Resources go unused, BP fears
Oil companies are under increasing pressure to bring fuel to market faster and cheaper, leading BP to conclude that some of its resources “won’t see the light of day,” according to its head of strategy.
Some of the “more complicated to extract” resources in the British oil major’s portfolio may have to be sold or stay in the ground, said Dominic Emery, the company’s group head of strategy.
They’re going to be too expensive and too time-consuming to get out, and the industry is under pressure to shorten the duration and size of projects, he said.
Part of the shift is due to climate change, which has caused investors to pressure BP to stick to lower-carbon projects. It’s also due to an oil price that’s half what it was five years ago, meaning some projects “simply don’t make money.”
Judge: ‘Let’s Not Get It On’ right now
A copyright battle over Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” was halted by a judge until a separate fight over Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” is resolved.
Holders of rights to Gaye’s 1973 song are demanding more than $100 million for the alleged theft of the composition for Ed Sheeran’s hit “Thinking Out Loud.”
The parties will set new dates for the litigation only after an appeals court in San Francisco rules in the “Stairway” case, U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton in Manhattan wrote in a July 2 order.
Rig counts down as demand keeps sliding
American oil explorers cut back on the number of drilling rigs this week, matching a oneyear low reached last month, as crude’s rally falters amid growing concerns over demand.
Working oil rigs in the U.S. fell by 5 to 788, according to data released Wednesday by oilfieldservices provider Baker Hughes.
That matches the count for the second week of June, which was the lowest since February 2018.
In the Permian Basin, though, drillers added two rigs, raising the total to 443.
A decision by OPEC and its allies this week to extend their production curbs failed to give oil a boost as the market increasingly focuses on the outlook for slowing global growth and U.S. crude production near record levels.
Trump: U.S. should manipulate dollar
President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused China and Europe of playing a “big currency manipulation game.”
He said the United States should match that effort, a move that directly contradicts official U.S. policy not to manipulate the dollar’s value to gain trade advantages.
In a tweet, the president said if America doesn’t act, the country will continue “being the dummies who sit back and politely watch as other countries continue to play their games — as they have for so many years.”
Trump’s own Treasury Department in May found that no country meets the criteria of being labeled a currency manipulator, although the report did put China and eight other countries on a watch list.
Trade uncertainty may lower earnings
Uncertainty over U.S. trade conflicts and signs of a slowing global economy have led many S&P 500 companies to lower expectations for how much profit they made in the spring.
Wall Street projects that overall S&P 500 company earnings for the April-June quarter fell 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to FactSet.
As recently as the end of March, earnings were forecast to be down only 0.5 percent.
This sets up the possibility for the first back-to-back decline in overall quarterly earnings for S&P 500 companies in three years.
Refinancing request nixed in bankruptcy
A federal judge has rejected a proposed new financing agreement for a West Virginia coal operator that filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week.
News outlets report a bankruptcy judge in Charleston said in a ruling released Wednesday that Blackjewel LLC must explore more alternatives in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
Milton-based Blackjewel said in a filing Tuesday that without the agreement, it would shift to Chapter 7, which would seek asset liquidation.
The nation’s sixth largest coal producer had been granted the emergency hearing on its plan to continue with new lenders after being denied a $20 million line of credit to keep its coal operations running.