Oceaneering: Larson To Succeed McEvoy As CEO

Oceaneering International Inc. said Feb. 14 that Roderick A. Larson will succeed M. Kevin McEvoy as CEO in May.

Larson has served as president of the Houston-based company since February 2015 and is expected to continue in that role. He previously served as senior vice president and COO.

Prior to joining Oceaneering, Larson was with Baker Hughes Inc. for more than 20 years, where he held various positions, including serving as president of Latin America. He currently serves on the board of Newpark Resources Inc.

McEvoy will continue serving on Oceaneering’s board as a Class III director until at least 2019. It is anticipated that Larson will join Oceaneering’s board concurrent with his appointment as president and CEO.

The planned succession will be effective after Oceaneering’s annual shareholder meeting on May 5, the company said.

Energean Gets Financial Boost From Kerogen For Karish, Tanin

Kerogen Capital has committed to investing an initial $50 million in Energean Oil & Gas subsidiary Energean Israel ahead of the planned $1.3 billion development of the Karish and Tanin gas fields offshore Israel.

The investment, however, still needs the Israeli government’s approval. If given the green light, Kerogen will own a 50% interest in Energean Israel. Energean will hold the rest.

Energean shared the news Feb. 15, about two months after it acquired the fields from Delek Group for an upfront consideration of $40 million plus $108.5 million in contingent payments.

The operator said proceeds from Kerogen’s investment will finance the acquisition and key work streams to investment sanction, including FEED studies and the field development plan being prepared with TechnipFMC.

Plans are to develop the fields, which Energen said contain at least 67.9 Bcm (2.4 Tcf) of gas, through an FPSO unit. First gas is expected in 2020.

In addition, Energean said Roy Franklin, an executive board member for Kerogen, will become nonexecutive chairman for Energean Israel.

Farley Joins Anadarko’s Board As Independent Director

Claire S. Farley was elected as an independent director, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said Feb. 9. Her appointment will become effective that day.

Farley is currently the vice chair of energy, advising KKR & Co. LP’s energy group. Prior to joining KKR in 2011, she was co-founder and co-CEO of privately owned RPM Energy LLC, which partnered with KKR. Prior to founding RPM Energy, she was a senior adviser at Jefferies Randall & Dewey, a global oil and gas industry adviser, and was its co-president from February 2005 to July 2008.

Prior to that, she was CEO of Randall & Dewey, an oil and gas asset transaction advisory firm, from September 2002 until February 2005, when Randall and Dewey became the oil and gas investment banking group of Jefferies & Co.

Farley’s oil and gas exploration experience includes positions at Texaco from 1981 to 1999, including as president of worldwide exploration and new ventures, as president of North American production and as CEO of Hydro-Texaco Inc.

Farley is a director of LyondellBasell Industries NV and TechnipFMC Plc. In addition to her public directorships, she is also a board member of Samson Resources.

Oceaneering Reports Full-year 2016 Financial Results

On Feb. 8 Oceaneering International Inc. reported a full-year 2016 net income of $24.6 million on $2.3 billion in revenue and reported an $11 million loss on $488 million in revenue for third-quarter 2016, which ended Dec. 31.

CEO M. Kevin McEvoy said Oceaneering had $450 million in cash at year-end 2016 and a $500 million revolving credit facility. He said this liquidity will provide resources to manage the business during the downturn in offshore activity.

However, McEvoy said Oceaneering projects a further decline in its profitability, with a loss from the equity investment in Medusa Spar, and slightly higher interest expense. He said marginal profitability at the operating income level is expected on a consolidated basis for 2017.

McEvoy projected the 2017 capex would total between $90 million and $120 million, with between $55 million and $65 million for maintenance capex, and some amounts set for completing the Ocean Evolution Jones Act vessel. Other capex will support well intervention equipment purchased in the Blue Ocean Technologies acquisition.

McEvoy also said that, beyond this year, Oceaneering foresees increased deepwater expenditures and demand for its products and services.

Schlumberger’s Cameron Group Head Joins Flowserve As CEO

R. Scott Rowe has been appointed president and CEO of Flowserve Corp., a provider of flow control products and services, effective April 1. He succeeds Mark Blinn, who previously announced his intention to retire. In addition, Rowe will join Flowserve’s board of directors.

Rowe brings nearly 20 years of senior leadership and operational experience in the industry to Flowserve. He most recently served as president of the Cameron Group, a position he assumed in April 2016 following the merger between Schlumberger and Cameron International Corp.

At Cameron Rowe served in a variety of progressive roles during his 14-year career, culminating as its president and CEO. His accomplishments include contributing to Cameron’s growth and profitability during his tenure, leading Cameron through the transition to Schlumberger and overseeing the business integration while maintaining strong business performance. Additionally, he led the transformative pre-merger joint venture between Cameron and Schlumberger, which formed OneSubsea, a $3 billion-dollar business that he later ran as CEO.

As planned, in connection with Rowe’s appointment, Blinn will step down from the Flowserve board, effective March 31.

Energy XXI Gulf Coast Names Interim CEO

Michael S. Reddin became interim CEO and president of Energy XXI Gulf Coast Inc. (EGC), effective immediately, the company said on Feb. 3.

This follows John D. Schiller’s decision to resign as director, CEO and president. Schiller will serve the board as an adviser during the transition, EGC said.

