Anadarko Shareholders Go for Cash in Oxy Buyout
Shareholders of Anadarko Petroleum Corp on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to sell the company for $38 billion to rival Occidental Petroleum Corp, ending a short-lived contest that pitted two of the most storied names in the oil industry against one another.Occidental in May beat out Chevron Corp to grab a major oil industry prize: Anadarko's nearly quarter million acres in the Permian Basin, the top U.S. shale field, where low-cost output has helped turn the United States into the world’s top oil producer at more than 12 million barrels per day.Anadarko's…
Oxy Q2 Earnings Dip
Occidental Petroleum Corp , which is battling activist investor Carl Icahn over its $38 billion purchase of Anadarko Petroleum, reported a 14% drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday, as costs related to the deal and weaker chemical earnings hit its bottom line.Still, the results topped Wall Street estimates for the period and Occidental's operating cash flow rebounded from last quarter to $2.96 billion, up 7% from the same quarter a year ago. Investors closely watch operating cash flow as a sign of a company's ability to cover shareholder payouts and operating expenses.Core income fell to $729 million…
Ecopetrol, Repsol Sign Joint Deal for Offshore Oil Block
Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol has signed a joint contract with Spain's Repsol to operate an offshore block in the Caribbean, Ecopetrol said on Wednesday.The contract for the GUA-OFF-1 block is the second new offshore deal Ecopetrol has inked with the Colombian government this year.Colombia recently modified contractual terms for offshore exploration and launched a permanent bidding process in an effort to boost its long-stagnant oil sector. Companies including Shell, Noble and Parex have since signed on to operate new blocks.GUA-OFF-1 will be split evenly between the two companies…
Colombia, Shell Ink Offshore E&P Contracts
Colombia's government on Monday said it signed two exploration and production contracts with Shell in offshore areas of the Caribbean Sea that will require the company to make initial investments of $100 million.Colombia recently modified contractual terms for offshore exploration and launched a Permanent Area Allocation Process so companies can apply to explore in areas of interest, offering 20 blocks as part of a strategy to boost the oil sector."The signing of these contracts revalidates the confidence of oil investors in exploration of our offshore resources in the Caribbean," National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) President Luis Miguel Morelli said in a statement.The investme
Ecopetrol Wins Offshore Colombia Block
Colombia’s state-run oil company Ecopetrol SA has signed Colombia’s first offshore exploration and production contract under a newly revised contract model.According to a report in Reuters, the deal for a nearly 400,000-hectare (988,000-acre) bloc in the Caribbean is country’s first new oil and gas contract in more than four years.The Col-5 tract in the Caribbean Sea is adjacent to US independent Anadarko Petroleum's Purple Angel gas find.The country recently modified its bidding system for offshore oil and gas exploration contracts and relaunched bidding for more than 20 possible production areas…
Ecopetrol Sets 2019 Investment at $3.5 billion
Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Tuesday it will invest between $3.5 billion and $4 billion in 2019, slightly above this year as it bolsters spending on exploration and production projects.The investment is the backbone of an ambitious plan to boost production and explore for more oil to replenish dwindling reserves. The company has said it will drill 700 wells and double the number of rigs in operation this year.Ecopetrol expects output next year at between 720,000 and 730,000 barrels per day equivalent, Ecopetrol said in a statement…
Cano Limon Pipeline Hit by More Bombings
Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Tuesday that three new bombings of the Cano Limon pipeline have caused contamination in several waterways in the country's northeastern Arauca province.The attacks on Sunday and Monday brought total bombings of the 485-mile (780-km) pipeline to 82 this year.Cano Limon, which can transport up to 210,000 barrels of oil per day, has been out of service for much of 2018 because of bombings and illegal taps and was not functioning at the time of the latest attacks.
Colombia's Ecopetrol to Invest Up to $3.5 bln in 2018
Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday it will invest $3 billion to $3.5 billion during 2018, less than it had previously said it would spend.Ecopetrol originally planned to spend $3.5 billion to $4 billion in investment in 2018, mostly in exploration and production. First quarter investment was stymied by protests which led to the temporary closure of some fields and laws that restrict public company contracting during elections. The company spent $1 billion in investment during the first half. Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb
Ecopetrol, Talisman Energy to Open 19 New Wells at Colombian Oilfield
Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday it will start drilling 19 new oil wells at the Akacias oil field at the end of this month, in partnership with Repsol SA's Talisman Energy.The new wells will join nine which are already operating at the field, in Acacias municipality in central Meta province, the company said in a statement. The nine wells produce an average of 6,300 barrels per day.Ecopetrol plans to invest between $3.5 billion and $4 billion this year as it reboots production and exploration after being battered by…
Colombia's Ecopetrol Boosts Output
Ecopetrol, Colombia's state-run oil company, has accelerated activity at several of its oil fields to make up for a slight output fall in the first quarter, executives said during a call with investors on Friday.The company's first-quarter net profit rose to 2.6 trillion pesos ($923.3 million), up 195 percent from the same period in 2017, it said on Thursday.However, consolidated oil and gas production in the first quarter fell to 701,000 barrels per day because of February protests that led to blocked roads and the temporary closure of some fields."To compensate for events in the first quarter, the company has taken a series of measures, including more work at wells and reinf
Ecopetrol Seeks 3 Gasoline Cargoes for May
Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol has launched an offer to buy three 195,000-200,000 barrel cargoes of gasoline RON 92 for delivery May 2-21 at Pozos Colorados terminal, according to a tender seen by Reuters on Thursday. Bids will be accepted through April 5, indexed to unleaded 87 gasoline prices at the U.S. Gulf Coast Ecopetrol's Cartagena refinery earlier this week offered to sell a virgin naphtha cargo for April delivery at Mamonal port Reporting by Marianna Parraga
Attack on Cano Limon Pipeline Extends Pumping Halt
A bomb attack by Marxist ELN rebels destroyed a stretch of Colombia's second largest oil pipeline, the Cano Limon-Covenas, extending an almost month-long pumping stoppage, sources from the military and state oil company Ecopetrol said on Tuesday. The attack, which caused a spillage of crude, occurred on Monday in a rural area of the municipality of Saravena, in northeastern Arauca province. The 485-mile (780-km) pipeline has capacity to transport up to 210,000 barrels of crude a day from the Cano Limon field, operated by Occidental Petroleum Corp, for export via the Caribbean. Oil flow along the pipeline has been suspended since Jan.
