Ride to the Bottom: U.S. energy workers hit hard by company stock bets
An electronic display identifies the post that trades SandRidge Energy stock on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange January 11, 2013. Nearly 15 years since Enron’s collapse decimated the retirement accounts of its employees, hundreds of thousands of U.S. energy workers remain precariously exposed to big, concentrated bets on company stock in their 401(k) retirement plans. The slide in oil prices to their lowest levels in over a decade wiped out several billion dollars of retirement wealth in the energy sector in the past year. The losses may prove temporary for companies that successfully navigate the crisis, but tens of thousands of employees of struggling firms may see much of their nest eggs gone for good. In Oklahoma and Texas, workers are delaying retirement plans, surrendering trucks, cars and land in personal bankruptcy cases, or just praying oil prices will recover. “I just didn’t see it coming,” […]
Schlumberger calls for industry rethinking
The head of Schlumberger, one of the largest oil and gas services companies in the world, said from New Orleans the industry is in need of a strategic makeover. Lower crude oil prices have left companies servicing the energy sector with less capital as spending declines for exploration and production. Industry rivals Halliburton and Baker Hughes aim to join forces to endure the downturn. British energy company BG Group combined with Royal Dutch Shell in a similar effort. Schlumberger, one of the largest companies in the upstream sector, reported revenue for the fourth quarter came in at $7.7 billion, a 9 percent decline from one year ago. CEO Paal Kibsgaard told industry leaders at an energy conference in […]
Suncor completes acquisition of Canadian Oil Sands
Canadian companies Suncor and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. announced their merger was completed under the terms of a hostile offer launched last year. Both companies announced the end of the acquisition process that saw Suncor take in all of the shares in its rival. Suncor President and CEO Steve Williams said the final grab of 15.8 percent of the outstanding shares marked the final step of the deal. “We’re looking forward to working cooperatively with Syncrude to steadily improve asset performance, reduce costs and explore synergy opportunities,” he said in a statement. Canadian Oil Sands was among the largest owners in the Syncrude operation in northern Alberta. Production there stands at around 350,000 barrels of oil per day, enough to meet the […]
The Future of Batteries and Electric Vehicles
Electric cars have been on the horizon for years now, but what will it actually take for a majority of the world’s vehicles to be powered by batteries instead of combustion engines?In this week’s Industry Focus: Energy , Tyler Crowe interviews Steve Levine, author of The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World , about the fascinating geopolitical situation surrounding batteries and EVs. Tune in to hear where the technology is today, which two breakthroughs to really watch out for, some unexpected ways the takeoff of EVs could affect the world, and more. hael Lewis’ stories, or Greg Zuckerman’s The Frackers , which is a book that we’ve talked about with him on the show before — is you took it and kind of personalized it around the people who were actually making it happen, most particularly two companies and the people who were involved […]
Outlook for The US Offshore Industry Is Darkening
More government regulations are impacting the offshore sector’s outlook, possibly hampering the recovery. G. Allen Brooks’ examines several of the recent Obama administration actions. This opinion piece presents the opinions of the author. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Rigzone. After enunciating an energy policy in March 2012 that was based on the concept of an “all of the above” resource strategy, President Barack Obama has abandoned it in his recent energy policy actions. First, he rejected the construction application for the Keystone XL pipeline, and now he is ditching the Atlantic Lease 260 sale from the proposed five-year offshore oil and gas lease sale program for 2017-2022. Even more recently, President Obama has directed that the government tighten air pollution standards for offshore drilling. The removal of Atlantic Lease 260 is a reversal of President Obama’s previous policy calling for opening up the East Coast offshore […]
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