Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar To Retire, Be Replaced By Jeff Miller

Halliburton Co. said May 17 that CEO Dave Lesar will retire on June 1 and be replaced by Jeff Miller, Lesar’s longtime deputy and fellow board member.

Lesar will stay on as executive chairman until December 2018 when he reaches the company’s mandatory retirement age of 65. The transition, which was expected, comes as Halliburton tries to recover from a two-year oil price downturn that has eroded profit margins and forced the company to lay off thousands of workers.

Lesar, who became CEO after predecessor Dick Cheney was nominated to be U.S. vice president in 2000, will step back from day-to-day company management but still be involved in talks with customers and shareholders. He signed a new employment contract with the company through the end of 2018 that will prohibit him from working for peers for another four-year period.

Miller joined Halliburton in 1997. Like Lesar, he is an accountant by training. He assumes the top role after Halliburton lost its long-time CFO, Mark McCollum, who left in March to become CEO at Weatherford International Plc.

Anadarko Makes Leadership Changes

Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s board of directors has named Daniel E. Brown executive vice president of international and deepwater operations and Bradley J. Holly executive vice president of U.S. onshore E&P, the company said in a news release.

Darrell E. Hollek, formerly executive vice president of operations, will serve as a senior adviser until his retirement later this year.

Brown, who began his career with Anadarko in 1998, most recently served as senior vice president of international and deepwater operations—a position he’s held since August 2016. Holly, who most recently served as Anadarko’s senior vice president of U.S. onshore E&P, began his career in 1994 with Amoco and joined Anadarko in 1997, according to the release.

US Names Scott Angelle New BSEE Director

Former Louisiana state official Scott A. Angelle has been tapped to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), according to a news release.

Angelle, who most recently served as vice chairman of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, has held numerous positions in Louisiana and parish governments, including interim lieutenant governor, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and St. Martin Parish president.

In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, Angelle served at the request of then Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal as liaison to the federal government and negotiated an early end of the previous administration’s drilling moratorium.

Under his leadership as Louisiana’s secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, a position he held for eight years, the state’s coastal permitting system was reformed. BSEE said the reform provided for efficient permitting while increasing drilling rig counts in Louisiana by more than 150% during his tenure.

Wild Well Purchases Equipment, Expands Subsea Presence

Wild Well Control has purchased subsea capping equipment from Shell EP Wells Equipment Services B.V., a move that expands the company’s global presence, according to a news release.

“The addition of this inventory enhances Wild Well's current global equipment and response capabilities for the WellCONTAINED subsea containment systems and provides added capabilities for its 7Series Subsea Well Intervention group,” Wild Well Control said. “The newly purchased equipment will be staged strategically in Houston, Aberdeen, Singapore and elsewhere, as needed, for global deployment.”

The company’s current WellCONTAINED inventory is located in Aberdeen and Singapore. The equipment includes subsea well intervention systems, including subsea capping stacks, debris removal shears, hardware kits for the subsea application of dispersant and inhibition fluids, and other ancillary equipment, the release said.

DONG Plans To Sell Oil, Gas Business To Ineos For $1.3 Billion

Danish utility and offshore wind farm developer DONG Energy has agreed to sell its oil and gas business to petrochemicals firm Ineos for $1.3 billion, it said on May 24, the latest in a string of North Sea deals.

The sale is a blow to shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, which had sought to merge its oil and gas business with DONG into a company worth more than $10 billion as part of a major restructuring.

Talks between the two stalled late last year over price, sources told Reuters in December, and Maersk CEO Soren Skou said in January he saw a listing of the energy unit as the more likely option.

For DONG Energy, the world’s biggest operator of offshore wind power, the sale marks a step away from fossil fuels as it seeks to focus solely on offshore wind.

Cobalt Files For Arbitration Against Angola For $2 Billion

Cobalt International Energy Inc. said it had filed requests for arbitration seeking more than $2 billion from Angola’s state-run Sonangol after the two failed to reach an agreement on license deadline extensions on two deepwater blocks, company filings showed.

Cobalt said it was requesting an award against Sonangol in excess of $2 billion, plus applicable interest and costs. It filed a separate request for arbitration against Sonangol seeking more than $174 million, plus applicable interest and costs, for the joint interest receivable for operations on Block 21 offshore Angola.

Sonangol did not return a request for comment.

Cobalt said its yearslong efforts to find a buyer for its 40% stakes in blocks 20 and 21 offshore Angola were “negatively impacted by the uncertainty surrounding the extension.”

A deal to sell the licenses to Sonangol in a $1.75 billion deal collapsed in 2016 because required approvals from the Angolan government did not come in time.

While Cobalt owns 40% of the blocks and Sonangol has 30%, the Angolan state company holds the rights to extend exploration deadlines for production sharing agreements.

Israeli Energy Firms Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Complete Merger

Israel’s Delek Drilling LP and Avner Oil Exploration LP, both units of conglomerate Delek Group Ltd., said they have completed a long-awaited merger and will begin trading next week as one company.

The new entity will keep the name Delek Drilling and will have a market value in Tel Aviv of about $4.4 billion.

It is through Delek Drilling and Avner Oil that Delek Group owns major stakes in the large Israeli offshore natural gas fields Tamar, which began production in 2013, and Leviathan, which is due to come online in late 2019.

Delek Drilling also said in a statement that exports from Tamar to Jordan's Arab Potash Co. and Jordan Bromine plants began in January.

CEO Yossi Abu said he expects production at Tamar this year, “to cross the 10 billion cubic meter mark.”

The companies' combined net profit in the first quarter was $78.9 million, up 23% from a year earlier.

Seadrill Names Anton Dibowitz CEO

Anton Dibowitz has been appointed to succeed Per Wullf as CEO of Seadrill Ltd., effective July 1, the company said in a news release.

The change is part of a succession planning process that was implemented during 2016.

Currently, Dibowitz serves as chief commercial officer and executive vice president for Seadrill.

“Anton has a strong industry track record and has taken roles of increasing responsibility during his 10 years at Seadrill, including the day to day business administration at Seadrill since 2016,” John Fredriksen, chairman of Seadrill’s board, said in the release. “We are confident that this succession plan provides Seadrill with the right combination of continuity and stability as the company works to complete its financial restructuring aimed at building a bridge to a recovery and achieving a sustainable capital structure.”

Wullf will remain a director for Seadrill, which Fredriksen said will allow the company to continue benefiting from his “in-depth industry experience, fleet knowledge and strong relationships.”

Petrobras Sees Higher Oil Exports As Presalt Fields Develop

Petrobras expects higher oil exports this year than initial projections, Guilherme França, executive manager of trade and marketing, said May 24.

Petrobras expects oil exports to reach 742,000 bbl/d by 2021 as the company advances development of its presalt oil reserves, which are capable of producing lighter varieties which are demanded internationally,

França said.

In March, França told Reuters in an interview that the company’s oil exports would reach 450,000 bbl/d this year. That estimate has now been revised to 503,000 bbl/d, according to the executive.

China is the company’s main client, accounting for 56% of Petrobras’s exports in the first quarter.

ACE Winches, Scantrol Provide Subsea Deployment System For Saipem

ACE Winches has engineered and delivered a back deck system to Saipem.

Within a 3½-week deadline, ACE Winches worked with Scantrol to supply an active heave compensation winch and A-frame solution that will be used as an auxiliary deepwater deployment system for subsea equipment, a news release said.

The deck machinery equipment was engineered and manufactured at ACE Winches facilities in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

—Staff & Reuters Reports

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