Cameron International Corporation (CAM) is expected to release its third quarter results before the market opens on November 3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this stock is 53 cents per share. In the prior-year period, the company had reported earnings of 73 cents per share.  The Houston-based oilfield service firm reported earnings of 60 cents per share in the second quarter of 2009. This was above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents per share despite slowdown in orders across all business lines. The company believed wider margins at its Drilling & Production Systems (DPS) segment helped it to top expectations.   The pace of new capital equipment orders for Cameron has remained sluggish over the last few quarters due to reduced exploration and development activity in the oil and gas industry. However, we believe that the company’s existing order backlog ($5 billion at the end of the ...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is known for his erratic behavior, but his latest move to extend official recognition to Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia during his visit to Moscow is a bit of a head-scratcher.  In theory, it shouldn't come as a surprise, as probably the strongest predictor of Chávez's future behavior is anything perceived to be contrary to U.S. interests.  That includes sometimes illogical policies and relationships, such as red carpet welcomes for Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, cooperation with Iran on missile and nuclear technology, hugs for Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, and tea parties with Coronel Muammar Qaddafi. 

What is strange is that Chávez waited a whole year before joining up with his surrogate state

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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 ...

The U.S. news media has convinced many investors that oil consumption is falling because of the global recession. While that may be true, it’s a disservice to millions of investors because production is declining at a pace that’s actually three times faster. And that suggests higher oil and gasoline prices in coming months - perhaps as much as 50% - 70% higher, or more - particularly if a U.S. economic recovery is truly in the offing. To really see what I’m talking about, let’s start with a close look at consumption. I’m asked about this frequently in my global wanderings, most recently at the Las Vegas Money Show last week. For months we’ve been hearing about a drop in global demand. It’s a popular story and one that sounds credible: After all, it seems logical to assume that during economic chaos, consumers and businesses alike will ...

It's always fun when BRICs invest in other BRICs. Today India's state-owned energy firm ONGC has been cleared by Russia's anti-monopoly service for a $2.6 billion takeover Imperial Energy. It will be interesting to see if this state-owned company will face the same inhospitable treatment of so many other private sector energy firms, or whether it will be a "preferential" relationship. Likely the former: India's biggest oil producer agreed the takeover of Imperial in late August. The deal marks ONGC's second investment in Russia, where the company already has a 20 percent stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas consortium headed by U.S. major Exxon. State-owned ONGC beat China's Sinopec to snatch the oil explorer, whose assets are mainly in the Tomsk region of Siberia. Industry sources close to the deal have said the Kremlin would likely expect ONGC to sell a stake on to a Russian state oil ...