Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, March 22, 2013

Higher Alberta oil costs drag CNOOC profit 9% lower

State-owned CNOOC, which made China's biggest-ever overseas energy acquisition last year, said Friday that annual profit fell 9.3 percent because of higher costs for exploration and for operating in Canada's oilsands.

CNOOC Ltd.'s $15.1 billion purchase of Canadian energy producer Nexen was part of a broader trend of Chinese resources companies making foreign acquisitions to get better access to key commodities as well as become global competitors.

The Beijing-based company, China's main offshore energy producer, said that while oil and gas sales grew last year because of "stable growth" in production, it suffered from higher expenses to operate and maintain existing wells.

Rising expenses

Foreign operating expenses, in particular, jumped by a quarter because a higher proportion of production came from the Canada's tar sands, where costs to extract oil are significantly higher than conventional crude projects.

CNOOC also said exploration costs rose 73 percent to 9 billion yuan as it continued to survey and drill more test wells in China's offshore oil fields.

The company said profit fell to 63.7 billion yuan ($10.2 billion) in 2012 from 70.3 billion yuan the year before. Revenue climbed 3 percent to 247.6 billion yuan.

"The company will continue its efforts to control costs, enhance profitability and create greater value for our shareholders," chief executive Li Fanrong said in a statement. "Looking ahead into 2013, we will carefully cope with the uncertainties of the world economy and the unstable international geopolitical situation."

Li said the acquisition of Nexen was an "important milestone on the company's road to internationalization. The purchase had raised fears in Canada about a flood of foreign takeovers in the energy sector." Li said the company was aware of the "arduousness" of integrating the mid-tier energy company.

Original Article
Source: CBC
Author: AP

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