Ecuador gets into the act: Takes over Occidental Petro's operations
Quito: In an accelerating trend against foreign energy companies in South America, Ecuador has now begun taking over Occidental Petroleum's oil operations after canceling the US firm's contract.

The move against Occidental in Ecuador follows the Bolivian government's decision to nationalize that country's vast gas sector, and Venezuela's plans to collect new taxes on foreign oil firms.

Ecuador's state-owned Petroecuador began to take over Occidental operations in the Amazon jungle, where the Los Angeles-based firm currently extracts 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Ecuadorian officials said they would consider teaming up with another South American state-owned firm to operate the oil fields. Energy minister Ivan Rodriguez said firms under consideration include Venezuela's PDVSA, Brazil's Petrobras, Chile's ENAP, Mexico's Pemex and Colombia's Ecopetrol.

The expulsion of Occidental -- the largest foreign investor in Ecuador -- followed a protracted legal dispute over the company's decision in 2004 to sell a 40 pct share in its operations to EnCana Corp of Canada, without first consulting the Ecuadoran authorities.

EnCana last year sold its Ecuador oil assets to a Chinese consortium named Andes Petroleum.

The company said it was 'evaluating its legal options to defend its interests.' The company's Ecuador operations represent 7 pct of its worldwide production and 4 pct of its proven reserves, the statement said.
Back to News Review index page  

Tame US wholesale prices and housing data ease inflation worries
Washington, USA: According to two economic reports, released Tuesday, wholesale prices in the US have remained under check while the housing market continues to be cool. The reports would ease inflation worries that rattled Wall Street late last week.

The Labor Department said that the Producer Price Index rose 0.9 percent in April but that the core index, which excludes food and energy, edged up 0.1 percent, the same rate as in March and less than the 0.2 percent expected by economists.

The commerce department said yesterday that the number of new homes started last month fell 7.4 percent, to an annual pace of 1.85 million. It was the third consecutive monthly drop in housing starts.

According to analysts, read together, the reports showed that growth is easing and that higher gasoline prices may not have had an impact on the cost of other goods and services.

Market investors are now expecting that the data would influence the Federal Reserve to leave its benchmark short-term interest rate, now at 5 percent, unchanged at its next policy-making meeting on June 28-29. The Fed had said last week that it would leave its options open.

Separately, a Fed report showed that production was brisk at the nation's mines, factories and power plants in April, signaling that manufacturing may take up some of the economic slack created by a weaker housing market.

Today, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its April estimate of an even more important barometer of inflation, the Consumer Price Index.
Back to News Review index page  

Yahoo Inc. overhauls its home page
San Francisco, USA: Yahoo Inc.'s web site unveiled a new look on Tuesday, making it the first facelift since September 2004.

The redesigned page includes more interactive features that does away with the need to click through to other pages in order to review the weather, check e-mail, listen to music or monitor local traffic conditions.

Another addition, called "Yahoo Pulse," offers recommendations and insights about cultural trends culled from the Web site's 402 million users worldwide.

The upgrade comes as the Internet giant battles for traffic with longtime rivals MSN, AOL and Google Inc. It also intends to take on the threat posed by the rise of social networking sites such as MySpace.com.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo had first debuted in 1994 as a bare-bones directory developed by Stanford University students Jerry Yang and David Filo.
Back to News Review index page  

Airbus to address customer criticism of A350 aircraft
Berlin: Airbus is now in talks with its customers over complaints that its A350 jet, due for launch in 2010, is no better than a derivative of the existing A330. This was confirmed by Noel Forgeard, co-CEO of principal shareholder EADS, in Berlin.

Airbus is responding to growing criticism from customers that is proving to be deeply embarrassing, even as it keeps losing out on orders to Boeing's 787 'Dreamliner.' The A350 is competing with the 787 in this segment.

This year Airbus is due to deliver the first of its A380 planes, the huge double-deck plane that will be the world's biggest airliner. The A350 comes later in its product pipeline and is intended for medium-traffic routes.

EADS, which owns 80 per cent of Airbus, issued a statement saying Airbus would decide on changes to the A350 project by July. "An analysis of the A350 programme is currently under way. Options that reflect customer requests and conform to longer-term Airbus objectives will be considered," the company said.

Airbus has reportedly won only 100 orders for the two-engine, twin-aisle A350 suffering from technical comparisons with Boeing's 'Dreamliner' 787, of which 350 have already been ordered.

The Boeing 787 is due out in 2008 and the US company boasts that up to 50 per cent of it will be made of new composite materials and only 20 per cent of traditional aluminium.
Back to News Review index page  

Hewlett quarterly earnings up 51 per cent
San Francisco: Hewlett-Packard said Tuesday that its quarterly profit was up 51 per cent, on the back of strong sales of laptop computers and printer supplies along with cost-cutting. The company also said its market share in personal computers increased 1.4 percentage points.

The quarter reflects the company's strategy to balance revenue growth with increased profits. In almost all its divisions, including those with flat or declining revenues, the company improved its profit margins.

Hewlett's net profit for the second quarter rose to $1.46bn, or 51 cents a share, compared with $966mn, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter rose 5 per cent, to $22.6bn. The company said revenue would have risen 8 per cent if not for the weak dollar, which cut into the effect of overseas sales.

The Palo Alto, Calif., based company, continued to show strength in its PC business, where operating profit increased 69 per cent as revenue grew 10 per cent. Laptop sales increased 27 per cent. Hewlett said it was making more money on each PC sale. Profit margins in the PC unit increased to 3.6 percent, from 2.3 percent a year earlier.
Back to News Review index page