of conoco-phillips. welcome to "nightly business report." >> good evening. >> tom: this effort begins with a billion dollar investment. how much coming from conoco? >> we share equally, $250 million each for the four companies. >> tom: what kind of link of commitment? >> the commitment is to build a containment system that can handle a blowout down to 10,000 feet of water, up to 100,000 barrels a day of capacity. and so what we have in mind are our engineers have been working for the last six weeks from all of the company, and we think to put in place this robust system of containment will cost a billion dollars and will take about 12 to 18 months. it will be a non-profit organization, and then it will continue as a non-profit organization, having these facilities in place, especially purpose-built, located in the gulf of mexico, should another situation occur. >> tom: james, you talk about some of the specifics, and we have a screen showing just those numbers. looking to contain up to depths of 10,000 fe

all affirmed that selling its stake and russia will call here that's right conoco phillips is selling its twenty percent stake in russia's independent oil producer but the real health billion dollars office saying it failed to profit from its investment will have the details later in the program but. the russian government has called the list of candidates and what could be the biggest privatization of the country in fifteen years dropping the rail monopoly a mortgage agency eleven companies have been prepared to sail with the aim of raising at least a thirty billion dollars to help plug the budget deficit the united bed of a report. if you want some of russia's blue chips oil general snifter say the largest bank bank now is the time some call it the biggest privatization since the nine hundred ninety s. but it's not yet clear which buyers the government will target therefore we're talking about. minorities and this is much different from what we have seen in russia taking place in mind this or prove it is asian in. general so usual when we're talking about truth with some salesperson

look court has agreed to buy its own shares back from conoco phillips currently the american company owns twenty percent in russia's oil major you quote will acquire almost half of this for three and a half billion dollars the remainder of conoco stake will be sold on the free market by the end of two thousand and eleven it's all part of a plan to shrink liquids debt by selling ten billion dollars worth of assets conoco phillips has said it's struggled to profit from its investment in duke or because of the advantages given to state owned producers. russia's largest producer of potash calley has ambitious plans to fertilize the world the company's co one of the billion assume a monk has plans to combine with his brother russian rifle he's offering seven and a half billion dollars for a fifty one percent stake in value of county or cali is already in talks with russian rival sylvie to. international passenger air traffic has exceeded to pre-crisis levels the international air transport association says it grew by almost twelve percent in ga passenger volumes and now around two percent

exxon, chevron, conoco phillips and royal dutch shell are contributing $1 billion to the plan. the plan is to build underwater containment systems and pipelines that would be able to capture 100,000 barrels of oil a day. oil companies hope the plan will persuade the government to let them resume offshore drilling. a six-month ban was put in place. >>> a space telescope in south america has found a cad for the "the biggest loser." a star estimated to be hundreds of time as the sun and the sun is ten times larger than average. scientists are surprised and think there's a fundamental upper limit to how massive a star can be and this exceeds it. it's millions of times brighter than our sun, don't plan on checking it out. it's 165,000 light years away. that's far, far away. >> that's very, very far. we'll never see it. >> we'll be bacwi t aming p icazamtuingre picture of a whal taking on a small sailboat. o >>> finally, let's play a round of -- guess what happens next? it's a whale of a story. imagine out on the water and you see this! a 40-ton whale a few feet from your sailboat. w

. >>> in a related story in the gulf of mexico oil spill, exxonmobil, royal dutch shell, conoco phillips, and chevron are spending a billion dollars on a rapid response system to contain deepwater leaks. they announced recently that they will use the money to form a non-profit organization. the marine well containment company will develop a system that could be mobilized within 24 hours in water as deep as 3,000 meters. british energy giant bp has been struggling to deal with the blown-out underwater well. it isn't taking part in this project. the decision to launch this initiative appears to be aimed at demonstrating the intention to quickly respond to oil leaks in the gulf of mexico now that the u.s. government has decided to freeze deepwater drilling there. >>> japan's largest business organization is discussing key political and economic issues at a summer conference. the japan business federation, or nippon keidanren, opened the two-day forum on thursday in kiruzawa. the chairman said the private sector should take the lead in returning the economy to a solid track and spurring grow

