|
Oil patch insider: ConocoPhillips AK gets new pres., nearly $400M capex, slice of $5.1B
Kay Cashman Petroleum News
As announced in November, on Feb. 1 there was a change in leadership at ConocoPhillips Alaska with President Joe Marushack retiring and being replaced by Erec Isaacson, who has been with ConocoPhillips for 35 years, including a four-year stint in Alaska.
Other news from ConocoPhillips came on Feb. 2 with its fourth quarter and full year 2020 report and earnings call. Almost $400 million was slated for Alaska major capital projects in 2021, as well as a slice of the $5.1 billion operating budget, which is aimed at keeping this year’s oil and gas production flat companywide from 2020 through 2021.
Some of the Alaska chitchat in the Q&A section of the earnings call included this piece about Willow and the Biden administration:
Q. Phil Gresh, senior equity research analyst, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division: I noticed that you do have some spending here in 2021 allocated for Willow …. So, should we be anticipating that, that will be ramping up in 2022 and beyond at this point?
A: Nick Olds, SVP of Global Operations, ConocoPhillips: Just to take you back a little bit to Q4 2020. As you’ve seen, we crossed through two major milestones around permitting for Willow. We had the Record of Decision by the BLM in October and then the Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit allows us to put gravel for roads and pads. For this year, we’ve got - part of that capital will be advancing engineering through our FEED, so we took FEED end of December. That’s a major decision gate within the company. So, advancing the front-end engineering and design. And then we plan to move to detailed engineering sometime this year. And then part of the scope for 2021 is also some small civil construction to put gravel and start the road system for Willow. And then we’re targeting FID (final investment decision), later this year. So, we’ll advance the detailed engineering, which will impact that overall decision.
A. Ryan Lance, Chairman & CEO, ConocoPhillips: So, we’re watching it closely, Phil. And if things move to the right because of this current administration or somehow, we get curveballs thrown at us, we have not taken FID yet. We’ve got a lot of flexibility around how fast we actually ramp up at Willow and what our options are around that.
Isaacson’s background In 2006, Isaacson moved to Alaska, first holding the position of manager, Alaska exploration, and later as vice president, commercial assets, with accountability for non-operated, pipeline and Cook Inlet assets.
He began his career with Phillips Petroleum Co. in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1986 as a geophysicist in upstream technology. He held various exploration and development positions in the company, including assignments in Houston, Odessa and Stavanger.
In 2002, he became manager, new ventures exploration, and then transitioned to manager, upstream project authorization and performance.
In May 2010, Isaacson assumed the role of president, Qatar, for the project completion, startup and the first year of production for the QG3 JV. He then moved to Jakarta in May 2012 as president and general manager Indonesian BU. In November 2016, he became vice president, Rockies BU. In August 2018, he became vice president, Gulf Coast BU responsible for the development and operations of the company’s Eagle Ford and offshore Gulf of Mexico assets. Now he is back in Alaska.
A native of Colorado, Isaacson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geophysical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1986. He currently serves on the board of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.
- KAY CASHMAN
|
