LNG

ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum have cemented the shale gale in the US, home to 80% of global unconventional oil and gas production. Yet, fracking makes inroads in Saudi Arabia, China, Argentina.

Chevron Corp., the US major oil and gas company with LNG operations in Australia and Africa, has received a vote of confidence from US investor Warren Buffett whose Berkshire Hathaway has taken its stake to almost 7 percent.

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stake in San Ramon, California-based Chevron by over 15.84 million shares.

This transaction has brought Berkshire Hathaway's total share count in Chevron to 126.09M shares, representing about 5.96 percent of Buffett’s investment portfolio and 6.81 percent of Chevron's outstanding shares.

Lower price

According to Berkshire Hathaway data, the Chevron shares were acquired at an average price of $149.16 each and were valued at $18.80 billion.

Buffett is a celebrity figure among America’s small retail investors and is known to his fans as “The Oracle of Omaha”.

Buffett’s other main energy investment is in Houston, Texas-based Occidental Petroleum which forms 4.19 percent of the Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. The Buffett firm also has a huge 50 percent represented by shares in Apple Inc.

Chevron’s shares have recently risen to $154.63 per share, backed by positive earnings and the company’s acquisition agreement signed in October 2023 with US oil and gas company Hess Corp.

The value of the Buffett stake has already risen and at current prices on February 19, 2024, is now worth just short of $20Bln at $19.49Bln.

Chevron recently reported annual net profits of $21.41Bln, down from $35.60Bln in the previous year, though apart from 2022 the Chevron performance was the strongest since 2013.

LNG projects advance

Chevron listed among its highlights as achieving first natural gas production from the Gorgon Stage 2 development in Western Australia where its operates both the Gorgon LNG and Wheatstone LNG export plants.

Chevron also reached a final investment decision with partners to construct a third gathering pipeline that is expected to increase natural gas production capacity at the Leviathan gas field and a future LNG hub in the East Mediterranean offshore Israel.

The company additionally expanded the Bayou Bend carbon-capture and sequestration project on the US Gulf Coast through an acquisition of nearly 100,000 acres.

However, Chevron assets in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico also helped to underpin the earnings.

Chevron posted an increase in its Permian production by 10 percent in 2023 with US quarterly output coming to 1.16 million barrels per day compared with 895,000 barrels per day, helped by the 2023 acquisition of US independent oil and gas company PDC Energy.

Chevron is also paying $53Bln for New York-based Hess, giving it access to major oil discoveries in the South American nation of Guyana as well as more US shale assets in the Bakken Shale Basin of North Dakota.

Talos Energy, the US oil and gas company, has acquired the operator QuarterNorth Energy in a $1.29 billion cash and stock deal to boost its presence in the Gulf of Mexico in the latest of a long list of US energy industry mergers and acquisitions that included several mega-deals.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co., two companies that helped enable the start of US liquefied natural gas exports by providing low-priced feed-gas, are reported to be on the verge of a merger deal as early as this week to create a $16.7 billion company that would be the nation’s largest natural gas producer.

Occidental Petroleum, the Houston-based company with US oil and gas assets and Warren Buffett as a main shareholder as well as owning oil and natural gas stakes in Algeria, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, has agreed to buy US Permian Basin-focused energy producer CrownRock in a cash and stock deal valued at $12 billion including debt.

ExxonMobil Corp., the largest US oil company and leading LNG producer as a partner of Qatar, agreed to acquire Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5 billion and with an enterprise value of $64.5Bln in the largest acquisition since the historic tie-up between Exxon and Mobil in 1999.

ExxonMobil Corp., the largest US oil company and leading LNG producer and a partner of Qatar, continues in talks to acquire Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources in what would be its largest acquisition since the historic tie-up between Exxon and Mobil in 1999. 

Warren Buffett, the Chief Executive and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and America’s best-known investor, said his group did not intend to acquire more shares in Occidental Petroleum nor try and take it over while it also sold billions-worth of shares in LNG operator Chevron Corp. and dumped more US bank stocks.

US investor Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway group has a stake in the Cove Point LNG export plant in Maryland and a growing stake in US exploration and production company, Occidental Petroleum, revealed that he had stakes in Japan’s five main trading houses with their widespread energy assets and intended to buy more Japanese shares.

Occidental Petroleum, the Houston-based company with US oil and gas assets and Warren Buffett as a main shareholder as well as owning Algerian oil and associated natural gas stakes pointing at Europe, reported strong third-quarter results.