Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM announced the closure of its acquisition of 50% of Equinor ASA’s EQNR stake in the BM-S-8 block, located off the coast of Brazil.
The offshore block comprises a portion of the Carcara field resources. The pre-salt field has premium oil reserves of more than 2 billion barrels. Following the conclusion of this transaction, Exxon Mobil keeps in possession 36.5% stake in the block while Equinor has 36.5% ownership interest. The remaining 17% and 10% respective stakes are under the possession of Petrogal Brasil and Barra Energia.
Next to BM-S-8, lies the North Carcara block, where Exxon Mobil owns a 40% stake. The other portion of the Carcara field is included in the block. Both BM-S-8 and North Carcara blocks are operated by Equinor.
Exxon Mobil is pleased to command this significant presence in the Carcara field, touted as the premium quality offshore oil field in Brazil. The company will likely share its extensive knowhow and world class deepwater technology with other partners for exploring and developing the prospective oil prospect.
The company and partners are expecting to extract the first oil from the field by 2023 or 2024. On Apr 25, the Guanxuma well in the BM-S-8 license will likely see the commencement of exploration and drilling activities.
With this buyout, Exxon Mobil currently stakes a claim in 24 blocks, located off the coast of Brazil. This extensive Brazilian exposure, sprawling across roughly 2.1 million net acres, will likely boost the company’s future oil production.
Headquartered in Irving, TX, Exxon Mobil is the largest privately trading energy company in the world. However, over the past year, the stock has dipped 0.3%, underperforming the industry’s 18.7% increase.
Exxon Mobil currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), implying that it will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.
Two better-ranked players in the energy sector are Anadarko Petroleum Corp. APC and Eclipse Resources Corp. ECR, both stocks sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
We expect Anadarko Petroleum to witness whopping year-over-year earnings growth of 229.6% in 2018.
Eclipse is likely to record revenue growth of 13.5% through 2018.
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