Chevron’s CEO is “not happy” with exploration performance. That’s corporate-speak for “we spent a fortune and found disappointment.” But fear not, salvation may be inbound: Hess’s exploration geoscientists are now on deck. Will they bring seismic miracles or just another round of PowerPoint optimism? Stay tuned for the next episode of “Hope in the Basin.”
17 replies (most recent on top)
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize that a decade without any meaningful discoveries, your whole exploration management are diversity placements, your exploration staff wouldn't recognize an oil field from a volcano (true story!), and you couldn't even find anything in Brazil or Mexico means there is no hope except in the M&A suite. Relying on Hess left-overs is just laughable desperation.
Yes, so very disappointed in exploration, but not willing to invest in exploration wells after becoming more comfortable focusing on the factory model of legacy assets and shale plays. The problem may be with MW and his C-suite, thinking they can continue shock buybacks forever to boost their compensation without risking capital.
If you drill enough holes, you’ll hit something eventually
@OP You may want to ask a Hess exploration G&G person when the last true ILX discovery was for them in the GoM and how many "hub class" exploration wells were dry holes over the past 5 years....
People think that just because a company has a massive discovery, that the people who have worked on it are some sort of geniuses with super human analytical powers. No one wants to admit that exploration is a glorified game of playing the odds: Stabroek was discovered after 20+ dry holes that came before, and after Shell pulled out. Same thing happened to Noble when it discovered Tamar and then Leviathan -- there were dozens of dry holes in the Eastern Med before Noble played the odds and hit jackpot. Almost every discovery is a case of people being consistent with exploration investment over time and patiently waiting for that 1 out of every 10 ILX wells to be a discovery.
@ep sorry everyone typing on my phone and didn’t spell check!
Where have you been? Anyone who isn’t Chevron is looked at like they are garbage. How many mergers have you seen where they throw all the good ideas away then circle back two years later and pretend those ideas were theirs? They will keep some people around for optics, the. Slowly replace them all wife live-long Chevron types then go back crying to Mckinsie when things don’t work. Reorg 2028!
@c7, exactly. The people at the top should be accountable for this pathetic performance, but somehow the worker bees are the problem.
@OP Yeah, well, I ain’t happy with that douxhebag
think the feeling is mutual
So that means MW definitely held those executive leaders responsible for the poor exploration results accountable, right? RIGHT?
@a8 the only strategy Chevron knows is to ask McKinsey or Deloitte for answers - so let’s hope their latest batch of fresh graduates knows where to look, both physically and and metaphorically.
I think Hess folks are great and technically as good as anyone, but let's be honest, what big discovery have they found in the past 5 years as the operator? 10 years?
Exploration needs to do a deep-dive on what went wrong the last 30 years or so in order to figure out how to fix it. They need a severe look-back and lessons learned exercise pronto.
Did he say we have to stop being so nice to the ES? I guess The PMP target is clear: discover economic volumes and you may get to keep your job.
If our future hinges on the visionary brilliance of "DC," "MV," and "HK"... then I suggest we start drilling for optimism, because clearly we’ve struck a dry hole. HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM... and it’s not just technical—it's philosophical.
@OP MW has no coherent strategy to offer and ELT is only there to cheer the daily incompetence.
PowerPoint optimism