Molten

Bank of England keeps rates and QE policy steady

layla — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:00:42 +0000

Much as expected the BoE kept rates at records lows and quantitative easing steady at £275BN, due to better than expected growth in Construction and manufacturing industries, both leading indicators of a modest, though positive growth quarter on quarter.

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Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

layla — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:38:28 +0000

Bill Taylor blogs that “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” drawing this as the key lesson from a brief decision implemented by Bank of America earlier in the year to charge their customers a monthly fee for using debit cards . Customers responded negatively, including moving to competitors in the market. Underlying this discussion is a concept that to be sustainably successful businesses need to exhibit leadership where they are “embracing the values proposition – doing the right thing at all times, and figuring out how to build a great business around that unwavering promise.” In our experience those businesses that pursue this concept have happy customers and happy employees leading to stronger performance over a longer period of time. How does your organisation exhibit this concept? What would need to be improved in the culture of your company to embrace your organisations values proposition?

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Pay gap a $740bn threat to US recovery

layla — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:34:32 +0000

Robin Harding discusses a change in corporate behaviour that is contributing to even further increases in the gap between the “rich” and the “working classes” in the US and other industrial economies. Historically, labour share has increased and profits decreased when recession has struck. However, over recent years corporate leaders have chosen to retain profits and drop staff – reversing this trend. What impact does this have on organisations, their longer term growth prospects, their succession planning, their options for innovation in a rapidly changing global environment? any to embrace your organisations values proposition?

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Kazakhstan buys into Karachaganak field

layla — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:12:32 +0000

Kazakhstan bought a 10 % stake in one of the country’s largest oil projects. The $1 billion deal marks the culmination of the Central Asian nation’s drive to secure a share in the Karachaganak project — the country’s only major energy concession in which the government had no stake.
Karachaganak Petroleum Operating BV is led by BG Group and Eni, which will see their 32.5 %stakes diluted.

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TNK-BP signs Yamal pipeline pact

layla — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:56:58 +0000

TNK-BP will invest up to $10 billion in Arctic oilfield development and construction of a pipeline. Russia is desperate to tap new hydrocarbon resources at the Arctic and East Siberia as its traditional deposits in the West Siberia hinterland are largely depleted.
The oil reserves and resources of the company’s fields in Yamal region are estimated at approximately 5 billion barrels.

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Unilever faces strike over pensions

layla — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:53:32 +0000

This week pensions and employers contributions to these are very much in the news, not only due to what is currently happening in the public sector in the UK but also because there may be an equivalent strike at Unilever, a globally significant FMCG.

The issues around pensions and whether employers can afford to input to them in the way that has been done previously, highlights for us much deeper concerns about employee motivations, engagement with their work and the psychological contract between employee and employer. The way that people work, what they expect to put into their work and receive back from their employer is gradually changing in the face of business reactions to global economic conditions over the past 30 years. How is your organisation responding to the issues around pensions, reward packages, employee engagement? What leading practices are you seeing? How do you think the psychological contract between employee and employer needs to change so that performance is enhanced? How can Molten work with you to improve your organisation’s response to these issues.

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Lukoil looks to Vietnam

layla — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:48:03 +0000

LUKOIL said it would partner with Vietnam’s Petrovietnam in exploring oil and gas at home and abroad. The Russian firm signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam’s state oil and gas group.
The Russian group and Petrovietnam would share information on potential exploration blocks and exchange results. Three Russian firms are already operating in Vietnam: Gazprom, Zarubezhneft and LUKOIL, while TNK-BP was in the process of taking over assets newly acquired from its shareholder BP.

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Shell pen poised for Iraq gas deal

layla — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:45:21 +0000

On November, 27th Iraq is expected to sign the final $17 billion deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Mitsubishi to capture flared gas. The Shell deal is one of the largest agreements signed with a foreign energy company by Iraq as the OPEC member works to rebuild its oil industry after years of sanctions and war following the 2003 invasion.

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Shell sights on less developed shale oil

layla — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:12:32 +0000

Marvin Odum, Head of Shell's Americas operations, said that Royal Dutch Shell is "very interested" in onshore U.S. shale oil, but the company is focusing on less developed plays to bypass the pricey competitive rush for more established acreage. He added that majors likely will move into shale oil plays faster than they did during the natural gas shale boom.

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HRT seals $1bn TNK-BP deal

layla — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:10:57 +0000

HRT agreed to sell a 45% stake in 21 Amazon oil blocks to TNK-BP for $1 billion. The deal represents a step forward in TNK-BP’s expansion beyond Russia, where the state has curbed private company access to promising offshore areas.
The agreement may bring renewed attention to oil reserves in Brazil’s Amazon at a time when the spotlight has been on the deep-water offshore region known as the subsalt. The subsalt region is believed to hold more than 50 billion barrels of crude.

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