Private arbitration hearing between Exxon/CNOOC and CVX start Monday in London. By August or September, the panel will decide whether Exxon and another partner in Guyana, China’s Cnooc, have the right to counter Chevron’s bid for Hess’s 30% stake in a generational oil discovery of 11 billion barrels of oil and gas.
For Chevron, the arbitration is a must-win. Hess is a big player in the Bakken Shale of North Dakota, but its crown jewel is Guyana. Hess’s share of the Guyana project could be worth some $40 billion, analysts estimated last year.