President Barack Obama Has Balls, But Nigerian Presidents Have None

"We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused," Obama said in an 18-minute speech. "And we will do whatever necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy." President Barack Obama said authoritatively.


I have only one simple illustration from a book to show that the brave President Barack Obama of the United States of America has balls, but Nigerian Presidents have none in addressing emergencies.

The failure of the Nigerian government to check the excesses of Chevron, Shell and other oil companies have made them to disregard their rules of engagement, because these oil companies spill more oil into the Niger Delta each year than was spilled as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that devastated the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. President Barack Obama did not waste time to address the emergency and compelled the BP to pay.

"We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused," Obama said in an 18-minute speech. "And we will do whatever necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy." President Barack Obama said authoritatively.

BP set up a $20bn compensation fund after the Deepwater Horizon disaster and has so far paid out 19,000 claims totalling more than $240m and BP's bill for containing and cleaning up the oil spill has reached nearly $10bn (£6.4bn).

President Obama did not need to commission the United Nations Environment Protection (UNEP) and did not pay for any assessment or disaster management report before compelling BP to pay for the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The oil industry has been a key sector of the Nigerian economy for over 50 years, but many Nigerians have paid a high price, as this assessment underlines," said Achim Steiner, U.N. under-secretary general and the executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, which carried out the report.

Yet, our inept and incompetent government failed to prosecute the indicted Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Chevron and other

multinational oil companies to pay for the collateral damages they have been doing in the Niger Delta for decades.

The failures of the government and the impunity of the multinational oil companies provoked the rise of insurgency in the Niger Delta.


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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Chevron, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips and BP

2 May 2011 14:30 Africa/Lagos


The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Chevron, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips and BP

PR Newswire

CHICAGO, May 2, 2011

CHICAGO, May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and BP plc (NYSE: BP).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101027/ZIRLOGO)

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Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

Chevron Profits Soar Past Estimates

U.S.energy giant Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) reported a jump in its first-quarter 2011 profits, benefiting from higher oil prices and stronger refining margins.

Earnings per share (excluding adjustments for foreign-currency effects) came in at $3.17, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.99 and the year-ago adjusted profit of $2.37.

Following ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS.A), Chevron stepped up as the third member of 'Big Oil' to post solid results. The other two constituents of the exclusive group – ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and BP plc NYSE: (BP) – have reported disappointing quarterly profits.

Quarterly revenue rose 25.2% year-over-year (from $48,179.0 million to $60,341.0 million) and was 10.9% above our projection.

Segmental Performance

Upstream: Chevron's total production of crude oil and natural gas decreased marginally (by 0.8%) from the year-earlier level to 2,760 thousand oil-equivalent barrels per day (MBOE/d), as volume gains in Brazil, Nigeria, Thailand and Canada were more than offset by normal field declines, the effect of higher prices on cost-recovery volumes and other contractual provisions, as well as downtime associated with weather and maintenance issues.

U.S. output dipped 5.5% year-over-year though Chevron's international operations (accounting for 75% of the total) experienced a modest 0.8% rise in volumes. Gains on the overseas production front were supported by higher realized liquids prices, resulting in a 26.5% year-over-year rise in upstream earnings to $5,977.0 million.

Despite the slight dip in Chevron's quarterly volumes, we believe its production outlook remains one of the most robust in its peer group, with a number of major deepwater projects scheduled to come online during the next few years. Major start-ups during the last few months include the Tahiti and Perdido in the Gulf of Mexico, Frade offshore Brazil and Tombua-Landana in Angola.

Chevron continues to progress its major capital projects that include deepwater developments in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and multiple liquefied natural gas (LNG) mega-projects in Angola and Australia. Importantly, during the quarter, Chevron got the green light for conducting the first 'completely new exploration' in the GoM. (i.e. tapping a reservoir from which oil or gas has never been produced) since BP's oil rig disaster in April last year.

Downstream: Chevron's downstream segment's earnings soared to $622 million during the quarter, as against just $196 million in the previous-year period. The improvement can be attributed to improved refined products margins and higher earnings from chemical operations (primarily from the 50%-owned Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC), partially negated by lower refined product sales.

Capital Expenditure, Balance Sheet & Share Repurchases

The second-largest U.S. oil company by market value after ExxonMobil spent $5,046.0 million in capital expenditures during the quarter. Approximately 92% of the total outlays pertained to upstream projects. As of March 31, 2011, the company had $13,149.0 million in cash and total debt of $11,575 million, with a debt-to-total capitalization ratio of about 9.5%. As part of the stock repurchase program announced in 2010, Chevron repurchased $750 million worth of shares in the March quarter.

Dividend Hiked

Recently, the San Ramon, California-based company announced an 8.3% increase in its quarterly dividend to 78 cents per share, or $3.12 per share annualized. The dividend is payable on June 10 to shareholders of record on May 19, 2011.

Our Recommendation

Chevron is one of the largest integrated energy companies in the world and has an impressive business model. Its current oil and gas development project pipeline is among the best in the industry, boasting large, multiyear projects. Additionally, Chevron possesses one of the healthiest balance sheets among peers, which helps it to capitalize on investment opportunities with the option to make strategic acquisitions.

However, due to its integrated nature, Chevron is particularly susceptible to the downside risk from continued weakness in the global economy. We are also concerned by the company's high level of capital spending, which may result in reduced returns going forward. As such, we see the stock performing in line with the broader market and maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation, supported by a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold rating).

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BP pays $3.8 billion to 300, 000 victims of Gulf Coast oil spill

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig ablaze. Oil spill picture. Image: U.S. Coast Guard.


BP pays $3.8 billion to 300, 000 victims of Gulf Coast oil spill

The British Petroleum has already paid $3.8 billion to 300, 000 victims of the catastrophic Gulf Coast oil spill according to the Dan Rather Reports.

The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from an explosion of Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010. Deepwater Horizon drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. The explosion killed 11 men working on the platform and injured 17 others. On July 15, the leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead, after it had released about 4.9 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) of crude oil.

Rather will interview Ken Feinberg, Administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility on Tuesday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET to track progress one year after the spill began.

Feinberg was asked by the Obama Administration and British Petroleum to design, implement, and administer a process to pay eligible claimants.

British Petroleum has pledged to put up $20 billion to help the Gulf Coast recover from the spill and the G.C.C.F. has received over 750,000 claims to date from all over the United States. Half of those claims have been denied by the G.C.C.F. and they are currently looking at reviewing another 150,000 pending claims. And the claims continue to pour in at a rate of 500 claims per week; however, claimants will only have until August 13, 2013 that's when the program will go out of existence.

"Dan Rather Reports" also discusses the current state of the Gulf with Feinberg and how he and the G.C.C.F. determined what Feinberg calls a "reasonable" assumption about the Gulf returning to "normal" by the end of 2012.

BP has disagreed with this saying the Gulf will be "perfect in the next three to six months". And this isn't BP's only disagreement with the Administrator.

"BP is not happy," said Feinberg. "First, they say that providing a final payment based on damage through 2012 is way too generous. The final payment should be based on damage through the middle of this year. The other complaint is they think I've been, on some claims, too generous."

Also on tonight's program, Rather and his team look at Afghanistan's largest foreign investment project – a copper mine, now controlled by the Chinese government.

Don't miss "Dan Rather Reports: The Mother Lode" premiering on HDNet, TONIGHT, Tuesday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET with an encore at 11:00 p.m. ET.

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