Montana coal leases to be offered by end of year

Leases on vast state-owned coal tracts in southeastern Montana will be offered for bid by the end of the year, but possibly not in time to fulfill an investment bank’s request for an expedited timeline, state officials said.
A London-based bank, Rothschild, had requested the state put the Otter Creek coal tracts near Ashland up for […]

April 19th, 2008

End to Oil Price Rise Not in Sight Yet

The price of crude oil pushed to a new high after a militant group in Nigeria said it sabotaged a major oil pipeline operated by a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture and promised further attacks on the country’s petroleum industry.
A Shell spokeswoman confirmed the damage to the pipeline appeared to have been caused by […]

April 19th, 2008

Investors Shrug Off Schlumberger Earnings Miss

Schlumberger opened the earnings season for the oilfield services sector with higher profit that nonetheless missed Wall Street forecasts. Income in the January-March quarter was $1.34 billion, or $1.09 a share, compared with $1.18 billion, or 96 cents a share, in the 2007 period. Revenue rose to $6.29 billion from $5.46 billion.
On average, analysts surveyed […]

April 19th, 2008

Halliburton in Talks to Buy Expro

Halliburton Co. is thinking about buying U.K.-based Expro International Group PLC in an all-cash deal.
Halliburton confirmed talks with Expro after a private equity consortium led by London-based Candover Group said it will buy Expro for $3.2 billion.
In a statement, Halliburton said its cash offer would top Candover’s but gave no specifics.
Expro provides services and products […]

April 19th, 2008

Rig Count Picks Up

Twelve more rigs are actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. this week compared to last week.
Baker Hughes Inc. says 1,461 are exploring for natural gas and 355 for oil and eleven are considered “miscellaneous.” That brings the total to 1,827. A year ago, the rig count stood at 1,769.
This week 63 […]

April 19th, 2008

In Solar Sector, SunPower Shines While Evergreen Sinks

Analysts cheered SunPower Inc., a day after the solar company said its first-quarter net income soared to $12.8 million, or 15 cents per share, from $1.2 million or 2 cents per share a year ago. The company also expects second-quarter earnings to triple first-quarter results.
PacificCrest analyst Mark Bachman in a client note said domestic demand […]

April 19th, 2008

SunPower shares rose $4.70, or 5.4 percent, to $91.50 in afternoon trading.

At the same time, shares of Evergreen Solar Inc. headed in the opposite direction, losing $1.17, or 10.9 percent, at $9.60. The company narrowed its first-quarter loss to $25,000 — roughly break-even per share — compared with a loss of $6.2 million or 9 cents per share a year ago.
But investors were disappointed with Evergreen’s […]

April 19th, 2008

Waste Management Producing Energy from Landfills

Waste Management, Inc. opened a renewable energy facility at a company landfill in Virginia. The company says the landfill’s methane gas will produce 4.8 megawatts of electricity — enough energy to power more than 4,700 homes.
The plant is part of Waste Management’s plan to build 60 renewable energy facilities over the next five years. Currently, […]

April 19th, 2008

Oil Price hits new record $117 a barrel

Oil prices hit a record high $117 a barrel Friday as jitters over Nigerian oil supplies outweighed a rally in the dollar and fears of an economic slowdown in giant energy consumer China.
U.S. light crude settled up $1.83 at $116.96 a barrel, before hitting a record $117. London Brent crude gained $1.49 to $113.92.
Oil prices […]

April 19th, 2008

Indonesia Govt grants Rio Tinto fixed-rate tax for project

The government has agreed to grant a demand from mining company Rio Tinto for a fixed-rate tax facility for its US$3 billion nickel project in Sulawesi, providing leeway for other mining giants to receive similar privileges.
Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board Muhammad Luthfi told reporters Monday the government had agreed to provide the company with […]

April 18th, 2008