Page 17 - FSUOGM Week 01 2021

FSUOGM NRG FSUOGM

“Halliburton halted its primary operations in emphasise drilling by completing a major drill-
Venezuela as a result of US sanctions imposed ing programme in the prolific West Karoun oil
on the country. Because of this, Halliburton cluster.
is reducing its Venezuelan workforce,” she
explained. “Halliburton remains committed to If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
maintaining a presence in Venezuela.” the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click
She was speaking after Reuters reported that here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor.
three little-known companies based in the UAE
– Asia Charm, Issa Shipping and Muhit Mari- NorthAmOil: Shale consolidation continues
time – had begun handling Venezuelan crude in Consolidation of the US shale industry con-
the second half of 2020. The news agency noted tinued over the 2020-21 festive season, with
in late December that the firms in question had Diamondback Energy announcing on Decem-
taken control of about half a dozen tankers pre- ber 21 that it had struck a deal to acquire QEP
viously used to ship Venezuelan oil and fuels and Resources. The all-stock transaction was valued
then renamed them before resuming shipments at around $2.2bn, including QEP’s net debt,
from the South American state. which stood at $1.6bn as of September 30, 2020.
A spokesman for the US State Department Diamondback is a pure play Permian
responded to questions from Reuters by saying Basin-focused company, and the primary attrac-
that Washington was “closely tracking these tion of the deal is considered to be QEP’s assets in
kinds of creative efforts by companies to avoid the region’s Midland sub-basin. QEP’s Williston
sanctions.” Meanwhile, authorities in the UAE Basin in North Dakota will be considered non- There is still
say they have already launched “a thorough and core and will be used to generate cash flow or some uncertainty
comprehensive investigation” into the matter. sold off, depending on market conditions, the
companies said. The merger is anticipated to about whether
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping close in the first or second quarter of 2021.
the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click Separately, Diamondback announced on Erbil will provide
here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor. the same day that it had agreed to acquire all
leasehold interests and related assets of Guidon SOMO with the
MEOG: Iraqi budget, Iranian exploration Operating in exchange for 10.63mn shares of its required volumes
The holiday period was dominated by the news common stock and $375mn in cash. That deal is
that Iraq’s government has passed a budget due to close by the end of February. of crude oil
for 2021, despite issues relating to Kurdish oil Together, the QEP and Guidon deals will
exports remaining unresolved. Meanwhile, Iran bring Diamondback’s total leasehold interests
has once again tasked domestic oil firms with to over 276,000 net surface acres (1,117 square
ramping up production, with a new raft of deals km) in the Midland Basin. Across both the Dela-
handed out to local companies. ware and Midland basins the company will have
While Baghdad has given the green light around 429,000 net acres (1,736 square km).
to this year’s $103bn budget, there is still some The Diamondback deals follows several
uncertainty about whether or not Erbil will other shale-focused mergers and acquisitions
provide the State Oil Marketing Organization (M&As) that were unveiled in the second half
(SOMO) with the required 250,000 barrels per of 2020 as operators increasingly saw consoli-
day (bpd) of crude stipulated in that budget. dation as a means to navigate a market experi-
Some sources are suggesting this may not hap- encing unprecedented challenges. Indeed, in
pen, though KRG officials have said they are an update on a separate deal, shareholders of
ready to begin deliveries. Devon Energy and WPX Energy approved the
With Iraqi finances on the edge of collapse, proposed merger between those two companies
the central bank has also devalued the dinar on December 30, with that transaction set to
against the US dollar in a bid to maximise dinar close on January 7.
revenues from dollar-denominated crude. Other pending deals due to close in the
In Iran, the state oil firm NIOC has awarded first quarter of 2021 include Pioneer Natural
$1.2bn worth of deals through subsidiaries for Resources’ acquisition of Parsley Energy and
work at on- and offshore fields with the aim of ConocoPhillips’ takeover of Concho Resources.
ramping up oil production. The award follows
the nearly $1.8bn of contracts awarded to 14 If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
local companies in August for the same pur- the North American oil and gas sector then please click
pose. Meanwhile, the country has continued to here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor .™

Week 01 06•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P17