Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Energy giant hit by massive change in fortunes as Covid-19 crisis forces writedown in asset values
Royal Dutch Shell has reported a deep financial loss after a record writedown on the value of its oil and gas assets due to the collapse in global market prices triggered by coronavirus.
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant revealed a net loss of $18.3bn (£14.1bn) for the second quarter 2020, down sharply from a net profit of $3bn over the same period last year and $2.7bn in the first three months of 2020.
Julie Palmer, partner at business advisory and restructuring firm Begbies Traynor, says:
The success of Greggs has been the envy of the high street in recent years, however, even the bakery chain hasn’t been immune to the impact of Covid-19 which has forced its stores to close and eaten away at its top line.
For Greggs, achieving rent reductions from landlords will be first on the tick list, and indeed this has been a priority for many on the high street. But once these costs have been reduced its push to return to success will begin. And given its track record of marketing & PR success with its famous vegan sausage roll, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another high profile campaign on the horizon that captures the sentiment of a nation experiencing seismic change.
Let’s have a look at today’s corporate news. Greggs, Britain’s biggest bakery chain (known for its vegan sausage roll) has warned that sales won’t get back to pre-pandemic levels for as long as physical distancing continues.
But it’s fared better than other retailers: sales are now running at 72% of the 2019 level. All of its 2,050 stores reopened by July, after being forced to close during the Covid-19 lockdown imposed on 23 March. Greggs made a £65.2m loss before tax in the first half, compared with a £36.7m profit a year ago.
The Oklahoma City-based company helped turn the US into a global energy powerhouse but ran up huge debts in the process
Chesapeake Energy, the shale gas drilling pioneer that helped to turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The Oklahoma City-based company said on Sunday that it had been forced to enter chapter 11 protection because its debts of $9bn were unmanageable.
If discredited president refuses to accept imminent ruling over March vote, investors likely to be scared off
Allegations of mass vote fiddling in the former British colony of Guyana may lead to the country’s discredited government being ostracised unless a court hearing next week can resolve a bitter dispute over election results.
The political stakes in Guyana have risen massively since May 2015 when Exxon Mobil discovered oil reserves potentially worth more than $100bn (£80bn) 200km (124 miles) off the coast – a find big enough to transform a Latin American country of fewer than 1 million people with a GDP of $3bn largely based on sugar, timber, molasses and bauxite. Its current income of $5,250 per head is projected to rise to above $10,000 next year alone.
Nigeria and Iraq also agree to cuts as prices begin to recover with coronavirus lockdowns easing
Opec, Russia and allies have agreed to extend record oil production cuts until the end of July, prolonging a deal that has helped crude prices double in the past two months by withdrawing almost 10% of global supplies from the market.
The group, known as Opec+, also demanded countries such as Nigeria and Iraq, which exceeded production quotas in May and June, compensate with extra cuts in July to September.
Exclusive: oil trading division of global commodities trader thought to be target of probe
Global commodities trader Trafigura is under investigation by US authorities for alleged corruption and market manipulation relating to oil trading, the Guardian has learned.
The Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is leading a far-reaching probe into the activities of the oil and metals trading house, including its operations in South America.
En las próximas semanas, se esclarecerá si el mundo vuelve a los combustibles fósiles tras la pandemia o si da un paso adelante hacia una economía limpia, mientras el FMI (Fondo Monetario Internacional) y Argentina deciden si van a continuar ofreciendo su apoyo a los inmensos yacimientos de petróleo y gas de Vaca Muerta, en Patagonia.
El objetivo del proyecto es explotar el segundo depósito más grande de esquisto del planeta (después de la Cuenca Pérmica, en Texas), pero su futuro es incierto debido al confinamiento forzoso provocado por COVID-19, que ha causado el descenso más drástico en el precio del crudo de los últimos treinta años.
Ships able to carry 2m barrels chartered for $335,000 a day to store oil unwanted during the Covid-19 pandemic
Giant oil tankers are being used to hold record amounts of crude at sea due to a global oversupply that threatens to overwhelm the world’s storage facilities.
A record 160m barrels of oil has been stored in “supergiant” oil tankers outside the world’s largest shipping ports following the deepest fall in oil demand in 25 years because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Court rules accountancy firm breached code of ethics in its dealings with a refiner
A former partner at the accounting firm EY has been awarded $10.8m (£8.6m) in damages after being forced out of his job when he exposed professional misconduct during an audit of a Dubai gold refiner.
