Michael Schumacher says he intends to crown his Formula 1 comeback by challenging for the 2010 title.

Michael Schumacher says he intends to crown his Formula 1 comeback by challenging for the 2010 title.

 

 

The seven-time champion announced his return for 2010 on Wednesday with Mercedes, the renamed Brawn GP team.

Despite three years out of the sport, he insists he can threaten the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button - the 2008 and 2009 world champions.

"I have won the title seven times and the team won both titles last year, so what do you expect," said the German.

Schumacher, 41 on 3 January, added: "Now Mercedes are team owners you cannot expect anything else other than the world title. That is what we aim for but we have to deliver and that is our job.

"Honestly, I can't wait until 1 February, when we will officially run the car."

Schumacher retired in 2006 after competing in 250 grands prix, 180 of them for Ferrari. He won 91 races, 71 for Ferrari, on his way to his multiple world titles.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has welcomed Schumacher's return and believes he can even win the title at the age of 41.

"Forget about winning races - I have him on my bill for winning the championship," Ecclestone told F1's official website.

"It's fantastic for Formula 1 that he turned into a 'comeback kid' but at the same time it's good for Michael.

"Now he has all his strength together and has 100% motivation that will give us many exciting races in 2010."

Schumacher almost returned to F1 last summer.

He was going to act as a stand-in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa but pulled out because of a neck injury sustained in a motorcycle accident last February.

Recent medical checks have been positive, though, and he is confident he is back to full fitness.

Schumacher will reportedly earn £6.2m after reuniting with Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, who masterminded all seven of his titles, the first two with Benetton in 1994-5 and the subsequent five with Ferrari from 2000-4.

Lucas di Grassi, who will make his debut with Virgin Racing next season, believes Schumacher still possesses the will to win after losing to him in a recent karting event in Brazil.

"He's the most competitive guy that I know," Di Grassi said recently. "Everybody I know goes there [to the karting event] to have a good time and enjoy it and have fun. Michael goes there and spends two hours making a seat one millimetre higher."

Report - Schumacher returns to F1

Williams driver Rubens Barrichello, who drove with Schumacher at Ferrari, suggested the German driver's track record was the key to Mercedes' decision to lure him out of retirement.

"Experience is all that matters in F1 now," former Brawn driver Barrichello wrote on his Twitter feed. "The team needed me last year and needs Schumi now. I hope for a great fight, but a clean one as well."

BBC analyst Martin Brundle believes his former team-mate from his Benetton days will have to work hard on his return to the sport.

"Michael says he has charged his batteries on his break, but I think he will need a couple of extra long life ones in his pocket," he said.

"The last two championships he contested, Fernando Alonso won both and hasn't slowed down since then.

"There are drivers like Button, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel on the scene now, and Michael is going to have to pedal very hard to beat those guys.

"I wouldn't bet against him winning some races, or even the championship, but he will have his work cut out."

Classic F1 - Schumacher's first win

Mercedes chief executive Nick Fry believes Schumacher's return has captured the imagination of their team rivals and the sport's fans.

"The thing that has been very interesting is that all of F1 wants Michael back," Fry told BBC Radio 5 live.

"So many team principals have told us in the last few weeks that they really hoped he would come back.

"Its good for the sport and will help us build more and more fans around the world and that's important for all of us."

READ MORE - Michael Schumacher says he intends to crown his Formula 1 comeback by challenging for the 2010 title.

Malaysian firms may gain from Petronas' venture in Iraq

By SHARIDAN M. ALI

 

PETALING JAYA: Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) recent oilfield development contracts in Iraq are expected to benefit local oil and gas (O&G) companies in one to two years' time.

Petronas won four of five bids it entered for the Iraq second petroleum licensing round last week.

It will be an operator in one oilfield and a consortium member of the other three.

Iraq was reported to have the world's largest onshore oil reserves and Petronas' involvement would increase the national oil company's international crude oil reserves to exceed its domestic reserves of 5.5 billion barrels.

TA Securities analyst Kaladher Govindan said the Petronas venture in Iraq could augur well for local O&G companies, particularly those that had wide international exposure such as Scomi Group Bhd and KNM Group Bhd.

"Scomi is likely to be involved in the earlier part of the oilfield development there while KNM will probably be involved in the later stage.

"Scomi has vast O&G experience in various countries such as Europe and the US for many years, especially with its drilling fluids solutions," he told StarBiz.

Scomi Oiltools, a subsidiary of Scomi Group, is one of the leading providers of drilling fluids solutions and drilling waste management services.

KNM manufactures process equipment and processing units for the oil and gas, petrochemicals, minerals processing, desalination, renewable energy, chemicals, steam generation, power and environment industries.

"But it would take a while – about one to two years – for Petronas to actually commence the development of oilfields there," Kaladher added.

Meanwhile, ECMLibra Investment Research said Petronas and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co would jointly invest US$7bil in an oilfield there.

(Reuters yesterday reported that the two parties had signed an initial agreement to develop Iraq's Gharaf oilfield with estimated oil reserves of 900 million barrels.)

"However, ratings agency Moody's viewed the venture a risky one and downgraded the outlook on Petronas A1 senior unsecured ratings to negative from stable.

"The win for Petronas, nonetheless, gives a much-needed boost to oil reserves which have been dwindling," ECMLibra said in its industry's weekly review yesterday.

AmResearch Sdn Bhd analyst Alex Goh said the Petronas venture could be risky in terms of security but Malaysian companies could still benefit from it.

