PBPA Names Adkins VP/Membership
The Permian Basin Petroleum Association (PBPA) has announced the appointment of Brianne Adkins, of Midland, Texas, as PBPA’s new Vice President for Membership and Communications. Adkins has served the PBPA as Director for Member Relations since 2013.
In her new, elevated role, Adkins will continue to oversee all aspects of member recruitment, relations, and retention. She will also continue her efforts in coordination of the PBPA’s nine active policy committees. Additionally, Adkins will assume oversight of all communications, digital media, and event coordination for the association.
“I look forward to continuing my service to the association’s strong legacy of advocacy for the oil and gas industry,” Adkins said. “I am excited to expand my responsibilities within our team that prides itself on professional representation and advocacy for its members.”
Adkins has over seven years of experience in the fields of marketing and event corrdination. A Lubbock, Texas, native, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from Texas Tech University where she worked as a Chancellor’s Ambassador for both then Chancellor Kent Hance and the University at large.
Ben Shepperd, President of the PBPA, said “During her tenure, Brianne has brought immense value to the PBPA through her development of several working committees and membership recruitment efforts. She continues to add value to our organization by means of her organizational skills, interpersonal relationships, and her ability to see a need and get the job done. We look forward to many more years of success with Brianne on our team.”
Low Density Polyethylene Capacity to Grow
Global Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) capacity could see considerable growth over the next five years, with announced planned projects increasing in capacity from 26.2 million tons per annum (mtpa) in 2015 to 34.2 mtpa by 2020, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.
The company’s latest report states that 27 planned projects have been announced to come online over the next five years, driven mostly by the United States and India.
North America is responsible for seven planned LDPE projects. Six of these are in the United States and are set to add capacity of 2.3 mtpa by 2020. The country’s capital expenditure for such projects will be $4.34 billion over the next five years, and the top companies accounting for major capacity additions are Badlands NGLs, LLC, and Sasol Limited.
In Asia, India will be responsible for major LDPE capacity additions, with proposed additions of 1.2 mtpa over the next five years, which will accumulate a cost of around $0.55 billion (USD) by 2020. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Reliance Industries Limited are the top two companies accounting for major capacity additions in the country.
In the Middle East, Iran has three planned LDPE projects adding capacity of about 0.9 mtpa by 2018, and its capital expenditure will be $0.65 billion (USD) over the next five years.
In Europe, Russia will be responsible for major LDPE capacity additions, where capacity of about 0.4 mtpa is planned by 2017, with $0.14 billion (USD) in capital expenditure by 2020.
Halliburton/Eclipse: Longest Lateral Well
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) announced on May 31 that it worked with Eclipse Resources Corporation (NYSE:ECR) to complete hydraulic fracturing of the extended reach lateral test well known as “Purple Hayes.” The Utica Shale well had a lateral length of over 18,500 feet and was completed with 124 frac stages in 24 days.The total depth was 27,046 feet, including the lateral extension, which Eclipse believes is the longest horizontal onshore lateral ever drilled in the United States.
The fracturing operations performed by Halliburton utilized the company’s Q10 pumps equipped with dual fuel technology, which performed with zero down time. In addition, SandCastle PS-2500 units equipped with Halliburton’s Dust Control systems provided sand loading logistics while reducing the environmental footprint on site. The efficiencies achieved with this equipment allowed Eclipse to improve its daily completion rate by 20 percent over the original plan, lowering their ultimate cost per BOE.
Tony Angelle, area vice president for Halliburton said, “The Halliburton and Eclipse team worked incredibly efficiently on this well, setting 124 of our Obsidian Frac plugs, averaging 5.3 frac stages per day, and achieving a North America land record of 26,641 feet in plug set depth. We are proud this accomplishment was made using our complete Frac of the Future fleet, including dual fuel pumps that reduced fuel consumption by 40 percent.”
