February 1st, 2007:

Reputation Quotient Methodology

The Harris Interactive corporate reputation study was carried out in two phases: a nominations phase, which occurred in July and August, 2006 and a ratings phase, which occurred from September 21 to October 23, 2006.

In the nominations phase, Harris Interactive conducted 7,886 interviews throughout the U.S. using a combined online and telephone methodology. The online respondents were randomly selected from the Harris Interactive online panel of multimillion members. All respondents were asked to nominate two companies that they feel have the best reputations overall and two companies that they feel have the worst reputations overall. Nominations were open-ended and all responses were tallied, placing subsidiaries and brand names within the parent company. read more

Crude-oil futures fell from a one-month high of more than $58 a barrel, dragged down by a decline in natural-gas prices.

Here is Wednesday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

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EXXON’S MAMMOTH PROFIT: Exxon Mobil posted a 4.3% drop in fourth-quarter net income, though it earned $39.5 billion for the year, the largest profit in U.S. history. It earned $10.25 billion in the quarter, on revenue of $90.03 billion. Revenue rose 1.9% for the year to $377.64 billion, more than the 2005 gross domestic product of Belgium. Major integrated oil companies saw their fourth-quarter earnings drop significantly, as commodity prices were down significantly from the year-ago spikes caused by U.S. Gulf hurricanes. Marathon Oil’s profit fell 15%. read more

February 1, 2007
By Steven Mufson

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is warning European oil and gas companies against investing in Iran, trying to head off a push by Tehran to attract new investment by international petroleum giants.

In the past two weeks, the administration has met with European oil company executives about the Middle East, and during one session a senior State Department official cautioned that the situation with Iran was “hot and is going to get hotter,” one executive said. read more

Fortune’s Abrahm Lustgarten reports how the world’s second-largest oil company lost control of its $22 billion project on Russia’s Sakhalin Island.

By Abrahm Lustgarten, Fortune
February 1 2007: 12:10 PM EST

(Fortune Magazine) — Word that control of the world’s largest integrated oil and gas project had been wrested from Royal Dutch Shell trickled down to the company’s staff on Russia’s Sakhalin Island in December the same way it reached everyone else: via the newswires. read more

By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor
Published: February 1 2007 08:28 | Last updated: February 1 2007 12:26

Royal Dutch Shell, the second-biggest western oil company, on Thursday reported better than expected profits and a strong performance in replacing reserves, but warned of slow growth in production until the end of the decade.

Earnings rose an underlying 21 per cent to $25.4bn (£12.9bn) on a current cost of supply basis for 2006: the largest profit ever recorded by a UK-listed company.

Fourth-quarter earnings were ahead of most analysts’ expectations at $6.02bn, up 11 per cent on the equivalent quarter of 2005. read more

Published: February 1 2007 14:14 | Last updated: February 1 2007 14:14

It used to be said that “you can be sure of Shell”.

That was, of course, before a large chunk of the oil major’s reserves went missing. Since that low point in 2004, the group has struggled to rebuild its image of reliability. Its fourth-quarter results will help – up to a point. Shell beat expectations on profits and upstream production, and has now pleasantly surprised investors for four quarters in a row.

Further evidence of a stronger grip on Shell’s operations is welcome. The other element of Shell’s recovery, however – rebuilding the reserves portfolio – is bittersweet for investors. When you are this big, fixing the upstream business takes time and money. Hence, Shell was forced on Thursday to raise its 2007 capital expenditure budget by 14-19 per cent. read more

breitbart.com: Exxon Mobil Posts Record Annual Profit
Feb 01 9:47 AM US/Eastern  
By JOHN PORRETTO
AP Business Writer
 
HOUSTON (AP) — Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company _ $39.5 billion _ even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The 2006 profit topped Exxon Mobil’s own previous record of $36.13 billion set in 2005. 

Revenue at the world’s largest publicly traded oil company rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion Exxon posted in 2005. read more

By KEVIN KINGSBURY AND BENOIT FAUCON
February 1, 2007 8:40 a.m.

Exxon Mobil Corp. posted a 4.3% drop in fourth-quarter net income amid lower energy prices, though the company had the largest annual profit in U.S. history.

Meanwhile, Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC said net profit rose 21% in the fourth quarter on the back of high oil prices.

Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported net income of $10.25 billion, or $1.76 a share, for the fourth quarter, compared with $10.71 billion, or $1.71 a share, a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose because Exxon’s recent stock-buyback binge. Excluding gains, earnings were $1.69 a share. Analysts had expected $1.51 a share, according to Thomson Financial. read more

Op 1 februari zal Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) haar resultaten over 2006 bekend maken. Analisten verwachten dat Shell een daling van de productie van 2% over het laatste jaar zal moeten aankondigen. Het opstarten van nieuwe velden was onvoldoende om het natuurlijk verval in de productie tegen te gaan. Dit natuurlijke verval is waarschijnlijk gemiddeld 8% voor aardolievelden en 6% voor aardgasvelden.