"Local O&G support services companies likely to be involved such as KNM, Dialog Group Bhd and Kencana Petroleum Bhd may do the fabrication here and ship it there," he said.

READ MORE - Malaysian firms may gain from Petronas’ venture in Iraq

Petronas to Sponsor Mercedes F1 Team

Published: December 21, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian state oil and gas company Petronas will be title sponsor of the Mercedes Formula One team next season, Mercedes announced on Monday.

The team, formerly champions Brawn GP, will become Mercedes GP Petronas with the oil company's branding across the car and team liveries in what they said was a long-term agreement.

"The new title partnership also paves the way for future collaborations between the two companies," Mercedes added in a statement.

It said Petronas would be able to "generate sustainable business growth, particularly in their downstream lubricants market, through the strategic partnership and business alliance with Mercedes-Benz."

Mercedes said their 2010 car would be presented in its new livery for the first test of the new season at the Valencia circuit in Spain on February 1.

Petronas, who previously sponsored the BMW-Sauber team, will continue to be the title backer of the Malaysian Grand Prix -- the third round of the season at Sepang on April 4.

"Petronas's home base in Kuala Lumpur is located in the middle of a fast-growing region for the automotive industry which makes this new partnership even more valuable," said Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug.

The deal with Mercedes will be a blow to both Swiss-based Sauber, in urgent need of sponsors after the withdrawal of BMW at the end of the season, as well as the new Malaysian-backed Lotus team.

Lotus F1 boss Tony Fernandes, who also runs AirAsia, had hoped to bring Petronas on board given that his team have government support and his airline is a major purchaser of aviation fuel.

The Lotus car company is also owned by Malaysian state car company Proton.

Mercedes have signed Germany's Nico Rosberg as one driver and are widely expected to have seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher as the other if he makes a comeback at the age of 41.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London and David Chance; Editing by Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

READ MORE - Petronas to Sponsor Mercedes F1 Team

Iraq Oil Field Goes to Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas

Iraq Oil Field Goes to Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas

 

By REUTERS

Published: December 11, 2009

 

Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas of Malaysia won the rights Friday to develop one of the world's largest remaining untapped oil fields, as Iraq held its second auction of oil contracts since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003.

The companies proposed that a fee that Iraq would pay them to develop the Majnoon oil field be set at $1.39 per barrel and they pledged to increase output from the field to 1.8 million barrels per day, more than twice what Iraq had expected.

"The fee is less than the Oil Ministry specified," the Iraqi oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, said at the auction, which took place under heavy security in Baghdad.

The French oil major Total had joined with China National Petroleum Corp. to bid for the field, which it had sought to develop during Saddam Hussein's rule. As some consolation, Total had a stake in a C.N.P.C.-led consortium that won the rights to the smaller Halfaya oil field.

Iraq is offering 10 oil fields over two days in a rare opportunity for oil companies, from Western majors to Chinese and Indian state-owned giants.

Despite the anticipation, no one bid for the 8.1-billion-barrel East Baghdad field, part of which is under the Sadr City slum in the Iraqi capital. Baghdad is still hit by periodic bombings and oil executives considered it unsafe to invest in that field.

Mr. Shahristani said the Iraqi Oil Ministry would develop the East Baghdad field on its own.

The deals have the potential to lift Iraqi oil output to levels that would rival those of the top oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, and could rattle the geopolitical power balance in the Middle East.

Competition had been expected to be fierce as the auction included the last of Iraq's giant fields, with the Majnoon field holding 12.6 billion barrels. They are among the last untapped fields of their size in the world.

Collectively, the fields on offer hold about as much oil as all that held by Libya, which is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Iraqi Army helicopters buzzed overhead while convoys of armored sport utility vehicles carrying oil executives hidden behind tinted windows raced through Baghdad to the auction.

Halfaya, with 4.1 billion barrels of reserves, was won by the consortium of C.N.P.C., Total and Petronas. They proposed a fee of $1.40 per barrel and a plateau production target of 535,000 barrels per day.

Also on the auction block were a cluster known as the Eastern Fields in Diyala Province and Qayara, a reservoir in the northern province of Nineveh, where Sunni insurgents are active and Kurdish-Arab disputes have led to tension.

READ MORE - Iraq Oil Field Goes to Royal Dutch Shell and Petronas

Malaysia sees lower Petronas payout

Petronas: Malaysian government sees falling income from its petroleum cash cow.

Malaysia sees lower Petronas payout

Petronas is expected to reduce its contribution to the government's coffers by 14% to 19% on lower crude prices this year.

Upstream staff  Thursday, 10 December, 2009, 02:27 GMT

"We suspect the shortfall will come solely from the petroleum income tax portion, down 35% to 19 billion ringgit ($5.6 billion), while dividend distribution will remain at 30 billion ringgit,'' Maybank Investment Bank said in a report cited in the Star newspaper.

Petronas contributes 74 billion ringgit to the government revenue in the financial year 2009. Some 67 billion ringgit of the contribution went to the federal government and another 6.2 billion ringgit to several oil producing states.

Total revenue of the federal government is expected to fall to 148 billion ringgit next year from 162 billion ringgit in 2009, according to the Star newspaper.

The Economic Report 2009/2010 published in October shows the petroleum income tax standing at 27 billion ringgit at an average $103.69 per barrel in 2008.

The government expects the crude price to fall to $65 per barrel this year. Malaysian crude benchmark Tapis blend fetched $60.70 per barrel on average during the first nine months of 2009.

READ MORE - Malaysia sees lower Petronas payout