It's been bad year to be a highly paid CEO of an underperforming energy company. This past January we found out that Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK ) co-founder Aubrey McClendon was "retiring" after philosophical differences with his board. Now, SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD ) CEO Tom Ward, also a co-founder of Chesapeake Energy, is being sent packing.
Unfortunately, for Ward, there won't be any cake served at a retirement party, for he's being let go effective immediately. It could have been worse: The company, which had hired an independent investigation firm to look into allegations of improper related-party transactions, determined that Ward's actions didn't merit him being terminated with cause. Despite that finding, this isn't the most graceful exit for the company's founder.
With cake and cookies not being an option, Ward will have to make due with his severance package. Under the terms of his employment agreement more than 6.3 million shares of previously granted restricted stock will vest, in addition to which he'll receive a lump sum payment of $53.5 million, which consists of things like unpaid vacation and bonuses. Finally, Ward will continue to receive his base salary for the next three years. When you add it all up, Ward's package is worth about $90 million, which is one of the highest exit packages the energy industry has seen, and much higher than what McClendon received from Chesapeake. While this might seem like a lot -- for those scoring at home that equates to the cost of about 30 Mississippian wells -- this is simply the cost of beginning a new chapter in the company's history.�
Best Energy Companies For 2014: Williams Partners L.P.(WPZ)
Williams Partners L.P. focuses on natural gas transportation, gathering, treating and processing, storage, natural gas liquid fractionation, and oil transportation activities in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Gas Pipeline, and Midstream Gas and Liquids. The Gas Pipeline segment owns and operates approximately 13,900 miles of pipelines with annual throughput of approximately 2,700 trillion British thermal units of natural gas and delivery capacity of approximately 13 million dekatherms of gas. This segment also owns interests in joint venture interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline systems. The Midstream Gas and Liquids segment includes natural gas gathering, processing, and treating facilities; and crude oil gathering and transportation facilities that serve the producing basins in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, the Gulf of Mexico, and Pennsylvania. Williams Partners GP LLC serves as the general partner of the company. Williams Partners L.P . was founded in 2005 and is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Natural gas transportation and storage MLP�Williams Partners (NYSE: WPZ ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.8625 per unit, a 9% increase from the payout it made to investors last quarter of $0.8475 per unit.
- [By Stone Fox Capital]
Williams has one of the leading energy infrastructures in North America. It owns interests in, or operates, 15,000 miles of interstate gas pipelines, 1,000 miles of NGL transportation pipelines, and more than 10,000 miles of oil and gas gathering pipelines. It owns more than 70% of Williams Partners L.P. (WPZ), one of the largest diversified energy master limited partnerships.
Best Energy Companies For 2014: HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA (HRTPY)
HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA, formerly BN 16 Participacoes Ltda, is a Brazil-based holding company engaged in the oil and gas industry. The Company is primarily involved in the exploration and production (E&P) of oil and natural gas in Brazil and Namibia. Through its subsidiaries, it is active in the geophysical and geological research, exploration, development, production, import, export and sale of oil and natural gas, as well as in the provision of air logistics services in transporting people and equipment related to oil and gas activities in the exploratory campaign in the Solimoes Basin. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had seven subsidiaries, including Integrated Petroleum Expertise Company Servicos em Petroleo Ltda (IPEX), HRT O&G Exploracao e Producao de Petroleo Ltda, HRT Netherlands BV, HRT America Inc, HRT Africa, HRT Canada Inc and Air Amazonia Servicos Aereos Ltda.Top 10 Undervalued Companies To Own For 2014: Euro FX(P)
Ecopetrol S.A. operates as an integrated oil company in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and the U.S. Gulf Coast. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas. As of December 31, 2010, its proved reserves of crude oil and natural gas consisted of 1,714.0 million barrels of oil equivalent. The company also transports crude oil, motor fuels, fuel oil, and other refined products, as well as mixture of diesel and palm oil. It owns transportation network consisting of 3,003 kilometers of crude oil pipeline directly, as well as an additional 2,178 kilometers of crude oil pipeline with its business partners; and 3,017 kilometers of multi-purpose pipelines for transportation of refined products from refinery to wholesale distribution points. As of the above date, Ecopetrol S.A. owned 58 stations with a nominal storage capacity of 19 million barrels of crude oil and 6 million barrels of refined products. In addition, the company owns and o perates refineries that produce a range of refined products, including gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, aviation fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, sulfur, heavy fuel oils, motor fuels, and petrochemicals, including paraffin waxes, lube base oils, low-density polyethylene, aromatics, asphalts, alkylates, cyclohexane and aliphatic solvents, and refinery grade propylene, as well as provides industrial services to third parties. Further, it markets various refined and feed stock products, including regular and high octane gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, natural gas, and petrochemical products. The company was formerly known as Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos and changed its name to Ecopetrol S.A. in June 2003. Ecopetrol S.A. was founded in 1948 and is based in Bogota, Colombia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Munarriz]
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) fans shouldn't get too excited here. It's not the iconic iTunes Music Store that's raking in the big digital bucks. Streaming through Pandora (NYSE: P ) and smaller sites is starting to generate material revenue for the record labels.
- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
Dominant online music streaming service�Pandora� (NYSE: P ) recently announced a new "Pandora Premieres" station, which promises to allow users to listen to new albums before they go on sale. That includes both paying subscribers and ad-supported (free) users.
Best Energy Companies For 2014: China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(SNP)
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation engages in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil and natural gas properties primarily in China. It operates 16 oil and gas production fields in China. As of December 31, 2010, the company?s estimated proved reserves of crude oil and natural gas consisted of 3,963 million barrels-of-oil equivalent comprising 2,888 million barrels of crude oil and 6,447 billion cubic feet of natural gas. It also engages in the refining of crude oil; marketing and distribution of refined petroleum products; and production and sale of petrochemical products that consist of intermediate petrochemicals, synthetic resins, synthetic fiber monomers and polymers, synthetic fibers, synthetic rubber, and chemical fertilizers, as well as owns and operates oil depots and service stations. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation is a subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dividend]
China Petroleum & Chemical (SNP) has a market capitalization of $68.96 billion. The company employs 376,201 people, generates revenue of $455.236 billion and has a net income of $10.914 billion. China Petroleum & Chemical�� earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $27.818 billion. The EBITDA margin is 6.11 percent (the operating margin is 3.54 percent and the net profit margin 2.40 percent).
- [By Rich Duprey]
Just a few years ago, China was in a mad dash to buy up the world's resources, particularly those in Africa.�China Petroleum & Chemical (NYSE: SNP ) , also known as Sinopec, was not only in Argentina taking over Occidental Petroleum's oil and gas fields, but it was also was negotiating for deepwater assets off Angola.
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