In onze eigen prognose proberen we een beeld te schetsen welk verband er is met de prestaties van Shell en de steeds moeilijkere toegankelijkheid van conventionele aardolie. Shell had in 2006 wederom met enkele tegenslagen te maken. Aanhoudende onrust in Nigeria zorgde voor tegenvallende productie, maar de echte klapper viel in Rusland. Door de gedwongen verkoop van een deel van het Sakhalin II project raakt Shell 300 miljoen vaten aan reserves kwijt (1 vat = 159 liter). Onze schatting is dat het bedrijf dit jaar op 3,49 mboe/d (miljoen vaten olie equivalent per dag) uit komt. Het oorspronkelijke streven was 3,8 mboe/d. In 2005 behaalde Shell een productie van 3,53 mboe/d. read more

By REUTERS
Published: February 1, 2007
Filed at 3:38 a.m. ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc posted a 2.6 percent rise in underlying quarterly profits on Thursday, beating analysts’ forecasts, thanks to higher production and strong oil prices.

Shell said in a statement its fourth-quarter current cost of supply (CCS) net profit, which strips out changes in the value of inventory, was $6 billion, helped by profits from selling oil and gas fields.

For 2006, CCS profit was $25.4 billion, up 12 percent. read more

Terry Macalister, industrial correspondent
Thursday February 1, 2007

Shell is likely to run into protests from both climate campaigners and the car lobby after today unveiling annual profits of $25bn (£12.72bn) – up 21% – on the back of high oil prices and increased production.

The massive income figures, which amount to $70m a day of pure profit from its global network of production platforms, refineries and petrol stations, were described by chief executive Jeroen van der Veer as “good”. read more

Feb 01, 2007 – 01:54 AM
By: Money and Markets
 
Although Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and the war in Iraq often grab the headlines, I think the global battle for natural resources will probably define the 21st Century when it’s all said and done. This war isn’t fought with bullets … yet. Instead, it’s fought with contracts and trade agreements as countries like China, India, Russia — and, yes, the U.S. — struggle for economic hegemony.

Here are just a few of the latest moves … read more

(Analysts predict a more difficult year for Shell in 2007)

By Stephen Seawright
Last Updated: 10:03am GMT 01/02/2007

Royal Dutch Shell unveiled record annual profits as the high price of oil outweighed disruption to production.

The oil giant’s “current cost of supply” (CCS) net profit – a closely watched measure that excludes gains from rising fuel stock values and one-off charges – rose 12pc to $25.4bn (£12.9bn).

For the whole of 2006, Shell achieved an average oil price of $60.13 per barrel compared to $50.36 a year earlier. read more

EXTRACT: Lucy Haskins, Lehman’s oil analyst, thinks “oil companies will be part of the solution”. She quotes Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer: “If the world thinks CO2 is a huge problem, then it is a great opportunity for Shell.”

Whether trying to satisfy lawmakers or gain a competitive edge, all sectors are affected by the climate debate, reports Tom Stevenson

Drive a new Mini Cooper off the forecourt and you can relax in the knowledge that your chic runabout emits 18pc less CO2 than its predecessor, the 2001 relaunch of Sir Alex Issigonis’s iconic car.
 
At 139 grams of greenhouse gas per kilometre driven, the emissions from BMW’s Mini sneak in under the 140 g/km limit the European Automobile Manufacturers Association has committed to achieve by 2008. read more

EXTRACTS: The Kremlin has substantially strengthened its grip over strategic industries in the past years by putting pressure on foreign firms via its technical, environmental or tax agencies. As a result, talks on potential foreign-led projects in Russia have ground to a virtual halt, although a few such deals that were signed in the mid-1990s, such as the infamous Sakhalin-2 project in the Far East, are still in place. Royal Dutch Shell said it was ready to work under new rules despite being heavily pressured last year to cede control in Sakhalin by Russia’s environmental agency. read more

EXTRACTS: The heads of the companies with shares in Sakhalin 2 – Shell, Mitsubishi and Mitsui – sign a protocol on the sale of 50 percent plus one share in the project to Gazprom for $7.45 billion. After the signing, Russian President Vladimir Putin assures the executives that they did so voluntarily and therefore the problems at Sakhalin 2 are behind them. 

And in seventh place is the Sakhalin 2 scandal, in the course of which Gazprom, with the active support of the government, forced its Western partners out of the consortium to develop the deposit. read more

1 February 2007

Royal Dutch Shell today reported another profits record, after higher oil prices lifted its annual earnings to $25.36bn (£12.94bn).

The figure, which is 21% higher than a year earlier, included a better-than-expected performance in the final three months of the year, when the company’s earnings figure rose 11% to $6.01bn (£3.06bn).

The recent fall in the price of oil means analysts are expecting the year ahead to be much tougher for Shell, particularly as it will be under increasing pressure to find new sources of oil. read more

Investor Centre
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Thursday, February 1, 2007
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 285
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February 2007 strategy update:
Refocusing the portfolio for long-term growth
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Thu Feb 1, 2007 2:33am ET

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) posted a 2.6 percent rise in underlying profits on Thursday, beating analysts’ forecasts, thanks to higher production and strong oil prices.

Shell said in a statement on Thursday its fourth-quarter current cost of supply (CCS) net profit, which strips out changes in the value of inventories, was $6 billion, helped by profits from selling oil and gas fields.

Exluding non-operating items, the underlying result was $5.5 billion, above an average forecast of $5.216 billion in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts. The second-largest Western oil major by market value, Shell said fourth-quarter production rose to 3.645 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 3.5 million boepd in the same period of 2005. read more

By Fred Pals and Stephen Voss

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, reported fourth-quarter profit climbed 21 percent as higher crude prices outweighed production losses in Nigeria.

Net income increased to $5.28 billion from $4.37 billion in the year-earlier period, Shell, based in The Hague, said today in a PRNewswire statement. Profit excluding one-time items and changes in inventory values was $5.5 billion, beating the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts. read more