Stephens Inc., a full-service investment banking and brokerage firm, has expanded its investment banking group. Six professionals, hailing from Energy Capital Solutions LP, will spearhead Stephens banking efforts in the energy industry and will be based in Dallas and a new Houston office.
Led by managing directors Keith J. Behrens, Ronald S. Montalbano, and Bradley D. Nelson, the team will focus on raising capital and M&A advisory services for public and private energy companies in the following fields: exploration & production, oil field services, biofuels and alternative energy. Also joining are Will Page, who will serve as a vice president, Joseph Allio, who will serve as an associate, and Steven L. Hanks, who has been appointed as an analyst.
Most recently, Behrens served as a managing director and co-founder of Energy Capital Solutions. He has more than 17 years of investment banking experience, including positions with Bear Stearns and Wasserstein Perella.
Montalbano has 15 years of industry experience. Previously he was a managing director at Energy Capital Solutions. Prior, he was an investment banker with Raymond James & Associates and Johnson Rice & Co.
Nelson served as a managing director and co-founder of Energy Capital Solutions. Before that he was an associate in Bear Stearns' Energy Group, focusing primarily on E&P and oilfield service transactions.
RBC Capital Markets appoints Freer as US COO
RBC Capital Markets has named Deborah Freer as managing director and COO for its US operations. Freer will participate in the management of RBC's US capital markets business. She will partner with business unit leaders and operating executives, and serve as a key point of local contact and coordination for the firm's functional support teams in the U.S.
Prior to joining RBC, Freer spent 20 years with Merrill Lynch. Her most recent role was head of global client services for Capital Markets, where she was accountable for the day-to-day operations of the firm's capital markets clients.
RBC Capital Markets is the corporate and investment banking arm of RBC and is active globally in debt origination, sales and trading, foreign exchange, infrastructure finance, structured products, metals and mining, and energy.
Ex-Im Bank preliminarily agrees to $2 billion of financing for Petrobras
Nick Snow
Washington editor
WASHINGTON - A preliminary $2 billion financing commitment to Petroleos Brasileiro SA may lead to contracts for US companies with Brazil's national oil company, the Export-Import Bank of the United States said on May 7.
The Ex-Im Bank said that it is making the investment to encourage Petrobras to buy US goods and services. It added that it anticipates the financing will support more than $2.2 billion of US exports to Petrobras once it is finally approved.
"Petrobras presents an enormous opportunity for US exporters in the oil and gas and many other sectors," said Barbara O'Boyle, the Ex-Im Bank's vice president for structured finance.
The bank, which is the official US export-credit agency, said that it expects this preliminary commitment to give Petrobras the opportunity to identify potential US exporters for its projects over the next two years.
Once the preliminary commitment becomes final, the financing could be used to support US exports on repayment terms of up to 10 years, including a potential conversion of part of the financing to establish a medium-term (1-7 years) credit guarantee facility, it said.
Petrobras, which expects to invest $174 billion in development over the next five years, could use US goods and services financed under the agreement to develop its offshore oil and gas resources, particularly the large pre-salt reserves in the Santos Basin, and to develop and upgrade its refining and distribution system, according to the Ex-Im Bank.
It said that US companies of all sizes interested in exploring export opportunities with Petrobras should contact Philip Limon, treasurer of Petrobras America Inc. in Houston, by phone at (713) 808-2160 or by e-mail at plimon@petrobras-usa.com to learn more about the company's bidding process and how to participate in transactions which the Ex-Im Bank could financially assist.
Contact Nick Snow at nicks@pennwell.com
Occidental Petroleum names Powers VP, executive VP of Oxy O&G
Occidental Petroleum has elected Anita Powers as a vice president of Occidental Petroleum and executive vice president, worldwide exploration, Oxy Oil and Gas.
Powers has spent the past 30 years at Oxy. Since December 2006, she has served as vice president of worldwide exploration. Prior to that, she served as director of worldwide geoscience, vice president of exploration in Colombia and chief exploration geologist for worldwide exploration.
