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☆ BP posts record 2022 earnings to join Big Oil profit bonanza
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The British energy giant posted underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $27.7 billion for 2022. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected net profit of $27.6 billion for full-year 2022. BP said its previous annual profit record was $26.3 billion in 2008. For the fourth quarter, BP posted net profit of $4.8 billion, narrowly beating analyst expectations of $4.7 billion. Before that, U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil reported a $56 billion profit for 2022, marking a historic high for the Western oil industry.

☆ BP strategy is still caught between two stools
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters Breakingviews) - BP (BP.L) is trying to stop the rot. The $108 billion UK oil group’s bumper 2022 results on Tuesday recorded a stellar 30.5% return on average capital employed. But fresh investment in oil and gas means he only plans to cut oil production by 25% by 2030, rather than 40%. The reason that probably won’t happen any time soon is that BP is still planning to cut oil production and hike non-fossil fuel investment more than American rivals. Otherwise, BP may remain too dirty for sustainable investors, and too clean for the rest.

☆ Kilduff: There is no greater group at evading all the oil sanctions than the world's big oil producers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailKilduff: There is no greater group at evading all the oil sanctions than the world's big oil producersAgain Capital's John Kilduff discusses the latest round of EU sanctions on Russian diesel and other oil products, and the potential implications for global energy prices.

☆ Take Five: The Bottom Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Australia and India's central banks are navigating the shifting sands of data and markets are digesting what the world's top central banks have to offer. The question is what impact this will have on bonds and stocks markets after a stellar January? Reuters Graphics4/ RUN RALLY, RUNIt was a stellar start to 2023 for markets - stocks and government bonds enjoyed one of the best Januaries on record, fuelled by optimism that the worst is over. That's not good for a central bank, nor is the idea that their communication is ineffective. Policy rate hikes and cuts by central banks overseeing the 10 most traded currencies.

☆ Big Oil mega-deals would put investors on the spot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

So are Shell (SHEL.L), BP (BP.L) and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), but investors value U.S. oil majors way higher than European ones. $473 billion Exxon and $331 billion Chevron trade at 6 times expected EBITDA for 2023, twice the average of $210 billion Shell, $154 billion Total and $109 billion BP. One reason why is that as oil prices have soared, American drillers look more attractive than European ones that are also pressing into potentially lower-return renewable energy. Imagine Chevron or Exxon acquired BP for $170 billion, factoring in a 30% premium to its market capitalisation, plus debt. Any cross-border deal would see Chevron’s Mike Wirth or Exxon’s Darren Woods take a big bet on continuing high oil prices, and also attract political heat.

Still, its shares fell more than 5% to $111.79 on weaker oil prices on the day and a fourth-quarter profit miss. It also anticipates it will invest about $2 billion in Sempra's Port Arthur LNG facility, of which ConocoPhillips has a 30% stake. "ConocoPhillips finished 2022 on a solid note with production volumes exceeding consensus forecasts by 1.5%," said Third Bridge analyst Peter McNally. First quarter production is expected between 1.72 million and 1.76 million boepd, with full-year output of between 1.76 million to 1.8 million boepd, representing growth of 1% to 4%. On an adjusted basis, the company posted quarterly profit of $2.71 per share, missing expectations of $2.81, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ More than 13,000 Nigerian residents take Shell to court over oil spills
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Residents fetch water from a well contaminated by oil pollution at Ogale Town, Eleme in southeast Nigeria, on June 13, 2015. Afp Contributor | Afp | Getty ImagesOver 13,000 residents from two Nigerian communities are seeking damages from Shell in the High Court in London, calling for the energy giant to clean up residual oil and compensate devastating environmental damage. Shell, which reported its highest-ever annual profit of nearly $40 billion on Thursday, argues that the communities have no legal standing to enforce clean-up of the oil spills. Shell said in 2021 that it plans to leave the Niger Delta and sell its onshore oilfields and assets after 80 years of operations. "It appears that Shell is seeking to leave the Niger Delta free of any legal obligation to address the environmental devastation caused by oil spills from its infrastructure over many decades," Leader said.

☆ Oil giant Shell posts highest-ever annual profit of $40 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

British oil giant Shell on Thursday posted its highest-ever annual profit, bolstered by soaring fossil fuel prices and robust demand since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. Shell reported adjusted earnings of $39.9 billion for the full-year 2022. This comfortably surpasses the $28.4 billion in 2008 which Shell said was the firm's previous annual record and is more than double the firm's full-year 2021 profit of $19.29 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected full-year 2022 net profit to come in at $38.3 billion. For the final quarter of 2022, Shell reported adjusted earnings of $9.8 billion.

