ExxonMobil NEWS

ExxonMobil Corp. is moving forward with a previously announced plan to build a grassroots chemical complex in the Dayawan Petrochemical Industrial Park in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China.

The House Oversight Committee on Thursday expanded its investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s involvement in spreading disinformation about the role fossil fuels play in causing climate change. Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Subcommittee on the Environment Chairman Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called on top executives at ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell and lobbying groups American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to testify before Congress next month. Oil and gas companies have faced a slew of lawsuits from cities and states across the U.S. over their investments in campaigns to undermine climate policy and downplay the impact of burning fossil fuels on global warming. The probe also comes as Democrats look to pass major climate and clean energy policy in the budget reconciliation bill, efforts that have faced opposition from some fossil fuel companies.

Exxon Mobil is pulling out of a deep-water oil prospect in Ghana just two years after the west African nation ratified an exploration and production agreement with the U.S. oil titan. The company relinquished the entirety of its stake in the Deepwater Cape Three Points block and resigned as its operator after fulfilling its contractual obligations during the initial exploration period.

Empire Petroleum has acquired oil and gas assets in New Mexico, US, from ExxonMobil for an undisclosed sum. Empire said that the assets comprise about 700 gross oil, gas, and injector wells. It also includes approximately 40,000 net acres of Permian leasehold. Empire CEO Tommy Pritchard added, “This acquisition is a terrific example of what Empire looks to manage in their assets: mature producing oil properties with predictable, long-life production with significant upside potential.“Looking towards the future, the geologic location of the Permian EMSU and AGU holds 23,400 acres of residual oil zone potential (ROZ).”

Exxon reserves of the dense, heavy crude extracted from Western Canada’s sandy bogs dropped by 98%. In practical terms, the revision clipped Exxon’s future growth prospects until oil prices rise, costs slide or technological advances make it profitable to drill those fields.The reserves accounting doesn’t mean Exxon is closing up shop or walking away from Canada because the company can bring them back onto its ledger as crude prices rise.

ExxonMobil agreed to sell some assets in the North Sea for more than $1 billion as the company focuses on newer and larger sources of oil and gas such as Guyana, Brazil and the U.S. Permian Basin. The company will sell most of its non-operated upstream assets in the UK central and northern North Sea to NEO Energy. NEO is an oil producer backed by Norwegian private equity firm HitecVision AS.

ExxonMobil has already upped its climate plans, only three months into an activist investor’s campaign to force change inside the company. Engine No.1, is pushing the oil giant to set new goal, net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Engine No.1 released a letter reiterating its call for Exxon to overhaul its board of directors by adding four new members who have the expertise to steer the company towards climate neutrality.

Exxon Mobil Corp signalled in a regulatory filing that higher oil and gas prices and improved chemicals margins would aid fourth-quarter results, but the gains would be overshadowed by an up to $20 billion asset write down. Exxon expects higher prices will sequentially lift its oil and gas operating results by between $200 million and $1 billion.

BP plc decided to shut Australia's biggest refinery. After the decision was made Exxon Mobil Corp persuaded the Australian government to provide some backing to oil refineries for continuous run. The Australian government has initiated to offer $1.6 billion in incentives to the refining industry for over 10 years to secure the nation's fuel security.

U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil on Tuesday has signed an agreement with Global Clean Energy to buy 2.5 million barrels of renewable diesel per year for five years to help reduce its carbon footprint. Exxon plans to distribute the renewable diesel within California and potentially to other domestic and international markets. The renewable diesel will be sourced from Global Clean Energy’s refinery in Bakersfield, California, starting 2022.

Amidst rising pressure on the oil and gas industry's stance on climate change, the members of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) have agreed to reduce the average carbon intensity of their aggregated upstream operations to ~20-21 kg of CO2e/boe by 2025. The OGCI includes BP, Chevron, Exxon and various other Oil & Gas giants which together account for over 30% of the world’s oil and gas production.

Petronas has completed a 50% farm-down of its participating interest in Block 52 offshore Suriname to ExxonMobil. The block covers an area of 4,749 sq. km, and is north of Paramaribo. Located in the Suriname-Guyana basin, where several major discoveries were made. Petronas’ upcoming exploration activities for Block 52 will involve the drilling of a well during Q3, while acquiring new 3D seismic data to evaluate the block's potential.

More than 400 people have tested positive for the coronavirus at Kazakhstan's top-producing oil field, health officials said on Friday. The number of infections at the giant Tengiz oil field rose from 17 on Thursday to 401 by Friday, according to officials in the Atyrau region. Kazakh state company KazMunayGas, ExxonMobil and LukArco - a subsidiary of Russia's Lukoil - are stakeholders in this project.

Exxon Mobil Corp yesterday registered its first quarterly loss in almost three decades, stressed by plummeting oil demand and prices. The US-based firm posted $610 million in losses for the quarter after writing down nearly $3 billion inventory. Exxon’s crude production rose to about 4 million boepd from 3.98 million boepd from a year earlier. A ray of hope came from the chemical unit which recorded a $144 million profit.

In a bid to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, ExxonMobil Corp is carrying out field trials of eight methane detection technologies, which also includes satellite monitoring. The pilot project is utilizing drones, planes, helicopters, ground-based mobile and fixed-position sensors to conduct tests at nearly 1,000 sites in Texas and New Mexico. ExxonMobil said that all technologies and deployment methods will be utilized in the detection of leaks and the identification of solutions.

As coronavirus pandemic spreads throughout the world, major energy companies in the United States enforced work-from-home rules for office staff and began health checks for remote or critical workers starting Monday. Firms like BP, Exxon Mobil, Kinder Morgan, Motiva Enterprises and Royal Dutch Shell have directed most office staff to work from home. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected over 156,000 people, with more than 5800 deaths worldwide.

Oil supermajor, Exxon Mobil yesterday chalked out an action plan to reduce the methane emission from its operations, outlining its efforts as governments around the world formulate stringent environmental norms. Exxon is majorly hoping for governments to adopt the procedures the firm undertook over the past two years to reduce methane emissions by 20% in some of its US drilling operations.

The Egyptian petroleum ministry yesterday informed about inking two deals with oil supermajor, Exxon Mobil Corp for oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean. While the first agreement requires Exxon to make a minimum investment of $220 million towards the exploration in the North East Amriya block, the second is for the North Marakia block, requiring a minimum investment of $112 million. Exxon has acquired over 1.7 million acres in Egypt.