Page 149 - CW E-Magazine (18-6-2024)

News from Abroad

CONSOLIDATION
ConocoPhillips to acquire Marathon Oil for $22.5-bn

American energy majors and rivals,
ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil, have
inked a defi nitive agreement pursuant
to which ConocoPhillips will acquire
Marathon Oil in an all-stock transaction
with an enterprise value of $22.5-bn,
inclusive of $5.4-bn of net debt.

The acquisition would hand Conoco –
one of the world’s biggest indepen-
dent oil and gas producers – a suite of
assets stretching from North Dakota to
Texas as it seeks to bolster its position
in America’s prolifi c shale fi elds. past eight months that are reshaping $10-bn in 2021, taking advantage of the
the US energy sector, as large oil com- COVID-induced downturn. Marathon
“This acquisition of Marathon Oil panies seek to snap up the country’s owns assets in basins including North
further deepens our portfolio and fi ts best remaining shale resources and Dakota’s Bakken oilfi eld, the Scoop
within our fi nancial framework, adding consolidate a once-fragmented sector. Stack in Oklahoma, Texas’s Eagle Ford
high-quality, low cost of supply inven- ExxonMobil and Chevron last October and the New Mexico side of the Per-
tory adjacent to our leading U.S. un- both agreed massive acquisitions, with mian. It also holds an integrated gas
conventional position,” said Mr. Ryan price tags of $60-bn and $53-bn, res- business in Equatorial Guinea. “When
Lance, ConocoPhillips’ Chairman and pectively, sparking a wave of transac- combined with the global Conoco
CEO. Under the agreement, Marathon tions across the sector, with companies Phillips portfolio, I’m confi dent our assets
shareholders will receive 0.255 shares including Occidental Petroleum and and people will deliver signifi cant
of Conoco for each Marathon share they Diamondback Energy following suit. shareholder value over the long term,”
own, representing a 14.7 per cent premium said Marathon’s CEO Mr. Lee Tillman.
to the target’s closing share price on Conoco had been on the hunt for a The company dates back to 1887, start-
May 28. That gives Marathon an enter- deal in recent months and vied for seve- ing out as the Ohio Oil Company before
prise value of $22.5-bn, including ral weeks with its smaller rival Devon being subsumed by JD Rockefeller’s
$5.4-bn of net debt, the companies said. Energy to acquire Marathon, according Standard Oil. After almost a century as
to US media reports. The Marathon an integrated oil company it spun off
The transaction is the latest in a acquisition would be Conoco’s biggest its refi ning arm, Marathon Petroleum,
series of megadeals announced over the since it acquired Concho Resources for in 2011.
Germany’s Cabinet approves draft laws on CCS and

hydrogen development

The German Government has ap- now be debated in parliament, would hydrogen infrastructure, import and
proved two draft laws to accelerate the effectively end the Germany’s current production facilities. It will also give
integration of hydrogen and carbon capture ban on carbon storage. infrastructure an “overriding public
and storage (CCS) respectively, into the interest” status, meaning authorities
country’s energy and industrial systems. The country estimates it needs to will prioritise it in the approval pro-
capture between 34 and 73-MtCO per cess. Permitting procedures will be
2
The law on CCS would allow the year by 2045 to reach its goal of simplifi ed and digitised and legal cases
storage of CO under the seabed, as well attaining carbon neutrality by that year. challenging hydrogen projects and envi-
2
as onshore, but only if the federal states In addition, the Hydrogen Acceleration ronmental impact assessments will be
choose to do so. The reform, which will Law will fast-track the construction of shortened.

Chemical Weekly June 18, 2024 149

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