The high court in London ruled on Friday that EY had repeatedly breached the code of ethics for professional accountants in its dealings with one of its clients, Kaloti Jewellery International.
Firm to cut carbon intensity by selling more green energy but critics say first step must be to stop new drilling
Royal Dutch Shell plans to become a net zero-carbon company by 2050 or sooner by selling more green energy to help reduce the carbon intensity of its business.
Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, said the company must focus on the long-term “even at this time of immediate challenge” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Saudi Arabia and Russia reach truce after collapse in demand caused by coronavirus
The world’s largest oil producers have agreed a historic deal to cut global oil production by almost 10% to protect the market against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Members of the Opec oil cartel and its allies have agreed to withhold almost 10m barrels a day from next month after the outbreak of Covid-19 wiped out demand for fossil fuels and triggered a collapse in global oil prices.
Mexico holds out against scale of reductions which would amount to 10m barrels per day, or 10% of global supply
Opec countries and allies led by Russia have agreed in principle to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered in the coronavirus crisis.
But there was some confusion after Mexico apparently refused to sign up to its share of cuts under the deal, which would have been 400,000 barrels per day. The Mexican energy minister Rocio Nahle Garcia tweeted that her country had suggested a cut of 100,000 barrels.
Global oil producers have begun shutting down their oil rigs on the largest scale in 35 years as the coronavirus continues to drive market prices to their lowest level since 2002.
Covid-19 crisis is raising borrowing costs for poorer nations just as commodity exports, tourism and remittances sent home fall
Rapid action is needed to head off the risk of a new debt crisis in the world’s poorest countries amid evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic is raising borrowing costs and hitting commodity exports, according to a leading campaign group.
A Jubilee Debt Campaign report said some of the world’s most vulnerable nations were being hit by a double whammy of increasing debt interest bills and the tumbling price of oil and other raw materials.
Dealing in shares on the main US indices was frozen within minutes of the opening bell, as circuit breakers were triggered by a 7% fall on the S&P 500. Once trading resumed 15 minutes later, the Dow Jones Industrial Average completed a fall of more than 2,000 points for the first time ever – a fall of more than 7%.
Royal Dutch Shell and BP lose more than £32bn from their combined market value
Saudi Arabia’s oil price war has wiped billions of pounds from the market value of the industry’s biggest companies after oil markets recorded one of the biggest price slumps in history.
The decision of the world’s largest oil-producing nation to increase its production even as the coronavirus outbreak stalls global oil demand triggered a 30% drop in oil prices on Monday morning.
Move follows Russian refusal to join Opec-led production cut aimed at keeping prices high
The price of crude oil has plunged by more than 20% after Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, said it would step up production from next month, flooding global markets and most likely depressing petrol and diesel prices.
Brent crude futures slid 30% to $31.02 a barrel in chaotic trade on Monday morning, before recovering slightly to $36.06, a drop of 20% on Friday night’s close. It was the worst one-day fall for brent since the start of the first Gulf war in 1991. US crude fell 27% to $30.
Washington DC-based bank grants funds to redraft south American state’s oil laws by lawyers linked to oil giant
The World Bank is to pay for Guyana’s oil laws to be rewritten by a legal firm that has regularly worked for ExxonMobil, just as the US producer prepares to extract as much as 8bn barrels of oil off the country’s coast.
The World Bank has pledged not to fund fossil fuel extraction directly, but it is giving Guyana millions of dollars to develop governance in its burgeoning oil sector, as the south American country prepares for an oil rush led by ExxonMobil and its partners.
Group of about 20 blocked Canadian National Railway Co rail line near Edmonton, capital of the western province of Alberta
Demonstrators opposed to a Canadian gas pipelinehave blockaded another railway line in the west of the country, adding to pressure on Justin Trudeau to solve a two-week protest.
Study indicates human fossil methane emissions have been underestimated by up to 40%
The oil and gas industry has had a far worse impact on the climate than previously believed, according to a study indicating that human emissions of fossil methane have been underestimated by up to 40%.
Although the research will add to pressure on fossil fuel companies, scientists said there was cause for hope because it showed a big extra benefit could come from tighter regulation of the industry and a faster shift towards renewable energy.