Subsea 7 Profit Beats Forecast
profits on Thursday and announced a special dividend payment as well as an extension of its share buybacks.The Oslo-listed offshore services provider's adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization fell 7.4 percent year-on-year to $163 million, while analysts in a Reuters poll on average predicted a $146 million profit."A new two-year $200 million share repurchase program has been announced, enabled by our strong financial and liquidity position and improving market outlook," Subsea 7 said in a statement.Pending owners' approval, the company will also
Seized: 3,300 Rare Pig-Nosed Turtles
said. Apart from being sold as live pets, conservationists say the pig-nosed turtle is often hunted for meat consumption and for use in traditional medicines in some Asian countries.Malaysia is considered a major transit point for the illegal trafficking of endangered species to other parts of Asia.(Reuters reporting by Rozanna Latiff; editing by Darren Schuettler
Regulator: Expand Pipeline, Protect Killer Whales
, which the government bought last year from Kinder Morgan Canada to ensure it gets built.The move came after Canada's Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Liberal government's 2016 approval to expand the pipeline, which runs from Alberta's oil heartland to the British Columbia coast. (Reuters reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; editing by Jonathan Oatis
Boat Made of Flip-flops Sails for Cleaner Seas
people have started local businesses, like hotels along the shores, and contributed to a huge mess - as you can see, the place is littered with plastic bottles," he added.The Flipflopi, built from 10 tonnes of plastic waste, was first launched late last year.Co-founder Ben Morison told the Thomson Reuters Foundation he began working on the project in 2016 "to transmit the message about the impact that plastic is having on marine ecosystems, how this affects us, and most important of all, what we can do about it".Global challengeResearchers estimate the world has produced more than 8.3 billion
TGS Offers Higher-than-expected Dividend
.Seismic surveyors are a bellwether of oil companies' appetite for conducting exploration for oil and gas deposits.TGS' earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose to $68 million in the last quarter of 2018, from $51.6 million a year ago, but lagging market expectations of $77.8 million in a Reuters poll."While there continues to be some uncertainty related to important factors such as U.S. onshore production, oil price and E&P (exploration and production) budgets, we are confident that the positive trend from 2018 will continue this year," TGS said in a statement.The company
'Frog's Leg' Proves Bountiful for Aker BP
based on estimates of how much oil and gas is located on each side.Aker BP is operator of the license with a 60 percent stake, while Sweden's Lundin Petroleum and Eni's Vaar Energi each hold 20 percent.Aker BP is 40 percent owned by Norway's Aker ASA and 30 percent by BP Plc. (Reuters reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Shreejay Sinha
Norway Supreme Court Hears Snow Crab Case with Implication for Oil
be harder for Oslo to secure its claim over potential oil and gas resources."The question of the snow crab is a proxy for oil. Because what is valid for the snow crab is valid for the oil industry," Oeystein Jensen, a senior research fellow in law at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, told Reuters.The verdict is expected in three to four weeks.The issue arises out of a conviction for illegal fishing of an EU fishing vessel, the Senator, in the waters off the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago.Norway, which is not a member of the EU, argued successfully in a lower court that the European Commission
The Oceans Are Warming Faster than Expected
U.S. fossil fuels, plans to pull out of the pact in 2020.Data due for publication next week will show "2018 was the warmest year on record for the global ocean, surpassing 2017," said lead author Lijing Cheng, of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.He told Reuters that records for ocean warming had been broken almost yearly since 2000.Overall, temperatures in the ocean down to 2,000 metres rose about 0.1 degree Celsius (0.18F) from 1971-2010, he said. The 2013 U.N. assessment estimated slower rates of heat uptake but did not give a single comparable number
Scientist Pool Data to Create the $3B Ocean Map
a map?" asked Larry Mayer, director of the U.S.-based Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, a research body that trains hydrographers and develops tools for mapping."We depend on having that knowledge of what's around us - and the same is true for the ocean," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.With their deep craters and mountain ranges, the contours of the earth beneath the waves are both vast and largely unknown.But a huge mapping effort is underway to change that.The U.N.-backed project, called Seabed 2030, is urging countries and companies to pool data to create a map of
India Plans Deep Dive for Seabed Minerals
