Page 17 - AsianOil Week 02 2021

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$3bn to the endeavour. The latest set of contract days, including the heads of Devon Energy, Pio-
awards are for mainly smaller fields, having pre- neer Natural Resources, Occidental Petroleum,
viously focused on larger assets. Cimarex Energy and Ovintiv.
Meanwhile, Tehran is anticipating comple- Occidental’s president and CEO, Vicki Hol-
tion to be reached shortly on the first devel- lub, has said her company’s focus is currently While Saudi
opment phase of the Azar oilfield, allowing on debt reduction – unsurprisingly given the
production from the field to expand to 65,000 company’s high debt load following its acquisi- output will
bpd. The project has been stuck at 97% since tion of Anadarko Petroleum for $38bn in 2019.
October, with a cumulative total of more than Devon, which just completed its acquisition of be reduced
$1.7bn having been spent so far. WPX Energy, is aiming to keep production flat
To the west, neighbouring Iraq is in talks with compared with levels it achieved in the fourth to 8.119mn
Jordan over the renewal of their crude supply quarter of 2020. And Ovintiv’s CEO, Doug Sut- bpd, Iran has
agreement that was signed in February 2019, tles, described flat production as being “the new
providing for the export of 10,000 bpd of oil growth” during a virtual conference hosted by continued
to be trucked from Iraq’s Baiji refinery into the Goldman Sachs last week, calling for the shale
Hashemite kingdom. industry to show discipline. announcing
This was echoed by Cimarex’s CEO, Thomas
If you’d like to read more about the key events Jorden, who said during the Goldman Sachs contract awards
shaping the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then event that his company would be “highly disci- to local firms.
please click here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. plined in setting a budget”.
Pioneer, for its part, is maintaining its initial
North America: Shale drillers proceed with production growth target of just 5%, unchanged
caution despite Saudi Arabia’s production cut.
Oil prices have rallied, reaching levels not seen “I never anticipate growing above 5% under
since February 2020, with West Texas Interme- any conditions,” Sheffield said during the Gold-
diate trading above $52 per barrel as of January man Sachs event. “Even if oil went to $100 a bar-
12. This is partly the result of OPEC and its allies rel and the world was short of supply,” he said,
reaching an agreement last week that will see an the economics would not support adding rigs
overall production cut extended until April, led because service costs would cut into margins.
by Saudi Arabia even as some other members of Given the ongoing wave of shale industry
the group raise their output. consolidation, there are fewer companies left to
But US shale drillers – which have become buck the trend in any meaningful way.
known for their ability to respond quickly to
oil price fluctuations, are treating the rally with If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
caution. Indeed, a handful of shale company the North American oil and gas sector then please click
CEOs have pledged restraint over the past few here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

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