AGC: House Highway Bill Will Reform Federal Transport Program, Accelerate Projects, Boost Economy.

GM to construct $200 million stamping facility in Texas – World Construction Network.

Statoil ASA, Norway’s largest oil and natural gas company, agreed to sell a 40 percent stake in the Brazilian offshore Peregrino field to China’s Sinochem Group for $3.07 billion in cash.

The companies also agreed to jointly seek more opportunities in Brazil and elsewhere, Statoil Chief Executive Officer Helge Lund said today. “Both companies see many opportunities for value creation through increased recovery and exploration for additional resources in the decades to come.”

The Norwegian company said last year it was considering cutting its stake in Peregrino to reduce risk and raise funds to develop other projects. Chinese state-owned companies, including PetroChina Co., last year spent a record $32 billion on energy and mining acquisitions to meet rising resources demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore energy explorer, was also in the bidding process for the stake estimated to cost as much as $3 billion, people with knowledge of the process said on April 15. Sinochem, China’s biggest chemicals trader, last year agreed to buy Emerald Energy Plc to boost revenue from oil and gas operations by tapping wells in Syria and Colombia.

“This transaction will significantly increase Sinochem’s interests in the exploration and production business and consolidate our position as one of the leading global players in the oil and chemicals business,” Han Gensheng, president of Sinochem Corp., said in a statement. The company made its first oil and gas investment in 2003 and operates 12 such projects in the Middle East, Latin American and Asia, according to the statement.

‘Profited Well’

“Statoil has profited well,” said Trond Omdal, an analyst at Arctic Securities with a “buy” rating on the shares. The price works out to about $15.4 a barrel, compared with the $7.2 a barrel Statoil paid when it took full control in 2008, he said.

Statoil’s shares gained 0.9 kroner, or 0.7 percent, to close at 127.3 kroner on the Oslo exchange after earlier falling as much as3.5 percent.

The Stavanger-based company, which has operations in 40 countries, took control of the field in March 2008 after buying the remaining 50 percent from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. The field, 85 kilometers (53 miles) offshore Rio de Janeiro, has an estimated 460 million barrels of recoverable oil, spokeswoman Mari Dotterud said on Oct. 20.

‘Better Than Fair’

“The price looks very strong actually, it’s better than fair,” Oswald Clint, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein who has a “market perform” rating on Statoil shares, said by phone from London. “This was signaled for some time.”

Statoil will keep 60 percent ownership and remain the operator of the field, which is set to start production in early 2011. Brazil will continue to form a “key part” of the company’s international strategy, and Statoil will explore further opportunities in the region, it said.

This stake sale will reduce Statoil’s equity production guiding for 2012 by 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day to 2.06 million to 2.16 million, the company said. Equity output was 1.962 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2009, while booked reserves of oil and gas totaled 5.4 billion barrels.

The transaction is subject to government approvals in Brazil and China.

–With assistance by William Bi in Beijing, Editors: Jonas Bergman, Raj Rajendran

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ABUJA — Nigeria and a Chinese state firm have signed a 23 billion dollar deal to build three refineries and a petrochemical complex in one of Africa’s biggest tie ups with China, officials said Friday.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited (CSCEC) sealed the deal in Abuja on Thursday, an official statement said.

China is already the number one investor in Africa — ranging from oil in Algeria to mines in Zambia — and a senior NNPC official told AFP the new deal might be the biggest that China has made in the continent.

Nigeria is in turn Africa’s leading oil producer, but it has for more than a decade been importing refined petroleum products to meet local demand.

The two corporations will jointly seek financing and credits from the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation and a consortium of Chinese banks for the projects in Nigeria, the NNPC statement said.

“NNPC aims to accelerate the construction of new refineries in Nigeria to stem the flood of imported refined products into the country, currently estimated at 10 billion dollars,” the statement said.

CSCEC wants to “expand its presence on the African continent and establish its footprint firmly in the Nigerian oil and gas landscape,” it added.

The new refineries are expected to add some 750,000 barrels per day capacity in Nigeria and position NNPC in the international trading of refined petroleum products, it said.

Nigeria’s four refineries — with total capacity of 445,000 barrels per day — are using less than 30 percent of their installed capacity, according to official figures. Corruption and poor maintenance have undermined their performance.

“We are very excited about the deal. We thought it is the biggest ever in Africa, although I do not have the details yet,” said the NNPC official who demanded anonymity.

President Goodluck Jonathan arrived Friday in Nigeria’s oil capital of Port Harcourt for an official visit to inaugurate gas and oil projects.

The construction of the new refineries “will reinforce the ongoing oil and gas reforms in Nigeria”, as envisaged in legislation which has been before the Nigerian parliament for almost a year and imminent deregulation of the downstream sector the country’s oil industry, the NNPC statement said.

Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell in February criticised the bill, saying mistakes in it, if passed into law, will take years to correct.

Shell’s vice president for Africa Ann Pickard has warned that the country could lose 50 billion dollars in investment in the next decade if the bill was passed in its current form.

Jonathan has promised to pursue government reforms of the oil sector to make it profitable and end corruption.

His nascent administration recently sacked some key oil industry officials and redeployed others as part of the promised reform.

He has promised to give new impetus to an unconditional amnesty granted last year to thousands of ex-militants in oil-rich Niger Delta in order to bring peace to the region.

The training of more than 20,000 militants who surrendered their arms under the amnest deal begins next month, officials said.

The president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Olufemi Deru, told AFP the establishment of the new refineries in Nigeria “will provide jobs for thousands of Nigerians and give them technical knowledge.”

“It will save the country millions of dollars spent on importation of refined petroleum products as well as give the country a sense of national pride that Nigeria produces and refines its oil locally,” he stated.

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South Korean builders may exceed a $40 billion overseas order target for roads and refineries this year as oil prices recover and governments increase spending from stimulus packages to revive their economies.

Orders for industrial and infrastructure projects abroad in the second half may exceed $30 billion, compared with $13.1 billion in the January to June period, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said today. Contracts may exceed the full-year target as oil-producing nations resume bids for refineries, the ministry said.

Higher oil prices are encouraging companies globally to resume construction projects that were put on hold because of the credit crisis last year. Overseas orders may total more than $16 billion in July and August, the ministry said.

“Companies, especially in the Middle East, have restarted bids for construction projects because it may cost them more if they wait too long as raw material prices are recovering,” said Kim Suk Joon, an analyst at SK Securities Co. in Seoul. “We are definitely going to see more orders in the second half.”

Construction contracts from the Middle East may more than double to $17 billion in the second half from the first, while those Asia will probably more than triple to $13 billion, the ministry said.

“Orders are expected to increase in Asia in the second half as governments are expected to spend money to stimulate the economy,” the ministry said in a statement, without giving year-earlier numbers.

South Korean builders have announced orders won in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria worth about $9.34 billion so far this month.

Source: Bloomberg

Construction spending rose 0.3% in March, boosted by spending on nonresidential buildings and on public works, the Commerce Department reported Monday. Economists were expecting a 1.5% decline. Spending in January and February was revised higher, which, all things equal, should lead to an upward revision to gross domestic product. Earlier reports had investments in non-residential structures falling at a record 44% annual pace in the first quarter. In March, spending on residential projects fell 4.2%. Spending on nonresidential construction projects rose 2.7% in March, while spending on public projects rose 1.1%.

Source: MarketWatch

This recession is not only not as bad as the Great Depression, it isn’t even the worst recession we’ve had since then, financial guru Dave Ramsey said during a live webcast Thursday night.

Ramsey, who mixes financial advice with Tennessee homespun humor, spoke through more than 6,000 locations Thursday night in what was called a “Town Hall for Hope. Several churches in Abilene took part in the event, including Pioneer Drive Baptist, where more than 100 people gathered in the sanctuary for the two-hour event.

Ramsey said the recessions in 1973-74 and in 1982 were worse than this recession, which he said is fueled by fear. In the 1970s, Ramsey said the market fell 50 percent and took 61 months to recover. In addition, inflation was at 11 percent and there was an energy crisis. He said none of those problems are as severe now.

He did warn that inflation could return if Congress doesn’t cut spending.

“They’re (lawmakers) starting to make drunk sailors look cautious,” he said.

Ramsey, speaking live from a church in Edmond, Okla., started the event by speaking for about 30 minutes about the economy. Describing himself as “from the old school,” he said he was against the bailout of large banks.

“I think we ought to let the chips fall where they fall,” he said.

Although he described himself as a capitalist, he took on some of the faults that he sees in modern capitalism.

“I’m a believer in capitalism that has a value system,” he said. “I believe in what Emerson said: ‘Doing well is a matter of doing good.’”

A follower of the Milton Friedman school of economics, Ramsey said businesses should be allowed to fail.

“If you open a restaurant and the food is bad and the service is bad, you’re going to fail,” he said. “And you should. You’re freakin’ lame. Failure will run you toward excellence.”

Ramsey said viewing the economy as a cake where one person’s large slice means a smaller slice for someone else was inaccurate.

“It’s like a flame,” he said. “If I light your candle with my candle, it doesn’t diminish mine or mean yours will be smaller. The economy isn’t finite.”

Ramsey, who has a radio show and is featured on Fox Business Channel, took questions on the economy from Twitter, e-mail, texts, phone calls and from the live audience.

In answer to one question, he said real estate would lead the recovery because of low interest rates.

This is an absolute fabulous time to buy a house,” he said. “Interest rates are at a 50-year low. What’s going to happen is there’s going to be pent-up demand and it’s going to whoosh and bring along the stock market and jobs with it.”

