Source: Houston Chronicle
The Big Oil majors aim to unload about $27 billion in oil and gas assets worldwide in order to cut costs and focus spending on their core projects.
Source: Houston Chronicle
U.S. giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron for instance are concentrating their oil and gas spending on West Texas’ booming Permian Basin, as well as Guyana for Exxon Mobil and Kazakhstan for Chevron, according to a new report from the Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy.
The United Kingdom’s BP aims to sell some assets in the U.S., including in New Mexico’s gassy San Juan Basin, after spending $10.5 billion to buy the Texas shale assets of BHP. Houston’s ConocoPhillips, for instance, already wants to sell its newer position in the Louisiana Austin Chalk for less than $1 billion, although other Houston firms Marathon Oil and EOG Resources are still operating in the region.
“While oil and gas majors increase their focus on core areas and divest mature assets and interests in geopolitically unstable regions, observers will be following closely to see how investors react and what other steps these energy giants will take to keep stakeholders interested amid rising climate concerns and geopolitical volatility,” said Rystad analyst Ranjan Saxena.
Exxon Mobil has the most for sale as it plans to divest $15 billion of assets by 2021. Exxon Mobil recently sold its Norwegian North Sea assets for $4.5 billion, but also for sale include Exxon Mobil’s position in the UK North Sea for up to $2 billion, certain Gulf of Mexico assets, as well as additional assets in Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Nigeria and Azerbaijan.
Chevron aims to sell its stake in offshore Nigerian fields for close to $2 billion.
Apart from its northwestern New Mexico position, BP also is interested in selling assets in the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan, while Royal Dutch Shell aims to sell its positions in Egypt and Indonesia.
The French energy major Total wants to sell acreage in the Netherlands and Nigeria. Total is buying the Africa assets of Houston’s Occidental Petroleum – acquired from Oxy buying Anadarko Petroleum – for $8.8 billion, including a crown jewel liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, so Total is looking to unload some other assets.
“The expected transactions mean some of the majors are poised to exit certain regions, giving regional players and independents a chance to buy into key fields and help keep them profitable through production-life extensions and new developments,” Saxena said.
