The new CEO of TNK-BP will apparently be chosen by the end of the year, energy mogul Viktor Vekselberg has announced.  The Telegraph examines Total chief Christophe de Margerie's belief that oil prices may rocket back up to the $100 mark if further investment into oil exploration is not followed through.  According to Bloomberg, state-run monopoly Saudi Aramco says that it imagines little chance of pumping crude from idle fields in 2010 because demand for oil remains low.  Ukraine will offer 'absolute and unconditional guarantees' to restructure the debt of Naftogaz Ukrainy.  Greece is cooperating with Russia in the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and South Stream gas line, but with a predominant concern for its own interests, says Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, according to ITAR-TASS.   37 tenders for the Shtokman gas field ...

On Sept. 4, Ocwen Financial Corp. (OCN) said that its Board of Directors approved the dismissal of PricewaterhouseCoopers as its independent public accounting firm. The vote took place on Aug. 31 and the dismissal was effective the same day. It said there were no disagreements with PricewaterhouseCopers or reportable events.

In place of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ocwen has hired Deloitte & Touche as its independent public accounting firm.

Ocwen and several other subprime lenders recently became subject of the Center for Public Integrity’s critical report. Records showed that 21 of the top 25 participants in a $21 billion federal program to bail out home borrowers were involved in the subprime crisis. Furthermore, Ocwen is undergoing about 64 lawsuits accusing it of abusive collection practices.

Ocwen is a financial services company engaged in the servicing of residential and commercial mortgage loans. It acquires mortgage-servicing rights for performing, sub-performing and non-performing residential

...

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc., the Michigan-based research group best known for its innovative research in genetic engineering for the production of spider silk, is representative of what some are saying will be the 21st century’s most important scientific and industrial movement, biotechnology. Reflecting this is the fact that biotechnology, loosely defined as the application of advanced microbiological sciences for industrial or health objectives, is still the darling of venture capitalists.

According to a Reuters article by David Lawsky, “Biotechnology leapt ahead as the biggest recipient of U.S. venture capital money in the second quarter”, indicating that “the venture capital industry put $3.67 billion into 612 separate companies or deals during the second quarter, of which $1.5 billion involved first time funding”, though the article went on to say that funding was still well below levels earlier in the decade.

The article quoted Tracy

...

Savoy Energy Corp., an independent oil and gas company building a diversified portfolio of valuable oil and gas assets, announced today that PricewaterhouseCoopers has been hired to audit its Fiji Joint Venture, Savoy-Masi Petroleum Corporation.

“We hired PricewaterhouseCoopers because of their well known international reputation and integrity as accountants and auditors,” commented Art Bertagnolli, CEO of Savoy Energy Corporation. “It will instill confidence in our shareholders that our numbers and production will always be correct,” continues Mr. Bertagnolli.

Let us hear your thoughts: Savoy Energy Corp. Message Board

SRS Labs (SRSL) has announced that its SRS Premium Sound is gaining popularity with several leading computer manufacturers such as Asustek Computer, BenQ Corporation, NEC Corporation, AOC Corporation (AOC), MSI Computer Corp. and Samsung.

Management reported that an increasing percentage of laptop computers, net books and all-in-one PCs for the Asian market were being equipped with SRS Premium Sound. The product was developed with the PC market in mind, where design constraints usually result in poorer sound quality when compared with entertainment devices.

SRSL's first quarter results were very strong, with the computing segment alone growing 80.8% sequentially. We expect the company to continue seeing significant growth, driven by increasing licensing revenue from BenQ, NEC and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) through the rest of the year.

The company also saw home entertainment revenue increasing 17.9%. Compare these results with audio giant Dolby Laboratories (DLB), which saw

...

Fool Me Once, Shame on Me, Fool me Twice, Thrice -- You're Doomed: The Sad Saga of Satyam Computers (SAY)What began as a corporate governance issue back in December has now turned into a major financial scandal for the ages in India. The shares of Satyam Computer Services (SAY) has plummeted more than 90% in trading here at the NYSE today, a stark reminder that investors must always cover their backs or else get racked by the likes of Enron, Bernie Madoff or Ramalingam Raju.Early today, Ramalingam Raju, the chairman of troubled Indian IT outsourcing company Satyam Computers (on which we had a Hold rating), sent a startling letter to his board and the Securities & Exchange Board of India. Raju acknowledged his culpability in hiding news that he had inflated the amount of cash on the balance sheet of India's fourth-largest IT company ...

Shareholders Association Chairman Bruce Sheppard has lashed out at the wrong target as far as the Hanover Finance debacle is concerned.

In today’s Dominion Post he called Hanover Finance investors “dumb wits”, “idiots” and “stupid lunatics” for supporting the debt restructuring proposal.

Sheppard should have directed his outburst against independent Chairman Greg Muir, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Securities Commission and the company’s auditors. Maybe he is peeved because Hanover’s investors voted against him asking more than one question at Tuesday’s meeting.

Investors voted in support of the debt restructuring because it was recommended by Muir and PricewaterhouseCoopers. It was also effectively endorsed by KordaMentha and the trustee, Guardian Trust.

Investors usually comply with the recommendations of independent directors and their advisors while Hanover Finance investors were also attracted by the proposed repayment schedule shown below. No repayment programme was offered under the receivership alternative.

...

This would actually be really, really funny if it weren't so tragically true, sad, and thoroughly outlandish. From the Moscow Times: Blaming the turmoil, Standard and Poor's took the unprecedented step Thursday of disclosing only the top 10 names on its annual transparency and disclosure list of Russia's 90 largest publicly traded companies. Investors and company representatives waiting for the information at a news conference called by the international ratings agency were stunned by the decision. "It is complete absurdity that transparency ratings are being kept secret. What are transparency ratings when they aren't transparent?" said Alexei Navalny, an individual Russian stockholder currently involved in several transparency-related lawsuits against Rosneft, which was ranked as the second most transparent company on the list after CTC Media. This practically reminds me of the time back when PricewaterhouseCoopers withdrew years of its audits of Yukos to help the state's prosecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky after ...

This would actually be really, really funny if it weren't so tragically true, sad, and thoroughly outlandish. From the Moscow Times: Blaming the turmoil, Standard and Poor's took the unprecedented step Thursday of disclosing only the top 10 names on its annual transparency and disclosure list of Russia's 90 largest publicly traded companies. Investors and company representatives waiting for the information at a news conference called by the international ratings agency were stunned by the decision. "It is complete absurdity that transparency ratings are being kept secret. What are transparency ratings when they aren't transparent?" said Alexei Navalny, an individual Russian stockholder currently involved in several transparency-related lawsuits against Rosneft, which was ranked as the second most transparent company on the list after CTC Media. This practically reminds me of the time back when PricewaterhouseCoopers withdrew years of its audits of Yukos to help the ...

Frozen Margin CallsMargins Calls on Frozen AssetsThe motivation to multi-prime increased more this week as hedge fund managers learn they may have to meet margin calls on securities which are frozen within Lehman Brothers. Here is a short excerpt from a news piece on this topic:_____________________________________________Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s hedge-fund clients may have to pay more collateral on $65 billion of assets frozen when the investment bank went bankrupt a month ago.Lehman's London-based prime brokerage has about 3,500 active clients including hedge funds that own about $45 billion in securities, Steven Pearson, the partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers responsible for unraveling Lehman's U.K. operations, said in an interview. They hold an additional $20 billion in short positions, or bets that prices will fall.While investors are largely unable to access their ...