☆ Joe Biden’s Big Oil Profits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden has done more to enrich Big Oil and its shareholders than Donald Trump or any other White House occupant in decades. See how his Administration’s crusade to limit U.S. oil and gas production is reaping record profits for Exxon Mobil and other fossil-fuel giants. Exxon on Tuesday reported a record $55.7 billion annual profit last year, surpassing its $45 billion haul in 2008. This makes Exxon among the most profitable companies in American history. Two years ago, Exxon and other oil companies were bleeding cash as prices plunged early in the pandemic.

☆ ExxonMobil, Chevron's big cash shows cheap gas isn’t coming back
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Big oil sees political pushback on buybacksFuel prices at a Chevron gas station in Menlo Park, California, on Thursday, June 9, 2022. In the market, and at the oil companies headquarters, it seems the opinions issued from the White House aren't much of a factor in setting financial priorities. The benchmark now is to spend roughly a third of operating cash flow on capital investment, a third on dividends and a third on stock buybacks. Exxon made $76.8 billion in operating cash flow, invested $18 billion back into the business, spent $14.9 billion on dividends and $15.2 billion in stock purchases, according to its cash flow statement. Oil production is increasing

☆ Premarket stocks: Is this the beginning of the end for Big Oil's windfall?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Brutally high oil and gas prices were the talk of the town and one of the largest contributing factors to sky-high inflation. That was bad news for drivers, but ended up being great for the energy industry as oil prices and energy stocks are closely interlinked. As markets fell under the pressures of economic uncertainty, geopolitical chaos, elevated inflation and a hawkish Fed, the energy sector thrived. The S&P ended 2022 down nearly 20%, while the energy sector grew by about 60%. But analysts say US oil companies can’t keep winning for much longer.

☆ Big oil can be lean and not mean
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The $460 billion firm said on Tuesday that it earned $13 billion in the fourth quarter, while Chevron said last week it earned over $6 billion. Oil demand growth has peaked, and may start to decline soon, according to BP’s 2023 Energy Outlook released on Monday. It’s conceivable both could have more cash than debt at the end of the year if the price of oil rises. Big oil can be lean, but not mean. The oil company retired $7.2 billion of debt in 2022.

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday launched a fresh attack against U.S. oil companies, accusing them of using profits to pay shareholders instead of boosting supply, after Chevron Corp (CVX.N) said its annual profit doubled for 2022. Other oil companies are expected to follow suit. "Companies clearly have everything they need – record profits and thousands of approved permits – to increase production," White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan said in a statement. "The only thing getting in the way is their own decision to keep plowing windfall profits into the pockets of executives and shareholders instead of using them to boost supply." Hasan's comments mark the latest set of attacks from the White House lambasting oil companies for funneling a windfall of profits to investors.

☆ Big Oil poised to smash annual profit records — sparking outcry from campaigners and activists
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. President Joe Biden has previously singled out Exxon Mobil for making "more money than God" last year. Flush with cash, the energy giants are expected to use their windfall profits to reward shareholders with higher dividends and share buybacks. In June last year, Biden singled out Exxon Mobil for making "more money than God." "They are profiting from the current increase in oil and gas prices, and they are betting on it. And what you see is actually increased investment in oil and gas," Agathe Bounfour, oil campaign lead at the NGO Transport & Environment, told CNBC via telephone.

☆ Swimming in cash, Chevron plans a $75 billion slap in the face to drivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

All of that helped make Chevron the top-performing Dow stock of last year, with shares surging more than 50%. To be clear: It’s not that Chevron, or any of its peers, did anything special to earn their windfall profits last year. Instead, Chevron is buying $75 billion worth of its own shares, and jacking up its quarterly shareholder dividend. Of course, Chevron and other US oil producers, including Exxon Mobil, are putting some money into new energy projects this year. That was far less than the $6.3 billion that Union Pacific spent repurchasing shares of stock.

☆ Davos 2023: Key takeaways from the World Economic Forum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/4] NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland take part in the World Economic Forum session on "Restoring Security and Peace. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Global leaders and business executives departed a freezing World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on Friday after a frank exchange of views over how the world will tackle its biggest issues in 2023. Here's what we learned:ECONOMY: Gloom and doom heading into Davos turned into cautious optimism by the end with the global economic outlook for the year ahead looking better than feared. On the inside, political leaders like Kier Starmer railed against new oil investments and Pakistani climate minister Sherry Rehman pushed for loss and damage funding. The lesson I have learned in the last years ... is money, money, money, money, money, money, money."

☆ Davos 2023: Big oil comes in from the cold on energy transition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Maha El Dahan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

CHINA OUT./File Photo/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Energy transition front and centre at Davos meetingEurope energy crisis forces moment of reckoningClimate activists sceptical of oil industry inclusionDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A different type of energy transition has taken place at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting. Unlike 2021's COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, where oil and gas executives were personae non gratae, fossil fuel chiefs and renewable energy bosses sat cheek by jowl in Davos. Thunberg's was not the only voice at Davos with strong objections to the industry's new mantra that the energy crisis justifies new oil investments. Like Birol, British opposition leader Keir Starmer said the oil and gas sector has a role to play in the energy transition. Jaber, who is the founding CEO of Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy firm Masdar and has overseen the UAE's mandate to adopt renewables is not without green credentials.

