William G. Lowrie to Become Lead Independent Director
WPX Energy’s (NYSE: WPX) board of directors has unanimously elected
Richard E. “Rick” Muncrief as it next chairman, effective Jan. 1, 2017.
Muncrief also is WPX’s president and chief executive officer, positions
he has held since May 15, 2014.
Since joining WPX, Muncrief has led a comprehensive transformation of
the company. The turnaround entailed more than $5 billion of A&D
activity and WPX’s entry in the Permian’s Delaware Basin where it has an
estimated 2.4 billion boe of net resource potential and more than 5,500
gross drillable locations across 102,000 net acres.
He succeeds William G. Lowrie, who will become the board’s lead
independent director. Lowrie has been WPX’s chairman since its spinoff
five years ago and played an instrumental role in strengthening the
senior management team.
Ten of WPX’s eleven board members are independent. Muncrief is the sole
inside director. The board believes that its new leadership structure
demonstrates its continuing commitment to maintain independence and
represent the interests of all shareholders.
“Already, Rick has navigated WPX through one of the biggest price
pullbacks in industry history, personally invested heavily in the future
of the company, established accountability up and down the organization,
and emphasized technology and technical excellence in our operations,”
Lowrie said.
“I believe he’s done absolutely everything that our board and investors
expect of him. Today, WPX is on a clear and compelling course, with
challenging yet achievable goals on the immediate horizon. As a board,
we’re extremely confident that WPX is well equipped to execute on its
value-creation endeavors,” Lowrie added.
Muncrief’s career spans more than 36 years covering leadership roles at
Continental Resources, ConocoPhillips, Burlington Resources and their
predecessor companies. In addition to WPX, he serves on the board of the
American Petroleum Institute and the American Exploration & Production
Council. He was also vocal in the fight to lift the crude oil export ban
in 2015, providing testimony before the U.S. Senate.
Under Muncrief’s leadership, WPX’s strategy is to grow oil production
and EBITDAX at a compound annual growth rate of 20-35 percent over the
next four years.
“It’s my distinct pleasure to be a part of something really special
that’s happening at WPX because we embraced the opportunities and
difficulties of implementing sweeping change,” Muncrief said.
“This is WPX 2.0, and we recognize that our strategy is only as good as
our execution. We’re going to keep working tirelessly on behalf of our
shareholders.
“I appreciate our entire board for their support and the guidance they
provide to me and our leadership team,” Muncrief added. “Mr. Lowrie has
been a difference-maker here whose contributions are highly regarded.”
Mr. Lowrie will continue to work closely with Mr. Muncrief as set forth
in a lead director charter the company has adopted. This document is
publicly available on WPX’s website.
Board governance also requires WPX’s independent directors to assess the
board’s performance and leadership structure annually and to conduct
performance evaluations for its chairman and lead director. Mr.
Muncrief’s performance review for his role as chairman will be in
addition to the performance review for his role as CEO.
About WPX Energy, Inc.
WPX is an oil-focused energy company with operations in the Permian,
Williston and San Juan basins. The company posted double-digit oil
volume growth in each of the past four years and is one of the 20
largest U.S. producers based on total assets and market capitalization.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All
statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this
press release that address activities, events or developments that the
company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future
are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to a number
of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the
control of the company. Statements regarding future drilling and
production are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties normally
incident to the exploration for and development and production of oil
and gas. These risks include, but are not limited to, the
volatility of oil, natural gas and NGL prices; uncertainties inherent in
estimating oil, natural gas and NGL reserves; drilling risks;
environmental risks; and political or regulatory changes. Investors
are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future
performance and that actual results or developments may differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date
of this press release, even if subsequently made available by WPX Energy
on its website or otherwise. WPX Energy does not undertake and
expressly disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking
statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Investors are urged to consider carefully the disclosure in our
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available from us
at WPX Energy, Attn: Investor Relations, P.O. Box 21810, Tulsa,
Okla., 74102, or from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Additionally, the SEC requires oil and gas companies, in filings made
with the SEC, to disclose proved reserves, which are those quantities of
oil and gas, which, by analysis of geoscience and engineering data, can
be estimated with reasonable certainty to be economically producible –
from a given date forward, from known reservoirs, under existing
economic conditions, operating methods, and governmental regulations.
The SEC permits the optional disclosure of probable and possible
reserves. From time to time, we elect to use “probable” reserves and
“possible” reserves, excluding their valuation. The SEC defines
“probable” reserves as “those additional reserves that are less certain
to be recovered than proved reserves but which, together with proved
reserves, are as likely as not to be recovered.” The SEC defines
“possible” reserves as “those additional reserves that are less certain
to be recovered than probable reserves.” The Company has applied these
definitions in estimating probable and possible reserves. Statements of
reserves are only estimates and may not correspond to the ultimate
quantities of oil and gas recovered. Any reserve estimates provided in
this presentation that are not specifically designated as being
estimates of proved reserves may include estimated reserves not
necessarily calculated in accordance with, or contemplated by, the SEC’s
reserves reporting guidelines. Investors are urged to consider closely
the disclosure in our SEC filings that may be accessed through the SEC’s
website at www.sec.gov.
The SEC’s rules prohibit us from filing resource estimates. Our
resource estimations include estimates of hydrocarbon quantities for (i)
new areas for which we do not have sufficient information to date to
classify as proved, probable or even possible reserves, (ii) other areas
to take into account the low level of certainty of recovery of the
resources and (iii) uneconomic proved, probable or possible reserves.
Resource estimates do not take into account the certainty of resource
recovery and are therefore not indicative of the expected future
recovery and should not be relied upon. Resource estimates might never
be recovered and are contingent on exploration success, technical
improvements in drilling access, commerciality and other factors.
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