FTSE report: Anglo up, Shell and BP down |
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| Economy | |
| Written by Roberta Murray and Sharecast | |
| Monday, 22 June 2009 | |
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The FTSE is posting losses in early dealings Monday morning with energy shares tracking lower crude oil prices.
The FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) is down 1.01% at 4,301 by 9:14am. Energy stocks are down this morning as they track crude oil prices which finished last week lower. Oil for July delivery fell $1.82 to $69.55 a barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday after a choppy session with the contract rising to a high of $72.30 earlier in the day. Shell (LON:RDSA) could also be hit by news that Nigerian militants attacked three Shell pipelines in just 24 hours over the weekend. Shell would not say whether operations had shut down in the Niger Delta region as the company begins an investigation into the scale of the damage. BP (LON:BP) has said that it will, along with its partners in Colombia, produce an average of between 75,000 and 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day in 2009. The company's top official in the country also said on Friday that the company will also produce an average of about 230 million cubic feet of gas a day in the fields of Cusiana and Cupiagua this year, said Guillermo Quintero, the president of the local unit of BP in Colombia. The big news this morning is the talk surrounding an Anglo American and Xstrata deal. Anglo American (LON:AAL), the mining and natural resources giant, was rehearsing its defence last night against a £41bn merger approach from Xstrata, its Anglo-Swiss rival. Anglo American confirmed a merger proposal from Xstrata but was markedly unenthusiastic, emphasising that the situation “is at a very preliminary stage and that there is no certainty that any transaction will be forthcoming,” the Times reports. To stave off an approach the board is expected to tell shareholders that remaining independent would be better for shareholder value. The group has announced plans to shave $2 billion (£1.2 billion) off its annual costs by 2011 through measures such as cutting 19,000 jobs globally and centralising its procurement operations.
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