CM - People & Companies - June 5, 2020Chaparral Energy announced the resignation of SVP and CFO Scott Pittman and will conduct a search to fill the vacancy. Current controller Stephanie A. Carnes was assigned the CFO role on an interim basis. Senior director of corporate finance Patrick Graham will serve as the primary investor contact. VP of geoscience Mark Ver Hoeve is retiring. ConocoPhillips named William Bullock, Jr. EVP and CFO effective Sept. 1, succeeding the retiring Don Wallette, Jr. Bullock is currently Asia...
Jun 05, 2020
PS - Laredo improves Cline economics to compete with Wolfcamp - June 2020Laredo Petroleum is working to make its wells in the Cline shale competitive with its traditional Wolfcamp program. Naturally, wells in the deeper formation are more expensive, but increases in initial productivity, in addition to decreasing well costs, have made the Cline wells more economic. During Q1, Laredo completed its first two wells targeting the formation in two years. Well costs of $7.4 million were 8% below expectations, and the company believes that declines in service costs...
Jun 03, 2020
PS - Laredo improves Cline economics, now competitive with Wolfcamp - May 27, 2020Laredo Petroleum is working to make its wells in the Cline formation competitive with its traditional Wolfcamp program. Naturally, wells in the deeper formation are more expensive, but increases in initial productivity, in addition to decreasing well costs, have made the Cline wells more economic. During Q1, Laredo completed its first two wells targeting the formation in two years. Well costs of $7.4 million were 8% below expectations, and the company believes that declines in service...
May 27, 2020
A&D - People & Companies - May 22, 2020Amazing Energy Oil & Gas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for three of its subsidiaries on April 6 in a Mississippi federal court. The subs—Amazing Energy, LLC, Amazing Energy Holdings and Amazing Energy MS—are the entities that own and operate the company’s holdings in Texas, New Mexico and Mississippi. The company has not yet filed a reorganization plan. Chaparral Energy announced the resignation of SVP and CFO Scott Pittman to pursue other interests. The company intends...
May 22, 2020
PS - People & Companies - May 13, 2020Amazing Energy Oil & Gas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for three of its subsidiaries on April 6 in a Mississippi federal court. The subs—Amazing Energy, LLC, Amazing Energy Holdings and Amazing Energy MS—are the entities that own and operate the company’s holdings in Texas, New Mexico and Mississippi. The company has not yet filed a reorganization plan. Chaparral Energy announced the resignation of SVP and CFO Scott Pittman to pursue other interests. The company intends...
May 13, 2020
IS - Qatar Petroleum begins drilling for North gas field expansion - May 2020Qatar Petroleum has started the development drilling campaign for its offshore North Field East project. This first expansion phase at North field, Qatar’s primary gas source, will involve 80 new wells, the first of which was spudded March 29 by GulfDrill’s Lovanda jackup rig. GulfDrill is a JV between Qatar’s Gulf Drilling International and Seadrill. The installation of the first four offshore jackets was completed at the end of April. Qatar Petroleum said Phase 1 will increase the country’s...
May 08, 2020
CM - Oxy-Icahn truce brings new directors & cuts; Chazen returns - April 2020Occidental Petroleum Corp. has yielded to the demands of its harshest critic, activist investor Carl Icahn. The Permian Basin’s largest producer announced even more sweeping spending cuts that include the deep slashing of salaries, the immediate appointment of three new directors and the amendment of a shareholder rights plan meant to act as a poison pill. The company also brought back former CEO and director Stephen Chazen as its new chairman, effective March 18. The company said it...
Apr 03, 2020
CM - Bankruptcies: Hello, goodbye, stuck in the middle - April 2020Bakken-focused Whiting Petroleum Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 1 on fears that the borrowing capacity on its $1 billion loan would be reduced. Company attorney Brian Schartz told the court that Whiting thought its borrowing base wouldn’t go “anywhere but down.” The shale E&P company becomes the first sizeable firm in its category to file for protection. It said that certain holders of a combined $2.2 billion principal amount of its senior unsecured notes across four...
Apr 03, 2020
QP - The Week in Crude Oil Markets - March 30, 2020May WTI settled at $21.51/bbl on Friday, down from last Wednesday’s high of $25.24/ bbl. As of this morning’s trading, front-month WTI was testing support at $20/bbl and the front spread has continued deeper into contango at $3.81/bbl. The last time the front spread was this far in contango was in February 2011, when Cushing storage was approaching full capacity. Prompt crude oil prices in the field are approaching single digits in many locations. Shut-ins are likely to emerge in the coming...
Mar 30, 2020
MI - Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. still marketing its businesses - March 2020Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. management remains committed to selling itself or some of its businesses, it said March 18. The company also said activity at its businesses during the first 10 weeks from 2020 was largely unchanged from 2019. MIC said it could offer no assurances as to the form and timing of any transaction and its current top priority is the health and safety of its employees amid the coronavirus pandemic. It announced its decision to actively pursue strategic...
Mar 26, 2020
CM - Oxy cuts dividend, slices capex as new market conditions unfold - March 2020Occidental Petroleum slashed its dividend by 86% and its 2020 spending plans by 32% in response to the recent crash in oil prices. It plans to cut its quarterly dividend to $0.11/share beginning with July, down from the current $0.79/share payout ($3.16 annual), and it adjusted capex guidance to the $3.5-3.7 billion range from its earlier $5.2-5.4 billion. With a $41 billion-plus debt load on her shoulders, CEO Vicki Hollub said the company’s actions would “strengthen its balance sheet...
Mar 13, 2020
A&D - Laredo Petroleum bolts on in Howard County for $22.5MM - February 2020Laredo Petroleum bolted on 1,100 net acres to its Tier 1 Howard County, Texas, position in the Midland Basin for $22.5 million in early February. The deal boosts the company’s working interest on its operated acreage from 83% to 96%, bringing its Howard County leasehold to 8,380 net acres (99% operated). The latest bolt-on follows four such deals in 2019 in which the company added acreage in Howard and Glasscock counties. The latest transaction increases Laredo’s operated inventory in...
Feb 27, 2020
A&D - A look ahead to 2020 M&A strategies of public E&P firms - February 2020The major public E&P companies have historically been the primary drivers of US upstream M&A activity, but a variety of factors has led to their partial eclipse by private equity-funded entities and investment firms. The shale revolution launched a massive land grab as E&Ps competed for positions in the premier resource plays. Then the crude price plunge in late 2014 brought the debt-laden industry to the brink of insolvency. Belying the naysayers, E&P companies responded with a transformation...
Feb 06, 2020
CM - Debt & Credit Briefs - May 15, 2020Battalion Oil Corp. and lender BMO amended the company’s revolving credit facility to reduce the borrowing base to $200 million on April 30. The borrowing base will be further reduced by $5 million each month from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1, the company reported. CEO Richard Little said Battalion has substantial liquidity from its hedge portfolio and was “well positioned to preserve our strength for the future.” Chaparral Energy’s reserve-based lending facility was decreased to $175 million from...
May 15, 2020
IS - Latin America Briefs - March 3, 2020AIM-listed Bahamas Petroleum Co. agreed to issue £8 million ($10.3 million) of zero-coupon, second-ranking, unsecured convertible loan notes with a three-year maturity on Feb. 20 to buyers including a Bahamian registered institutional family office. The notes, issued at 90% of face value, are convertible into common shares at a 25% premium to the price of the company’s shares on the draw-down date, or the lowest closing bid price of the company’s shares for five days prior to the date of...
Mar 03, 2020