Marathon Oil Ready To Surge On North Sea Deepwater Prospects

“No other oil/gas pipeline of this dimension has ever been laid this deep before” OSLO — Norway’s energy industry shifted its focus further north as oil and gas companies on Tuesday announced over US$10-billion worth of projects in the Arctic to extract and transport offshore natural gas.

The document also briefs Harper on Sinopec’s proposed $1.5-billion acquisition 49% of the U.K. assets of Calgary- based Talisman Energy Inc. Sinopec doesn’t require Canada’s approval to complete the deal Cnooc Ltd.’s US$15.1-billion takeover of Nexen Inc. would give the Chinese company the largest stake of an oil field in the North Sea that “has increasingly influenced” global oil prices, according to a memo sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by Canada’s top government worker.

Richard Shaw (QVM Group) submits: We believe that the larger integrated oil and gas companies are in a favorable position. They are likely to benefit by either an expanding global economy, or to possess strong anti-inflation protections.

By David White:Statoil (STO) pays a good dividend of 3.60%. This by itself might be enough to entice you to buy this stable large cap ($80.54B) oil and gas E & P company that has grown fantastically in the last year plus. Just in the last few months, its discoveries are impressive.

By ValueMax:Iraq has once again become a major oil producer, a development that could hurt the stocks of major oil companies. The New York Times reported that the war-torn country is now producing 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day. That makes it one of OPEC's top producers; it could also make Iraq a huge threat to the values of major energy stocks.

Zacks.com submits: Houston, Texas-based FMC Technologies (FTI) has entered into a $54 million contract with Norway’s oil major Statoil ASA (STO). Under the deal, FMC will manufacture and deliver two subsea production trees, one manifold and associated subsea, and topside control systems to the latter.

Faroe Petroleum Plc (LON:FPM) , the oil and gas group with a focus on exploration and production opportunities in the Atlantic Margin, the North Sea and Norway, has raised £62.2m in a placing of shares priced at 165p. Cash from the move has been earmarked to fund the appraisal and pre-development of Faroe’s recent discoveries together with increased exposure to exploration upside, by taking larger equity stakes and committing to new wells. The company said the funding would also pay for the acquisition of appraisal and production assets.

Kurt Wulff (McDep Associates) submits: From a median McDep Ratio near 0.7, our buy-recommended U.S.