Thomas Liberatore, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Eclipse said, “I am pleased to say that the drilling and completion of the well progressed almost exactly as designed, which, although expected by us, was truly remarkable and groundbreaking execution by our team.”
For additional information, please visit Halliburton’s Hydraulic Fracturing website.
Sheffield to Retire; Dove Named Successor
Scott D. Sheffield
Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) (“Pioneer” or “the company”) announced May 19 that Scott D. Sheffield will retire as the company’s chief executive officer effective Dec. 31, 2016. Pioneer’s board of directors approved a transition plan under which the company’s president and chief operating officer, Timothy L. Dove, will succeed Sheffield as the company’s president and chief executive officer upon his retirement. Sheffield will continue as executive chairman of the company’s board of directors through Dec. 31, 2017, at which time he will retire as an executive and employee of the company but remain on the board.
Timothy L. Dove
“Scott Sheffield has truly been a visionary leader in the energy industry,” said lead director Ken Thompson. “For more than 30 years, he guided Pioneer and its predecessor companies to build one of the premier oil shale resource companies in the United States. Despite the challenges facing the energy industry today, Pioneer is in excellent financial shape with great assets and a strong, experienced leadership team in place. Pioneer’s corporate culture is second to none thanks to Scott, and it shows in out people, assets, balance sheet, and top-tier performance.”
What started as a $32 million company in 1985 has grown to a $28 billion company today. With Sheffield at the helm, Pioneer and its predecessor, Parker and Parsley Petroleum Company, built a legacy position in the heart of the Praberry/Wolfcamp Field in the Permian Basin during the 1980s and 1990s. Pioneer advanced into successful upstream ventures around the globe, but ultimately the company found its greatest success but returning to its roots in the Permian Basin and bringing technological advances to the Spraberry/Wolfcamp Field, thus making the field the second largest oil field in the world.
Sheffield is recognized for his leadership in bringing an end to the domestic oil export ban last year, four decades after its adoption in the United States. His tenure at Pioneer will be remembered for its well-timed strategic decisions, financial discipline, solid growth and strong management teams with attention to seamless leadership transitions, particularly as it relates to his own successor.
“Tim’s strategic thinking and depth of experience was critical to our efforts to transform the company into a leading developer of U.S. onshore unconventional resources,” said Sheffield. “I am confident he is the best person to serve as Pioneer’s next CEO. His leadership skills, operational knowledge, keen financial mind and work ethic will ensure we continue to enhance shareholder value. With more than 30 years of industry experience each, Tim and the other members of our Management Committee are one of the best and most cohesive management teams in the business.”
“It is the ultimate honor to succeed Scott Sheffield,” said Dove. “He laid a solid foundation on which we have built one of the most successful independent E&P companies. Pioneer has a special culture with talented people who give us a competitive advantage. With more than 20,000 drilling locations in some of the best rock in the world, we have the assets and people to continue to achieve top-tier performance in the coming years.”
Sheffield intends to spend his time with his five children and 10 grandchildren and pursue his favorite hobbies of tennis, golf, fishing, skiing and hunting. He and his wife, Kimberley, will permanently reside in Santa Fe, N.M.
Azure Midstream Partners, LP Reports First Quarter 2016 Financial Results
Azure Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: AZUR) (“Azure” or the “partnership”), announced financial and operating results for the three months ended Mar. 31, 2016.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter 2016 was $5.1 million, compared to pro forma adjusted EBITDA of $8.6 for the first quarter of 2015, and distributable cash flow was $2.4 million, or $0.11 per limited partner unit, compared to pro forma distributable cash flow of $7.2 million, or $0.40 per limited partner unit in the first quarter of 2015. The Partnership recognized a net loss of $113.6 million for the quarter due primarily to a $107.5 million non-cash impairment of tangible and intangible assets related to the AES and NuDevco restructure. This compares to a pro forma net loss of $7.6 million for the first quarter of 2015.
Adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow are explained in greater detail under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures,” and reconciliations of these measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the tables at the end of this release.
“While the challenging commodity market persists, we have just completed the strategic restructuring plan with AES and its parent, NuDevco according to the plans we outlined during our recent earnings call,” said I.J. “Chip” Berthelot, president and CEO. “This allows us to reduce outstanding units by 50 percent, focus more intensely on our core gas business, and proceed with additional strategic initiatives as a more streamlined organization.”
The execution of the AES restructure agreement accelerated a letter of credit, which on Apr. 1, 2016, was used to reduce the outstanding debt at the end of the first quarter by $15.0 million. Additionally, effective Apr. 1, 2016, NuDevco surrendered to the partnership 1,939,265 common units, 8,724,545 subordinated units and 10 IDR units of the partnership which were held by NuDevco and its subsidiary. This reduced the number of outstanding units of the partnership from approximately 21.7 million units to 11.1 million common units. In return, the partnership agreed to terminate both the gathering and processing and transloading agreements coupled with a mutual release of future claims with AES, and AES assigned all of its rights and interests in third party contracts to the partnership.
Giving full effect to the restructure, on a pro forma basis, the partnership could have generated $0.22 per limited partner unit with 11.1 million units outstanding for the first quarter of 2016.
First Quarter 2016 Results
AES was the anchor tenant for the transloading business. As a result of the restructure, the transloading business will be combined with the gathering and processing segment for reporting purposes going forward. Our transloading sites are located in underserved oil producing regions and provided a crucial oil transport service when energy prices were more robust. In this environment, we will use this opportunity to evaluate the viability of each location and seek opportunity to reduce cost in the near term to position for optimization in the long-term.
Gross margin for the gathering and processing segment for the first quarter 2016 was $9.4 million compared to $7.5 million in the first quarter of 2015. Gathered gas volumes were 260 MMcf/d and gas processed volumes were 66 MMcf/d for the first quarter 2016. Gathered gas volumes were 249 MMcf/d and gas processed volumes were 183 MMcf/d for the first quarter 2015.
The partnership’s 1Q2016 recurring operating expenses were $4.0 million, recurring general and administrative expenses were $2.4 million, depreciation and amortization expenses were $6.0 million, and interest expense was $3.0 million. Debt, net of cash, was $215.6 million as of Mar. 31, 2016. Pro forma debt, net of cash, considering the effects of the $15.0 million debt reduction was $200.6 million as of Mar. 31, 2016.
In connection with the AES restructure, the partnership recorded a non-cash impairment loss of $107.5 million in the 1Q2016. The impairment comprised a $78.3 million impairment to the processing tangible assets, and a $29.2 million impairment to the intangible asset identified as part of the purchase price allocation to the partnership’s assets acquired related to the customer relationship with AES.
Suspension of Distributions
The partnership has suspended distributions for the quarterly period ended Mar. 31, 2016. The partnership’s board of directors and management believe the suspension to be in the best long-term interest of all stakeholders. The board of directors will continue to evaluate the partnership’s ability to reinstate the distribution, although reinstatement of distributions is not expected in the near term absent substantial improvement in our operating performance and compliance with the terms of our credit agreement.
First Quarter 2016 Conference Call and Webcast
Azure will host a conference call to discuss first quarter 2016 results at 10:00 a.m. CDT (11:00 a.m. EST) on Monday, May 9, 2016.
Interested parties can listen to a live webcast of the call from the Events and Presentations page of the Azure Investor Relations website at http://investor.azuremidstreampartners.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=253822&p=irol-calendar. An archived replay of the webcast will be available for 12 months following the live presentation.
Anadarko Posts $1B Loss for Q1
Anadarko Petrolum Corp. Logo (PRNewsFoto/Anadarko Petroleum Corp.)
