Anadarko Petroleum

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Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Public
S&P 500 Component
Traded as NYSE: APC
Industry Oil and gas
Founded 1959
Headquarters Allison Tower
The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.
Key people
 R. A. Walker
(Chairman, President, & CEO)
Robert G. Gwin
(Executive Vice President & CFO)
Products Petrochemical products
Revenue Increase US$ 13.967 billion (2011)[1]
Decrease US$ -1.870 billion (2011)[1]
Decrease US$ -2.568 million (2011)[1]
Total assets Increase US$ 51.779 billion (2011)[1]
Total equity Decrease US$ 18.105 billion (2011)[1]
Number of employees
 4,800 (December 2011)[1]
Website Anadarko.com

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation is an American oil and gas exploration company and one of the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production companies, with approximately 2.79 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) of proved reserves and annual sales volumes of 274 million BOE as of December 31, 2013. Anadarko employs a worldwide workforce of about 6,000.[1] The company is headquartered in The Woodlands, SPD Montgomery County, Texas.[2]

The company has been the subject of multiple environmental cases, including the largest environmental contamination settlement in American history in 2014.[3]

History

Anadarko[4][5] was formed as a subsidiary of Panhandle Eastern Corporation Pipe Line Company, which existed from 1928 to 1993. Panhandle Eastern has since been acquired by Southern Union Company. Anadarko was formed in 1959 after the discovery of large amounts of natural gas in the Anadarko Basin, which underlies the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, and southwest Kansas, thus the company's name. Anadarko spun off from Panhandle Eastern as an independent corporation in 1986 and now has activities in more than a dozen countries.[1]

Deepwater Horizon Oil spill involvement

Anadarko had 25 percent working interest in the Macondo Prospect, which was operated by BP and its finances were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.[6]

BP has billed Anadarko more than $272 million for its share of cleanup and response costs in the Gulf, according to a bill that was sent by BP and obtained by TPMMuckraker. Anadarko publicly suggested that it will not pay for costs associated with the oil disaster, claiming in a statement that BP was guilty of gross negligence or willful misconduct. Under the joint operating agreement, Anadarko must pay its portion of costs related to any incident—unless that incident was caused by its partner's gross negligence or willful misconduct.[7]

In what was seen as possibly a precursor to Anadarko's own course, in May 2011 MOEX Offshore agreed to pay US$1.07 billion to settle BP claims against it over the accident. MOEX owned a 10% stake in the well through a subsidiary and in turn itself was majority-owned by Mitsui & Co. Some analysts had thought BP would realize a larger settlement from MOEX but there was also relief to have a first step toward resolving the multiple claims.[8] In October, 2011, Anadarko did in fact follow MOEX and agreed to settle with BP for $4 billion.[1] BP agreed to "forgo reimbursement for future costs related to the incident and will indemnify Anadarko for damage claims arising under the U.S. Oil Pollution Act, among other costs. And Anadarko will transfer its 25% stake in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 (Macondo) to BP."[9]

In December 2012, a federal judge ordered Anadarko to pay a $159.5 million civil fine reflecting its stake in the well.[10] U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans said Anadarko was not at fault for the spill, but the company's 25 percent ownership stake made it responsible. Barbier wrote a $159.5 million fine "strikes the appropriate balance between Anadarko's lack of culpability and the extreme seriousness of this spill."[10] Anadarko had agreed in 2011 to pay $4 billion to BP to help with victim and cleanup costs.[10]

Largest environmental settlement in American history

In April 2014, Anadarko settled with the Federal Government to pay over $5 billion to clean up environmental waste sites around the country. It was the largest environmental contamination settlement in American history.[3]

