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 ...

CNOOC Ltd. (CEO) expects to sign a deal with Norway’s StatoilHydro ASA (STO) soon to buy stakes in some deepwater exploration blocks in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM). StatoilHydro is putting five prospects on the market, out of its more than 400 leases in the U.S. GoM. The company had acquired these assets, with 100% working interest, in 2007 and 2008 lease sale. This deal could mark the introduction of China's foray into the U.S. GoM. The GoM remains one of the most abundant areas of the world for oil discoveries, with billions of barrels of crude believed to be trapped beneath the seabed. Chinese companies are pursuing assets acquisitions abroad to cope with the country’s increasing demand for oil and gas. But they are facing difficulties in tying up deals partly because the oil-rich countries want greater control over their resources. We ...

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Thursday September 24, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

CSRH, CME, PWRM, GRMN, CVAT, HERO, CVX

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CSRH, Consorteum Holdings Inc, CSRH.OB

CSRH is a company in the financial services, payment and transaction processing industries.

CSRH provides electronic transaction processing and management services to financial institutions, healthcare, government, public and private sector companies. CSRH’s services provide customized, innovative technology solutions that create, augment and enhance customers’ existing financial, payment and transactional processing systems.

CSRH has established an agreement with a third party partner within the payment processing industry to offer Merchant Discount Rates. Consorteum will leverage this new partnership to offer competitive Merchant Discount Rates and

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Repsol YPF S.A. (REP) recently found a huge gas resource in shallow waters of the Gulf of Venezuela. The largest integrated oil and gas company in Spain said that the offshore field had an estimated area of 33 square kilometers and was 60 meters deep.

Along with its exploration partner Italy's Eni SPA (E), Repsol estimates that the discovery could hold between 7 and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas. This equals to more than five years of gas consumption in Spain.

While the two companies will have a 32.5% interest each in all future productions, Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA would hold a 35% stake.

Repsol is targeting stable production growth driven by pipeline projects in Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Libya, Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador. Long-term growth is expected to come from opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, the US Gulf of Mexico,

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Integrated oil and gas major StatoilHydro ASA (STO) recently discovered a new oil and gas location in the Nona prospect, 10 kilometers south east of the Asgard field in the Norwegian Sea.

The well 6407/2-5S was drilled to a depth of 3,289 meters below sea level. Based on preliminary calculations, the size of the find is between 13 and 31 million barrels of oil and 1–2 billion standard cubic meters of gas. Management is optimistic about the discovery and affirms the possibility of other new finds in this area.

Despite maturity of the Norwegian Continental Shelf region, the Norway-based company is well positioned to sustain its production from this area at current levels for the next few years. Internationally, Statoil plans to continue a high level of exploration activity to develop the company's resource base.

Our Outperform rating on StatoilHydro reflects its growing upstream presence in the emerging

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Alberta-based Nexen Inc. (NXY) is well-positioned for a solid growth as it continues with major developments in the U.K. North Sea, announcing the discovery of substantial additional resource and the start-up of new production. Following the successful development of the Buzzard project in 2007, Nexen’s Golden Eagle area in the U.K. North Sea is shaping up to be a significant development project for the company. Nexen is currently evaluating development options in the Golden Eagle area as the company expects to continue appraisal drilling in the area for the remainder of the year. The Golden Eagle area contains 150 million to 275 million barrels of oil equivalent of gross recoverable contingent resource. Nexen recently completed a new step-out development well in the Scott/Telford development area in the North Sea. The well encountered 254 feet of high quality net oil pay. The company has a 72% ...

After drilling an appraisal well in the northeastern segment of the Smorbukk deposit (part of the Asgard field in the Norwegian Sea), StatoilHydro (STO) has confirmed the existence of oil, gas and condensate.

The result is encouraging, and development in association with the Asgard B platform will be considered. The company said that production may start in three to four years. The proven resources are estimated to be between 15 and 25 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

The Asgard field development includes 58 production and injection wells divided on 16 subsea templates. Two vessels and one platform are located on the field. Discovered in 1984, the Smorbukk field has been on stream since 1999.

As of year-end 2008, StatoilHydro had approximately 5.58 billion oil-equivalent barrels in proved reserves. It is the operator of 39 producing oil and gas fields, and accounts for 60% of all Norwegian petroleum production. Due to

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Spain’s largest integrated oil and gas company, Repsol YPF, S.A. (REP), will pay Venezuela $203 million to exploit the Barua-Motatan oil field. Repsol took the minority share of this oil field, which includes 432 square kilometers, after lawmakers voted for the transfer of that area to Petroquiriquire, a joint venture between Repsol and the Venezuelan Oil Corporation (CVP), a unit of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. Repsol has been pursuing talks for several years on acquiring an interest in Barua-Motatan, located near Petroquiriquire’s Mene Grande oil field in western Venezuela. Petroquiriquire was formed in 2006 as a 60-40 joint venture between PDVSA and Repsol to operate the Mene Grande oil field. With the addition of this field, the current production of 25,000 barrels per day could increase up to 100,000 barrels per day. Management is targeting stable production growth, driven by the company’s pipeline ...

The world’s largest offshore driller, Transocean Ltd. (RIG), bagged a 455-day contract for its ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig Sedco Express from a subsidiary of Noble Energy Inc. (NBL). The contract is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2010 after the expiry of Sedco’s current contract as well as completion of maintenance work and mobilization. Transocean is expecting approximately $241 million revenue from this contract.   A couple of weeks ago, Transocean's ultra-deepwater drillship Discoverer Clear Leader started its operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico under a five-year contract with Chevron Corp. (CVX). Clear Leader features Transocean’s patented dual-activity drilling technology designed to enable parallel drilling operations from a single derrick that saves time as well as money in deepwater well construction in comparison to conventional rigs.   We believe that the long-term fundamentals of the deepwater market continue to remain strong. With a number ...

Highlights include BP plc (BP), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX).London-based BP's (BP) first-quarter results came in better than expected on the back of stronger cost controls. Compared to the year-earlier level, weak commodity prices offset the impact of increased oil and natural gas production and lower costs.BP's strong performance sets the stage for earnings releases by Exxon (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), which are scheduled to report their results on Thursday and Friday this week, respectively.BP reiterated their 2% production growth guidance and lowered their capex budget to under $20 billion from around $22 billion. The company's attractive dividend (currently yielding around 7%) remains unchanged from the fourth-quarter level, but is up 3.5% from the year-earlier level. We believe that BP's dividend is safe as long as oil prices don not remain depressed (say, in the ...