Powers holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University.
Tupi first oil claimed as trophy by Brazil's President Lula
Peter Howard Wertheim
Email: peterhw@frionline.com.br
Rio de Janeiro - May 5 - What better day than Labor Day (May 1) for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former lathe operator and union leader, to celebrate initial production of the largest field discovered in the Americas since Mexico's Cantarell in 1976?
After a small barrel of 28º API gravity oil from Tupi was passed hand to hand like an Olympic torch, Lula raised the barrel above his head like Brazil's soccer team captains have done when they won the world cup a record five times.
"Tupi represents Brazil's second independence," said Lula. The event marked Brazil's official emergence as a nascent global oil power, say Petrobras officials.
During his speech to oil executives and some two thousand celebrities including artists, athletes, oil workers, businessmen, politicians and union leaders, Lula was serious, irreverent and even poked fun at himself.
"The extraction of oil from the pre-salt has the significance of non measurable transcendence. Did you like that?" He asked his audience, tongue in cheek. "Soon I will also say en passant, sine qua non, etc. Isn't that sophisticated?"
After more than six years in power Lula has an impressive approval rating of around 70%. The president pledged that revenues from Tupi would be used to improve Brazil's educational system and ease the horrendous poverty in the country.
Lula wants to export value added oil products and not just crude oil. He also said that he felt no inclination to join the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC): "It seems that OPEC doesn't have the power that we think it has. The futures market is more influent than OPEC."
Petrobras and PetroChina are the only NOCs remaining among the top ten companies listed by PFC Energy last January. In one year eight traded National Oil Companies (NOCs) lost 64% of their combined market capitalization.
Lula argues that "the great economic lesson of the 21st century did not come from the failure of some emerging country, but of the "post-graduates of world economy who know everything when a crisis hits Bolivia, Brazil and Russia, but know nothing when the crisis is in their own backyards."
Lula also chastised speculators who earn fortunes from paper notes sent by computer and do not "produce anything, not even a screw."
He acknowledged that President Obama and other leaders of industrialized nations face a very difficult situation. "We still don't know the size of this world crisis and when it will bottom out."
Portugal's Galp Energia and BG Group
With a volume of recoverable oil estimated between 5 and 8 billion boe, Tupi field in BM-S-11 block at Santos basin is operated by Petrobras (65%) in partnership with BG Group (25%) and Galp-Energia (10%).
The Tupi extended well test (EWT) via well 1-RJS-646 is now producing 15,000 b/d, being processed by FPSO BW Cidade de Sao Vicente anchored at 2,140 m water depth. The Tupi reservoir sits beneath another 5,000 meters of rock and salt under the seabed.
The EWT will run 15 months with output peaking at roughly 30,000 b/d and by yearend 2010 Petrobras plans a pilot test to produce 100,000 b/d.
Portuguese operator Galp Energia's shares rose to a seven-month high on May 4, after the start of crude production at Tupi oil field.
Galp's CEO Manuel Ferreira de Oliveira was quoted by the Estado news agency: "Production at Tupi is competitive, even at the actual level of oil prices." According to him, Galp plans to invest $3 billion over the next few years to develop its Brazilian prospects.
In addition, Oliveira said that output at the Iara field was expected to start in 2014. Iara is contained in a separate portion of the same BM-S-11 block, with estimated recoverable reserves between 3 and 4 billion boe.
"Santos Basin is now one of the world's most important hydrocarbon regions and will be a major source of global supply for decades to come. We are delighted to participate in the rapid development of the Tupi field and look forward to collaborate with Petrobras to realize the full potential of the Santos basin pre-salt," said Frank Chapman, BG Group CEO.
BG holds interests in seven concessions in Santos basin covering a total area of approximately 7,450 square kilometers.