sooner or later ... there is no other way," said Gidugu Ananda Ramadass, head of India's deep sea mining project at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in the southern city of Chennai."For the future of mankind ... the ocean is the only hope," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.India, Asia's third-largest economy, is going full steam ahead in anticipation of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) - a U.N. body that oversees mining on the high seas - giving the green light for commercial exploitation.Captain Nemo appeared to get one thing wrong, however
Portugal, Morocco Seek Power Link
after technical and financial feasibility studies are completed in early 2019, a senior Portuguese official said on Monday.Morocco and Portugal agreed in 2015 on plans for a 1,000 megawatt (MW) link. Feasibility studies were launched in 2016.Portuguese Secretary of State for Energy Joao Galamba told Reuters that the two governments aimed to issue the invitations to bid "immediately after the feasibility study""Both governments are strongly committed to this project," he said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Skhirat, near the capital Rabat.The project, which aims to be
TGS Remains Upbeat as Shares Drop
Thursday, as oil firms were still too cautious to spend despite a raft of upbeat earnings.TGS, which maps the seabed in search of hydrocarbon deposits for oil firms, reported quarterly operating profit of $24 million, down from $26 million a year ago and missing a forecast of $37 million returned by a Reuters poll.While oil companies like Shell, BP and Total are reporting bumper profits in the third quarter, they are keen to control costs, so their suppliers are yet to reap the benefits from an upturn in the oil price."E&P (exploration and production) companies are still spending out of their
Aker BP Q3 Operating Profit Beats Forecast
expected, helped by a boom in oil prices, the Norwegian oil firm said on Friday, while reducing planned capital and exploration spending.Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose to $548 million from $219 million in the same quarter a year ago, beating the $521 million expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.The company slightly reduced its 2018 capital spending guidance to $1.25 billion from $1.3 billion, and exploration spending to $400 million from $425 million, while maintaining its production guidance at 155,000-160,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day.Aker BP, 30 percent owned by BP will
Bpifrance, TechnipFMC File Complaint Against Naval Group
French state-owned bank Bpifrance and oil services company TechnipFMC have filed a complaint against Naval Group for willful misrepresentation, a source close to the matter told Reuters, confirming a story in Challenges magazine.The complaint was filed in a Paris tribunal after Naval Group decided to wind down its tidal energy division, in which both Bpifrance and Technip had also invested, Challenges magazine wrote.Naval Group declined to comment.(Reporting by Matthieu Protard and Cyril Altmeyer; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Adrian Croft)
Water at Fukushima Site is Still Radioactive
flowing from the hills above the plant enters the reactor basements, where it mixes with highly radioactive debris. That gets pumped out and treated before being stored in tanks that are fast filling up.And a costly "ice wall" is failing to keep groundwater from entering the basements, a Reuters analysis of the Tepco data showed earlier this year.The groundwater seepage has delayed Tepco's clean-up and may undermine the entire decommissioning process.Nearby residents, particularly fishermen, oppose ocean releases of the treated water because they fear it will keep consumers from buying
Ancient Shipwrecks Found in Greek Waters Tell Tale of Trade Routes
to 58, and the team believe there are even more secrets lying on the seabed below."I would call it, probably, one of the top archaeological discoveries of the century in that we now have a new story to tell of a navigational route that connected the ancient Mediterranean," Campbell told Reuters.The vessels and their contents paint a picture of ships carrying goods on routes from the Black Sea, Greece, Asia Minor, Italy, Spain, Sicily, Cyprus, the Levant, Egypt and north Africa.The team has raised more than 300 antiquities from the shipwrecks, particularly amphorae, giving archaeologists
Norway to Spend More Looking for O&G Near Russian Border
national economic interests," Norway's Oil and Energy Minister Kjell-Boerge Freiberg said in a statement.The country's oil and energy ministry did not identify the structure, but said it was located in an area which is not yet opened up for petroleum exploration and development.A Reuters source familiar with the decision said the areas the government wanted to take a close look at were opposite exploration blocks awarded by Russia on the other side of the border.Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft operates three blocks bordering Norway, information on the company's website
