PS - People & Companies - June 24, 2020ExxonMobil Upstream Business Development Co. president Steve Greenlee will retire July 1 after more than 38 years with the company. Linda DuCharme, president of ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions Co., will replace him, while also being elected VP of Exxon Mobil Corp. and retaining her current role. Falcon Minerals added Claire Harvey and Daniel Herz to its board as Class III directors. Harvey is the CEO of non-op E&P firm Gryphon Oil & Gas. Herz is president and CEO of Falcon....
Jun 24, 2020
IS - Projects advance, assets hit the market amid volatility - June 2020Although the oil and gas industry is still nowhere near where it was at the beginning of the year, there are signs that companies are starting to take cautious steps forward as pandemic restrictions ease and oil prices begin to recover. Senex Energy announced it completed its $280 million Surat gas project with 30 fewer wells than it originally thought it would need (PG.1). Canada loosened restrictions on exploratory drilling off Newfoundland (PG.1), where Equinor reportedly made a discovery in...
Jun 22, 2020
IS - Exxon reportedly plans to revive UK North Sea sale process - June 2020ExxonMobil plans to relaunch the sale process for its UK North Sea assets after low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic led the supermajor to postpone the effort earlier this year, unnamed sources told Reuters for a June 11 report. The divestment is expected to bring in $1-1.5 billion, less than the more than $2 billion that sources said Exxon was seeking when it launched the marketing process late last year with Jefferies. The supermajor has recently held discussions with several...
Jun 22, 2020
IS - Nigeria offers 57 fields in first marginal round since 2002 - June 2020Nigeria kicked off its marginal field licensing round on June 2 and is offering 57 undeveloped discoveries in onshore, swamp and shallow-water plays. The Department of Petroleum Resources said the process is expected to take no longer than six months from beginning to end. The government is offering 22 fields left dormant by Shell, 12 from Chevron, 11 from ExxonMobil, five from Total, two from Agip and an additional five fields selected by the DPR. A list of pre-qualified bidders will...
Jun 22, 2020
A&D - Conoco clinches $1.46B northern Australia sale to Santos - June 2020ConocoPhillips completed the $1.46 billion sale of its assets in northern Australia and Timor Leste on May 27 to Australia’s Santos Ltd. The companies restructured payments so that $125 million of the originally announced $1.39 billion upfront cash will instead be due upon the recently deferred FID for the Barossa gas condensate development off Australia’s Northern Territory. That brings the total due upon FID to $200 million. Conoco said it has received net cash proceeds of $765 million in Q2,...
Jun 12, 2020
A&D - Asian companies reportedly eye Exxon’s Caspian Sea assets - June 2020ExxonMobil has reportedly relaunched the effort to sell its stake in the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field in the Caspian Sea offshore Azerbaijan, with the sales process led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Asian oil and gas companies, including CNOOC, ONGC and Indonesia’s Pertamina, have expressed interest, banking and industry sources told Reuters for a May 19 report. Exxon first attempted to divest its 6.8% WI in the field in 2018, when Chevron launched the sale of its 9.87%...
Jun 12, 2020
A&D - People & Companies - June 12, 2020ExxonMobil announced that Steve Greenlee, the president of ExxonMobil Upstream Business Development Co., will retire July 1 after over 38 years of service. The board has appointed Linda DuCharme as his replacement and elected her VP of ExxonMobil. She will retain her current position as president of ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions Co. BPX Energy CEO David C. Lawler has been appointed chairman and president of BP America Inc, succeeding Susan Dio. ConocoPhillips EVP and...
Jun 12, 2020
OFS - Blockchain consortium claims success in Bakken water system - June 2020A consortium of 10 leading E&P companies completed its first pilot leveraging blockchain technology. The Offshore Operators Committee Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium said the project produced a platform for automating produced water haulage from field reading to invoice payment. “This is just the tip of the iceberg for the potential of blockchain in our industry,” consortium chairman Rebecca Hofmann said. The pilot, developed in partnership with Data Gumbo and utilizing its GumboNet...
Jun 10, 2020
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 - E&Ps narrow focus as WTI rules some plays uneconomic - June 2020Capex revisions, reductions in operational plans and curtailments continue to remain at the top of the news for E&P companies. WTI spot prices spent the last two weeks of May in a $32-$35 range, marking a notable improvement from April’s last two weeks, which saw negative to sub-$20 prices. Now in the last third of Q2, many industry watchers seem to feel like we’ve weathered the worst 2020 has to serve. Of course, we’ll all get to re-live the horrors of H1 in late July and August when Q2...
Jun 03, 2020
IS - Asian companies reportedly eye Exxon’s Caspian Sea assets - May 2020ExxonMobil has reportedly relaunched the effort to sell its stake in the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field in the Caspian Sea offshore Azerbaijan, with the sales process led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Asian oil and gas companies, including CNOOC, ONGC and Indonesia’s Pertamina, have expressed interest, banking and industry sources told Reuters for a May 19 report.Exxon first attempted to divest its 6.8% WI in the field in 2018, when Chevron launched the sale of its 9.87% WI...
May 29, 2020
IS - Exxon picks up stake in Petronas’ Suriname-Guyana block - May 2020ExxonMobil is farming in to 50% WI in Block 52 off Suriname in a deal with Petronas, which will retain operatorship and the remaining 50%. The Malaysian NOC plans to spud the Slonea-1 exploration well by the end of September and acquire new 3D seismic data to evaluate the block’s upside potential. The well is expected to take two to three months to drill. Located in the prospective Suriname-Guyana Basin, Block 52 covers 4,749 sq km in water depths ranging 50-1,100 meters. It is located...
May 29, 2020
IS - Santos closes $1.5B purchase of Conoco’s northern Australia - May 2020Santos Ltd. completed its $1.46 billion acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ assets in northern Australia and Timor Leste on May 27. The companies restructured payments so $125 million of the originally announced $1.39 billion upfront cash will instead be due upon the recently deferred FID for the Barossa gas condensate development off Australia’s Northern Territory. That brings the total due upon FID to $200 million. Conoco said it has received net cash proceeds of $765 million in Q2, which it will...
May 29, 2020
IS - People & Companies - May 29, 2020BP has appointed Karim Alaa as the SVP for North Africa, effective July 1, following the retirement of Hesham Mekawi. Alaa has more than 15 years of industry experience and has worked for BP since 2006. He was most recently the company’s country manager for Egypt and has held a number of other commercial and managerial roles in the company. Eni has reappointed Claudio Descalzi for his third term as CEO. Descalzi has led the Italian company since 2014 and has been with the company since...
May 29, 2020
IS - FSU & Eastern Europe Briefs - May 29, 2020London-listed Regal Petroleum completed its SV-54 development well on the company’s Svyrydivske gas and condensate field in Ukraine. The well was drilled to a depth of 5,322 meters and targeted the B-22 and B-23 reservoirs in the Visean formation. Regal perforated one 5-meter interval from 5,303 meters to 5,308 meters in the B-23 reservoir. Currently, SV-54 is producing 3 MMcf/d (93% gas, 7% condensate). The well has been tied into existing gas processing facilities for long-term production...
May 29, 2020