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) on May 2 announced its financial and operating results for the first quarter of 2016, including a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $1.034 billion, or $2.03 per share (diluted). The net loss includes certain items typically excluded by the investment community in published estimates, which in the aggregate decreased net income by $465 million or $0.91 per share (diluted) on an after-tax basis. Net cash used in operating activities in the first quarter of 2016 was $137 million. Discretionary cash flow from operations totaled $486 million.
First-Quarter 2016 Highlights
- Announced year-over-year capital reduction of approximately 50 percent
- Improved cost structure by $800 million by reducing the dividend and staffing
- Closed monetizations totaling $1.3 billion
- Issued $3.0 billion of new bonds to refinance debt maturing in 2016 and 2017
“During the first quarter, we maintained strong operating performance and continued to improve our cost structure and efficiencies, while taking significant steps to strengthen our financial position without diluting equity,” said Al Walker, Anadarko chairman, president, and CEO. “Year to date, we’ve closed monetizations totaling $1.3 billion and are currently in the process of advancing another $700-plus million of divestitures. We’ve also removed perceived uncertainty by issuing $3.0 billion of investment-grade bonds to refinance near-term maturities. Additionally, the dividend reduction and the restructuring of our workforce together are expected to provide approximately $800 million of available cash on an annualized basis. These actions combined with our continued focus on financial discipline, operational excellence, and best-in-class capital allocation, support our ability to enhance and preserve value in a volatile market environment.”
Operations Highlights
Increased Delaware Basin net resource estimate to more than 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE)
Achieved first oil at the Heidelberg development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico
Advanced the TEN development with the arrival of the FPSO offshore Ghana
Successfully drilled the company’s first horizontal deepwater well offshore Côte d’Ivoire
Anadarko’s first-quarter sales volumes of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) totaled 75 million BOE, or an average of 823,000 BOE per day, on a divestiture-adjusted basis.
Anadarko’s 2016 U.S. onshore capital investments are primarily focused in the Delaware and DJ basins. In the Delaware Basin of West Texas, Anadarko delivered a year-over-year increase in sales volumes of approximately 47 percent, or about 12,000 BOE per day. As previously announced, the company’s successful appraisal and delineation program also resulted in an increase to its net recoverable resource estimate in the basin to more than 2 billion BOE from its previous estimate of more than 1 billion BOE. In the DJ Basin of northeast Colorado, the company achieved a year-over-year sales-volume increase of approximately 11 percent, or about 24,000 BOE per day.
In the Gulf of Mexico, the company increased year-over-year liquids sales volumes in the first quarter by 25 percent, largely driven by achieving first oil at Heidelberg ahead of schedule, continued outperformance at Lucius, and the contributions from our capital-efficient tieback program. Also during the first quarter, the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel arrived at the TEN field offshore Ghana. The TEN development is more than 90-percent complete and remains on schedule for first oil in the third quarter of this year. Offshore Côte d’Ivoire, Anadarko continued its successful appraisal program, encountering approximately 100 net feet of vertical pay in the company’s first horizontal deepwater well at Paon-5A. The company plans to drill the Paon-3AR sidetrack well in the second quarter, followed by a drillstem and interference testing program, as it works to advance the Paon discovery toward commerciality.
Operations Report
For details on Anadarko’s operations and exploration program, including detailed tables illustrating divestiture-adjusted information, please refer to the comprehensive report on first-quarter 2016 activity. The report is available at www.anadarko.com.
Ways to Get Your Employees to Sell
By Bob Phibbs
Motivating employees. It’s always tough in any business.
Your goal is to be the go-to name in your field or industry, but you know you haven’t got a snowball’s chance of seeing that level of success unless you can truly engage your customers and clients and keep them interested in your products and services.
And the only way to do that is to get your employees to engage those customers, to get them to commit to creating an exceptional experience for visitors so they do business with you, instead of buying from a competitor.
The big question is: How to get your employees to focus on the customer?
Employee motivation is an elusive creature.