New regulatory framework
Despite the highly charged, euphoric and political atmosphere, Lula urged his ministers to work faster to complete their suggestions and hand in the new regulatory framework to explore pre-salt. "There isn't one country in the world that discovered large reserves of oil and did not change its regulations. "Petrobras was kicked out of Iraq by Saddam Hussein right after discovering the giant Majnoon field in 1976," Lula recalled.
Civilian chief of staff and chairman of Petrobras' board of directors Dilma Rousseff said that a working group formed last year by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva completed proposals for the new regulatory regime and is now finalizing the legal framework for the legislation. "We can't say yet if the proposals will include production sharing, concessions or something else."
Analysts and industry experts have speculated that Brazil will perhaps use a hybrid system based on the present concession model, with higher royalties and production-sharing agreements.
Mines & Energy Minister Edison Lobão advocates the creation of a new state-owned oil company that would administer the development of pre-salt oil fields. The minister refers to a company similar to Norway's government-owned Petoro, which manages investments but does not engage in exploration or production.
The pre-salt boom
According to Gabrielli, Petrobras is working to become one of the five largest energy integrated companies in the world. With a crisis busting $174.4 billion investment plan for 2009 to 2013, Petrobras shows a firm commitment to continue vigorous E&P while many of its competitors are drastically reducing investments.
Petrobras recently said in a statement to investors that it obtained a $2 billion credit line from the US Export-Import Bank. The loan will be used to source equipment from the US required for its expansion plans.
Tupi's commercial production should begin in 2013 with 219,000 b/d and rise to 368,000 b/d in 2014, 582,000 b/d in 2015, 952,000 b/d in 2016 and 1.315 million b/d in 2017. By 2020, Petrobras plans output from the sub-salt basin at 1.815 million b/d with 23 sub-salt production platforms in place.
At present, some 80% of Brazil's average production of 1.9 million b/d comes from Campos basin and the bulk of it is heavy crude.
The pre-salt region runs about 800 kilometer long and 200 kilometer width along the coast of Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo states. There has been frequent speculation by the local press that this area could contain reserves ranging from 50 to 100 billion bbl or more.
During the first oil celebration, in a passionate nationalistic speech, the general coordinator of the FUP oil union João Antonio de Moraes said that there might be from 80 to 200 billion bbl of reserves in the pre-salt region and that the government "must protect this immense strategic asset for the benefit of the Brazilian people."
Petrobras prudently stated on several occasions that there is not sufficient geological evidence yet to confirm or not these assumptions.
Although Tupi is drawing worldwide attention at present, Petrobras and partners have recently made a string of offshore mega discoveries besides Tupi. While the scale of Júpiter and Carioca finds have not been stated by the company estimates indicate that Brazil will have sufficient reserves to become a heavyweight actor in the global oil business.
Apache to acquire Permian properties from Marathon for $187.4M
Apache Corp. has agreed to acquire nine Permian Basin oil and gas fields with current net production of 3,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day from Marathon Oil Corp. for $187.4 million.
Independent oil and gas exploration and production company, Apache Corp., has agreed to acquire Marathon's company-operated assets located in Lea County, NM, and Reagan, Howard and Sterling counties in Texas, as well as Marathon's interests in the Chenot/Putnam area in Pecos County, Tex. The properties have current net production of 10 million cubic feet (MMcf) of natural gas, 1,332 barrels of oil, and 524 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.
"These fields are a great fit with Apache's existing properties in the Permian Basin, particularly in Lea County, NM," said John Crum, Apache's co-chief operating officer and president - North America.
"Properties with approximately 75% of the proved reserves and 61% of the current production offset Apache-operated units in Lea County. Based on our experience with well-spacing in the area, we have identified more than 200 possible drilling locations on the Marathon acreage."
Brazil's giant pre-salt Tupi oil field on stream through EWT
Peter Howard Wertheim
Rio de Janeiro
May 1, 2009 - Brazil's petroleum crown jewel, the elephant Tupi field kicked-off production today, de facto beginning Brazil's emergence as a world class oil power, say Petrobras officials.
