IS - Troubled markets highlight industry haves and have-nots - May 2020International oil and gas companies are moving forward on a variety of projects, even as the broader industry continues to be squeezed by the impacts of low commodity prices and the coronavirus pandemic. Equinor and its partners took an FID on the Northern Lights project, which will be the world’s first commercial carbon capture and storage development (PG.1). Total is also reportedly close to finalizing a $14.4 billion financing deal for its Mozambique LNG project (PG.1). An independent review...
May 29, 2020
MI - Delek puts up barriers as Icahn buys nearly 15% of stock - March 2020Activist investor Carl Icahn has Delek US Holdings in his sights, prompting the refiner’s board to adopt a limited-duration shareholder-rights agreement to block a hostile takeover. Icahn is looking to arrange a merger between Delek and CVR Energy, of whose common stock he holds 71%. Icahn bought 1.1 million shares of Delek on March 18 and 19, and CVR has a contract for 372,000 shares at a forward price of $9/share. The transactions give him control over 10.5 million shares, or 14.86%...
Mar 26, 2020
A&D - Denbury completes $50MM Gulf Coast farm-out to Navitas - March 2020Denbury Resources completed a deal with Navitas Petroleum on March 5 to farm out 50% of its working interest in the Webster, Thompson, Manvel and East Hastings fields of southeast Texas. The deal consists of $50 million in cash and a carried interest in 10 horizontal wells to be drilled by Navitas, an affiliate of Israel’s Delek Group. The deal was announced Dec. 22. Production associated with the divested working interests averaged 1,170 boe/d in Q4 and net proved reserves were 4.1...
Mar 19, 2020
CM - E&P writedowns sink Chevron net even as output tops 3 MMboe/d - February 2020Chevron CEO Michael K. Wirth celebrated a corporate milestone for 2019—worldwide production exceeded 3 MMboe/d for the first time in the supermajor’s history. At 3.06 MMboe/d, volumes were up 4% YOY, led by a 17% jump in US liquids to 724,000 bbl/d and 18% more US gas production at 1.22 Bcf/d. On the flipside of Chevron's US upstream achievements, however, was a more than $5 billion net loss stemming from $8.2 billion in impairments related to Appalachian shale gas and the Gulf of Mexico’s Big...
Feb 21, 2020
MI - Enterprise trades its third crude pipe for interest in PAA’s W2W - February 2020Enterprise Products Partners will own a 29% undivided joint interest in the 1.5 MMbo/d Wink to Webster pipeline, a Permian crude long-haul being built by a JV that includes Plains All American Pipeline and ExxonMobil. As part of the agreement, the Midland-to-ECHO 3 project, Enterprise’s planned pipeline to its Enterprise Crude Houston (ECHO) terminal, will be folded into the system. The combination cuts takeaway planned for 2020 by 450,000 bo/d as some worry about slowing crude production...
Feb 11, 2020
IS - Ithaca spending $250MM in 2020, working on three fields - February 2020Delek Group subsidiary Ithaca Energy plans to spend $250 million in 2020 as it moves forward on several projects in the UK North Sea. A drilling campaign already underway at the Alba heavy oil field involves three infill wells and two workovers. After the Alba campaign, the company plans to complete the final platform wells of Captain’s Phase 1 enhanced oil recovery program. Ithaca also plans to make a final investment decision on the Captain Phase 2 EOR project in H1. The Greater...
Feb 11, 2020
A&D - Navitas in $50MM southeast Texas farm-in with Denbury - January 2020Denbury Resources struck a $50 million deal with Navitas Petroleum to farm out 50% of its working interest in the Webster, Thompson, Manvel and East Hasting fields of southeast Texas. The deal consists of $50 million in cash and a carried interest in 10 horizontal wells to be drilled by Navitas, an affiliate of Israel’s Delek Group. Tel Aviv-listed Navitas will fund 100% of the drilling of 10 wells within six months of the closing of the deal, expected in early March, and complete all...
