They are downstream project, but cannot expect Upstream salary rate for downstream ehehehehe need to readjust kesyukuran level ehehehehe

Block J? That is for Petronas Carigali Brunei deepwater isnt it? That block JV with Murphy Oil and PetroleumBrunei (PB).

Kalau saya salah tolong jolokkan.

ConocoPhillips to Lay Off Another 1,000 Energy Workers

ConocoPhillips, one of the largest U.S. shale producers, is cutting another 6% of its workforce.

The Houston-based company confirmed Thursday that it will lay off about 1,000 employees this year, mostly from North American energy jobs in the U.S. and Canada. The cuts were outlined in a meeting with management Thursday.

Hundreds of employees will be laid off in Texas, where much of ConocoPhillips's shale oil-and-gas operations are focused, while as many as 300 job cuts will come in Calgary, Alberta, out of its oil-sands division, sources familiar with the matter said.

"We have taken several steps as a company to adapt to lower and more volatile prices and strengthen our position coming out of the downturn," said Daren Beaudo, a spokesman for the company. "Over the past couple years, we've significantly reduced our capital activities and finished some major projects, which left us with more organizational capacity than we need."

Also this week, Royal Dutch Shell PLC laid off 190 offshore workers from its deep water Gulf of Mexico operations, or roughly 25% of that division. The cuts were part of Shell's previously announced plan to trim 2,200 positions globally this year, said Kimberly Windon, a company spokeswoman.

"We are making these changes in order to remain competitive and better position Shell's Gulf of Mexico projects for future growth," she said.

Halliburton Sheds More Jobs, Looks to North America Recovery

Halliburton Co. cut another 5,000 jobs in the second quarter as it positioned itself for a recovery in North America in the second half of the year.

The world’s largest provider of hydraulic-fracturing work reported a loss of $3.21 billion, or $3.73 a share, compared with net income of $54 million, or 6 cents, a year earlier, according to a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, the loss was 14 cents a share, better than the 19-cent average loss of 38 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. More than a third of the company’s workforce has been eliminated since the downturn began in late 2014.

"We believe the North America market has turned," Chief Executive Officer Dave Lesar said in the statement. "We expect to see a modest uptick in rig count during the second half of the year."


Lesar’s prediction in April that the U.S. rig count would bottom out in the second quarter has so far proved true. As rigs become more efficient, U.S. explorers will need less than half the rigs they used during the last peak, President Jeff Miller told analysts and investors Wednesday on a conference call, adding that "900 is the new 2,000."

Staff Cuts

The company cut nearly 9 percent from from its global headcount in the second quarter, leaving staff at 50,000, Emily Mir, a spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail.

Halliburton, which generates nearly half its sales from the U.S. and Canada, reported a North American operating loss of 8.2 percent, more than triple its first quarter drop. Sales dropped 43 percent compared with a year earlier.

The company expects to stem the losses in North America and break even by the first quarter of next year, Chief Financial Officer Mark McCollum said on the call. He also forecast that the operating loss margin should improve by 100 to 200 basis points in the third quarter.


"Price negotiations have been a bar-room brawl," Miller said. "In certain situations, as we’ve seen signs of recovery, we’ve elected to walk away from money-losing jobs in recent months."

"I don’t think many people had high expectations for the second quarter, given that even in the quarter the rig count was still dropping," said Rob Desai, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis who rates the shares a buy and owns none. "The outlook was the most important thing."

Halliburton fell 1.8 percent to $44.39 at 12:03 p.m. in New York along with other oilfield contractors.

Spending Cuts

The first three months of the year finally saw all four of the world’s biggest oil services providers move into the red in North America. To survive the worst oil market downturn in a generation, explorers have slashed spending by half in the region. Halliburton is about halfway to its goal of cutting $1 billion in its annual costs, which is expected to be achieved by the end of the year, Miller said.

In May, Halliburton called off a $28 billion merger with Baker Hughes Inc. after facing resistance from regulators in the U.S. and Europe over antitrust concerns. The company paid Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee during the second quarter.

Halliburton took a promissory note from "its primary customer" in Venezuela in exchange for $200 million of outstanding trade receivables, according to the statement.

McCollum said at an investor conference last month that the company has a "need to really hit the brakes" in Venezuela because it’s not getting paid for the work being done there. The company said in May the amount it was owed in the country rose 7.4 percent in the first quarter to $756 million.

Schlumberger Ltd., the biggest oil services provider, is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Thursday.

Keppel Sees Prolonged Dearth Of Oil-Rig Orders Amid Glut

(Bloomberg) -- Keppel Corp., the world’s largest builder of oil rigs, sees little prospect of an improvement in global demand amid a supply surplus that’s caused quarterly profit to fall to the lowest in almost a decade.