The environmental contamination sites were inherited by Anadarko after it purchased Kerr-McGee in 2005. As background, Kerr-McGee had spun off the company Tronox to offload generations of environmental dumping of toxic waste across 22 states beginning in the 1920s. According to one report, "Kerr-McGee, rather than pay for the environmental mess it created, decided to shift the liabilities between 2002 and 2006 into Tronox. Kerr-McGee, meanwhile, kept its valuable oil and gas assets."[3] Anadarko then purchased the "clean" portion of Kerr-McGee free of its legacy of environmental dumping. In 2009, shareholders of Tronox sued Anadarko (successor to Kerr-McGee) for having misled investors about the large environmental and other debts Tronox would inherit from its parent corporation.[11][12][13][14] The environmental pollution included polluting Lake Mead in Nevada with rocket fuel, leaving behind radioactive waste piles throughout the territory of the Navajo Nation and dumping carcinogenic creosote in communities throughout the East, Midwest and South at its wood-treating facilities.[3]

In April 2014, the federal government reached an over $5 billion settlement with Anadarko in the largest environmental contamination case in American history.[3]

Activity

The Company’s international oil and natural-gas production and development operations are located primarily in Algeria, Ghana, and China. The Company also has exploration acreage in Ghana, Mozambique, Brazil, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, New Zealand, Indonesia, and other countries.[1]

Anadarko’s operations in the United States include oil and natural-gas exploration and production onshore in the Lower 48 states, onshore Alaska, and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The company has major holdings in the Wattenberg Gas Field of Colorado, USA.[15] The Company’s operations in the United States accounted for 87% of total sales volumes during 2011 and 90% of total proved reserves at year-end 2011.[1]

In addition to exploration and production, the Company engages in the gathering, processing, and treating of natural gas, and the transporting of natural gas, crude oil, and NGLs. The Company also participates in the hard minerals business through its ownership of non-operated joint ventures and royalty arrangements.[1]

Anadarko said it plans to drill more than 360 new wells in 2014 in Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin.[16]

Headquarters

Allison Tower, the headquarters of Anadarko Petroleum Company.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation is headquartered in two skyscrapers in The Woodlands, Texas: the Allison Tower and the Hackett Tower. On February 11, 1999 Anadarko announced that it would purchase a 7.5-acre (30,000 m2) tract in The Woodlands, Montgomery County from the Woodlands Land Company. There Anadarko planned to build an 800,000-square-foot (74,000 m2), 32-story headquarters building. Anadarko opened the headquarters in mid-2002.[17]

On January 17, 2012, Swamplot and the Houston Chronicle both reported that Anadarko will be erecting a brand new tower just west of the existing tower. The new building will stand 1 floor taller than the existing tower, which is 30 stories. The new building is expected to be completed in 2014 and when finished, will surpass the existing building in height becoming the tallest building between Houston and Dallas.[citation needed] During a Summer of 2013 "topping off" ceremony Anadarko Tower was renamed Allison Tower for Robert Allison, Jr., longtime President & CEO of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. The new tower is dedicated to James Hackett, another former Anadarko Petroleum CEO, and deemed Hackett Tower.

The company previously occupied the 17001 Northchase Drive in the Greenspoint district and in Houston.[18] The tower, which was previously known as the Anadarko Tower, was built in a two-year period and completed in December 1992.[19]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ "Office locations." Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. Retrieved on August 14, 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Supreme Court of Texas. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation v. Thompson Argued March 6, 2002 -- July 03, 2002
  5. ↑ 1959: Anadarko Production Company
  6. ↑ Anadarko credit rating put on negative watch
  7. ↑ Exclusive: BP Bills Anadarko $272 Million In Gulf Spill Response Slajda, Rachel. TPMMuckraker June 30, 2010, 2:37PM. Retrieved on July 4, 2010.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Tronox Inc. wants day in court with Kerr-McGee Corp., The Journal Record (Oklahoma City), May 14, 2009, by Marie Price
  15. ↑ CBS Denver, Anadarko hits milestone production in Wattenberg, 5 Dec. 2012.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ "Article: Anadarko to Build New Headquarters in the Woodlands". PR Newswire. February 11, 1999. Retrieved on August 15, 2009.
  18. ↑ "Office Locations". Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. May 7, 1998. Retrieved on August 15, 2009.
  19. ↑ Bivins, Ralph. "Greenspoint ground broken for Exxon Exploration building". Houston Chronicle. Thursday December 17, 1992. Business 3. Retrieved on August 2, 2009.

External links

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