Profits

Production was up but profits were down during the third quarter at Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc., the company said Monday. The production increase was charted over the year-ago quarter even though the company voluntarily constrained some output due to low commodity prices.

ExxonMobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil major, saw its quarterly profits plummet 68% from a year ago as commodity prices retreated. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell plc sees “some indications” that energy demand and pricing are improving but the “outlook remains very uncertain and we are not expecting a quick recovery,” CEO Peter Voser said last week.

ExxonMobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil major, saw its quarterly profits plummet 68% from a year ago as commodity prices retreated. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell plc sees “some indications” that energy demand and pricing are improving but the “outlook remains very uncertain and we are not expecting a quick recovery,” CEO Peter Voser said Thursday.

BP plc’s 3Q2009 profits were down by more than a third from a year ago, but cost-cutting measures implemented two years ago by the oil major are paying dividends. Costs are projected to fall by $4 billion this year from 2008, which is $1 billion more than the producer forecast in June.

Canadian pipelines have won a months-long battle to overturn a 15-year-old restriction on a key ingredient in their regulated profits and tolls. The National Energy Board (NEB), describing the old rule’s relevance today as doubtful, scrapped its formula for determining rates of return on the equity portion of the gas and oil transporters’ capital structures.

Canadian pipelines have won a months-long battle to overturn a 15-year-old restriction on a key ingredient in their regulated profits and tolls. The National Energy Board (NEB), describing the old rule’s relevance today as doubtful, scrapped its formula for determining rates of return on the equity portion of the gas and oil transporters’ capital structures.

An affiliate of a Houston-based natural gas marketer has accused Southern Natural Gas pipeline of violating its tariff and FERC policy — which requires capacity to be awarded to the shipper who values it the most — during a recent open season on its system.

BP plc’s quarterly profits fell by half from the same period a year ago, but the company still is managing to surpass cost-cutting targets and increase its oil and natural gas output, CEO Tony Hayward said last week. The company, however, doesn’t think a global economic recovery — or energy demand growth — will happen this year.

BP plc’s quarterly profits fell by half from the same period a year ago, but the company is surpassing its cost-cutting targets and increasing output, CEO Tony Hayward told reporters Tuesday. The company, however, doesn’t think a global economic recovery — or energy demand growth — will happen this year.