HOUSTON, March 30,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:
MRO), through its affiliated company Marathon E.G. Holding
Limited, announced it has signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with
the Republic of Equatorial Guinea
(E.G.) and Noble Energy E.G. Ltd, a Chevron company, to progress
the next phases (Phases II and III) in the development of the
Equatorial Guinea Regional Gas Mega Hub (GMH).
"We are excited about this critical milestone in the ongoing
development of Punta Europa as a world-class hub for the
monetization of local and regional natural gas," said Lee Tillman, Marathon Oil Chairman, President,
and CEO. "This announcement builds on our successful partnership of
more than 20 years with the E.G. Government, further leveraging and
extending the life of E.G.'s world-class gas monetization
infrastructure, including the critical E.G. LNG facility, into the
next decade."
Phase I of the GMH was successfully achieved with the tieback of
the Alen Field to Punta Europa, which delivered first gas in
February 2021. Alen gas is processed
under the combination of a tolling and profit-sharing arrangement
through Alba Plant LLC's onshore Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG)
plant (MRO 52% interest) and Equatorial Guinea LNG Holdings Ltd's
LNG facility (E.G. LNG, MRO 56% interest).
The announced HOA builds on the success of Phase I, aligning all
parties on necessary commercial principles to advance Phases II and
III of the GMH.
More specifically, Phase II involves processing Alba Unit (MRO
64% interest) gas, from Jan. 1, 2024,
under new contractual terms following the legacy Henry Hub-linked
Alba sales and purchase agreement expiration at the end of this
year. Phase II will materially increase MRO's exposure to global
LNG pricing and is expected to improve the Company's E.G. earnings
and cash flow significantly. Phase III of the GMH is expected to
facilitate gas processing from the Aseng Field at Punta Europa
facilities.
Additionally, a recently established bilateral treaty on
cross-border oil and gas development between E.G. and Cameroon provides other opportunities to
further expand the GMH through fast-track monetization of
cross-border wet gas fields.
The E.G. Government, represented by the Ministry of Mines &
Hydrocarbons, has taken an active role in leading the successful
implementation of this GMH expansion and is committed to ensuring
subsequent activities and negotiations progress in a timely
manner.
Beyond the commercial benefits, the expanded development also
secures future fuel gas volumes for E.G.'s power generation needs,
provides longer-term employment opportunities for Equatoguineans,
and will positively impact the local communities'
economy.
Media Relations Contact:
Karina Brooks:
713-296-2191
Investor Relations Contacts:
Guy Baber: 713-296-1892
John Reid: 713-296-4380
About Marathon Oil
Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) is an independent oil and gas
exploration and production company focused on four of the most
competitive resource plays in the U.S. - Eagle Ford, Texas; Bakken,
North Dakota; STACK and SCOOP in Oklahoma and Permian in New
Mexico and Texas; complemented by a world-class integrated gas
business in Equatorial Guinea.
The Company's Framework for Success is founded on a strong
balance sheet, ESG excellence and the competitive advantages of a
high-quality multi-basin portfolio. For more information, please
visit www.marathonoil.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This release
contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of
historical fact, including without limitation statements regarding:
the advancement of phases II and III of the GMH; future E.G.
earnings and cash flow; the life of the E.G. LNG Facility; Marathon
Oil's future exposure to global LNG pricing; the impact
of the recently established bilateral treaty on cross-border oil
and gas development between E.G. and Cameroon; future commercial and other benefits
of expected expanded development and other statements regarding
management's plans and objectives for future operations, are
forward-looking statements. Words such as "anticipate," "believe,"
"continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "future,"
"guidance," "intend," "may," "outlook," "plan," "positioned,"
"project," "seek," "should," "target," "will," "would," or similar
words may be used to identify forward-looking statements; however,
the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are
not forward-looking. While Marathon Oil believes its assumptions
concerning future events are reasonable, a number of factors could
cause actual results to differ materially from those projected,
including, but not limited to: conditions in the oil and gas
industry, including supply/demand levels for crude oil and
condensate, NGLs and natural gas and the resulting impact on price;
changes in expected reserve or production levels; changes in
political or economic conditions in the U.S. and Equatorial
Guinea, including changes in foreign currency exchange rates,
interest rates, inflation rates and global and domestic market
conditions; actions taken by the members of the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia affecting
the production and pricing of crude oil and other global and
domestic political, economic or diplomatic developments; capital
available for exploration and development; risks related to
Marathon Oil's hedging activities; voluntary or involuntary
curtailments, delays or cancellations of certain drilling
activities; well production timing; liabilities or corrective
actions resulting from litigation, other proceedings and
investigations or alleged violations of law or permits; drilling
and operating risks; lack of, or disruption in, access to storage
capacity, pipelines or other transportation methods; availability
of drilling rigs, materials and labor, including the costs
associated therewith; difficulty in obtaining necessary approvals
and permits; the availability, cost, terms and timing of issuance
or execution of, competition for, and challenges to, mineral
licenses and leases and governmental and other permits and
rights-of-way, and our ability to retain mineral licenses and
leases; non-performance by third parties of contractual or legal
obligations, including due to bankruptcy; unexpected events that
may impact distributions from our equity method investees; changes
in our credit ratings; hazards such as weather conditions, a health
pandemic (including COVID-19), acts of war or terrorist acts and
the government or military response thereto; the impacts of supply
chain disruptions that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and the
resulting inflationary environment; security threats, including
cybersecurity threats and disruptions to our business and
operations from breaches of our information technology systems, or
breaches of the information technology systems, facilities and
infrastructure of third parties with which we transact business;
changes in safety, health, environmental, tax and other
regulations, requirements or initiatives, including initiatives
addressing the impact of global climate change, air emissions, or
water management; our ability to achieve, reach or otherwise meet
initiatives, plans, or ambitions with respect to ESG matters; our
ability to pay dividends and make share repurchases; our ability to
secure increased exposure to the global LNG market; impacts of the
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022; and our assumptions relating
thereto; the risk that the Ensign assets do not perform consistent
with our expectations, including with respect to future production
or drilling inventory; other geological, operating and economic
considerations; and the risk factors, forward-looking statements
and challenges and uncertainties described in Marathon Oil's 2022
Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and
other public filings and press releases, available
at https://ir.marathonoil.com/. Except as required by law,
Marathon Oil undertakes no obligation to revise or update any
forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/marathon-oil-announces-agreement-to-further-develop-equatorial-guinea-gas-mega-hub-301786441.html
SOURCE Marathon Oil Corporation