Phillips Petroleum Co News

Howard Thill has joined Devon Energy Corporation as senior vice president, communications and investor relations.He has joined the company to fill the position created by the retirement of Vince White, senior vice president, communications and investor relations. The company announced yesterday the retirement of Vince White who is scheduled to retire August 8, 2014. “Howard brings to Devon deep knowledge borne of extensive and varied experience in our industry,” John Richels, Devon’s president and chief executive officer said. Prior to joining Marathon, Thill was director of investor relations with Phillips Petroleum Co. He began his career with Phillips in 1982 as a drilling fluids sales/service engineer.

Offshore exploration is a history of man v. Prospecting for oil is a dynamic art. From a lake in Ohio, to piers off the California coast in the early 1900s, to the salt marshes of Louisiana in the 1930s, to the first “out-of-sight- of-land” tower in 1947 in the Gulf of Mexico, the modern offshore petroleum industry has inched its way over the last roughly 75 years from 100 ft. of water ever farther into the briny deep, where the biggest platform today, Shell’s Perdido spar, sits in 8,000 ft. of water. As a planet, we have two unquenchable thirsts – for water and for oil.

An evacuation alert was rescinded Wednesday afternoon for a one-mile ring around a Rohm and Haas Co. chemical plant near Houston after a dangerously overheated tank of highly flammable acrylic acid was cooled by firefighters, the company said. A mile-long stretch of the Houston Ship Channel, which had been closed as a precaution on Wednesday morning, was reopened at about 6:00 p.m. local time. It was the second evacuation along the row of refineries and plants near Houston in three days. On Monday, one person was killed and 74 injured by an explosion at the nearby Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant in Pasadena, Texas. A Rohm and Haas spokeswoman said workers at the plant detected the high temperatures at the tank on Wednesday morning.

The near record oil prices have left U.S. oil majors as the envy of industry during the third quarter reporting period, according to many industry analysts. about having disappointing earnings surprises," said one. "The question is not whether they will beat consensus estimates, but by how much they'll beat estimates," said another. Such expectations from analysts and investors come as crude oil prices in the third-quarter hit ten-year highs and averaged $31.63 a barrel, up from $21.72 a barrel during the period last year. U.S. natural gas prices were just as scorching, averaging $4.48 per million British thermal units compared to $2.55 a year ago. Exxon Mobil Corp., for instance, said its second-quarter profits were the highest in U.S. corporate history.

Litton Industries Inc. said Polar Tankers Inc. has exercised an option for a fourth double-hull crude oil carrier, valued at $197 million, to ship Alaskan crude oil. Under a contract awarded in 1997, Litton's Avondale Industries Inc. subsidiary has three 125,000 DWT crude oil carriers under construction. Delivery of the first ship is scheduled for January 2001. Long Beach, Calif.-based Polar Tankers, a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Co., Polar Tankers has an option with Litton Avondale for a fifth ship which could be exercised in the first quarter of calendar year 2001. The Millennium Class "next generation" tankers being built at Litton Avondale are the first new crude-oil carriers being built for the Alaskan trade in compliance with the Federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

Chevron Corp. has announced its intention to buy the second largest oil exporter in Argentina to boost its exploration and production overseas. The companies did not disclose financial details of the deal, but industry sources had valued the privately-held Petrolera Argentina San Jorge at some $1 billion. "This transaction will have an immediate positive impact on earnings and cash flow," Dick Matzke, president of Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc., said. The venture is Chevron's first exploration and production deal in Argentina. Privately held San Jorge produces about 78,000 bpd of oil and 40 million cubic feet of natural gas, Chevron officials said.

World drilling activity for oil and gas fell 24 percent in 1999 from 1998, but levels should bounce back in 2000, IHS Energy Group said. "In 2000, I expect levels to reach at least those of 1998," said Ian Cross, Asia director for IHS, who produced an IHS report on world drilling activity in 1999. "Some areas in 2000 will be slow to catch up. I think the Far East will be one of them. There is less money going into this region," he said. IHS said it estimated 7,433 exploration and delineation wells were completed in 1999, compared with around 9,800 in 1998. Exact figures for Russia, onshore China and India were not available, IHS said.