Newfield Exploration

Newfield Exploration

Type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: NFX S&P 500 Component
Industry	Oil and Gas
Founded	1988
Founder	Joe B. Foster
Headquarters	Houston, Texas, USA
Area served	United States
Key people	Lee K. Boothby (Chairman) (President) & (CEO) Gary D. Packer (Executive Vice President) & (COO) Terry W. Rathert (Executive Vice President) & (CFO) Susan G. Riggs (Treasurer)
Products	Crude Oil Natural Gas
Number of employees	1,148 – February 22, 2010[1]
Website	www.newfield.com

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Newfield Exploration is an independent company that specializes in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. Its operations in the United States include the Mid-Continent region of Oklahoma and northern Texas, along the Rocky Mountains, southern and coastal Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, and recently in Pennsylvania along the Appalachia Mountains. Newfield also operates internationally through numerous sites offshore of Malaysia and China. By the end of 2009, total proved reserves were 3.6 trillion cubic feet (1.0×10¹¹ m³) equivalent with approximately 85% of those reserves being located onshore of the U.S. Newfield's present base is estimated to be about 70% natural gas. Today, Newfield has an enterprise value of more than $8.5 billion.^[2][3]

History

1988–1999

Newfield Exploration was founded in 1988 by former chairman of Tenneco Oil Company, Joe B. Foster. Through investments by Charles Duncan, the University of Texas endowment funds and the founding employees, the company was capitalized with $9 million.^[4] During 1990, Newfield purchased its first production property in Eugene Island Block 172 in the Gulf of Mexico. Through various workover programs in an attempt to increase efficiency, production of Eugene Island 172 increased from 0.2 million cubic feet per day (5,700 m³/d) to over 20 million cubic feet per day (570,000 m³/d) by the end of the year. Even to this day, Eugene Island 172 continues to produce. By the end of 1993, Newfield went public and began trading on the NYSE, under the symbol "NFX". Shares would initially be sold at $4.38. Throughout the rest of the decade, Newfield's focus of the Gulf of Mexico would begin to expand into southern Louisiana and the Texas coast in an effort to diversify their base.^[5]

2000 – present

Early into 2001, Newfield acquired Lariat Petroleum, thus establishing a new focus area in the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma. An additional acquisition the following year was finalized in November when EEX Corporation was procured. The expansion significantly increased Newfield's asset base in South Texas. In 2004, Newfield began new operations in the Rocky Mountains upon acquisition of Inland Resources. In addition, they began establishing international operations along the Malaysian coast before adding various offshore locations along the Chinese coast by 2005. During 2006, Newfield focused on the Monument Butte area of Utah, and the Mountain Front Wash and Woodford Shale of Oklahoma. Newfield announced the $578 million acquisition of attractive exploration and development areas in the Rocky Mountains in 2007. In 2009, Newfield entered a new area of operation when it leased property in Pennsylvania in order to survey areas of the Marcellus Shale.^[5][6]

Current & future operating areas

United States

Newfield’s domestic areas of operations include regions of Oklahoma and northern Texas known as the Mid-Continent, the Rocky Mountains, southern and coastal Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, and Pennsylvania. The Mid-Continent is the fastest growing and the largest of Newfield's divisions in terms of production, reserves and capital investment. Focusing primarily on the Anadarko and Arkoma Basins, Newfield owned a working interest in roughly 2,300 gross producing wells in that area.^[1][7]

Newfield owned a similar working interest in the Rocky Mountain division with more than 2,400 gross producing wells with 70% of their assets being oil with long-lived production. Focus has transitioned primarily to the potential in the Uinta, Williston, and Southern Alberta Basins. The Monument Butte oil field, located in the Uinta Basin, is Newfield's largest and most productive asset in the Rockies and with thousand of locations remaining in addition to the large amounts of untapped gas positioned beneath the oil currently being extracted, it looks to remain so.^[8][9]

In Texas, Newfield presently owns interest in roughly 1000 gross producing wells reaching over 375,000 acres (1,520 km²) gross. Most of these wells are located in the Maverick Basin with specific focus on the Eagle Ford and Pearsall Shales.^[10]

During 2009, Newfield and Hess Corporation signed a joint agreement in covering about 35,000 net acres, primarily in Susquehanna and Wayne Counties, Pennsylvania, in order to explore the Marcellus Shale.^[11] Beginning in mid-2010, Newfield expects to drill 6–10 assessment wells on the acreage, in order to ascertain the commercial quantities of gas and evaluate core data.^[12][13]

Asia

After establishing operations in 2004, Newfield now operates numerous shallow water oil developments and exploration with developments in the South China Sea and Bohai Bay, China. Plans are to continue development of the Malaysian offshore oil fields and discoveries in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of China where they intend to drill two exploratory commitment wells offshore China.^[14]

References