Conoco moving West Texas management to Houston

Fuel Fix ^ | January 9, 2013 | Simone Sebastian

[thackney]

ConocoPhillips is splitting its vast mid-continent business in two and moving managers from Midland to Houston, as part of an internal reorganization, according to spokesman Daren Beaudo.

ConocoPhillips, the nation’s largest independent oil producer, will shut down its Odessa office in the shuffle, an effort to improve operational efficiency, Beaudo said in an e-mail. Currently, the mid-continent unit is based in Midland and stretches from Texas to the Canadian border. It includes several prolific oil plays, including the Permian Basin in West Texas and the Bakken shale in North Dakota.

Beaudo did not disclose how the company’s assets will be divided between the two new businesses, but he said senior management and asset teams for both units will relocate to Houston.

Operations staff in Conoco’s Odessa office will be moved to Midland.

Midland-Odessa TV station KMID reported that half of Conoco’s 400 Permian Basin employees will move to Houston as part of the reorganization. Beaudo did not confirm those figures, but he said the company’s Midland workforce will remain above 100 people.

Conoco’s production and operations in West Texas won’t be impacted by the moves, he noted.

[thackney]

ConocoPhillips to Cut Permian Basin Workforce in Half
http://permianbasin360.com/fulltext?nxd_id=242812
By: Mycah Glover
Updated: January 9, 2013

ODESSA — Some big news coming from oil giant ConocoPhillips regarding their business operations in the Permian Basin. When you do the basic math, what they’re basically doing is cutting their workforce here in the Basin in half. Here’s the breakdown.

As of now, they have roughly 400 employees located throughout the Permian Basin, 200 of which will be moved to Houston. The 100 employees they currently have in Odessa will be moved to Midland, and the Odessa office is being completely shut down. In the end, they’ll have roughly 100 workers in the Midland office , and around 200 total located throughout the Permian Basin.

ConocoPhillips communications director Jim Lowry tells me this is all part of internal reorganization. They’re basically splitting their Mid-Continent Business Unit assets into two business units. Lowry emphasized this will have no impact on their drilling operations in the Permian Basin.

We reached out to the Odessa Economic Development Director Guy Andrews. He says companies like ConocoPhillips are always reorganizing, and this move does not concern him. He added that he does not believe this is indicative of any kind of slow down in the current oil boom.

[catfish1957]

Add another 3 minutes to the commute.

[Dusty Road]

Conoco is drilling like crazy on the South and Southeast part of the big ranch, their putting in a huge water flood system. Our wells in the area should benefit!

[thackney]

Permian Basin operators enjoyed strong, stable year in 2012
http://www.mywesttexas.com/business/oil/article_c9c8e6b9-c663-5c05-8aff-d0e01b166a19.html#ixzz2HZzSiCrq
December 27, 2012

Permian Basin oil and gas producers enjoyed another strong year in 2012, a year in which activity held relatively stable.

Crude prices reached triple digits in the spring before falling below $80 a barrel in the summer, recovering to around $85 by the end of the year. The Permian Basin remained a very active drilling region, with the rig count averaging about 400 rigs much of the year before moving lower as operators began emphasizing horizontal drilling and budgets emptied as the end of the year approached.

So much new production overwhelmed the region's infrastructure, sending the differential between West Texas Intermediate Midland and West Texas Intermediate Cushing to record levels. Midstream companies announced plans throughout the year to spend large amounts of money to build or expand pipelines in the Permian Basin to increase takeaway capacity. Operators say once additional capacity begins to come online, expected early in the new year, WTI Midland prices should start to close the gap with WTI Cushing.

So much activity has also sent area companies scrambling to find housing for their workers. Some operators are planning to build apartment complexes for their workers, along with portable housing and mobile home parks. A rise in traffic accidents also has companies joining together to implement safe driving programs.

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Shale fields in the Permian Basin:

[thackney]

Keep adding...

Houston’s Office Market Going Full-Speed Ahead
http://www.worldpropertychannel.com/north-america-commercial-news/houston-office-market-us-bureau-of-labor-statistics-delta-associates-transwestern-houston-office-space-for-lease-office-rates-in-houston-6428.php
01/09/13

The Houston office market is vibrant, thanks to the metro’s strong economy that generated 95,800 new jobs in the 12-month period ending October 31, 2012, the second highest number in the nation. The market had an unemployment rate of 6.2% as of October 31, 2012, down from 7.7% in October 2011. The national unemployment rate was 7.9% in October 2012, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and Delta Associates.

Perhaps the biggest news in Houston’s office market in 2012 was the growth in the construction pipeline. According to a fourth quarter 2012 Delta Associates/Transwestern office market report, there were 4.6 million square feet of space under construction or renovation at the end of 2012, compared to 3.6 million square feet at the end of third quarter 2012 and 1.4 million square feet at year-end 2011. Space under construction at year-end 2012 was 39.9% pre-leased compared to 47.2% at year-end 2011.

Professional/business services and energy-related firms drove leasing activity in the fourth quarter in Houston’s office market, according to the Delta/Transwestern office market report. Vacancies had continued to decline, falling to 10.6% at year-end 2012 and asking rents increased by approximately 4.8% in 2012.

[Rodamala]

Excepted from Permian Basin operators enjoyed strong, stable year in 2012:

"Observed Midlander Steve Melzer, "(The Permian Basin) has immense resources. The shales are one; residual oil zones are another. I tell young people that in the 1970s, I was told, 'There should be enough work for you, but we're not sure about your kids.' Now I tell them 'There's enough work for you, for your kids and probably their kids.'"

[Dusty Road]

Every square inch of our 3 places sit right in the middle of the Cline and we’ve only produce a small portion of the upper zone. We have a total of 46 sections that own both the land and the minerals, and have another 30 sections in lease. We’re fixing to get real busy!

[ConservativeDude]

Wow. That’s great news. I grew up in the Panhandle. Love to see folks out there in that area prosper!!!

[hummingbird]

"Add another 3 minutes to the commute."

HA! I once lived in Odessa; Conoco emp. could probably ride their bikes to Midland.

Odessa and Midland have a rivalry like Houston & Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles etc.

HA!

[Grams A]

Add another 3 minutes to the commute.”

Are you sure you didn’t mean 3 hours?

[T-Bird45]

A cousin has worked for Conoco/ConocoPhillips since graduating college in the 70s. He was moved from Ponca City to Houston and then Bartlesville. He was never so glad to leave a place as he was to get out of west Houston just after the Ike/Katrina event.

I suspect the folks having to move from Midland-Odessa to Houston are glad to have a job but are not enamored of going to Houston.