With a volume of recoverable oil estimated between 5 and 8 billion barrels boe, Tupi is the largest field ever discovered in the Americas since Mexico's Cantarell (1976). It is operated by Petrobras (65%) in partnership with BG Group (25%) and Galp-Energia (10%).
Petrobras is now one of the top six most highly market-capitalized energy firms in the world, joining other national oil companies (NOCs) that are replacing familiar private-sector players, PFC Energy said in a report.
According to CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli, Petrobras is working to become one of the five largest integrated energy companies in the world.
With a crisis-busting $174.4 billion investment plan for 2009 to 2013, Petrobras shows a firm commitment to continue vigorous E&P while many of its competitors are drastically reducing investments.
The Tupi extended well test (EWT) via well 1-RJS-646 is now producing 15,000 b/d, being processed by FPSO BW Cidade de Sao Vicente anchored at 2,140 m water depth. The Tupi reservoir sits beneath another 5,000 meters of rock and salt under the seabed.
The EWT will run 15 months with output peaking at roughly 30,000 b/d and by yearend 2010 Petrobras plans a pilot test to produce 100,000 b/d.
During a press conference on April 30, Civilian chief of staff and chairman of Petrobras' board of directors, Dilma Rousseff, said a working group formed last year by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva completed studies and proposals for the new regulatory regime and it was now finalizing the legal framework for the legislation.
"We can't say yet if the proposals will include production sharing, concessions or something else - or even how it will change the current oil law," Rousseff said. "But every regulatory regime implies legal measures, either by decree or others."
Analysts and industry experts have speculated that Brazil would adopt a regulatory model similar to Norway or perhaps use a hybrid system based on the present concession model, with higher royalties and production-sharing agreements.
Mines & Energy Minister Edison Lobão also declined to give any further details about regulatory changes, although he confirmed he remains in favor of the creation of a new state-owned company that would administer development of the pre-salt oil fields.
In answer to a question as to whether it will be mandatory for foreign equipment suppliers to install themselves in Brazil, Gabrielli answered: "Yes, and the suppliers will come because Brazil has the largest offshore crude reserve growth potential in the world. Thus, the biggest opportunities for the oil industry are now in Brazil. We want to buy drill ships, submersible equipment, monitoring systems and robots, but we want them to be produced in Brazil."
"Explorers that don't have rigs under contract may delay projects or pay rents of more than $600,000 a day. Petrobras' insatiable demand is forcing producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc to pay more as they compete for the remaining units," said Kjell Erik Eilertsen and Truls Olsen, analysts at Fearnley Fonds AS in Oslo.
Minister Rousseff also said that President Lula's directives, since he took office in 2003, have been to increase the percentage of local content (domestically produced goods) for equipment and services to generate jobs for Brazilians.
The minister added that the Brazilian government is working to avoid the 'oil curse', that is, exporting crude and importing equipment. Heavy dependence on oil revenues caused serious economic problems to some oil exporting countries.
To avoid the oil curse Brazil will export value-added oil products instead of only crude oil. "Brazil has a sophisticated, diversified and powerful industrial base that can perfectly produce and consume value added products and provide skilled manpower to produce equipment," said Rousseff.
Asked whether the Santos basin Sugar Loaf-Carioca pre-salt geological formation constitutes one giant ocean of oil, Petrobras E&P director Guilherme Estrella, a geologist, said that at this point it is impossible to say, adding, "we are still in the process of gathering geological data."
The pre-salt region runs about 800 km off the coast of Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo states.
Frequent speculation by local press puts potential reserves in the pre-salt region between 50 billion to 100 billion barrels or more. Petrobras has prudently stated, on several occasions, that there is not yet sufficient geological evidence to confirm or deny the assumptions.