Colombia's Transandino Pipeline Bombed, Damaged
Pumping on Colombia's southern Transandino pipeline was halted on Sunday after a bomb attack by the ELN rebels spilled crude into a river, state-run oil company Ecopetrol and the military said. The National Liberation Army (ELN) is in the midst of a renewed offensive against the military and oil infrastructure, after the end of a months-long ceasefire amid peace talks to end more than 53 years of war. The attack, which occurred late on Saturday in Mallama municipality in Narino province, has not affected exports or crude production at fields in the southern jungle zone along the border with Ecuador, Ecopetrol said.
Ecopetrol to Invest up to $4 bln in 2018
Colombia's state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday it would invest between $3.5 billion and $4 billion during 2018, the majority in production and exploration projects. The company, the Andean nation's largest, said in a filing to the financial regulator it expected to produce between 715,000 and 725,000 barrels per day next year. Only 4 percent of investment would be spent abroad, the statement said, with the rest destined for Colombian projects. The company is not taking out external financing for the 2018 plan. Ecopetrol expects to spend 85 percent of its 2018 investment on exploration and production, including at least 12 exploratory wells.
Brazil Oil Regulator Clears Four More Companies
Brazil's oil regulator ANP authorized four more companies to bid in auctions for exploration and production rights in the presalt region off the Brazilian coast this month, the regulator said on Tuesday. A local unit of U.S.-based Chevron Corp was cleared to bid in the second and third presalt rounds to be held on Oct. 27. Brazil's OP Energia qualified to bid in the second round. China's CNOOC Petroleum Brasil and Colombia's Ecopetrol SA were authorized for the third round of bidding. Brazil's second and third rounds of bidding for presalt areas are scheduled for Oct. 27. Last week the ANP released a list of 11 companies cleared for the auctions.
Flooding Knocks Out U.S. Refineries
Harvey brings heavy rainfall, flooding to U.S. Gulf coast. Heavy rains from tropical storm Harvey caused large-scale U.S. refinery outages, pushing up gasoline prices, while crude prices rose in early Asian trade on Tuesday on the back of supply disruptions in Colombia and Libya. Refinery shutdowns from the storm helped push U.S. gasoline prices to 2015 highs of $1.7799 per gallon on Monday, although they receded slightly to $1.7325 per gallon by 0103 GMT on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 23 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $46.80 a barrel, after falling more than 2 percent in the previous session.
Colombia's Ecopetrol Names New CEO, Echeverry Resigns
Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol said its current vice-president, Felipe Bayon, will take over as chief executive, replacing Juan Carlos Echeverry. Echeverry, who has headed the company since March 2015, through difficult times caused by the global fall in crude prices, has resigned for family reasons, Ecopetrol said in a statement to the Andean country's financial regulator. Bayon, an engineer who spent 20 years working at BP PLC, will take over from Sept. 15, the company said. He has been a vice president at Ecopetrol since February 2016.
Ecopetrol Rubiales Oil Output Hit by Protests
Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol said on Tuesday it has suspended production at some wells in the nation's largest oil field after demonstrators seized the facility in the latest incident affecting that industry in the Andean nation. The demonstrators, who identified themselves as members of the Alto Unuma indigenous community, occupied facilities at Water Disposal Plant 6 of the Rubiales field and ordered operators to shut it down, Ecopetrol said in a statement. Eighty-one wells were closed, causing a loss of 9,500 barrels per day. Rubiales produces about 135,000 bpd, equivalent to a quarter of Ecopetrol's total production.
Mexico Auctions Two-thirds of Blocks in Shallow Water Oil Tender
Mexico on Monday auctioned two-thirds of the shallow water oil and gas blocks up for grabs in the latest round of its energy market opening, surpassing the cautious estimates of officials last week. Italy's Eni, Colombia's Ecopetrol and Capricorn Energy, a unit of Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy , were among the companies at the forefront of the bidding for 15 blocks in the southern Gulf of Mexico. Ten of the 15 blocks were taken up in the auction. Eni took one of the blocks by itself and two in consortium with other companies. One comprised Capricorn and Mexican oil firm Citla, the other was with Citla alone. Citla also partnered with Capricorn to win another block.
Colombia Unrest cuts Ecopetrol's Output by 80 pct
Crude production at Colombia's La Cira-Infantas oilfield has fallen more than 80 percent during the last week, state-run oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday, due to protests by local residents over hiring practices. Output at the site, located in the northeast of the Andean country and jointly operated by Ecopetrol and U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp, has fallen from 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 7,300 bpd as residents block roads. The government recently passed a decree meant to boost hiring of workers from the municipality surrounding the field, near the city of Barrancabermeja in Santander province.