The company may consider reducing its workforce and mothballing some facilities in its rig-building operations because of excess capacity, the Singapore-based company said Thursday. Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. has already shrunk its workforce by about 11,000 and subcontractor headcount by some 8,500 since 2015, according to Chief Executive Officer Chow Yew Yuen.

"It’s about hunkering down," Keppel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Loh Chin Hua said at a briefing. "What we have seen in the industry, it’s not just about oil prices. We have to look at the oversupply of rigs and the current situation with the traditional customers."

Keppel sees a long, harsh "winter" in its rig-building business after net income fell 48 percent in the second quarter to S$205.8 million ($152 million). The company is among Asian shipyards that have cut jobs and are considering dock closures after oil prices more than halved in two years, leading to a slump in orders for offshore drilling and production, deferrals and cancellations.

The company has been hit by non-payments from one of its biggest clients, Sete Brasil Participacoes SA, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April.

Shares of Keppel fell as much as 1.8 percent to S$5.48 and traded at S$5.50 as of 9:27 a.m. in Singapore, while smaller rival Sembcorp Marine Ltd. dropped 2.6 percent to S$1.485. The stocks have both fallen about 15 percent this year, compared with a 1.8 percent advance in the benchmark Straits Times Index.

Keppel said the order outlook is weak because of oversupply of oil rigs and falling day rates, or the fees charged to lease a drilling rig. Demand is expected to return eventually when oil companies curb falling production and replenish declining reserves to meet the world’s requirements for fossil fuels. Revenue at Keppel fell 37 percent on year to S$1.63 billion in the second quarter.

The company has requests to defer delivery of three jackups for Grupo R, a Mexican energy company, and one jackup for Uruguay-based Parden Holding to next year, and will be compensated, it said. Jackup rigs are used in shallow waters and have extendable legs that allow them to stand on the ocean floor.

The offshore division has secured more than S$460 million of new orders in the year to date, with deliveries stretching into 2021. Its orderbook stood at S$4.3 billion at the end of June, falling from S$9 billion at the end of December 2015. The contract backlog excludes orders from Sete Brasil, for which Keppel has stopped construction pending payment.

"Even if new orders materialize in the coming quarters, we reckon that operating margins on those contracts will likely be mid-high single digit at best," Royston Tan, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets in Singapore, wrote in a note.

Sete Brasil accounts for a combined $10.5 billion in orders for semi-submersibles and drill ships at Keppel and Sembcorp Marine. The Brazilian company fell into financial difficulty after it was unable to secure long-term financing and its only client, state-run oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA, faced allegations of kickbacks.

The investigations into the scandal have wiped out nearly half of Brazil’s naval industry jobs in the past two years, leaving companies bankrupt and creditors unpaid. Keppel and Sembcorp Marine have yards in that country to cater to demand.

Other Asian shipbuilders face a similar situation as orders have dwindled. South Korean shipyards such as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. are seeking to raise a combined 8.41 trillion won ($7.4 billion) selling assets as part of a restructuring, which also includes job cuts, after delivery delays led to losses last year.

Keppel’s property and real estate division was the biggest contributor to second-quarter profit and cushioned the impact of weak results in the offshore and marine business.

"A silver lining for Keppel is the resilient trend of urbanization in Asia, buoyed by a growing middle class and continuing rural-urban migration," it said.

While the company is confident in the long-term fundamentals of the offshore and marine industry, "we are mindful that a long downturn may be upon us and we have to position our business accordingly," Keppel Corp. CEO Loh said.

Oil closes at the lowest since April 25 amid threat of global glut

Oil prices fell on Monday, with U.S. crude slipping to a 3-month low on rising concerns that a global glut of crude and refined products would pressure markets.

Data from market intelligence firm Genscape pointed to an inventory rise of 1.1 million barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery base for U.S. crude futures in the week to July 22, said traders who saw the numbers.

Investors have become less optimistic that markets will balance quickly amid a massive overhang in refined products, particularly gasoline, despite forecasts for record U.S. summer driving.

"We've got gasoline stocks that are through the roof ... And you have the specter of turnaround season not too far in the horizon," Robert Yawger, senior vice president of energy futures at Mizuho Securities USA said.

Yawger cut his price target on U.S. crude to $40 from $45 a barrel.

The threat of resurgent U.S. oil production with the rise of drilling rigs and a strong dollar added to the gloomy sentiment in the market, traders and brokers said.

Brent crude futures were trading at $44.65 a barrel by 4;25 p.m ET, down $1.04 cents or 2.28 percent from their previous close. The contract fell to an intraday low of $44.55, a low going back to May 10.

