“Sanofi buys Merck's half of animal health business - Boston Globe” plus 4 more |
- Sanofi buys Merck's half of animal health business - Boston Globe
- House bill would boost Pell Grants - Joplin Globe
- Great Business for Good Friends - Inter Press Service
- INSTANT VIEW 5-Philly-area business improves in September - Forbes
- Wausau Paper to combine business units - Milwaukee Business Journal
| Sanofi buys Merck's half of animal health business - Boston Globe Posted: 18 Sep 2009 07:19 AM PDT Merial, a joint venture founded in 1997, sells two widely used pet medicines, flea-and-tick blocker Frontline and chewable heartworm preventer Heartgard. It also sells Ivomec, which kills parasites in hogs and cattle, and other medicines and vaccines for livestock. | |
| House bill would boost Pell Grants - Joplin Globe Posted: 18 Sep 2009 06:14 AM PDT | CHEVROLET, 2000 CAVALIER, 1995 OLDMOBILE CIERA 2006 HONDA HELIX SCOOTER 2001 FORD RANGER XLT 1991 FORD BUS GMC, 2001 RAISED TOP EXPLORER FORD, 2004 F-250 1989 GMC SHORT BED |
| Great Business for Good Friends - Inter Press Service Posted: 17 Sep 2009 06:18 PM PDT ENERGY-VENEZUELA:
Humberto Mrquez
CARACAS, Sep 17 (IPS) - While Spanish energy giant Repsol and Italy's Eni reported finding huge deep sea reserves of natural gas in the Gulf of Venezuela, a consortium of Russian companies agreed to pay the Venezuelan government one billion dollars to secure access to the oil-rich Orinoco Belt. Thirsty for fossil fuels, old and new companies both great and small are turning a blind eye to aspects like Venezuela's low competitiveness rating according to the World Economic Forum, nationalisation of oil firms' assets, and President Hugo Chvez's rants against capitalism.In turn, the Venezuelan government, "aware that these projects require large investments of capital that the country does not have, is entering into partnerships with companies that subscribe to the capitalist creed, in spite of its socialist policies," oil expert Rafael Quiroz told IPS. Chvez announced Repsol and Eni's find of an estimated 10 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, during his Sept. 11 visit to Madrid, when he met with Spanish Prime Minister Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero. The field, situated close to shore in waters just 60 metres deep, covers an area of 33 square kilometres and is 240 metres thick, according to Repsol. Some seven TCF of natural gas may be recovered, equivalent to 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe). Once production begins, the state oil firm Petrleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) will have a 35 percent stake while Repsol and Eni will each hold 32.5 percent. Energy consultant Nelson Hernndez said prospecting has been going on since 1972 in the area where the field was found, which may hold as much as 35 TCF. "It is rather bold to venture an estimate of 10 TCF of natural gas in situ on the basis of drilling a single well, but it is a good thing that Venezuela's gas reserves are being expanded" from 171 to 181 TCF, putting the country 8th in the world, Hernndez told IPS. But as Quiroz pointed out, more than 90 percent of the country's reserves - the second largest in the Americas, after the United States' - do not contain free gas, but gas associated with oil, which means it cannot be tapped without pumping the oil. Because this is an expensive undertaking that calls for substantial investment, the gas is not actually accessible at present. That is why PDVSA is encouraging exploration in the Atlantic, off the Orinoco river delta, and in Venezuela's northeastern and northwestern Caribbean waters, in the hope or doubling these reserves and finding free gas this time. PDVSA divided up the Gulf of Venezuela, close to the border with Colombia in the northwest of the country, into 29 blocks like the one explored by Repsol and Eni, where Chvez said they had hoped to find up to two TCF, and instead made the greatest gas discovery in Venezuelan history. Hernndez cautioned against over-enthusiasm about the latest find, noting that "it takes five or six years from the moment of discovery until the first cubic foot is produced, and the fate of the enterprise will depend on whether production is channelled to the domestic market, with subsidised prices, or to liquefaction (gas to liquid, or GTL) plants for the international market." The coveted Belt Foreign oil companies are keeping an eye on developments in the gas field while they continue explorations, with a view to gaining access to more fossil fuel reserves and the chance to win an Orinoco Belt concession. The complex tendering process of the past has been replaced by direct adjudication under the president's control. The Belt, an area of 55,000 square kilometres lying roughly east-west along the lower Orinoco river basin in the centre-east of the country, is estimated to contain 1.2 trillion barrels of mostly heavy and super-heavy crude oil. Venezuela hopes that 236 billion barrels of these reserves will be certified as recoverable. At present the Orinoco Belt produces some 500,000 barrels per day, extracted by joint ventures (PDVSA is the majority partner with Total of France and Statoil of Norway, in one case, with Britain's BP in another, and with Chevron in a third). A fourth project is in the hands of PDVSA alone after ExxonMobil declined the contract terms imposed by Caracas. Because of the very dense, viscous nature of the Orinoco Belt deposits and their high sulphur concentration, they must first be refined to remove sulphur and other metals, and then upgraded in a treatment plant which converts them to light or medium synthetic crude, acceptable to the country's Atlantic basin refineries. Companies from Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Uruguay and Vietnam are busy exploring and certifying the Orinoco Belt reserves, the first step toward landing a production partnership. Some of these countries are regarded by Chvez as "strategic allies." Colombia is notable for its absence: its state oil company, Ecopetrol, was also recently invited to take part in oil operations, but the present climate of tension between Caracas and Bogot over the leasing of Colombian military bases to the U.S. armed forces precludes that possibility. Some companies have paid large sums of money to make sure they secure a place among the most promising of the 29 blocks in the 12,000 square-kilometre area of the Belt currently authorised for prospecting. Unconfirmed press reports say that PetroVietnam will pay out 500 million dollars in instalments for a share of the choice Junn II block, and a Russian consortium including Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom, TNK-BP and Surgutneftegaz will pay one billion dollars for the Junn VI block concession. The PDVSA partnership with the Russian consortium is expected to start production in 2012, reaching an output of 450,000 barrels a day to feed into a joint refinery in the area, the feasibility study for which will begin soon. The other partnerships would produce between 100,000 and 400,000 barrels a day. Critics of the Chvez administration on both the left and the right highlight the risks involved in oil prospecting by companies with no experience in heavy crudes, or in exploration at all, as in the cases of Argentina's state energy firm ENARSA and Uruguay's ANCAP. Quiroz warned that "there could be a conflict between the increase in production brought by the heavy investment in the Belt and our commitment to keep the supply of Venezuelan oil within the quotas agreed in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)." Others observe that the shift from the previous operating agreements, under which drilling contracts were awarded to transnational corporations, to the joint ventures between PDVSA and transnational corporations, which grant foreign firms secure access to a portion of Venezuelan oil and gas reserves, run counter to the government's decreed nationalisation of the industry. Vctor Poleo, a professor of petroleum economy at the Central University, told IPS that through the current government policies and the halt to orimulsion manufacturing - a fuel for power stations based on heavy crudes - "the government has made a gift of the Orinoco Belt to big global capital." But Rodrigo Cabezas, a former Chvez administration finance minister, explained that Venezuela "needed significant funds to develop the Belt, and the national oil industry could not do it quickly on its own."
