Twelve of the thirteen companies or their subsidiaries are publicly traded: Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), ATP Oil & Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG), BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BHP), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CIE), ENI SpA (NYSE: E), Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES), Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO), Murphy Oil Corp. (NYSE: MUR), Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A), and Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO).

There are 16 drilling projects covered by the agency’s ruling and drilling could resume within a few weeks. Any resumption would require the driller to comply with requirements issued in December that aim to ensure that drillers have a approved plan for containing the oil in the event of a blowout. It’s not clear that all 16 projects meet that requirement or how long it will take for the requirement to be met.

US crude production will lose about 220,000 barrels/day in 2011 as a result of the Gulf disaster, about 13% of offshore production. For the US economy, that means more imports at higher prices. For the economy of the Gulf coast states, the temporary loss of 8,000-12,000 jobs just goes on and on.

Drillers have been holding idle rigs in the Gulf, waiting for permits to go ahead with their projects. But that can’t continue indefinitely at costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. Smaller companies, like ATP Oil & Gas, can afford to wait even less than the majors like Chevron and Shell. Permits that once took just days to get approved, can now take up to five months.

For its part, the BOEMRE says it has approved some permits for modifications to existing wells, but that the agency’s priority remains safe and environmentally responsible development.

While Gulf production is stalled, the missing 220,000 barrels/day add to the volatility of the crude market. If crude rises above $100/barrel this year, the federal government will take some serious heat for the increase. The heat will turn to flames if gasoline prices rise to $4/gallon.

Paul Ausick

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is getting clipped this morning after its revenue for Q2 and outlook for Q3 failed to ignite any buying.  Shares are trading down over 7% at $10.90 on almost 1 million shares.

ATP Oil & Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG) reported a wider loss than expected; shares are down 15% at $11.29 on about 400,000 shares.

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) is getting crushed after it guided lower due to military recruiting.  A GAO report from yesterday also is pressuring the group on a continued basis as for-profit education is under fire in D.C.  Shares are down over 35% and just under $27.50 on over 500,000 shares.

CROCS, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) is surging higher this morning after it beat earnings estimates and guided higher for next quarter.  The ugly-shoe maker is seeing shares up almost 9% at $13.67 on over 130,000 shares.

GenVec, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNVC) is trading higher on news that it has a hearing loss development pact with Novartis.  Shares are trading up 13%, but this is still a penny stock trading at $0.58.

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JON C. OGG

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
ATP Oil & Gas (NYSE: ATPG) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.
CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) Started as Buy at Collins Stewart.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Started as Neutral at Susquehanna.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Hewitt Associates Inc. (NYSE: HEW) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Morgan Staley (NYSE: MS) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (NYSE: UNH) Started as Hold at Citigroup.
VimpelCom (NYSE: VIP) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.
WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

ATP Oil & Gas Corp. (NASDAQ: ATPG) priced its secondary offering of 8.75 million shares of common stock at $8.25 per share after closing at $8.64 yesterday and being north of $9.00 just two days ago.The size of this offering was increased from 7.25 million shares and it held up better than we might have guessed despite today’s drop.  Shares are down by 4.5% at $8.25 and its 52-week range is $2.75 to $44.12.  Before this offering, we show its market cap was around $300 million.

LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) is down 1% at $9.53, but the drop may be on the Barclays downgrade as this is a refinancing of a bilateral loan with the Swedish Export Credit Corporation and partially backed by the Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board.  It intends to use the proceeds of the offering to refinance bonds maturing within the current and next year and for general corporate purposes.  We say the downgrade has more to do with this than anything.

Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) sold 87 million shares of common stock in a secondary offering at $5.75 per share.  This is trading above the price of the offering but is off 2% at $6.00 this morning after closing at $6.14 yesterday.  Its 52-week range is $2.98 to $29.97 and its market cap before this offering is listed as almost $1.6 billion.

Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE: VMC) is actually a standout stock from the group, odd considering the unusual dividend activity.  Its shares are higher after pricing 11.5 million shares of common stock at $41.00 per share. Based on the trading, it is a safe bet that underwriters took the 1.725 million additional shares in the overallotment (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, J.P.Morgan, and Wachovia). This was a deep discount, but the good news for Vulcan is that shares are up 7.5% at $45.90.

Jon C. Ogg
June 12, 2009

About one-third of ATP’s net proved reserves are located in the NorthSea and the other two-thirds in the Gulf of Mexico. The company soldsome of its North Sea properties to a subsidiary of France’s EDF for$430 million in a move to cut the company’s debt. It has also reducedits cap-ex budget by $200 million for 2008 and 2009.

All this might help, and then again it might not. When chartedagainst a big-cap company like Anadarko (NYSE:APC), ATP’s overallweakness shows up dramatically. It’s fall is 30% greater thanAnadarko’s, mostly because it just doesn’t have the size to overcomefalling crude prices. Interestingly enough, ATP could find itself to bea takeover target before too long.

ATP Oil & Gas shares are down 7% at $8.68 today on rather thin trading volume.

Paul Ausick
October 28, 2008

• Anadarko Petroleum (APC) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
• ATP Oil & Gas (ATPG) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
• Barclays PLC (BCS) Raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
• Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
• Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) started as SELL at Merriman Curhan Ford.
• eBay (EBAY) Cut to Neutral at piper Jaffray and cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• FPL Group (FPL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
• STMicroelectronics (STM) Cut to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
October 16, 2008

Jon C. Ogg
November 5, 2007