Back to top

Image: Bigstock

ExxonMobil to Divest Papua New Guinea Field Stake to Santos

Read MoreHide Full Article

Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM - Free Report) , along with its partners in the P’nyang natural gas field in Papua New Guinea recently agreed to divest a stake to an Australian energy company Santos Ltd. Per a binding letter of intent signed between the companies, Santos will become a 14.3% stakeholder in the Petroleum Retention Licence 3 for $187 million.

The deal — expected to close by the end of June 2019 — will likely support the planned expansion of ExxonMobil-operated $19 billion PNG LNG project. Santos already holds 13.5% stake in the PNG LNG project.

Another partner in the PNG LNG project, Oil Search Limited — which will vend a 1.65% interest in the field for $21.6 million — will now hold 36.86% stake in the field. Notably, the same amount of interest will likely be held by ExxonMobil, following the completion of the transaction. Also, a bunker brokerage firm, Merlin Petroleum, will own 11.96% stake in the field.

ExxonMobil will add one more LNG train in the facility to increase the unit’s capacity by 2.7 metric tons per annum. Currently, the project’s annual output is 8 million tons of LNG, which is exported to four major customers in the Asia region, including China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation , CPC Corporation and others. Notably, the P’nyang field has 2C resource of around 4.4 trillion cubic feet.

Irving, TX-based ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly-traded oil company that is engaged in oil and natural gas exploration and production, petroleum products’ refining and marketing, chemicals manufacture, along with other energy-related businesses. It has lost 6.1% in the past year compared with 14.1% collective decline of the industry it belongs to.

 

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players in the energy space include Hess Corp. (HES - Free Report) and Cactus, Inc. (WHD - Free Report) . While Hess sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Cactus holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.  

Hess’ earnings are expected to grow more than 115% through 2019.

Cactus’ earnings growth is projected at 11.8% through 2019.

Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +98%, +119% and +164% in as little as 1 month. The stocks in this report could perform even better.

See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>


Unique Zacks Analysis of Your Chosen Ticker


Pick one free report - opportunity may be withdrawn at any time


Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) - $25 value - yours FREE >>

Hess Corporation (HES) - $25 value - yours FREE >>

Cactus, Inc. (WHD) - $25 value - yours FREE >>

Published in