Schiller said now was a good time to transition the company’s leadership because the financial restructuring of Energy XXI was completed late last year.

Reddin, who was appointed as chairman of EGC’s board in 2016, most recently was the chairman, CEO and president of Davis Petroleum Corp. Prior to that, Reddin was CEO of Kerogen Resources Inc., the vice president of BP America’s Gulf of Mexico business unit and also worked for Vastar Resources Inc.

EGC also said that the board appointed Scott M. Heck to join the company as its new COO. As EGC’s COO, Heck succeeds Antonio de Pinho, who chose to pursue other interests.

Heck has more than 36 years of experience in upstream engineering and leadership with Tenneco Oil Co., Hess E&P and Bennu Oil & Gas LLC. His last 14 roles were senior executive roles with extensive offshore accountabilities.

The company also said that Bruce Busmire will be departing to pursue other interests and Chief Accounting Officer Hugh Menown will become interim CFO.

EGC said the board is considering internal and external candidates for the role of permanent CEO and president.

Jay Swent will become the lead independent director due to Reddin’s interim dual role as chairman and CEO. Swent is an existing board member with more than 35 years of global business and senior leadership experience.

Ezra May Write Down $170 Million In Subsea JV

Singapore’s Ezra Holdings Ltd. said it might have to take a $170 million writedown on its subsea services joint venture, putting further pressure on the oilfield services firm as it tries to restructure to remain in business.

“The company’s investment in, shareholders loan to and the inter-company balances owed by the EMAS Chiyoda Subsea Group amounts to $170 million and the full amount may have to be written down after the company’s assessment,” Ezra said in a stock exchange filing Feb. 3.

It reiterated that it was reviewing all options to restructure its businesses, operations and balance sheet and would be faced with a “going concern issue” if it did not achieve a favorable and timely outcome.

Ezra recorded a net current liability position of $887.2 million for the financial year ending Aug. 31, 2016.

Ezra holds a 40% stake in EMAS Chiyoda Subsea.

Shell CFO Will Depart And Join Board Of Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest mining company, appointed three former senior managers from the energy industry to its board as nonexecutive directors, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s departing CFO Simon Henry, the company said Feb. 10.

Henry, who is stepping down as CFO at Shell after seven years on March 9, will join Rio Tinto on July 1. Former Centrica CEO Sam Laidlaw and ex-Sasol CEO David Constable will take up their nonexecutive posts immediately, Rio Tinto said.

Nonexecutive directors Anne Lauvergeon, the former CEO of French nuclear reactor maker Areva, and Robert Brown will step down from their roles at the company’s annual general meeting on May 4.

Henry, who has worked at Shell for 34 years, will hand over the CFO role to Jessica Uhl on March 9 and leave Shell on June 30. Henry was one of the driving forces behind Shell’s bumper $54 billion acquisition of BG Group in 2016.

Delek Group Expands In North Sea With Ithaca Energy Deal

Delek Group Ltd. offered to buy Ithaca Energy Inc. in a deal valuing the North Sea oil producer’s equity at $646 million and building on Delek’s expansion in the North Sea ahead of a planned London listing.

Ithaca said Feb. 6 its board had recommended the Israeli conglomerate’s cash offer of C$1.95 (US$1.49) per share, which equates to 1.20 British pounds (US$1.49). Delek, with natural gas E&P activities in the eastern Mediterranean, already owns 19.7% of Ithaca.

The offer, a premium of about 12% to Ithaca’s closing price of C$1.74 (US$1.33) on Feb. 3, implies an enterprise value of about $1.24 billion (US$947.7 million), Ithaca said.

Ithaca has its headquarters in the Scottish city of Aberdeen and is focused on North Sea oil and gas. The market for North Sea assets has heated up in recent months as oil prices have steadied above $50/bbl.

Last month Chrysaor Holdings Ltd., backed by private equity, said it would buy many of Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s North Sea assets for up to $3.8 billion. In addition, EnQuest Plc agreed to buy a 25% stake in BP Plc’s Magnus oil field.

Delek itself bought a 13.18% stake in Faroe Petroleum Plc, another North Sea operator, for 43 million pounds (US$53.7 million) in December.

Delek’s $524 million bid for 80% of Ithaca values the company’s shares at $646 million and is conditional upon more than 50% of shares not held by Delek accepting the offer.

“This is a full and fair offer from a very credible buyer who have the financial resources to complete the transaction,” Ithaca CEO Les Thomas told Reuters. “They are knowledgeable, they are credible, they can back up the offer and complete the transaction.”

Eco Atlantic's London Listing Will Fund Drilling Offshore Guyana

Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas, a Canadian oil exploration company, will list on London’s junior AIM market on Feb. 7, raising 4.8 million British pounds (US$6 million) to help finance a drilling campaign offshore Guyana with partner Tullow Oil.

20,000,000

Eco Atlantic, which expected to have a market cap of about 20 million British pounds (US$24.9 million) on Feb. 7, will be the only AIM-listed company with oil assets in offshore Guyana, an area that the U.S. Geological Survey has earmarked as one of the world’s top-rated underexplored basins, and where ExxonMobil Corp. already has made a large discovery.

“We want to list now because of our recent Guyana discoveries and our exploration program with Tullow Oil that is set to start at the beginning of the second quarter,” Eco Atlantic CEO Gil Holzman told Reuters. “The overall improvement in the oil exploration sector also is helping.”

—Staff & Reuters Reports