Unker
gark, not sure if you saw this.
Oil industry slipping into the red as outlook dimsBy Reuters / Reuters | October 29, 2015 : 11:25 PM MYT
LONDON/OSLO/MILAN (Oct 29): The oil sector is gradually slipping into the red after years of fat profits as the slump in oil prices and a grim outlook bite deeper.
The world's top oil companies have struggled in recent months to cope with the halving of oil prices since June 2014, cutting spending repeatedly, making thousands of job cuts and scrapping projects.
The lower-for-longer outlook for oil prices took its heaviest toll yet in the third quarter as oil companies once again reported a dramatic drop in income, with some falling to a loss, having taken impairment charges of about US$25 billion in the first nine months of the year.
With 10 of the top 20 European and North American oil and gas producers having reported third-quarter results, seven have posted losses.
These include Royal Dutch Shell ( Valuation: None, Fundamental: None), Italy's Eni and in North America Occidental Petroleum Corp, Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Hess Corp, Suncor and ConocoPhillips.
Shell, posted a third-quarter loss of US$7.4 billion on Thursday, hit by a massive US$8.2 billion charge after halting its controversial exploration in Alaska's Arctic sea and a costly oil sands project in Canada.
Downward revisionAbout half of Shell's charges reflected a downward revision of the company's long-term oil and gas price outlook, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said.
The company's net profit excluding identified items collapsed to US$1.8 billion, from US$5.85 billion a year ago, reflecting the trend among its peers.
Eni, meanwhile, reported a net loss of US$1 billion and France's Total came in with a sharp year-on-year drop in profit, though its results were stronger than expected.
"The sector is rapidly moving into the red," Jefferies oil and gas equities analyst Jason Gammel said.
"It is slowly going to claw its way back into the black through cost-reduction efforts, but that will take time. It will depend on price movements, but it will take time to get all these cost savings through the system."
Although European oil companies have reduced breakeven points significantly through cost efficiencies and spending cuts, they will on average require an oil price of around US$78 a barrel in 2016 to cover spending and dividend payments, according to Jefferies estimates before the latest results.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect Brent crude to average US$58.60 a barrel in 2016.
Shell, which Jefferies says has the lowest cashflow breakeven point at around US$66 a barrel, said it would axe an additional 1,000 jobs after announcing 6,500 job cuts earlier this year.
More debtCompanies are also tapping the debt market, benefiting from a relatively low debt ratio that will allow them to cover spending and dividend payments that, except for Eni, have remained unchanged.
Britain's BP, for example, increased its debt ratio to 20%, from 15% a year ago, after agreeing in July to pay US$20 billion in fines relating to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The downturn has forced Europe's majors to reduce 2015 spending programmes by about 15% to near US$107 billion and the cuts are set to become even deeper next year.
On Tuesday Norway's Statoil posted worse than expected third-quarter core earnings and said it would continue cutting costs by slashing capital expenditure by a further US$1 billion to US$16.5 billion.
The sharp drop in revenue from oil production, however, has been offset by spectacular gains in refining and trading segments as lower prices boosted global fuel demand, though the positive impact is expected to fade with the seasonal drop in demand over the winter months.
BP, like Total, managed to beat analyst expectations this week despite a sharp year-on-year profit fall, citing increased efficiencies, higher oil production and strong refining results.
Shell and Eni shares were down 1.4% and 1.8% respectively at 1422 GMT, with Total up by 0.4%. The European oil and gas index was largely flat.
Mon Oct 26, 2015 | 1:39 AM EDT
Oil prices could go 'sharply lower' as product inventories near maximum capacity: Goldman SachsBy Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude oil prices could drop sharply lower as refined product storage sites come close to maximum capacity, further adding to a glut that has already seen crude prices fall by more than half since June 2014, Goldman Sachs said.
Although "tank tops" - a term referring to storage capacities hitting their maximum - were unlikely, Goldman said that inventories were already "too close for comfort", bearing the potential for a sharp fall in crude prices.
"Distillate storage utilization in the U.S. and Europe is nearing historically high levels, following near record refinery utilization, only modest demand growth (especially relative to gasoline), and increased imports from the East on refinery expansion and Chinese exports," Goldman Sachs said.
"This raises the specter of 1998 (and) 2009 when distillate storage hit capacity, pushing runs and crude oil prices sharply lower," it added in its note to clients.
Crude oil prices have fallen by almost 60 percent since June last year, with production from producers in the Middle East, Russia and North America consistently above global demand.
As a result, Goldman said it did not expect oil markets to re-balance next year, a term used to describe a market in which supplies and demand are at similar levels.
PS: SKPetro macam ada bearish divergence and descending triangle right?
So if share price go down below RM2, plan to buy a few lorry load?
But if I ignore indicators, then I see a higher high, higher low with consolidation happening now... with potential to break upwards or downwards.
Any comments?
PSS: I don't own any SKPetro shares now as the fundamentals don't look attractive to me.
Traded long time ago. But if the price is around 1.50 then will consider entering.