(END/2009) | |
| INSTANT VIEW 5-Philly-area business improves in September - Forbes Posted: 17 Sep 2009 08:39 AM PDT
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region rose in September to the highest level since June 2007, a survey showed on Thursday. Story: Table: KEY POINTS: * The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index was at 14.1 in September versus 4.2 in August. * Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 8.0. Any reading above zero indicates expansion in the region's manufacturing sector, which covers a region encompassing eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. COMMENTS: PETER BOOCKVAR, EQUITY STRATEGIST, MILLER TABAK + CO., NEW YORK 'The Philly Fed survey is at the highest level since June 2007 but the components are mixed as the headline figure is not a sum of its parts. New Orders fell to 3.3 from 4.2 and Employment fell by 1.4 points to minus 14.3. Backlogs did rise by 2 points but still remains negative. Similar to the Empire survey, there is no sign that inventories are being refilled... in fact they still remain very lean as this category fell by 18 points to minus 18.1 which is the weakest since May. But, hopefully this is a backdrop to an eventual pickup.' STEVE GOLDMAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, WEEDEN & CO, GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT: 'The data was better than expected, the question is, we've had a pretty good run on stock prices, a lot of the news is being expected here so we need to maybe catch our breath a bit. There is 'a lot of momentum in many different permutations that I look at, which suggests it's the type of momentum that even though we might get some ultra-short pullbacks or consolidations the path of least resistance still remains higher in the next month or so.' JOSHUA SHAPIRO, CHIEF U.S. ECONOMIST, MFR, INC., NEW YORK 'A combination of aggressive inventory liquidation in the first half of the year and stabilizing orders suggests that manufacturing output will be better supported in coming months. A need to replenish automotive inventories will play an important role in this move. From a longer term perspective, once the effect of inventory adjustments wears off from the manufacturing data, it will be up to final demand to carry the baton. On that score, we believe that the recovery process will be subdued and uneven as the household sector continues to struggle with ravaged balance sheets and lingering labor market weakness.' ROBERT BRUSCA, CHIEF ECONOMIST, FACT AND OPINION ECONOMICS, NEW YORK: 'I'm not happy with some of the back-tracking in the report, but some of the managers still think things are going well.' DAVID KATZ, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, MATRIX ASSET ADVISORS, NEW YORK: 'Basically it continues the process of better economic numbers. The economy is clearly on the mend, but it's not a straight line. This is a positive data point, but we wouldn't read too much into it. The economy is bottoming out, and you're going to continue to see better data, but that's also going to be offset by some weaker-than-expected numbers.' MARKET REACTION: STOCKS: U.S. stock indexes rose a bit, and then pulled back. BONDS: U.S. Treasury debt prices were little changed. DOLLAR: U.S. dollar slipped against the yen. Keywords: USA MARKETS/PHILLYFED (Reporting by New York Treasuries Desk; +1-646 223-6300) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Neither the Subscriber nor Thomson Reuters warrants the completeness or accuracy of the Service or the suitability of the Service as a trading aid and neither accepts any liability for losses howsoever incurred. The content on this site, including news, quotes, data and other information, is provided by Thomson Reuters and its third party content providers for your personal information only, and neither Thomson Reuters nor its third party content providers shall be liable for any errors, inaccuracies or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. | |
| Wausau Paper to combine business units - Milwaukee Business Journal Posted: 17 Sep 2009 08:17 AM PDT Wausau Paper Corp. of Mosinee said Wednesday that it plans to consolidate its specialty products business and its printing and writing business into a single strategic operating unit. The new business, called Wausau Paper Mills LLC, will include production plants in Rhinelander, Brokaw and Mosinee in Wisconsin and in Brainerd, Minn. The plants produce fine printing and writing papers and technical specialty papers. The move will not impact the firm's towel and tissue business unit, which makes "away from home" towel and tissue products. Wausau Paper (NYSE: WPP) said the consolidation will be effective Jan. 1, 2010, and is expected to reduce overhead costs and allow for greater efficiency in manufacturing operations. The unit will be led by Henry Newell as senior vice president. Newell is now the senior vice president of printing and writing business. Earlier this year, Wausau Paper closed a paper mill in Jay, Maine, and a converting facility in Appleton in order to cut costs. |
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