Corporate news is dominated by Q2 results from the oil producers, showing the full impact of the global recession. There are, however, small signs of recovery and news of acquisitions around the world.
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The Q2/First Half results from all of the first and second tier producers showed significant reduction in profitability year-on-year. Despite the news of their leadership of the finished lubricants market, Shell, along with BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total all showed dramatic profit reductions. In Exxon's case, the figures were the lowest since 2003, hindered by the continued legacy of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
In all cases the blame was placed squarely on the drop in oil prices, volume and demand as a result of the global recession. Organisations such as Fuchs, Statoil, Lubrizol and countrywide operators such as Pakistan State Oil (in their full year announcement) were equally badly hit, although most of the producers announced better performance between Q1 and Q2 this year.
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Much of this was down to successful cost savings across the organisations, a situation which is set to continue for some time to come. One of the few companies to buck the trend appears to be lubricants producer Valvoline with a 34% year on year increase in gross profit.
In expansion news, the Manila-based Petron corporation has announced export moves for additives and fuels into Australia, Cambodia, South Korea, Indonesia and China, while Kenya's Kenoil Kobil has announced its acquisition of Oil Burundi SA, effectively taking the organisation's coverage across the whole of East Africa. Meanwhile in South Africa, Blue Chip Lubricants are claiming to have set up the first ever lubricants franchise in the country.
Afton Chemical have announced an investement in a new Asian Pacific plant to increase and secure it's supply. The site will be in Singapore and will be operated by Chemical Specialties Singapore (Pte) Ltd. There are also reports that China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) are planning a $17bn bid for Repsol's Argentine operations although the deal may face competition from an Indian and Russian consortium.