continued international expansion. Accordingly, we will continue to invest in manufacturing capacity, make additions to our rental fleets, and hire and train field engineers to support our customers' needs through the end of the decade."
During the third quarter of 2006, debt increased $4.9 million to $1,081.1 million, and cash and short-term investments decreased $631.9 million to $1,341.6 million. In the third quarter of 2006, the company's capital expenditures were $234.4 million, depreciation and amortization was $111.1 million and dividend payments were $42.6 million.
During the third quarter of 2006, the company repurchased 7.5 million shares of common stock at an average price of $72.16 for a total of $537.9 million. During the first nine months of 2006, the company repurchased 20.9 million shares of common stock at an average price of $77.56 for a total of $1.62 billion. As of September 30, 2006, the company had authorisation remaining to repurchase approximately $580.3 million in common stock.
For more information and a full press release, contact: Gary R. Flaharty (713) 439-8039 H. Gene Shiels (713) 439-8822
DEVELOPING REGIONAL FACTORS
Venezuela’s oil and by-products closed at USD 49.48, USD 0.47 this week - lower than the price recorded for the prior week. The results are the same as the provisional numbers from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (Menpet) and quoted by official news agency ABN. Products offered for sale by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), comprise of seven types of hydrocarbons. They slumped by USD 1.01 compared with last week, to stand at USD 54.71 in the global marketplace. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased by $1.13 during the session from October 23-27, to be traded at USD 59.85. Large inventories continued to push prices down this week.
(Falkland Islands)
Mrs. Phyl Rendell left the Falklands for Australia where she will be attending the 2006 International Association of American Petroleum Geologists Conference in Perth, from 05 to 08 November 2006. Mr. Colin Moore from FOGl will be in attendance as well as Dr. Phil Richards from British Geological Survey will. A presentation by Borders & Southern will feature well in the conference. More reporting will be available in due course.
Share prices at the close of play on Friday, 27 October 2006
Desire Petroleum Plc ended unchanged on the day to settle at 33.50.
Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL) ended up 2.00 points or 2.50% on the day to stand at 80.00.
Rockhopper Exploration ended unchanged on the day to settle at 43.00.
Borders & Southern ended down 2.25 or 5.66% on the day to stand at 37.50
Tullow Oil ended down 7.00 points or 1.72% to stand at 400.00
|
