Page 12 - NorthAmOil Week 06 2021
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NorthAmOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES NorthAmOil
Court stalls ConocoPhillips’
winter work on Willow
ALASKA A court has temporarily delayed the start of win- ConocoPhillips to proceed with ice road con-
ter construction at ConocoPhillips’ Willow pro- struction, as the conservation groups opposing
ject in Alaska. US District Judge Sharon Gleason the project had not shown that such ice roads
said in a decision on February 6 that she would would irreparably hurt the environment.
temporarily prevent ConocoPhillips from open- Willow is located in the National Petroleum
ing a gravel mine or building a gravel road at the Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and contains an esti-
Willow site. This came after conservation groups mated 590mn barrels of oil. ConocoPhillips is
appealed against her February 1 decision allow- aiming to bring the field online in 2024, produc-
ing the work to go ahead. ing up to 160,000 barrels per day (bpd). The final
Gleason’s latest decision said a “brief and investment decision (FID) on the project is only
limited” injunction to prevent the work was expected later this year if the company decides to
warranted. It will be in place until February 20, proceed with the project.
or until the Ninth Circuit Court rules on the The groups opposing Willow’s construction
request, she added. However, Gleason said in her argue that the federal government violated envi-
ruling that the court “remains confident” in the ronmental laws in approving the project. They
original decision to allow the work to proceed, have noted that the administration of new US
though the Ninth Circuit Court may disagree. President Joe Biden is reviewing the oil poli-
ConocoPhillips plans to break ground at the cies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, with the
Willow mine site starting on February 12, subse- Center for Biological Diversity expressing hopes
quently hauling the gravel it mines and starting that either this review or the courts will stop Wil-
gravel road construction on March 12. Gleason low from going ahead.
raised concerns over the impact of this work on ConocoPhillips has said it does not comment
the landscape, but added that she would allow on pending litigation.
ARC Resources, Seven
Generations to merge
CANADA ARC Resources and Seven Generations Energy companies said in a statement.
announced this week that they had agreed to They anticipate that the combination will
an all-stock merger worth CAD8.1bn ($6.4bn) result in synergies that will deliver around
including debt. The combined company will be CAD110mn (87mn) per year in cost savings by
the biggest producer in Western Canada’s Mont- 2022.
ney shale play, as well as the country’s largest Consultancy Wood Mackenzie’s director of
condensate producer, third-biggest natural gas Canadian upstream research, Mark Oberstoet-
producer and sixth-largest energy company ter, was cited by Reuters as saying the merger was
overall. a case of two companies looking for a strategic
Under the terms of the definitive agreement fit, combining Seven Generations’ crude and
announced by the companies, Seven Genera- liquids-heavy output with ARC’s gas-focused
tions shareholders will receive 1.108 ARC com- production.
mon shares for each common share of Seven “This is a company seeking to become larger
Generations held. Not inclusive of debt, this puts and more attractive to another investor class.
the deal’s value at CAD2.7bn ($2.1bn). They nudged themselves into this next sphere,”
The combined company will have production Oberstoetter was quoted as saying.
of over 340,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day The deal comes as Montney production
(boepd). Liquids will account for 138,000 barrels booms. Wood Mackenzie estimates that the
per day (bpd) of this, while natural gas contrib- play currently accounts for 1.5mn boepd,
utes 1.2bn cubic feet (34mn cubic metres) per including 45% of Western Canada’s gas supply.
day. It is also another example of the ongoing trend
“The transaction will create a combined com- of oil and gas companies opting to consolidate
pany with material size and scale that enhances in pursuit of scale and synergies as the mar-
ARC’s and Seven Generations’ existing com- ket continues to be challenging, despite some
modity and geographic diversification,” the improvement recently.
P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 11•February•2021
