South Africa's parliament passed changes to its main petroleum law on Wednesday, giving the state a stake of 20 percent in new gas and oil exploration and production ventures, a move industry said would discourage investment.The bill also gave the mines minister wide-ranging discretionary powers to place certain minerals in a "value-addition" category, which means a portion of the extracted resource would have to be processed domestically instead of exported in raw form.The speed in passing the bill ahead of general elections in May has alarmed petroleum operators such as Shell, Total and Exxon Mobil, which are looking to explore in South Africa in the wake of big offshore gas discoveries in neighbouring Mozambique.It must still be signed into law by President Jacob Zuma before it becomes effective.
Exxon Mobil Corporation is a manufacturer and marketer of commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics and a range of specialty products. Shares of XOM fell by 0.03% or $-0.03/share to $93.98. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $84.79 and as high as $101.74. On average, 12932500 shares of XOM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 4390186.
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