Motivating employees is perhaps the hardest thing any manager ever has to work toward. You worry that you’re not connecting, that your words don’t resonate deeply with your employees, and you struggle to figure out a magic formula.
And that’s good…
That’s because employees don’t come hard-wired to perform well in a vacuum. Unless you can find a way to connect powerfully with your crew, your sales are doomed to failure.
It may appear easier to just pay them more. But many times, no matter how much you pay them, after a period of time, their self-motivation wanes. That’s because when you employ people, you are also taking on all of their innate hardships and challenges; the things they deal with at home, along with the things that keep them up at night.
You are taking on the whole person, for all of the good and the bad that brings.
Their natural tendency is to do less and less unless someone encourages them to do more.
When it’s time to open the business and welcome your customers each day, it becomes your daily challenge to help your employees put their best face forward, focus on serving the customer, and keep their eyes on the goal of closing as many sales as possible.
For some companies, this challenge is settled by performance metrics as simple as dollars and cents. You close X number of sales, you get more money in your paycheck. And in many high-end sales environments, sales incentives—such as commissions or performance bonuses—makes sense.
But if you find yourself in a position where commission-based sales don’t work for your company, you still have to find new ways to motivate your employees.
Here are three ideas to help motivate your sales associates that don’t involve paying them based on the number of units they move.
- Give Them Luxury
For your best performing associates, it is great to give them a little bit of something special. Maybe it’s a box of especially good chocolates at the end of a hard week. Maybe it’s a bottle of Scandinavian water they weren’t expecting. Maybe it’s a 30-minute massage.
Maybe it’s just a handwritten thank you note from you, the boss, whom they look up to, mailed to their house.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what the luxury is. It only matters that you took the time to think of them and thank them for their amazing work in an impromptu fashion.
People want to feel important. If you have good people on your team, make them feel important, and they are more likely to stay on your team.
To put a finer point on it, the more important or special that you make them feel, the more likely they will make your customers feel important. A caveat: don’t publish your criteria or you will have to do it each and every time much like a contest, which defeats the purpose.
- Give Them Time
Time is our most precious resource, and there is no sweeter way to reward one of your sales team than to give them a few hours of their time back.
So for your top performer this month, give them a half or full extra day off—with pay. Do it without any fanfare. Just let this person stay home, sleep late, take care of their kids, or go to a movie while you cover their shift. Don’t make a big deal about it. It’s not a contest; it’s a gift that you are giving them. And when they come back, they will be refreshed.
- Give Them Space
If you’ve seen the movie Office Space, then you understand the importance of a red stapler. It represents something that is yours. Even if it’s only a stapler, you have earned it.
Office space—literally—can feel very much the same. It is home. When you designate physical space to an employee, you are telling that person that they have a place here. A permanent place. They matter.
This is not a small thing.
For your best associates, carve out a place in the back to set their photos of their kids and their dogs, a place for them to pin ridiculous things they might print out from Facebook—whatever. The ultimate goal is to let employees feel at home when they are at work.
This only works if you hire people who themselves have some internal motivation. You can’t motivate a rock to move—no matter what you try. If you feel stuck with certain unmotivated employees, don’t give up on motivation but do get rid of the rock-like employees.
When you have done the hard job of whittling down your applicants, onboarding them to your culture and giving them sales training, your number one job is to see what helps them stay motivated and change it up often. That way it keeps employees wondering what they will get for hitting a goal, doing a good job or extending themselves for your customers’ benefit.
And that’s great motivation for everyone, not just your sales team.
About The Author:
Bob Phibbs is the CEO of The Retail Doctor, a New York consultancy. As a speaker, sales consultant and author of The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business, Bob has helped thousands of businesses since 1994. With over thirty years’ experience beginning in the trenches of retail and extending to senior management positions, his presentations are designed to provide practical information in a fun and memorable format. For more information on Bob, please visit www.RetailDoc.com.