Andrew Williams

Cash Hoard Expands by $187 Billion in Untaxed Offshore Corporate Accounts

U.S. companies led by General Electric Co. and Pfizer Inc. stockpiled an additional $187 billion in untaxed overseas profits over the past year, boosting their offshore holdings by 18.4 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Woodside Says Pluto Cash May Fund Buying Back Shell’s Stake

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil producer, is considering buying back Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s holding, valued at $7.7 billion, using cash from its Pluto liquefied natural gas venture.

Woodside Increases Gas Estimates at Browse as It Assesses Stake Sale

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil producer, increased the estimate for its natural gas resources in the Browse Basin as it considers the sale of a stake in a venture to liquefy the fuel for export.

Beach Energy Takeover Seen With Australia Shale 2% of U.S. Value: Real M&A

Surging prices for shale gas and oil properties in the U.S. are turning owners of deposits as far away as Australia into potential takeover targets.

Barofsky Says Criminal Charges Possible in Alleged AIG Coverup

Neil Barofsky was unpacking boxes in December 2008 when the stench of sewage wafted through the hallways at the 168-year-old Main Treasury Building. The space assigned to him as head of the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or SIGTARP, was shoehorned into the basement, three floors below U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ’s offices.

Feinberg to Step Down as Paymaster to Focus on BP Claims

Kenneth Feinberg , the Obama administration’s special master on executive compensation, will step down from the post by the end of August, a Treasury Department spokesman said.

Shultz Says It’s Time to ‘Clean House Again’ With U.S. Tax Code

George P. Shultz, a former head of the U.S. Treasury and onetime secretary of state, called for the elimination of tax preferences to stimulate the economy and increase government revenue.

Woodside Shares in Sydney Likely to Underperform, RBC Says

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-biggest oil producer, is likely to be an underperformer in Sydney trading because of uncertainty that it will deliver its natural gas projects, RBC Capital Markets said.

Shell, PetroChina’s Arrow Energy Offers $540 Million to Acquire Bow Energy

Arrow Energy Ltd., owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PetroChina Co., offered about A$520 million ($540 million) for Bow Energy Ltd., seeking more resources to underpin a proposed liquefied natural gas project in Australia.

Tax ‘Subsidies’ at GE, Boeing and Verizon Targeted by Group

Eleven U.S. corporations including General Electric Co. , Boeing Co . and Wells Fargo & Co . together reported $62 billion in domestic profits in 2010 while paying a negative 3.6 percent federal tax rate, according to data released today by Citizens for Tax Justice .

"It's always nice to have more gas, but what it does not change is the cost of building this or the economics of what we see today."

- Andrew Williams on Feb 21, 2012

Australia

RBC Capital Markets

Western Australia

New York

Stocks Little Changed Amid Europe Concerns

Oil Is Poised for Weekly Decline After Saudi Denial of Pipeline Explosion

EU Leaders Declare Shift to Growth

Barclays Takes 8.2 Billion Euros of ECB Three-Year Money

Oceans Acidifying Fastest in 300 Million Years