Page 12 - EurOil Week 42

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

If you’d like to read more about the key events If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
shaping the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then the North American oil and gas sector then please click
please click here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor . here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor .™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 22•October•2020