EXCLUSIVE Chevron offering minority stakes in three Alaskan oilfields

Sept 19 (Reuters) – Chevron Corp (CVX.N) is advertising its curiosity in additional than 2,000 oil and fuel wells in Alaska, the corporate instructed Reuters on Monday, in a transfer that would mark the oil main’s second exit from oil manufacturing within the state in three many years.

One of many earliest corporations to prospect for oil in Alaska, Chevron helped develop the state’s oil business final century however later exited output there in 1992. It returned a decade later with its $20 billion buy of Unocal.

The corporate is providing stakes in three oilfields, it confirmed. It holds round 10% in Alaska’s Endicott subject, 5% in Kuparuk subject and 1.2% in Prudhoe Bay. Bids are due this month. The stakes are non-operating pursuits that present a share of earnings.

Chevron estimates the proved and developed portion of those property is value $655 million, and together with future improvement, it could possibly be value $926 million, in response to a advertising doc the corporate shared.

Nevertheless, at present oil costs, a sale would seemingly fetch between $450 million and $550 million, in response to a Rystad Power analyst utilizing comparable transactions.

If a sale materializes, Chevron would comply with within the steps of BP Plc (BP.L), which in 2020 bought its producing property to closely-held Hilcorp for $5.6 billion and exited. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) individually transferred operations of Level Thomson oilfield to Hilcorp final yr however retains a majority stake.

The properties supplied embrace pursuits in pipelines within the Kuparuk and Endicott fields, in response to the advertising doc.

ConocoPhillips (COP.N) operates the Kuparuk subject, whereas Hilcorp operates Prudhoe Bay and Endicott, and both may bid on the property, two individuals acquainted with the businesses stated, requesting anonymity to debate personal plans.

ConocoPhillips declined to remark. Hilcorp didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

The oilfields that Chevron is providing produce round 9,400 barrels of oil and fuel per day. Total manufacturing within the state has been declining since a peak in 1988 when output exceeded greater than 2 million barrels of oil a day.

In 2021, Alaska produced 437,000 barrels of oil a day, the bottom since 1976, in response to U.S. authorities knowledge.

Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Josie Kao

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