Jan 16, 2020
IS - People & Companies - December 30, 2019BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie announced he is departing the company March 31, sooner than previous expectations of a June 30 departure. His successor will be Mike Henry, who has spent 16 years with BHP. For the last three years, he has been president of the company’s Australian mining operations. Australia’s Cue Energy announced the resignation of Rebecca DeLaet from the board of directors for personal reasons. She chaired the audit committee. Delek Group CEO Asaf Bartfield is...
Dec 31, 2019
IS - Ithaca closes $2B buy of central UK North Sea from Chevron - November 2019Delek Group subsidiary Ithaca Energy completed the $2 billion acquisition of Chevron’s central UK North Sea assets on Nov. 11. For the US-based supermajor, the disposal, combined with the recently announced $1.57 billion sale of its stake in the Azeri-ChiragGunashli supergiant oil field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Hungary’s MOL Group and $2 billion in 2018 asset sales, brings it to above the low end of its $5-10 billion divestment target for 2018-2020. For Ithaca, the...
Nov 26, 2019
A&D - Chevron closes $2B sale of UK North Sea to Ithaca Energy - November 2019Chevron completed the $2 billion sale of its central UK North Sea assets to Delek Group subsidiary Ithaca Energy on Nov. 11. For the US-based supermajor, the disposal, combined with the recently announced $1.57 billion sale of its stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli supergiant oil field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Hungary’s MOL Group and $2 billion in 2018 asset sales, brings it within the midpoint of its $5-10 billion divestment target for 2018-2020. For Ithaca, the...
Nov 21, 2019
A&D - Post-Anadarko courtship, Chevron focuses on Permian tie-ups - October 2019Chevron did not long lament what could have been after being beat out in May by Occidental Petroleum in a bid to acquire Anadarko Petroleum. Had Chevron succeeded, Anadarko’s Permian assets would have made it the largest producer in the basin. “Winning in any environment doesn’t mean winning at any cost,” chairman and CEO Michael Wirth said in a May 9 statement explaining why the supermajor didn’t increase its offer for Anadarko. “Cost and capital discipline always matter, and we will not...
Oct 10, 2019
A&D - Shell completes $965MM sale of GOM Caesar Tonga stake - August 2019Shell completed the $965 million sale of a non-operated 22.45% WI in the Caesar
Tonga field in the Gulf of Mexico to Equinor, bringing the Norwegian company’s interest
to 46%. In the July 31 closing announcement, the Anglo-Dutch supermajor said the
transaction represents its focus on strategically positioning its deepwater
business for growth and “is consistent with its strategy to pursue competitive
projects that deliver value in the 2020s and beyond.”
Located 290 km south-southwest of New...
Aug 08, 2019
IS - Africa & N. Sea dominate Q2 international upstream M&A - July 2019The international upstream deal market
saw $17.9 billion in M&A with disclosed
values in Q2, far surpassing the $3.6 billion
seen in Q1, which was the lowest level
since 2Q12, according to the Drillinginfo
M&A Database. Globally, including the
US and Canada, deals tallied $85.6 billion
in Q2, with 66% of the total made up by
Occidental Petroleum’s $57.0 billion
acquisition of Anadarko in late April.
Oxy immediately turned around and
agreed to sell Anadarko’s Africa assets in
an $8.8 billion...
Jul 23, 2019
IS - People & Companies - July 23, 2019London-listed ADM Energy
appointed Osamede Okhomina as CEO.
He was a founding partner and CEO of
Africa-focused Energy Equity Resources,
a partner investor of ADM in the OML 113
license offshore Nigeria. Dawood Nassif has been appointed
chairman of Bahrain Petroleum Co.
by oil minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the Bahrain
News Agency reported July 16. The move
came after the oil minister ordered a
reconfiguration of the board. The US subsidiary of...
Jul 23, 2019
A&D - People & Companies - July 18, 2019Antero Resources Corp. appointed
Benjamin A. Hardesty lead director after
Warburg Pincus partners Peter R. Kagan
and James R. Levy resigned from the
board following the investment bank’s
divestment of the company’s equity.
Antero’s board has been reduced to
seven directors as a result, including five
independent directors. Chevron Corp. named David
Inchausti corporate VP and comptroller
to replace Jeanette Ourada, effective
June 16. Inchausti will report to VP
and CFO Pierre Breber....
Jul 18, 2019