For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 20, 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: Toyota Motors (TM), Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PBR), ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Toyota’s 1st Sales Gain in 15 Months

Toyota Motors (TM) has posted its first year-over-year monthly sales gain across the globe in 15 months during October. The company’s sales rose 4% to more than 630,000 vehicles. In the U.S., the company’s sales fell 3.5%.

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Brazilian energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PBR), or Petrobras S.A. announced encouraging third quarter results, helped by strong performance from the Supply segment. Earnings per ADR came in at R$1.66 (96 cents), comfortably beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 80 cents. However, on a year-over-year basis, Petrobras’ earnings per ADR was down approximately 28.7%, hurt by lower prices of oil and natural gas. Still, they were better than the high double-digit earnings decline suffered by other majors such as ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX), and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A).   Upstream   Total oil and gas production during the third quarter of 2009 reached 2,534 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, from 2,524 million in the previous quarter and 2,437 million in the same period of 2008. Compared to the third quarter of 2008, Brazilian oil and natural gas liquids production increased 4.8%, while ...

Earlier this week, Chevron Corp. (CVX) – the second-biggest U.S. oil company – announced the discovery of a new offshore natural gas site (Achilles-1) in Western Australia ’s Carnarvon Basin . The discovery builds on the integrated energy giant’s leading position in this hydrocarbon-rich area and follows the Clio-2 and the Kentish Knock-1 finds in August. Drilled to a total depth of 4,500 meters, the Achilles-1 well encountered 100 meters of net gas pay. The find is situated in the WA-374-P permit area (in the Greater Gorgon region), 160 kilometers off the coast of northwest Australia . Chevron Australia has a 50% operated interest in the prospect, with the other partners being ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A). We believe that the latest exploration success will boost Chevron’s growth prospects in Australia by adding to its already significant gas interests in ...

Yesterday, U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. (CVX) and its partners announced the final investment decision on the massive Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture in Australia following the receipt of the necessary government approvals. The company said that its Australian subsidiary will proceed with the construction of the project later this year.   Chevron holds a 50% operated interest in the A$43 billion ($37 billion) project, with the other partners being ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A). The Gorgon gas fields, off the coast of Western Australia, are estimated to contain 40 trillion cubic feet of gas deposits and have an expected economic life of at least 40 years from the time of start-up. Chevron said that the venture will have an annual capacity to produce 15 million tons of LNG, with the first shipment expected in 2014.     The Gorgon project will

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Chevron Corp. (CVX), the second-biggest U.S. energy company, gained approval from the Australian environment ministry to start its Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture on the Barrow Island nature reserve. The decision is subject to conditions on managing and protecting local fauna, especially the endangered flatback turtle.

Chevron holds a 50% operated interest in the $42 billion project, with the other partners being ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A). The government approval to Australia's single largest natural resources project paves the way for a final investment decision by the Gorgon joint venture participants, once they get the nod for production licenses and construction plans.

The Gorgon gas fields, off the coast of Western Australia, are estimated to contain 40 trillion cubic feet of gas deposits and have an expected economic life of at least 40 years from the time of start-up. Chevron said that the

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Jordan’s top energy resources regulatory agency – the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) – said that the government’s multi-billion dollar oil shale agreement with energy major Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A) has come into force this week. Shell's subsidiary, the Jordan Oil Shale Company B.V., is currently in the process of setting up offices and ordering equipment, while preparing for the project’s first stage, comprising of three years of shale exploration activities. Last month, the Jordanian Parliament approved the project, under which the Anglo-Dutch company will explore and extract oil shale reserves from an area encompassing 22,000 square kilometers in the north, south and northeast regions of the kingdom. Shell is expected to spend around $340 million on exploration, assessment and designs of the project and pay some $150 million to the Jordanian government over the three stages of the exploration, which entails the firm's patented ...

Recent deals such as this one seem to paint a clear picture: China isnt as trapped into USD as the financial talking heads would like you to believe. A China that is not trapped into the USD is very bearish for the dollar. Why? I have heard many who simply refuse to accept the truth, that China has been loaning the US Government (by buying US paper) over $18 billion a day just to keep the lights on. When China refuses to buy US paper, then the Federal Reserve has to step to the plate and do so (by buying through their pet banks, JP Morgan and Government Sachs etc…or is it the Fed is the pet of the banks?) The problem with this is that any government that buys its own debt because ...

In late January, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the world’s most ubiquitous oil giant, capped off a whipsaw year in the global oil markets by reporting net income of $45.2 billion, an all-time record for corporate profits that shattered the former record it had set a year before.

The number was so big and the results beat Wall Street estimates by so much at a time when the credit crisis was wreaking havoc on so many other sectors that Oppenheimer & Sons (NYSE: OPY) oil analyst Fadel Gheit couldn’t help but quip that he didn’t think Exxon “will be lining up for any TARP money or government handout anytime soon.”

Exxon wasn’t the only heavyweight reaping the benefit of a zooming energy market that had seen crude oil climb to an all-time record of $147 a barrel in July. The combined revenue for

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Earlier today, Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.A), one of the world’s largest integrated oil and gas companies, gained approval from the Jordanian Parliament to explore oil from the country's vast shale deposits. Jordan’s top energy resources regulatory agency -- the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) -- said that lawmakers endorsed the multi-billion dollar production sharing agreement that could churn oil by thousands of barrels. In May this year, the Jordan government approved the project, under which the Anglo-Dutch company will explore and extract oil shale reserves from an area encompassing 22,000 square kilometers in the central, southern and north-western regions of the kingdom. Shell is expected to spend around $340 million on exploration, assessment and designs of the project and pay some $150 million to the Jordanian government over the three stages of the exploration, which entails the firm's patented ‘in situ conversion process,’ under which the ...

Chevron & Shell Affected by Nigerian UnrestIn the last month or so, oil majors Chevron Corporation (CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (RDS.A), two of Africa's biggest energy producers, have come under a string of attacks from Nigeria's main militant group, The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).The West African country has struggled to control MEND's hostilities, which started attacking Nigeria's oil industry and kidnapping oil workers three years ago.On May 25, San Ramon, California-based Chevron, the fourth largest publicly traded oil company in the world and with a strong presence in the Niger Delta, had to shut down approximately 100,000 barrels per day of oil production (about a quarter of its oil production in Nigeria) after a pipeline attack by MEND.On June 10, the militants claimed responsibility ...