埃克森美孚将出售阿塞拜疆油田股份

据5月20日Trend报道，埃克森美孚(Exxon Mobil)周二表示，该公司已重启出售其在阿塞拜疆最大油田的股权。据路透社报道，银行业和业内消息人士表示，此举吸引了亚洲大型油气公司的兴趣，这些公司正寻求从近期油价暴跌中获利。

这家美国最大的石油和天然气公司于2018年首次试图出售其在里海Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG)油田的6.8%股权，而竞争对手雪佛龙(Chevron)则开始出售其在该油田的9.57%股权。

虽然埃克森美孚的出售过程从未正式中止，但去年雪佛龙开始与匈牙利能源公司MOL就出售其资产展开谈判时，埃克森美孚的出售过程被搁置了起来。去年11月，双方达成了15.7亿美元的交易。

由美国美林银行 (Bank of America Merrill Lynch)负责的埃克森美孚项目，最近重新启动，石油消费出现历史性暴跌，油价已跌至每桶30美元左右。该公司发言人Julie King对路透社表示："埃克森美孚正在测试市场对其在阿塞拜疆的非生产资产的兴趣。该公司定期评估其生产组合，如果其他公司发现某项资产价值更高，就将出售。"

据4位业内和银行业消息人士透露，包括印度石油天然气公司(ONGC)和印尼国家石油公司(Pertamina)在内的多家亚洲石油公司，近期已对上述资产表现出兴趣，希望能以低于以往的价格达成交易。

消息人士称，目前尚不清楚埃克森美孚打算从此次出售中筹集多少资金，但其估值可能远低于雪佛龙所持股份。

阿塞拜疆国有石油公司SOCAR的发言人拒绝置评。BAML拒绝置评，Pertamina也没有回应置评请求。印度石油天然气公司也没有回复记者的置评请求，但一位印度业内人士表示，持有ACG股权的印度石油天然气公司尚未决定是否竞购埃克森美孚的股权，目前正与该领域的其它合作伙伴进行谈判。

油价的大幅下跌导致埃克森美孚今年前三个月出现了几十年来的首次季度亏损，这家总部位于德克萨斯州欧文市的公司削减了30%的支出。

埃克森美孚去年推出了一项计划，拟剥离在欧洲、亚洲和非洲价值250亿美元的油气田。该公司目前正将重点放在国内外少数几个大型项目上。

到目前为止，这一努力未能使资产出售收益恢复到此前平均每年50亿美元的水平。埃克森美孚以45亿美元的价格出售了挪威的资产，并在澳大利亚、马来西亚和尼日利亚启动了相关程序。

消息人士称，在油价暴跌后，包括出售英国北海石油和天然气资产组合在内的一系列进程已被搁置。对于埃克森美孚而言，出售其在阿塞拜疆的业务，将标志着其25年参与历程的结束。

埃克森美孚和雪佛龙等五家美国石油公司曾在苏联解体后不久帮助阿塞拜疆建立了目前的石油产业，并在1994年收购了ACG的部分股权。

阿塞拜疆及其合作伙伴将该协议称为“世纪合同”，这得益于该油田的巨大储量，以及对未来重大发现的期待，这些发现将有助于欧洲实现多样化，摆脱对俄罗斯石油和天然气的依赖。

王佳晶 摘译自 Trend

原文如下：

Exxon revives sale of stake in giant Azeri oilfield

Exxon Mobil has relaunched the sale of its stake in Azerbaijan’s largest oilfield, the company said on Tuesday, as banking and industry sources said the move was drawing interest from large Asian oil and gas companies seeking to capitalize on the recent collapse in oil prices, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The top U.S. oil and gas company first tried to sell its 6.8% stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field in the Caspian Sea in 2018, as rival Chevron launched the sale of its own 9.57% stake in the field.

While Exxon’s sale process was never officially suspended, it was put on the backburner when Chevron started negotiations with Hungarian energy firm MOL for the sale of its assets last year, which led to a $1.57 billion deal in November.

Exxon’s process, run by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was recently relaunched despite oil prices halving to around $30 a barrel after a historic collapse in oil consumption due to coronavirus-linked lockdowns that restricted people’s movement.

“Exxon Mobil is testing market interest for its non-operated producing assets in Azerbaijan,” Exxon spokeswoman Julie King told Reuters.

Exxon routinely evaluates its producing portfolio and “if other companies find more value in an asset, we will sell,” she added.

A number of Asian national oil companies, including India’s ONGC and Indonesia’s Pertamina, have shown interest in the stake recently, hoping to clinch a deal at a lower price than before, according to four industry and banking sources.

It was unclear how much Exxon was seeking to raise from the sale, but it is likely to be valued significantly lower than Chevron’s stake, the sources said.

A spokesman for SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s national oil company declined to comment. BAML declined to comment, and Pertamina did not respond to requests for comment.

ONGC did not respond to a request for comment. An Indian industry source said, however, that ONGC, which holds a stake in ACG, had yet to decide whether to bid for Exxon’s stake and was in talks with other partners in the field.

The sharp drop in oil prices pushed Exxon into its first quarterly loss in decades in the first three months of the year and the Irving, Texas-based company cut its spending by 30%.

Exxon last year launched a plan to divest up to $25 billion of oil and gas fields in Europe, Asia and Africa as it sharpened its focus on a handful of mega projects at home and abroad.

The effort so far has fallen short of returning asset sale proceeds to a prior average of $5 billion a year. Exxon has sold assets in Norway for $4.5 billion and has launched processes in Australia, Malaysia and Nigeria.

The launch of a number of processes, including the sale of its British North Sea oil and gas portfolio have been put on hold following the collapse in oil prices, according to sources.

For Exxon, the sale of its operations in Azerbaijan would mark the end of a 25-year involvement.

Exxon and Chevron were among five U.S. oil companies that helped create Azerbaijan’s current oil industry soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union and acquiring a stake in ACG in 1994.

The deal was dubbed by Azerbaijan and partners as the “the contract of the century” thanks to the field’s large reserves and hopes for future major discoveries that would help Europe diversify away from Russian oil and gas.