RE:Anybody Expecting A COP Counteroffer For Surmont ? i would give it greater than 50% chance that COP would exercise their rights of 1st refusal. IMHO
these days, the operators like to have 100% of the asset. If COP doesn't exercise now, they might have to buy the other 50% at the higher price later. I don't see the carbon emisson is a red flag for COP since net net CO2 emission would be the same when SU retain the 50%. COP can actual say being 100% WI would allow more flexibility to implement CO2 reduction initiative than with a partnerr.
Same goes for SU, not a big loss if their non operated asset get divested but of course, everyone prefer to sell their asset for more than what they paid for, especially it's SU who took a bigger bet to buy the whole lot from Total while COP can walk in and scoop up what they want at cost if they chose to. .Willow project could still hit some road bumps while Surmont phase 2 has been approved and located in alberta.
Surmont Phase 2 Oil Sands project involved the expansion of the Surmont steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) plant to increase its production capacity from the existing 27,000 barrels of bitumen a day to 136,000 barrels of bitumen a day.