U.S. crude settled down $1.06, or 2.4 percent, at $43.13 a barrel and was last down $1.14, or 2.58 percent, at $43.05 a barrel, having earlier touch $42.97, their lowest level since April 26.

The settle marked the lowest since April 25, when oil settled at $42.64 per barrel.

"Supply continues to return from disruptions, refined products are severely oversupplied, crude demand is falling well short of product demand, and key product demand is decelerating," Morgan Stanley said in a note.

The decline in U.S. output has been key to balancing a market that has been grappling with excess crude for nearly two years, but with prices recovering from 12-year lows, signs of drilling activity have re-emerged.

U.S. drillers added oil rigs for a fourth consecutive week, according to last week's data from a closely followed report by energy services firm Baker Hughes.

But it could be premature to assume it could lead to a rise in production, some analysts said.

"Although drilling activity is now at its highest level since the end of March, it is still 30 percent below the level at which it found itself at the beginning of the year." Commerzbank analysts said in a note.

Barclays bank said global oil demand in the third quarter of 2016 was expanding at less than a third of the year-earlier rate, weighed down by anemic economic growth.

Globally, demand support from developed economies had faded, while growth from China and India had slowed, Barclays said.

New tensions in Libya highlight that the OPEC member is unlikely to see a significant boost to its oil exports any time soon, after the national oil corporation said it objected to a deal to reopen key ports.

It's very low already...is SLB  hiring?

Slides from today DNV GL seminar... Another 4 years slowdown...

BP Profit Tumbles 45% on Lower Oil, Weaker Refining Results

BP Plc, the first oil major to report second-quarter results, said earnings fell 45 percent as lower crude prices continued to erode income and refining margins shrank.

Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes dropped to $720 million from $1.3 billion a year earlier, the company said Tuesday. That missed the $819 million average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Downstream earnings, which include refining, declined 19 percent.

Refining margins were the lowest for the second quarter since 2010 and will continue to be under “significant pressure,” BP said. Although Brent crude’s rebound provided some relief compared with the first quarter, Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley still faces a difficult road ahead as the rally fades amid slowing demand growth and returning production from Canada to Nigeria. BP’s results are likely to be an indication of how the other oil majors will perform.

Brent averaged $47.03 a barrel in the quarter compared with $63.50 a barrel a year earlier and $35.21 a barrel in the first quarter of this year. The decline that began in mid-2014 forced explorers to delay projects, cut billions of dollars of spending and eliminate thousands of jobs.

BP invested just $8.1 billion in the first half, allowing it to tweak its spending forecast for the year to less than $17 billion from “about” $17 billion, according to a statement. As well as cutting expenditure, Dudley is taking on more debt so he can continue to pay dividends, the company’s top financial priority.

At the end of the second quarter, net debt totaled $30.9 billion, up from $24.8 billion a year earlier. Net debt to capital, also called gearing, was at 24.7 percent, compared with 18.8 percent previously, according to the statement. The company announced a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share.

Cost-cutting means BP will be able to balance cash flow with shareholder payouts and capital spending at an oil price of $50 to $55 a barrel next year, the company said. Benchmark Brent is currently trading below $45 a barrel in London.

BP’s shares have risen 24 percent in London this year following two years of declines. That compares with a 36 percent gain at Royal Dutch Shell Plc and a 2.4 percent increase for Total SA.

Production for the second quarter was 2.09 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, 1 percent lower than a year earlier. Third-quarter output will continue to fall because of maintenance and the impact of a plant shutdown at a gas plant in the Gulf of Mexico, BP said.

Downstream earnings fell to $1.51 billion from $1.87 billion. While oil’s lows had previously boosted income for BP’s refineries as they benefit from cheaper crude, margins have been contracting. Global refining margins averaged $13.80 a barrel in the quarter through June, and have dropped to $10.70 a barrel this month, according to the company’s website.

At the same time, the rebound in crude prices is petering out. Production shuttered by wildfires in Canada and by militant attacks in Nigeria is returning and shale drillers in the U.S. are bringing back some rigs. While there’s still consensus that the worst of the oil glut is over, the International Energy Agency cautioned this month that “the road ahead is far from smooth.”

Shell and Total are scheduled to publish earnings on Thursday, and Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. the following day.

Exxon snaps up InterOil in LNG push as Oil Search bows out


ExxonMobil Corp (XOM.N) said on Thursday it would buy InterOil Corp (IOC.N) for more than $2.5 billion in stock, adding a gas field to expand exports from Papua New Guinea and better positioning it to meet Asian demand for liquified natural gas.

