LONDON (Reuters) – Vallares, the oil and gas bid vehicle founded by former BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) boss Tony Hayward and financier Nathaniel Rothschild said it had closed its fundraising earlier than expected, raising 1.35 billion pounds.

Vallares’s business model is to make a reverse takeover of unlisted oil group in an emerging market, which needs money to develop its assets.

LONDON (Reuters) – Western oil firms are unlikely to face widespread asset seizures or contract revisions as a result of Arab uprisings, thanks to deft diplomacy, legal protections and efforts to depict themselves as partners of the local citizenry.

In the past, big political shifts in the Middle East have often been followed by the eviction of foreign oil producers — Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran to cite a few examples.

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) – UK-based oil explorer Cairn
Energy (CNE.L: Quote, Profile, Research), battling challenges to two major projects in
Greenland and India, announced its chief executive would step up
into the chairman role amid a sweeping board shake-up.

The company said on Thursday that Bill Gammell, who founded
the company, would move into the chairman role, leaving the CEO
post to be filled by Simon Thomson, the current legal and
commercial director.

LONDON (Reuters) – Western oil firms are unlikely to face widespread asset seizures or contract revisions as a result of Arab uprisings, thanks to deft diplomacy, legal protections and efforts to depict themselves as partners of the local citizenry.

In the past, big political shifts in the Middle East have often been followed by the eviction of foreign oil producers — Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran to cite a few examples.

LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – Vallares, the soon-to-be-listed
acquisition vehicle established by former BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) boss Tony
Hayward and financier Nat Rothschild, has defended the payout
its founders will receive if the project is successful.

“Some very large numbers have been used for the conversion
value of the B-Shares in press reports over the past couple of
days, and in practice such a value is highly unlikely,” said
Rodney Chase, chairman of Vallares.
Vallares plans to raise 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in a
flotation on the London Stock Exchange in the coming weeks and
to then engineer a reverse takeover of a yet-to-be-identified
emerging market oil and gas company.

LONDON (Reuters) – Former BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) boss Tony Hayward and financier Nathaniel Rothschild aim to raise around 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) with a June listing of an acquisition vehicle that will target oil assets.

Hayward told Reuters the venture, named Vallares, would target an unlisted group in an emerging market which needs capital and expertise to develop its fields.

LONDON (Reuters) – BP’s (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief executive gave a cool assessment of the company’s chances of reviving a $16 billion share swap and Arctic exploration deal with Russia’s Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), saying talks on the tie-up had faded.

“Whether that project goes forward or not, it’s very quiet. This is part of a big portfolio of exploration pursuit. Sometimes it’s successful, sometimes it’s not,” Bob Dudley said on Wednesday, speaking at the launch of the company’s annual statistical review of world energy markets in London.

LONDON/MOSCOW, June 7 (Reuters) – BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it had
no plans to sell down its half-share in Russia’s third-largest
oil producer TNK-BP (TNBP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and that its focus in Russia
remained on developing TNK-BP.

Sources close to AAR, BP’s co-owners in TNK-BP, said BP
executives had indicated on Monday that the company was ready to
sell down its stake.

LONDON (Reuters) – Safety experts Friday launched an investigation into an explosion that killed four people and seriously injured a fifth worker at a Chevron Corp oil refinery in southwest Wales.

Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it was launching a joint probe with police while Chevron started an investigation whose results it said were unlikely to be made public.

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) – Four people were killed and one
was seriously injured in an explosion at an oil refinery in
southwest Wales, the plant’s owner Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on
Friday.

The blast occurred at the 220,000 barrel per day Pembroke
refinery on Thursday. Chevron did not provide any details on the
operational status of the refinery.