Victor Burk joins Alvarez & Marsal as managing director
Independent professional service firm Alvarez & Marsal has hired Victor Burk as a managing director where he will be responsible for expanding the firm's full complement of services to the energy sector.
Burk has 37 years of experience and previously led the energy practice for Spencer Stuart, a global executive search firms. Prior, Burk was in public accounting for 33 years, serving as the leader of the global oil and gas practices for Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen.
He holds a bachelor's degree from Stephen F. Austin State University.
Cabot O&G completes new $500M credit facility
Cabot Oil & Gas has completed a new $500 million unsecured Revolving Credit Facility with a three-year term. The borrowing base now totals $1.35 billion.
With the new borrowing base, Cabot has over $450 million of borrowing capacity at the present time.
JP Morgan Securities Inc. and Banc of America Securities LLC were the joint book runners and co-lead arrangers for the facility. JP Morgan Chase Bank NA will serve as administrative agent.
Ex-Im Bank approves loans to support $1 billion of US exports to Pemex
The Export-Import Bank of the US (Ex-Im Bank) approved $900 million in long-term direct loans to support more than $1 billion of exports from hundreds of companies across the US to Petrόleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico's state-owned oil company. The US exports will be used for further development of the new projects of Pemex Exploration and Production (PEP) and the Cantarell oil fields.
Ex-Im Bank authorized a $600 million, 10-year direct loan to Pemex to support the purchase of US exports to be used in the new projects of PEP (formerly known as the New Pidiregas Projects), which comprise 18 natural gas and crude oil exploration sites located on land and offshore at the Bay of Campeche on the northern coast of the Yucatan. Ex-Im Bank authorized a $300 million, 10-year direct loan to Pemex to support the purchase of US exports for the Cantarell offshore oil fields located in the Bay of Campeche.
These exports consist mainly of engineering services, oil field equipment, offshore platforms, drilling and well services, and upgrade and rehabilitation services.
Pemex is Ex-Im Bank's largest borrower. From 1998 to date, Ex-Im Bank has approved $8.3 billion in financing to support US exports for Pemex's activities for a wide range of oil and gas exploration, development and processing projects.
In fiscal year 2008, Ex-Im Bank authorized a total of $14.4 billion in financing to support an estimated $19.6 billion of US exports worldwide. The Bank authorized financing to support $1.5 billion of US exports for oil and gas production projects.
Apache to cut workforce by 6 percent
Independent oil and gas producer, Apache Corp. has announced it will lay off nearly 200 employees globally.
When asked about the cuts, Bill Mintz, Apache's director of public affairs noted, "Because lower commodity prices mean lower cash flow and capital budgets, we have reduced our employee ranks to reflect current activity levels. These actions will reduce Apache's worldwide employee count by 6% since the first of the year. We expect the planned reduction will be substantially completed this week."
First Reserve establishes $9 billion private equity fund for energy investment
April 21, 2009 - First Reserve Corp. has formed a $9 billion fund, First Reserve Fund XII LP, to make privately negotiated equity and equity-related investments in a diversified portfolio of companies in the global energy industry.
Law firm Simpson Thacher represented First Reserve in the establishment of the fund. The team included Barrie Covit, Daniel Lavon-Krein, Kay Ch'ien, Ralph Eissler, and Samuel Porter (corporate); Brian Robbins and Jeanne Annarumma (executive compensation and employee benefits); John Creed and Nancy Mehlman (tax); Mark Lab and Andrew Pagliughi (blue sky); and paralegals Hayley Jodoin, Kathryn Reusi, Corina Cristea and Lyndsay Fritz.
Marathon Oil completes sale of Irish subsidiary
April 17, 2009 - Houston-based integrated international energy company Marathon Oil Corp. has completed the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Marathon Oil Ireland Ltd. (MOIL) to PSE Ireland Ltd., a subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) for $180 million. The sale does not include Marathon's 18.5% interest in the Corrib natural gas development.