☆ Greta Thunberg says Davos elite are prioritizing greed and short-term profits over people and the planet
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

watch nowSwedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday accused the political and business elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, of prioritizing self-interest and short-term profits over people and the planet. They are prioritizing self-greed, corporate greed and short-term economic profits above people and above planet." Thunberg said it was an "absurd" situation that the world seems to be listening to Davos delegates rather than those on the frontlines of the climate emergency. We were kettled by police and then detained but were let go later that evening," Thunberg said on Wednesday via Twitter. To be sure, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate crisis.

☆ UN chief slams fossil fuel industry expansion in Davos speech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Guterres pointed blame squarely at the fossil fuel industry when addressing the Davos crowd, composed of billionaires, politicians and business leaders, including dozes of high level executives from the world’s biggest oil and gas companies. And like the tobacco industry, those responsible must be held to account,” Guterres told the conference. A new report published on Tuesday by the campaign group Reclaim Finance revealed that dozens of banks and financial institutions with net zero pledges are still pouring money into fossil fuels. Since signing, however, it found members have invested hundreds of billions into fossil fuels. Guterres called on companies to “put forward credible and transparent transition plans on how to achieve net zero,” by the end of 2023.

☆ ‘Big Oil peddled the big lie’: UN chief slams energy giants for ignoring their own climate science
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that without further action, humanity was on course for a global temperature increase of 2.8 degrees Ceslius. "Some in Big Oil peddled the big lie," Guterres said during a special address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The study, published last week in the journal Science, said that Exxon's private projections of global temperature rise were often more accurate than world-leading NASA scientists. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate emergency. Guterres said that without further action, humanity was on course for a global temperature increase of 2.8 degrees Celsius.

☆ Energy startups touting everything from solar-powered cars to next-gen nuclear reactors are red hot right now. Here are 32 to watch in 2023, according to VCs.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's invasion of Ukraine thrust energy companies into the spotlight in 2022. We asked European investors to name energy startups poised to take off in 2023. European energy companies raised a record $3 billion in 2022, a marked increase on the $1.96 billion secured in 2021, according to PitchBook. Insider asked investors which European startups were ones to watch in 2023. Here are the 32 companies investors named, in alphabetical order.

☆ A 20-year-old indigenous climate activist says the World Economic Forum is the perfect time for corporations to 'show their commitment' to breaking up with fossil fuels
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Freya Graham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Helena Gualinga is an Indigenous youth climate advocate from Ecuador. Gualinga wants to bring Indigenous and youth perspectives to climate conversations at Davos. The 20-year-old Indigenous youth climate advocate is speaking on several panels at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, sharing the stage with the likes of John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and IKEA CEO Jesper Brodin. Much of the green transition is about electrification — for instance, switching from gas cars to electric ones. Corporations must commit to making a changeAt Davos this year, Gualinga wants to see "a real commitment to climate action."

[1/2] Logo of British Petrol BP is seen e at petrol station in Pienkow, Poland, June 8, 2022. Reuters GraphicsWINDFALL WOESBut the bumper profits could revive calls on governments around the world to further hike windfall taxes on the sector as economies struggle with high energy prices. They benefited the most from high energy prices, rewarded by a fossil-focused cash generation strategy that contrasted with European majors' bet on renewables. Banks including HSBC and J.P. Morgan predict more upside potential for European stocks this year after U.S. oil majors led in share performance and profits in 2022. "The European majors appear much more attractively valued than the U.S. majors on our estimates," HSBC said in a note.

☆ Davos 2023: Climate activists protest over big oil hijacking debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Maha El Dahan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Climate activists display a banner during a protest ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, January 15, 2023. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Climate activists protested in Davos on Sunday against the role of big oil firms at this week's World Economic Forum (WEF), saying they were hijacking the climate debate. The annual meeting of global business and political leaders officially opens in Davos on Monday. More than a hundred protesters gathered in a snowy Davos square chanted, "change your diet for the climate, eat the rich", while some booed oil firms cited during a speech. Smith was holding a sign saying "Stop Rosebank", a North Sea oil and gas field she is campaigning to halt plans for.

☆ Katie Porter Launches 2024 California Senate Bid, Isn't Waiting on Feinstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Katie Porter of California on Tuesday officially announced a 2024 Senate bid. Sen. Feinstein is up for reelection in 2024, but hasn't yet announced whether she'll run for another term. "In times like these, California needs a warrior in Washington," she said in her official campaign announcement on Tuesday. In entering the race, Porter is staking out a lane as an lawmaker who would usher in a different sort of governance. In November, Porter won a tough reelection race, edging out former California assemblyman Scott Baugh by four points (52%-48%).

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