Energy

A $4bn contribution from Anadarko is certainly better than nothing at all. That seems to be what the market is saying this morning, as BP's share bounced 5pc on the news that its main partner in the exploded Gulf of Mexico oil well will pay towards clean-up and civil lawsuit costs.

In fact, the news that Anadarko is settling has added exactly £4bn to the company's market value.

The shares may be up, but the fact remains that it's a compromise agreement. The crucial piece of information is that Anadarko, as a minority 25pc partner, would have been able to wriggle out of paying anything if BP's work on… Read More

Why are oil, gas and mining shares suffering so badly in the latest market rout? The oil sector is down 7pc and mining is off 8pc, compared with an overall market only down 2pc.

There are some who say it’s a sign that the commodity boom is ending, as even big companies like BP and Rio Tinto are seeing their share prices fall by a couple of per cent per day. The bears are warning that oil and industrial metals may soon follow equities in a downward spiral, over fears that a shrinking global economy will destroy demand.

Oil and mineral explorers are also on the risky side of the market, so there… Read More

It's a tale of two perspectives this morning, with results from British Gas owner Centrica and oil major Royal Dutch Shell.

One the one hand, we have Simon Henry, finance director of Shell, saying that: "Gas prices are not particularly high at the moment."

Meanwhile, British Gas, which made a £518m profit, says the fact that gas is 30pc higher over the last six months forced it into raising customer bills by 20pc. It claims that if it hadn't hiked up bills, the supply business would have started to make a loss, wiping out most of this year's profit.

No wonder billpayers are confused. A quick look at this graph of UK natural gas prices gives some context.

[caption id="attachment_100011180" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="The price… Read More

Hands up – who knew there was an “energy ombudsman”? This low-profile watchdog is the one who comes barking to the rescue if you think your bill is wrong and the company hasn’t dealt with it internally within eight weeks. It can also resolve issues about switching supplier, feed-in tariffs and mis-selling.

According to new statistics, it appears to be quietly doing its job – for those who are aware of its existence. In figures slipped out this week, it emerges that nine out of ten complaints to the watchdog end in some kind of redress (apology, extra service, money) from the energy companies.

In seven out of ten cases, the electricity and… Read More

I’m hardly surprised that Ofgem has launched an investigation into Scottish Power over concerns about potentially misleading marketing. It is now the third current investigation into the utility company"s business practices. This time, the energy regulator's worry is about the Direct October 2012 offer, which Scottish Power maintains is the cheapest online tariff available and could lead to £459 of savings.

This claim seems to be at the root of an oddity I stumbled across this morning. Some of Scottish Power’s internet pages are advertising the company as “Cheapest Gas Electricity Supplier” at the top of the page and half way down.

This is despite the fact that Scottish Power raised average gas rates by 19pc and electricity rates by 10pc… Read More

The Sizewell nuclear plant in Suffolk

There’s no doubt Mike Weightman is weighty. It’s the first word that sprung to mind as Britain’s solemn chief inspector of nuclear talked about the future of atomic power in the UK, following Japan’s catastrophic accident at Fukushima.

He’s spent decades as a nuclear engineer and has just been chosen to lead an international delegation of “fact-finders” to dig for more information at the site of Japan’s meltdown.

Today he concluded that nuclear power in Britain is largely safe. Or “has no need to be curtailed”, as he put it. Mr Weightman believes some improvements could be made and… Read More

The race for more oil from the Arctic has caused the battle between BP, Rosneft and four oligarchs

“Dead, dead, dead”. That’s how one Russian source bluntly described the long-running BP-Rosneft saga last night.

Others claim there is life in the old deal yet, as BP still believes it just needs a bit more time to remove the key obstacle – its existing Russian oligarch partners – by paying them off. Then it could begin to warm up its relations with Rosneft again. Or will Rosneft move swiftly on to another partner such a… Read More

The North Sea oil platform Thistle Alpha (Photo: EPA)

I wouldn't myself have introduced Osborne's North Sea surcharge to fund the fair fuel stabiliser. But the claims by oil and gas companies that it is going to shut down the North Sea are just silly.

First, let's remember that Petroleum Revenue Taxation (PRT), including the "supplementary charge" on corporation tax that Osborne raised, isn't like taxes on widgets or socks or ice cream. It isn't, as with most taxes, a matter of the government confiscating a portion of someone's property to use for government purposes (worthy or not). No -… Read More

The previously anti-nuclear Lib Dem, who famously became pro-nuclear on appointment to Energy Secretary, is yet to pronounce definitively on what the Japan atomic disaster may mean for UK plans for 10 new stations.

Protests in the Middle East have led to an oil price spike

The greatest threat to the global economy is not the oil shock itself but the risk that central banks will commit a blunder, compounding the damage by tightening monetary policy at exactly the wrong moment.

For the European Central Bank and the Bank of England this would mean raising rates into the teeth of the storm, as the ECB did with predictably disastrous consequences in July 2008.

For the Fed thi… Read More