LNG

US major ConocoPhillips has agreed to acquire Marathon Oil Corp., the US company and main shareholder in Equatorial Guinea LNG in West Africa as well as a key operator in the major US shale basins.

ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. reported first-quarter declines in profits and revenues on lower natural gas prices while both are advancing with their major takeover transactions amid a pre-emption dispute over key assets in the new South American oil and gas hub of Guyana.

ExxonMobil Corp., the largest US oil company and leading LNG producer and a partner of Qatar in many global projects, will have its first-quarter 2024 earnings impacted by price shifts while also completing the sale of its stake in the Adriatic LNG import terminal offshore Italy and pursuing the huge takeover of Pioneer Natural Resources in the US.

ExxonMobil estimated that large decreases in oil, gas and fuel prices would deliver a first-quarter operating profit of between $6.65 billion and $11.6Bln for the first three months of the year compared with $7.63Bln in the fourth quarter of 2023.

ExxonMobil filed its first-quarter earnings indicator with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The ExxonMobil earnings total would be well below the prior-year first quarter when natural gas prices were much higher.

Weaker prices

Overall weaker oil and gas prices alone were expected to reduce ExxonMobil’s profits by about $600 million compared with the fourth quarter of 2023.

The company also said fuel derivatives adversely affected gains in gasoline and diesel margins, costing it about $1.1Bln compared with the fourth quarter.

Refining maintenance costs also increased during the fourth-quarter and the first quarter of the 2024.

“To give perspective regarding market and planned factors affecting 1Q 2024 results, we are providing the summary of items management believes will impact 1Q 2024 results relative to 4Q 2023 results,” said the company.

“These factors are generally limited to significant planned activities, market dynamics and seasonal demand patterns,” the filing explained.

“This is only intended to provide information regarding current estimates of these factors,” said the filing.

“It is not comprehensive of all changes between 4Q 2023 and 1Q 2024 results and is not an estimate of 1Q 2024 earnings for the Corporation,” ExxonMobil stated.

Adriatic LNG sale

Dutch energy storage group VTTI has also acquired the 70 percent stake previously held by ExxonMobil in Italy's biggest LNG terminal, the gravity-based structure facility Adriatic LNG, and the balance of 30 percent is now owned by Italian gas grid and terminals operator SNAM.

ExxonMobil had stated in March 2023 that it was considering selling its stake of just over 70 percent in Adriatic LNG as a non-core asset.

The Adriatic terminal is located 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) off the Veneto coastline of Italy and has been on line since 2009.

It includes two LNG storage tanks, each with a capacity of 125,000 cubic metres.

The operating company is called Terminale GNL Adriatico. ExxonMobil had held its majority stake while a QatarEnergy unit, Qatar Terminal Company, owned 22 percent and SNAM had held 7.3 percent.

ExxonMobil is also pursuing the all-stock deal to acquire Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5Bln.

The combination gives ExxonMobil a stronger position in the Permian Basin in Western Texas and New Mexico.

ExxonMobil is expected to report first-quarter earnings on April 26.

Hess Corp., the New York-based oil and gas company being acquired by Chevron Corp. in a transaction agreed in October and valued at $53 billion, is trying to re-assure Chevron that one of its main assets in Guyana was safe from any pre-emption purchase offer from the other shareholders in the block.

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.

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.

Chevron Corp., the operator of liquefied natural gas projects in Western Australia and Africa, said it expected a capital expenditure range of $15.5 billion to $16.5 billion and an affiliate spending budget of around $3Bln for 2024.

Northern Oil and Gas Inc., the US energy company based in Minneapolis, is proceeding with two acquisition transactions for natural gas in the Appalachian Basin and oil and gas in the Northern Delaware Basin in an action-filled year of US merger and acquisition activity.

Chevron Corp. has agreed to acquire US energy company Hess Corp in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion and is the second huge American merger and acquisitions deal in October 2023 after ExxonMobil’s agreement to acquire Texas-based Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5Bln with both takeovers having a focus on US shale oil and gas assets.

Chevron Corp. has agreed to acquire Nasdaq-listed PDC Energy in an all-stock transaction valued at $6.3 billion and boosting the US major’s holdings in US strategic basins such as the Permian.