Energy Stocks Gain; Hess Leads on Ghana Oil Find

Published Dec 13, 2012 4:49 PM by The Maritime Executive

Chesapeake to sell more midstream assets

Energy stocks rose on Wednesday, led by Hess Corp. as the oil and gas company said it found more oil off the coast of Ghana.

New York City-based Hess announced its fifth oil discovery in Ghana, a field it owns with a small participation of Ghana’s National Petroleum Corp. Further development is expected next year.

Shares of Hess rose 2.8%. Other top gainers on Wednesday included Apache Corp., with shares up 2%, and Peabody Energy Corp., which rose 1.6%.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. shares rose 1.2%. The natural-gas producer late Tuesday announced it was selling midstream assets, related to transportation, storage, and marketing of fuel, to Access Midstream Partners LP for $2.16 billion.

These assets are located primarily in the company’s Marcellus, Utica, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Niobrara shale plays. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2012, Chesapeake said in a statement.

The company added it has recently completed the sale of other midstream assets in Oklahoma and Texas for approximately $175 million, and it expects to sell the remaining midstream assets early next year for about $425 million. All told, the company expects about $4.9 billion from exiting the midstream business.

Chesapeake has sold assets in the past months to try to improve its balance sheet after facing a liquidity crisis and suffering the effects of low natural-gas prices.

Oil majors also gained, with shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. up 0.2%. Smaller rivals Chevron Corp. shares rose 0.7%, and ConocoPhillips 0.5%.

The first shipments of Angola liquefied natural gas are expected to start in the first quarter of next year, targeting buyers in Europe and Asia, Angola’s oil minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said Wednesday.

The LNG venture, of 5.2 million metric tons a year, is led by Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol and Chevron Corp. Shipments were expected earlier this year but the project has run into delays.

The U.K.’s BP PLC, Italy’s Eni SpA, and Norway’s Total SA also hold stakes in the venture.

Among the few losers of the day, shares of Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Companies Inc. declined 1.2%.

Williams has agreed to buy a 50% Interest in Access Midstream Partners GP LLC. and approximately a quarter of unit Access Midstream Partners for about $2.4 billion, therefore acquiring some of Chesapeake’s midstream assets.

Shares of SPDR Energy Select Sector fund, an exchange-traded fund focused on energy, rose 0.3%. Crude-oil futures also gained, up $1.04 to $86.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Source: http://www.marketwatch.com