ConocoPhillips May Divest Bulk Of Its North Sea Oil Fields

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is discussing with Chrysaor Holdings Ltd. to divest a bulk of its North Sea resources, according to Bloomberg.

Earlier, ConocoPhillips was trying to divest those properties to Ratcliffe’s Ineos — a multinational chemicals firm. However, the effort to conclude the $3-billion deal failed which convinced ConocoPhillips to start searching for prospective bidders since January.

The source added that Chrysaor Holdings, an oil and natural gas explorer and producer, is leading other bidders to acquire North Sea oil fields from ConocoPhillips. Investors should know that although ConocoPhillips is in talks with Chrysaor Holdings, the discussions may not lead to an agreement.

Overall, with the sale of bulk of its North Sea assets, ConocoPhillips is trying to divert focus to prolific shale plays in the United States. The company already has strong presence in Eagle Ford, Delaware basin and Bakken shale and revealed that upstream business in the shale resources was phenomenal in 2018. ConocoPhillips is also projecting more than 25% compound annual production growth rate from its operations in the three key shale plays.

Headquartered in Houston, TX,ConocoPhillips is a leading explorer and producer of oil and natural gas in the world.

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Other prospective players in the energy space include Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR) , NGL Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NGL) and ProPetro Holding Corp. (NYSE:PUMP) . While Antero Resources and NGL Energy sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), ProPetro Holding carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Antero Resources is likely to see earnings growth of 20% over the next five years.

NGL Energy is likely to witness earnings growth of 227% for the fiscal year ending March 2019.

ProPetro Holding is likely to see 19.5% earnings growth through 2019.

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