Shell said production fell five percent to 2.96 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. --PHOTO: REUTERSLONDON - BRITISH energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that its second-quarter net profit plunged 67 per cent to US3.82 billion (S$5.51 billion) on tumbling crude oil prices.
On a 'current cost of supplies' basis, adjusting for changes in the value of oil held in stock, Shell said profits dived 70 per cent to US$2.34 billion in the three months to June, compared with the same period last year.
Shell said production fell five percent to 2.96 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, as output was hit once again by ongoing violence in Nigeria.
Revenues tumbled 51.4 per cent to US$63.88 billion in the second quarter.
'Our second quarter results were affected by the weak global economy,' said Chief Executive Peter Voser in comments accompanying the release. 'This weakness is creating a difficult environment both in upstream and downstream' operations.
Oil prices struck record peaks above US$147 per barrel in July 2008 but then nosedived as a savage global economic slowdown slashed demand for energy. - AFP
by The Straits Times16 March 2009
Two Singaporean tycoons have made it to the Forbes global list of billionaires.
The magazine estimates Far East Organisation's Ng Teng Fong and family's worth at US$5.5 billion ($8.4 billion) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) Chairman Wee Cho Yaw and family's worth at US$1.9 billion.
Mr Ng, 80, is tied at 87th spot with US trading titan Stephen Cohen, while Mr Wee is ranked No. 376, alongside 20 others.
Mr Ng, who also owns beverage brand Yeo Hiap Seng, is described by the magazine as 'Singapore's richest man'. The largest part of his fortune is in Tsim Sha Tsui Properties, chaired by eldest son, Robert, in Hong Kong. Son Philip manages family's Singapore business.
Mr Ng, who is married with six children, owns winning racehorses in his Lucky Stable. Known to be frugal, he has apparently lived in the same house for more than three decades, said Forbes.
Mr Wee, the chairman of UOB, started his career at a family-owned commodities business. In 1958, he joined his father's bank - then called United Chinese Bank - and transformed the business from one with a single branch into one hailed as a leading financial institution with more than 500 offices in 18 countries today.
Mr Wee, 80, has five children. His eldest son, Ee Cheong, took over as UOB chief executive in 2007. According to a Forbes magazine report last August, the Wees are the third-richest people in Singapore, with an estimated net worth of US$3.6 billion ($5.4 billion).
In February, Mr Wee and his family donated $30 million to start the Wee Foundation.
Two Indian tycoons are among the list's top 25 richest. Petrochemical titan Mukesh Ambani is at No. 7 and is said to have net worth of US$19.5 while Lakshmi Mittal, who heads the world's largest steel company is at No. 8 with a net worth of US$19.3 billion. Hong Kong's Lee Ka-Shing is at No. 16 with a net worth of US$16.2 billion.
