Stock Roundup: Oil giants fined by UK see share value drop

via Khmer NZ

Monday, 19 July 2010 15:00 Catherine James

OIL and gas giants Chevron Corporation and Total SA, both active in Cambodia, closed down on international markets after being issued fines late last week over a 2005 explosion at a United Kingdom-based oil depot.

Paris-listed Total must pay 6.2 million pounds (US$9.5 million) for its part in the Buncefield disaster, which saw 20 exploding fuel tanks injure 43 people in a massive fire at the facility located north of London.

Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited, a joint venture between Total and New York-listed Chevron that ran the depot, has been ordered by the St Albans Crown Court near London to make a separate payment totalling 2.45 million pounds in Friday’s ruling.

Both firms saw their respective share prices fall late last week, with Chevron closing down 2.11 percent for Friday at $71.50, and Total declining 1.86 percent to €38.04 ($49.18).

Total SA, which operates Total Cambodge, also announced on Friday it had acquired Chevron’s 45.9 percent stake in a Nigerian hydrocarbon block, subject to the approval of authorities.

Chevron was issued a separate $53,000 fine in the United States on Friday for a crude oil spill into Red Butte Creek, Utah, in addition to the cost of the cleanup.

Meanwhile, miner OZ Minerals issued its quarterly resource report on Friday, claiming a positive quarter for its Australian Prominent Hill copper and gold mine and positive exploration results from its Cambodian concessions in the northeast of the Kingdom.

The firm closed in ASX trading on Friday at A$1.130 (US$0.98), capping a strong week for the miner which saw its share price climb 5.11

percent.

Its share price has dropped to a 52-week low of AU$0.95 at the beginning of July.

But its stocks have climbed steadily since the July 2 announcement that new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had agreed to slash the rates of Australia’s controversial 40 percent mining supertax.

After taking power by ousting former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Gillard has announced that a general election will be held in Australia on August 21.