Including this transaction, Marathon has completed approximately $1.3 billion of the anticipated $2 to $4 billion in asset sales announced in March 2008. The company expects more activity associated with the asset review and disposal program by mid-year 2009.
Under the terms of the sale, PSE Ireland Ltd. acquired Marathon's 100% operated interest in the Kinsale Head Area comprising Kinsale Head, South West Kinsale, and the Ballycotton gas fields, as well as an 86.5% interest in the gas producing Seven Heads field which is tied back to Kinsale, and a 100% interest in the company's gas storage business with current capacity of 7 billion cubic feet. PSE Ireland Ltd. retains the 61 MOIL employees in Ireland.
St. Mary Land & Exploration enters new credit facility
April 15 - St. Mary Land & Exploration Co. has entered into a new senior secured revolving credit facility. The bank group, comprised of 12 banks, has approved a $900 million borrowing base.
The current commitment amount from the bank group is $678 million, which is an increase from the $500 million in commitments provided in the previous facility.
As of April 14, 2009, St. Mary has $312 million drawn under this facility. The new credit facility will mature on July 31, 2012, with the next redetermination of the borrowing base scheduled to be completed no later than October 1, 2009.
Former Texas Railroad Commission counsel, FERC lawyer joins Fulbright's energy practice
April 15, 2009 - Former General Counsel of the Texas Railroad Commission and former FERC lawyer Gail Watkins has joined Fulbright & Jaworski LLP's global energy practice.
Watkins joins Fulbright as a partner from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Fulbright lawyers assist energy clients with structuring, financing and developing infrastructure projects worldwide. Watkins received her JD from the University of Texas School of Law and both her bachelor's degree and PhD degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
SMT's KINGDOM supports Windows Vista
April 14 – KINGDOM software provided by SMT (Seismic Micro-Technology), a provider of Windows-based geoscientific interpretation software to the oil and gas industry, now supports customers on Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.
According to SMT, in some internal benchmarks, performance has shown to be three times faster when running Windows Vista and 64-bit. SMT's support of Windows Vista and 64-bit computing is part of the company's ongoing efforts to ensure that customers have access to the most flexible and secure computing platforms for their geoscientific workflows.
Superior Energy Services taps Campbell executive VP
Superior Energy Services Inc. has named Patrick J. Campbell as executive vice president. Since 2000, Campbell has been president and COO of Superior subsidiary Wild Well Control Inc., a provider of firefighting, well control, and engineering services.
He has over 40 years of experience in the industry. In his new role, Campbell will oversee Superior's global subsea well intervention expansion as well as the company's decommissioning and well control businesses. Superior Energy Services serves the drilling and production needs of oil and gas companies worldwide.
Concho Resources' $960M borrowing base affirmed
Concho Resources' bank group has completed a semi-annual redetermination of the company's borrowing base for its $1.2 billion secured revolving credit facility. The borrowing base has been reaffirmed at $960 million, its existing level since July 2008.
The credit facility is provided by a syndicate of 22 banks led by JP Morgan Chase Bank NA and Bank of America NA. In connection with the affirmation, Concho agreed to amend the credit facility to increase the Eurodollar rate margin from a range of 1.25% to 2.75% to a range of 2.00% to 3.00%, increase the alternate base rate margin from a range of 0.00% to 1.25% to a range of 1.125% to 2.125%, and increase the unused commitment fee rate from a range of 0.25% to 0.50% to a flat rate of 0.50%.
Brown Brothers Harriman names Jennings senior advisor
Privately-held bank Brown Brothers Harriman has appointed James B. Jennings, former chairman of Hunt Oil Co., as a senior advisor. Jennings joined Hunt in 1979, and was appointed to the company's board in 1991.
As president and then chairman, he was responsible for establishing Hunt's strategic direction, as well as international exploration and production, acquisitions and new business development. He earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Tex., and a master's degree from Purdue University.