Sept 12 (Reuters) – Transocean Ltd said on
Wednesday a Brazilian court upheld a ruling that would prevent
the world’s largest offshore rig contractor from operating in
the country because of an oil spill last November.

Prosecutors seeking $20 billion in damages from well
operator Chevron Corp and rig owner Transocean over the
3,600-barrel spill sought the ban to ensure payment.

RICHMOND, California (Reuters) – The wall of a pipe figuring in the investigation of Chevron Corp’s Richmond refinery fire last month had thinned to 20 percent of its original design thickness, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said on Tuesday.

While the cause of the thinning was not yet certain, Chevron had recently replaced another pipe in that part of the refinery, CSB Managing Director Daniel Horowitz said at a city council meeting in the northern California city.

Sept 10 (Reuters) – Transocean Ltd, the world’s
largest offshore driller, is selling 38 less-capable rigs to
focus on more lucrative shallow-water units as well as rigs that
work in water more than a mile deep.

Older models are in low demand and face higher downtime,
with maintenance costs cutting into profits. Transocean and
rival Noble Corp have both spent a year and a half
sounding out interest in selling them, and Noble’s search
continues.

Aug 2 (Reuters) – Engineering company Fluor Corp on
Thursday reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on
growth across its four top segments, while its power unit made a
loss from investing in small-modular nuclear reactor firm
NuScale.

Boosted by oil and gas work, the project backlog for the
largest publicly traded U.S. engineering company increased to
$43 billion from $42.5 billion three months before. This
included $337 million for an aluminum automotive sheet facility
in Saudi Arabia, announced on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 2 (Reuters) – An international tribunal
that will weigh in on Chevron Corp’s two-decade dispute
over pollution in Ecuador has set a timeline that runs into
2014, according to a Chevron regulatory filing on Thursday.

The panel, formed via The Hague’s Permanent Court of
Arbitration under the United Nations Commission on International
Trade Law, is hearing a dispute over whether Ecuador violated a
treaty with the United States requiring it to guarantee Chevron
a fair trial.

Aug 1 (Reuters) – Transocean Ltd posted
higher-than-expected revenue on Wednesday but made a loss as the
contract driller took an extra $750 million charge related to a
potential settlement for the Macondo well disaster in the Gulf
of Mexico.

Transocean said operating and maintenance costs rose 5
percent in the second quarter to $1.6 billion as a result of rig
maintenance, a persistent challenge for the owner of the world’s
largest offshore drilling fleet.

July 27 (Reuters) – Halliburton Co and KBR Inc
are battling in court over a $256 million tax dispute,
as the two companies seek to put to bed the various issues
lingering from their corporate break-up five years ago.

Especially in relation to work done for the U.S. military in
Iraq, Halliburton, the world’s second-largest oilfield services
company, and its engineering spin-off have found themselves in
court a number of times since their split, usually on the same
side.

By Braden Reddall and Matt Daily

(Reuters) – Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) profit fell 7 percent in the second quarter as oil prices weakened, the No. 2 U.S. oil company said on Friday, and oil and gas output will fall short this year, but margins are strong for the smaller refining business.

Like larger rival Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Chevron did face weak prices for U.S. natural gas prices. But Chevron is far less reliant on it, with just 5 percent of its reserves in North American gas, compared with 18 percent for Exxon.

July 26 (Reuters) – Occidental Petroleum Corp
reported a 28 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday on
lower oil prices, but earnings were better than expected and the
company increased spending and planned more U.S. production
growth.

The fourth-largest U.S. oil company said second-quarter
output grew to 766,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent from
715,000 a year earlier. This included an average of 462,000 bpd
of U.S. production, a rate it saw reaching 480,000 bpd by the
end of this year.

By Braden Reddall

(Reuters) – A surprising $15 billion deal struck by China’s CNOOC Ltd for a Canadian outfit operating in the backyards of the world’s biggest oil companies could provide a key talking point as the majors report what will likely be subdued quarterly earnings.

Sustained production growth has long been elusive for the likes of Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. CNOOC’s proposed Nexen Inc takeover at a hefty 61 percent premium, announced earlier on Monday, sets an alarming benchmark for anyone seeking to buy their way into opportunities.