exxon mobil, chevron, conoco phillips and shell have donated $1 million to form a company to respondo spills underwater. bp was informed about the venture but has not joined. >>> ford is trying to make the decision to go green a little easier. the automaker plans to sell the hybrid version of the 2011 lincoln mkz for the same price as the gas model. it is the first time any automaker has done that. and it could force others to follow suit. >>> tiger woods has not won a tournament since returning to the golf course. but he is still raking in the big bucks. tiger ranked number one on "sports illustrated's" list of top-earning athletes for the second-straight year. he earned about 90 million bucks in the last year. but, of course, his extramarital affairs cost him $22 million in endorsements. >> tiger woods was a big story on our abc news website. and now, we have a new ipad app, that we want to tell people about. this is it, right here. like i said, it is brand-new. and a cool way to search for news stories. >> the concept here is that it forms this globe. you can scroll through and fl

quarterly results from boeing, conoco phillips, hess, sprint- nextel and visa. we'll see durable goods orders for june, and the fed releases its july beige book survey. also, tomorrow's street critique looks at how moves in the value of the dollar affect profits at multinational companies. our guest is wolfgang koester, ceo of fireapps. >> susie: general electric will pay $23.5 million to settle charges it gave illegal kickbacks to saddam hussein's government. the s.e.c. says, from 2000-to- 2003, g.e. paid the iraqi government in cash, computer equipment, medical supplies and services. in exchange, the conglomerate won valuable supply contracts under the united nations' oil for food program. in settling the charges, g.e. did not admit or deny wrongdoing. >> tom: now that financial regulatory reform is law, the s.e.c. is getting down to business, writing 100 new rules tied to the new law, and you may be able to help. chairman mary schapiro is asking for what she calls good faith input from both business and the public, even though that isn't required by law. the

conoco-phillips stock was unchanged after a big boom to its bottom line, profits tripled. the company also has a deal to sell a chunk of its interest in russian oil company lukoil. and comcast shares rallied as it beat estimates by a penny. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: with the u.s. economic outlook calling for slow growth, many companies are looking overseas to fuel future profits. but making a buck in a foreign land doesn't necessary translate into a dollar back home. tonight's "street critique" guest is wolfgang koester. he's c.e.o. at fireapps, a firm that works with companies to manage their exposures to the ups and downs of the dollar. >> good to see you again, tom. >> tom: what do you think the currency environment is for a company doing business overseas? >> it is volatile, and quite, frankly, in the last five years have been the most volatile and most challenging for these corporations. which is a bit of a shame because of lot of the corporations, as we see through the earnings, have been doing a good job managing their companies through the econom

>> susie: we're going to be getting earnings in the very last week of july from exxon-mobil, conoco-phillips and chevron, are they going to meet or beat expectations? >> i think many of these companies will meet or beat expectations. refining margins have continued to improve. a lot of the estimate out there don't really reflect that. the companies have been doing very well on the cost control side. i would not be surprised if many of the integrated energy companies beat expecttations in the next couple of weeks. >> susie: you have given us four stock picks, conoco, halliburton, and oxidental. what do you like about these stocks? >> i think all of them are very cheap. conoco and shell have good growth opportunities. they pay great dividends, yield between 4% and 6%. halliburton has been beaten up with the gulf of mexico. i think they'll continue to close that gap by schlumberger. and oxidental is the biggest onshore producer of oil in the u.s. very good growth prospects for oxidental, just like all of these companies. >> susie: we have a half minute left. exxon-mobil is not on your list. why

us all from conoco phillips is selling get steak and russia's independent open. lukoil is selling its entire twenty percent stake will acquire almost half of this but three and a half a billion dollars the remainder of conoco stake will be sold on the free market by the end of two thousand and eleven is trying to cut its debt but also says that it struggled to profit from its investment in vehicle because of the advance just given to state owned rivals. russia's largest producer of potash overall county has ambitious plans to fertilise at the world the company's co no the billionaire sulaiman have him off his plans to combine with his belorussian rifle he's offering the seven and a half billion dollars for a fifty one percent stake in battle risk out or cali is already in talks with russian rivals. international passenger traffic has exceeded to pre-crisis levels the international air transport association says it grew by almost twelve percent in june passenger volumes are now around two percent above the previous session peak in the first quarter of two thousand