Oil majors are targeting Papua New Guinea for growth as the quality of its gas, low costs and proximity to Asia's big LNG consumers make it one of the most attractive places to develop projects following a collapse in oil and gas prices.

"I think (the deal) shows that Exxon views LNG as a very strong growth business. I believe that LNG demand over time will grow faster than oil," said Brian Youngberg, oil analyst with Edward Jones in Saint Louis.

Exxon sealed the deal for InterOil after Australia's Oil Search Ltd (OSH.AX) said earlier on Thursday that it would not pay more than the $2.2 billion it offered in May, a proposal that was backed by French giant Total SA (TOTF.PA).

InterOil owns a 36.5 percent stake in the Elk-Antelope gas field, which is operated by Total. The acquisition will give Exxon interests in six licenses in Papua New Guinea covering about four million acres.

Oil Search said it and Total agreed that letting Exxon take over would help speed up development of the Elk-Antelope field.

Exxon said it would pay InterOil shareholders $45 per share in stock and that it would also make an additional cash payment based on the size of the Elk-Antelope field.

That payment is worth $7.07 per share for each trillion cubic feet equivalent (tcfe) of certified gross resource from the field above 6.2 tcfe and up to a maximum of 10 tcfe.

Exxon said it would evaluate processing of gas from the Elk-Antelope field by expanding its LNG export plant in Papua New Guinea. Oil Search also owns a stake in the LNG plant.

The plant is a 6.9 million ton per annum integrated project operated by Exxon. The gas is sourced from seven fields and Elk-Antelope gas could be used to feed an expansion.

"It will be interesting to watch how Exxon pursues the development of InterOil's gas resources. Will it be by expanding the existing LNG plant already operating in the country, or building a brand-new project?," said Pavel Molchanov, an energy analyst with Raymond James.

Credit Suisse (Australia) Ltd, Morgan Stanley and UBS are InterOil's financial advisers, while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Goodmans provided legal advice.

Total Profit Beats Estimates as Cost Cuts Deepen Amid Slump

Total SA said profit fell 30 percent in the second quarter, beating analysts’ estimates as deeper cost cuts and rising production helped the French company offset the slump in crude prices and strikes at its domestic refineries.

Adjusted net income was $2.17 billion in the period, compared with $3.09 billion a year earlier, the company based in Courbevoie near Paris said in a statement Thursday. Analysts had expected a profit of $1.82 billion, according to the average of eight estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

“Efforts to reduce operating costs are continuing to bear fruit and we will surpass the $2.4 billion cost reduction target for this year,” Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said in the statement. “In the downstream, results and cash generation remained strong at the same level compared to the first quarter of 2016.”




Two years into the oil price slump, major producers and their suppliers remain under pressure to cut costs and increase cash flow. The rebound in crude from a 12-year low reached in January is fading amid slowing demand growth and a surplus of fuels including gasoline. BP Plc posted a 45 percent drop in adjusted profit for the second quarter, due in part to lower refining margins.

Total shares rose at much as 1.2 percent and traded at 43.08 euros at 9:01 a.m. in Paris, 39 euro cents higher. The stock has risen 3.8 percent this year.

“The beat was largely driven by the upstream division,” analysts from Exane BNP Paribas said in an note. “We’d expect the shares to perform strongly this morning.”

Adjusted net operating income at Total’s refining and chemicals division fell 25 percent from a year earlier to $1.02 billion, partly due to refinery outages in Europe and the U.S., the company said.




In the exploration and production business, adjusted net operating income fell 28 percent to $1.13 billion. Oil and gas production increased by 5 percent from a year earlier to 2.42 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, the company said. Total reiterated plans to boost output by 4 percent this year, helped by the restart of the Kashagan project in Kazakhstan in the second half.

The French company maintained its plan to cut costs by more than $3 billion by 2017 compared with 2014. So-called organic investments in 2016 will be in the range of $18 billion to $19 billion, down from $23 billion in 2015, the company said in the statement.

Total aims to adapt to lower oil prices by cutting spending to a level where it can fund dividends from cash flow at a crude price of about $60 a barrel in 2017. The company is currently borrowing money to make shareholder payouts. The group’s net debt rose to $29.8 billion at the end of the first half, up from $25.6 billion a year earlier.

Total reiterated a target to “generate” $2 billion from asset sales, net of acquisitions such as battery maker Saft earlier this year. China’s Sinochem Group and buyout firms such as CVC Capital Partners are interested in buying its specialty chemicals division Atotech for as much as 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion), people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last week.

Net income fell 30 percent in the quarter to $2.09 billion, the company said. Sales dropped 17 percent percent to $37.2 billion. Total is maintaining its interim dividend at 61 euro cents a share, according to the statement.