Oil Industry Europe

The Turkish government and four former Soviet republics--Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia--signed a declaration in favor of a U.S.-backed route for bringing oil from the Caspian Sea to Europe. The pledge sends a strong message to oil companies, who are said to prefer a cheaper and shorter route.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey agreed on the legal framework for a $2.5-billion oil pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey, President Clinton announced Friday. The agreement "brings the pipeline project a critical step closer to fruition," Clinton said in a statement. "I look forward to the next phase of this effort when companies . . . transform legal frameworks into commercial reality."

Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Texaco Inc. on Thursday announced plans for a marketing and refining joint venture in Europe, signaling further consolidation in the oil industry. The companies signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding, with the aim of establishing the joint venture by the middle of next year, offering estimated annual pretax savings of at least $200 million. Under terms of the memorandum, Royal Dutch/Shell will have an 88% interest in the joint venture, with White Plains, N.Y.

BP Amoco agreed to buy Exxon Mobil Corp.'s 30% stake in their European gasoline station joint venture for about $1.5 billion. The European Union said in September that Mobil Corp. would have to sell the stake to win approval of its purchase by Exxon Corp. Exxon completed its $80-billion takeover of Mobil last week, forming the world's largest publicly traded oil company.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group said Monday that it is talking with several major oil companies, including Texaco Inc., about a European refining and fuel-sales joint venture as a way to cut costs and boost profit. Such a venture between the world's largest publicly traded oil company and Texaco, which ranks seventh, would make it easier for the companies to trim regional capacity to make gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Europe's refineries can top demand for petroleum products by 2.

* Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Texaco Inc. ended talks on forming an alliance of their European oil refining and marketing activities. Shell Europe Oil Products President Paul Skinner said in a statement that the proposed venture would not maximize the stockholders' value for both companies.

BP Amoco agreed to buy Exxon Mobil Corp.'s 30% stake in their European gasoline station joint venture for about $1.5 billion. The European Union said in September that Mobil Corp. would have to sell the stake to win approval of its purchase by Exxon Corp. Exxon completed its $80-billion takeover of Mobil last week, forming the world's largest publicly traded oil company.

British Petroleum Co. will receive European Union antitrust approval for its planned $63.8-billion purchase of Amoco Corp. in mid-December after offering to scale down the purchase, the European Commission said Wednesday. BP shareholders meeting in London, meanwhile, voted overwhelming approval of the acquisition of Amoco, the fifth-largest U.S. oil company, that BP first announced in August.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey agreed on the legal framework for a $2.5-billion oil pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey, President Clinton announced Friday. The agreement "brings the pipeline project a critical step closer to fruition," Clinton said in a statement. "I look forward to the next phase of this effort when companies . . . transform legal frameworks into commercial reality."

In the latest wave of oil merger activity, France's largest oil company, Total Fina, launched a $43-billion hostile takeover bid Monday for rival Elf Aquitaine in a move that, if successful, would create the world's fourth-leading oil company in terms of market share. The bid was a further sign of the new aggressive mood in French business, but it wasn't welcomed by Elf, whose board said the offer had "not been the subject of any study or discussions."

* Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Texaco Inc. ended talks on forming an alliance of their European oil refining and marketing activities. Shell Europe Oil Products President Paul Skinner said in a statement that the proposed venture would not maximize the stockholders' value for both companies.

British Petroleum Co. will receive European Union antitrust approval for its planned $63.8-billion purchase of Amoco Corp. in mid-December after offering to scale down the purchase, the European Commission said Wednesday. BP shareholders meeting in London, meanwhile, voted overwhelming approval of the acquisition of Amoco, the fifth-largest U.S. oil company, that BP first announced in August.

The Turkish government and four former Soviet republics--Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia--signed a declaration in favor of a U.S.-backed route for bringing oil from the Caspian Sea to Europe. The pledge sends a strong message to oil companies, who are said to prefer a cheaper and shorter route.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Texaco Inc. on Thursday announced plans for a marketing and refining joint venture in Europe, signaling further consolidation in the oil industry. The companies signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding, with the aim of establishing the joint venture by the middle of next year, offering estimated annual pretax savings of at least $200 million. Under terms of the memorandum, Royal Dutch/Shell will have an 88% interest in the joint venture, with White Plains, N.Y.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group said Monday that it is talking with several major oil companies, including Texaco Inc., about a European refining and fuel-sales joint venture as a way to cut costs and boost profit. Such a venture between the world's largest publicly traded oil company and Texaco, which ranks seventh, would make it easier for the companies to trim regional capacity to make gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Europe's refineries can top demand for petroleum products by 2.

Talks on proposed Soviet-Western oil ventures were thrown into turmoil by Monday's upheaval in Moscow, while world oil prices jumped on fears that the change in Soviet leadership threatened the flow of crude from the nation that produces more oil than anyone else. San Francisco-based Chevron Corp., which has the largest proposed deal on the table, and other oil companies were reserving opinion on what the ouster of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev will mean for their ventures.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev is in Washington to sign two agreements allowing Western companies to export oil from his country. One agreement, a $6-billion project of BG of Britain, Agip of Italy and Texaco Inc. of New York, allows those companies to develop the Karachaganak field near Kazakhstan's northern border with Russia. The other involves Mobil Corp., Agip, BG, British Petroleum, Shell Oil Co., Norway's Statoil and France's Total, said Mobil spokesman Dave Dickson.