Statoil ASA (STO) reported its third quarter results of 38 cents per share, compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents and in line with the year-earlier quarter earnings. Revenue for the quarter was NOK 123.1 billion ($20.1 billion), down 29% year over year.  Though the company’s results were hurt by lower commodity prices, Statoil continues to maintain a high activity level both in Norway and internationally. Equity and entitlement productions were up 8% and 10% year over year, respectively, with the start-up of operations on several new oil and gas fields such as Tyrihans in the Norwegian Sea, Tune Sor in the North Sea and Thunder Hawk in the Gulf of Mexico.  Total oil and gas entitlement production during the quarter averaged 1.71 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMBOE/d), 62% of which was oil and 38% natural gas, compared to 1.55 MMBOE/d ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 28, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: BP plc (BP), ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), U.S. Steel Corp. (X) and POSCO (PKX).

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Here are highlights from Tuesday’s AnalystBlog:

BP Tops on Better Cost Control

BP plc (BP) reported its third quarter 2009 results of $1.71 per ADS (American Depositary Share), beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14 on the back of stronger cost controls and increased upstream volumes. However, in comparison with the year-earlier results, earnings fell approximately

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BP plc (BP) reported its third quarter 2009 results of $1.71 per ADS (American Depositary Share), beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14 on the back of stronger cost controls and increased upstream volumes. However, in comparison with the year-earlier results, earnings fell approximately 34% on lower oil prices. BP’s strong performance sets the stage for earnings releases by ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), which are scheduled to report their results on Thursday and Friday this week, respectively. BP expects its capex budget to be $20 billion for the year. The company’s attractive dividend (currently yielding around 6%) remains unchanged from the year-ago level. We believe that BP’s dividend is safe with the recent uptrend in oil prices. Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter was $8.1 billion compared with $14.9 billion a year ago. Net debt at the end of ...

  Last Thursday, we received a mildly bearish report from the federal government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), showing a higher-than-expected rise in natural gas supplies. Stockpiles held in underground storage in the lower 48 states rose by 58 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ended October 9. This takes the current storage level to a new all-time high of 3.72 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), which is up 13.8% from last year's level and 14.6% above the five-year range (as clear from the nearby chart from the EIA). Current stocks are 450 Bcf above last year’s level and 474 Bcf above the five-year average. The inventory addition was lower than the five-year-average injection of 64 Bcf and last year's build of 81 Bcf. The relentless increase in gas storage levels has meant that with three weeks remaining in the storage injection season, stockpiles ...

Following ExxonMobil’s (XOM) agreement last week to buy Kosmos Energy’s stake in oil blocks of the Jubilee oil field -- offshore of the West African country of Ghana -- for approximately $4 billion, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC (CEO), now makes a rival bid. CNOOC is in advanced talks with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, or GNPC. Earlier, many oil majors had shown interest in this deal, including Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and BP plc (BP). While the Chinese government is keen to secure access to more of the world's oil, the Ghanaian government wants to be a larger participant in Jubilee. The Jubilee region is emerging as a major new oil region, and Ghana is expected to be an oil exporter by the end of next year. The Jubilee field, discovered in 2007 off the coast of Ghana, could potentially ...

Why Is Beijing Investing $200 Billion in One Company? The answer is simple. This rail company hauls 25% of the world’s freight – but it only has 6% of the world’s track. Right now, freight supply is 65% shy of demand. Sales for this company have grown on average 47% over the last five year. And now, with a $200 billion infusion, it’s about to jump even higher. Estimates show the potential gains at 356%. Click here for the full report.

BP PLC (NYSE ADR: BP) yesterday (Wednesday) announced a “giant” oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico that may contain more than 3 billion barrels of oil. The find is evidence of the Gulf’s resurrection as a major oil producer, as well as the great lengths – or depths – to which major oil companies must go to find vibrant wells.

The well, known as the …

BP PLC (NYSE ADR: BP) yesterday (Wednesday) announced a “giant” oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico that may contain more than 3 billion barrels of oil. The find is evidence of the Gulf’s resurrection as a major oil producer, as well as the great lengths – or depths – to which major oil companies must go to find vibrant wells.

The well, known as the Tiber Prospect, is one of the deepest wells ever drilled with a total depth of about 35,055 feet, or 6½ miles. An appraisal will be required to determine the size and potential commercial value of discovery, but preliminary estimates suggest the field is bigger than Kaskida, a 2006 discovery that boasted 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

“Tiber represents BP’s second material discovery in the emerging Lower Tertiary play in the Gulf of Mexico, following our earlier Kaskida discovery,”

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Wipro Technologies, the IT services business of Wipro Ltd. (WIT) announced that it has entered into a five year agreement with BP Plc. (BP) to provide IT Applications Development and Maintenance services for BP’s Fuels Value Chain and Corporate businesses across the globe.

Wipro has been selected as a strategic partner after an arduous selection procedure, which assessed the company on its IT capabilities, domain knowledge of the Oil and Gas sector and proven past record of operational transformation.

Wipro will support BP in IT standardization, simplification and achievement of corporate efficiency. This agreement significantly expands the scope of partnership between Wipro and BP to additional business segments and newer geographies in future.

Through this agreement, Wipro will provide benefits of scale and efficiency by utilizing its proven global delivery model, which will look at delivering services from locations across the globe for BP.

Wipro has enjoyed a compounded annual revenue growth

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London-based Acergy S.A. (ACGY) is a leading oilfield contractor engaged in the designing, procurement, building, installation and servicing of a range of offshore surface and sub-surface equipment for the oil and gas industry.

In recent times, the company has been successfully pursing a strategic shift towards the relatively high-margin deepwater markets (engineering and construction) that have braved commodity pricing and credit market turmoil. Deepwater drilling and subsequent construction activities are expected to get a further boost from the arrival of a large number of newbuild rigs in the coming years.

Acergy is one of only four companies providing a wide range of offshore services globally. As such, it remains well positioned to capitalize on the positive outlook for demand in subsea engineering and construction services over the coming years.

Acergy has been relatively untouched by the economic downturn so far, as more than 90% of its contracts are

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London-based Acergy S.A. (ACGY) is a leading oilfield contractor engaged in the designing, procurement, building, installation and servicing of a range of offshore surface and sub-surface equipment for the oil and gas industry. In recent times, the company has been successfully pursing a strategic shift towards the relatively high-margin deepwater markets (engineering and construction) that have withstood the commodity price and credit market turmoil. Deepwater drilling and the subsequent construction activities are expected to get a further boost from the arrival of a large number of newbuild rigs in the next few years. Acergy is one of only four global companies capable of providing a wide range of offshore services on a worldwide basis. As such, it remains well positioned to capitalize on the positive outlook for subsea engineering and construction services demand over the coming years. To date, Acergy has remained relatively unscathed from ...