He also encouraged remaining in the stock market because “it’s artificially low right now. Do you think Wal-Mart and McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are worth half of what they were a year ago? Of course not. It’s being driven by fear. In 100 percent of every 15-year period, the stock market has made money.”

In other responses, he said smaller banks are safer than giant banks and that gold is a poor investment, even in a failed economy.

Ramsey, who has had millions of people take his 13-week Financial Peace University Course, urged his listeners to pay off all their debt and build up a six-month emergency fund before investing. He admitted that not every one agrees with his view of the economy.

“You know, Christian hate-mail ought to be an oxymoron,” he joked. “I don’t mind it, I just find it funny when someone quotes a Scripture before they tear my head off.

“Don’t believe everything that comes in front of you or everything you hear, even from me,” he said. “All I want you to do is learn to think for yourself.”

The town hall event was sponsored by Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and the Fox Business Channel.

Source: reporternews

Donald Trump and Deutsche Bank Trust Cos. Americas shelve suits to try to settle differences.

Donald Trump and Deutsche Bank Trust Cos. Americas announced Tuesday that they have temporarily suspended lawsuits filed against each other four months ago over Trump International Hotel and Tower’s finances and will try to settle their differences out of court, a move designed to allay concerns of potential buyers who are jittery about the Tower’s future in a morose real estate market.

“It certainly didn’t help,” Trump said of the lawsuits. “Now this totally resolves questions in anybody’s mind.”

While the project has seen a recent uptick in sales, both sides agreed that sidelining the lawsuits that generated headlines nationally would assist in marketing the 92-story tower at 401 N. Wabash Ave. The skyscraper is likely to be the last new high-rise in Chicago for some time, and Trump has lamented for months that restrictions put on him by a consortium of lenders led by Deutsche have thwarted his efforts to sell units in the trophy building.

Trump and Deutsche filed suits against each other in November. Trump first sued Deutsche and other lenders in New York State Supreme Court in Queens, seeking to excuse a repayment of more than $330 million due Nov. 7 and extend the $640 million construction loan for an unspecified amount of time. In that suit, Trump claimed that the global economic crisis was a “once-in-a-lifetime credit tsunami” affecting his ability to sell units at the Tower and repay the loan. He also sought $3 billion in damages. >more

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Wharton financial professor and author of The Stocks  for the Long Run, Professor Jeremy Siegel predicts the global economy will turn around by the second half of 2009. The most significant cause of the downturn, according to Siegel is that financial firms bought, held and insured large quantities of risky, mortgage-related assets on borrowed money.

Due to deliver a keynote address at the first-ever Wharton Global Alumni Forum to be held in the Middle East from March 11-12, 2009 in Dubai, Professor Siegel is an expert on macroeconomics, financial markets, long-run asset returns and demographics.

“During dot-com IPOs of the early 1990s, the firms that underwrote the stock offerings did not hold on to those stocks,” says Siegel as quoted on Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton School’s journal of business analysis. “They flipped them. But in the case of mortgage-backed securities, the financial firms decided these were good assets to hold. That was their fatal flaw.” >more

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 Boston Properties Inc., the biggest U.S. office landlord, plans to suspend construction on a $980 million midtown Manhattan skyscraper after a law firm abandoned plans to lease space there.

“Recently the law firm informed the company that it could not proceed on those terms, thereby rendering the project economically infeasible in today’s environment,” the Boston- based company said today in a statement. The 1 million square- foot tower at 250 West 55th St. and Eighth Avenue was scheduled for completion in 2011.

Office building owners are being battered by the U.S. recession, with the 14-member Bloomberg Office REIT Index losing 51 percent in the past year. Manhattan office vacancies rose to 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest since 2004, broker CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said last month. Lending has also dried up as financial companies have taken more than $1 trillion of writedowns and credit-market losses.

“It has more to do with the state of financial markets than the merits of individual projects,” said Dan Fasulo, market analysis director at Real Capital Analytics Inc. in New York. “Lenders don’t want additional exposure to commercial real estate at this point. There’s nothing we can do about it but wait this out.”

Valuable Tower

A completed building on that site would have fetched $1,500 a square foot during the peak of the real estate market in 2007, Fasulo said. That would value the tower at $1.5 billion and made it one of the most expensive in the city, he said.

Boston Properties acquired some of the development rights for the West 55th Street site in May 2008 for about $34.2 million, according to company filings. It said it had invested $401.7 million in the project as of Sept. 30, 2008. It estimated its total investment would be $980 million, according to regulatory filings.

Boston Properties said today it expects to suspend its capital commitments by about $450 million through 2011 and is evaluating how the tower decision will affect earnings.

Last week the company said it had been negotiating with a top law firm and reached agreement. It didn’t name the firm.  >more