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award 10-year operational management service please click here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor .
contracts for work on the plant’s auxiliary units.
Further north, Mexican officials say that state- North America: M&A activity accelerates
owned Pemex has wrapped up work on the first After a lacklustre start to the year, M&As are
phase of the Dos Bocas oil refinery, which is now picking up in North America. This started
under construction in Tabasco State. The project with Chevron’s move to acquire Noble Energy,
was 24% complete as of October 18, according to announced this summer and recently com-
Oil & Gas Journal. pleted, and several large deals have followed suit.
Now all eyes have turned to the shale patch,
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping where ConocoPhillips has confirmed its acquisi-
the Latin American oil and gas sector then please click tion of Concho Resources. Meanwhile, separate
here for NewsBase’s LatAmOil Monitor . reports have emerged of talks over a potential
tie-up between Pioneer Natural Resources and
MEOG: Major opportunity knocks in Saudi Parsley Energy.
Companies have resumed bidding for work News of the ConocoPhillips-Concho deal
under Saudi Aramco’s giant unconventional gas first emerged last week, and were confirmed in
development plan after a hiatus caused by the a press release on October 19. Like a number
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The state of recent mergers, it is an all-stock transaction,
oil firm is planning to spend $110bn to develop illustrating producers’ unwillingness to spend
the onshore Jafurah gas field located in the pro- money under current market conditions. The
lific Eastern Province, and four engineering, transaction is valued at $9.7bn, and represents Unsurprisingly,
procurement and construction (EPC) firms are a 15% premium to the companies’ closing share
understood to have submitted bids for a major prices on October 13, with Concho investors the Permian
package. standing to receive 1.46 shares of ConocoPhillips
In Saudi Arabia, Aramco’s long-term agree- stock for each of their own. seems to be
ments (LTAs) reign supreme, with signatories For ConocoPhillips, which has both conven-
receiving near-exclusive access to tenders for tional and unconventional operations, this deal one of the main
hydrocarbon development work. While work to will bolster its shale holdings, transforming its regions where
expand production from the supergiant Berri, position in the prolific Permian Basin.
Marjan and Zuluf oilfields is understood to have Unsurprisingly, the Permian seems to be one consolidation is
been put on hold, Aramco has ring-fenced Jafu- of the main regions where consolidation is cur-
rah as a project of strategic importance to the rently playing out. The acquisition of Noble also currently playing
Kingdom, which is keen to ramp up gas output. bolstered Chevron’s position in the Permian’s
When the field reaches its production plateau in Delaware sub-basin, while the merger between out.
2036, it is anticipated to yield 2.2bn cubic feet per Devon Energy and WPX Energy, announced in
day of sales gas and 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) late September, is also underpinned by a position
of NGLs and condensates. in the core of the Delaware.
Across the border in the UAE, ADNOC And indeed, if the talks that are reportedly
has remained in the headlines by continuing underway between Pioneer and Parsley lead to
its efforts to exert greater control over the full a deal, this would be entirely Permian-focused.
hydrocarbon value chain. Over the last month, Such a deal would create a major Permian player
the company has set up two new trading arms, with about $10bn in combined revenues and
bought crude carriers and divested further production of more than 550,000 barrels of oil
from its gas pipeline subsidiary. The moves are equivalent per day (boepd). Sources familiar
not only keeping ADNOC’s name in the head- with the matter have been quoted by outlets
lines, but the firm is leading from the front as including the Wall Street Journal and the Finan-
other Gulf NOCs seek to monetise assets to free cial Times as saying an agreement could be
up cash amid uncertainty about oil prices and reached within weeks.
demand.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
If you’d like to read more about the key events the North American oil and gas sector then please click
shaping the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor .™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 21•October•2020