fewer as the oil for conoco phillips is selling its stake in russia's independent oil producer lukoil is selling a twenty percent stake to three and a halt billion dollars it was reported that lukoil will acquire almost all of this the remainder of columbus day will be sold on the free market by the end of two thousand and eleven the american oil company is trying to cut its debt also says it struggled to profit from this investment in lukoil because of the advantages given to state has rivals. russia's largest producer of pertussis or a collie as a vicious plans to fertilize the world the company's in the gooey mess and gammon karimov has problems to combine with belorussia more of what he's offering serving a half billion dollars for fifty one percent stake in front of. colleagues are already in talks with russian rival so they need to. you know the news international passenger traffic has exceeded pre-crisis levels the international air transport association says it grew for almost twelve percent in june passenger volumes are now around two percent above the pre recession peak in t

oil for conoco phillips is selling its stake in russia's independent oil producer luke will it selling is twenty percent stake in or will acquire almost half of its the three and a half billion dollars remainder of conoco stake will be sold in the free market by the end of two thousand and eleven the american oil companies choying to cut its debts but also says it struggled to profit from its investment in the move all because of the advantages given to state owned rivals. russia's largest producer of potassium akali has bush's plans to fertilize the won't the company's co owner the billionaire sort of career move has plans to combine with his belorussian rival is offering the seven and a half billion dollars for a fifty one percent stake in bellerose cali or cali is already into russian rivals . another news international passenger air traffic has exceeded pre-crisis levels the international air transport association says it grew by almost twelve percent in june passenger falling to now around two percent above the previous session peak in the first quarter of two thousand and eight d

the effort which exxon, shell and chevron and conoco phillips came up with yesterday is the beginning point of that conversation relative to how we address one of those three fundamental issues and director bromwich's set of meetings will help us answer those three fundamental questions so we can determine how to move forward with respect to the pause button in place. >> on another point, the columnist and commentator whoi think almost everybody agrees even if they don't agree with him, they think he's one of the smartest men in this city. he wrote recently, environmental chic has driven us out there. he asked why we were drilling in 5,000 feet of water in the first place. en inchmental chic has driven us out there, they have rendered the pacific and nearly all of the atlantic coast off limits to oil production and of course, in the safest of all places on land, we've had a 30-year ban in the arctic wild life refuge. i've seen articles that say something like 83% or 84% of the continental shelf is off limits to oil production and that -- that also is a concern of mine and then finally

the effort which exxon, shell and chevron and conoco phillips came up with yesterday is the beginning point of that conversation relative to how we address one of those three fundamental issues and director bromwich's set of meetings will help us answer those three fundamental questions so we can determine how to move forward with respect to the pause button in place. >> on another point, the columnist and commentator whoi think almost everybody agrees even if they don't agree with him, they think he's one of the smartest men in this city. he wrote recently, environmental chic has driven us out there. he asked why we were drilling in 5,000 feet of water in the first place. en inchmental chic has driven us out there, they have rendered the pacific and nearly all of the atlantic coast off limits to oil production and of course, in the safest of all places on land, we've had a 30-year ban in the arctic wild life refuge. i've seen articles that say something like 83% or 84% of the continental shelf is off limits to oil production and that -- that also is a concern of mine and then finally

the effort which exxon, shell and chevron and conoco phillips came up with yesterday is the beginning point of that conversation relative to how we address one of those three fundamental issues and director bromwich's set of meetings will help us answer those three fundamental questions so we can determine how to move forward with respect to the pause button in place. >> on another int, the columnist and commentator whoi think almost everybody agrees even if they don't agree with him, they think he's one of the smartest men in this city. he wrote recently, environmental chic has driven us out there. he asked why we were drilling in 5,000 feet of water in the first place. en inchmental chic has driven us out there, they have rendered the pacific and nearly all of the atlantic coast off limits to oil production and of course, in the safest of all places on land, we've had a 30-year ban in the arctic wild life refuge. i've seen articles that say something like 83% or 84% of the ntinental shelf is off limits to oil production and that -- that also is a concern of mine and then finally, be