In what is rumored to be an attempt to expand international business and sell off more domestic oil and gas operations, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced last week that it will split the duties for worldwide exploration and production (E&P) between two veteran executives. Meanwhile, Jim Emme, who had aggressively stepped up the company’s North American business and had overseen its worldwide operations as well, resigned.

The Houston-based producer, which has seen its production base decline in North America, named Robert P. Daniels and Mark L. Pease as senior vice presidents, E&P, to oversee worldwide activities. Daniels will be responsible for the company’s international and growth assets; Pease will pursue North American foundation assets. Both will report to CEO Jim Hackett, who took over the company last year after serving as Devon Energy Corp.’s COO (see NGI, Dec. 8, 2003).

Lehman Brothers analyst Thomas Driscoll said he expects more changes to be announced in the next few weeks. Anadarko has a planned meeting with energy analysts on June 10. “Since the appointment of Jim Hackett as CEO, we believe that the company has been active in reviewing its entire asset portfolio,” said Driscoll.

Driscoll said the next announcements “could include an initiative to sell low quality assets, further reductions in overheads, a restructuring in Anadarko’s approach to capital allocation and potentially a reduction in drilling budgets over the next couple of years.” He noted that “management faces the challenge of competing in a mature business where attractive re-investment opportunities are hard to come by.”

Driscoll said “several billion dollars of assets” could be sold in the next 18 months, involving as much as 10% of its total assets. Most would “likely” be domestic, such as shallow water Gulf of Mexico properties — conventional and subsalt — or mature assets in Canada “that offer limited reinvestment opportunities.” Some international assets also could be sold, but Driscoll said they mostly would have “minimal production/reserve impact.”

In any case, Emme, who joined Anadarko in 1981, will be gone. He led Anadarko’s worldwide exploration efforts beginning in 2001, but was considered the primary architect of Anadarko’s North American presence in the past few years, especially in the Rocky Mountains, Canada and in the offshore Gulf of Mexico.

Emme was named manager, Offshore Gulf of Mexico and Alaska Exploitation in 1998 and was promoted to manager, Domestic Exploitation in 1999. In 2000, he was named vice president, Canada and was based in Calgary where he had overseen the exploration and development operations throughout the company’s holdings in the western provinces of Canada and in the Beaufort Sea/Mackenzie Delta region.

Emme’s resignation is one of several key departures at the super independent in the past two years. Robert J. Allison, a 30-year executive who had been chairman and on-and-off-again CEO for several years, stepped down late last year to make room for Hackett. But Hackett had not been the first choice — Allison’s hand-picked successor, John N. Seitz, unexpectedly resigned last year, and rumors circulated that the company was on the sales block.

Most of the latest changes within the top ranks resulted from promotions from within. Pease has been vice president, U.S. Onshore and Offshore since July 2002, and he has been managing Anadarko’s producing properties in the Lower 48 and the Gulf of Mexico. He began his career with Anadarko in 1979, and was instrumental in starting up the company’s Algerian operations in 1993. He returned to Houston in 2001 to take on the role of vice president, Engineering and Technology, and later that year, he took over International and Alaska Operations.

Daniels has been running Anadarko’s Canadian operations since August 2001, promoted when Emme took over worldwide operations. He joined Anadarko in 1985 and has served in key positions within the Exploration Group, including Geologic Supervisor for Algeria and Manager of Geology for Algeria Exploration and manager of U.S. Onshore Exploration. Michael O. Bridges, currently Anadarko’s chief engineer, will replace Daniels as president, Anadarko Canada Co.

Hackett called Pease and Daniels “integral members of Anadarko’s senior management team,” adding that he had “complete confidence in their capabilities, and know each will excel in their new roles.”

Besides Emme’s departure, Richard J. Sharples, senior vice president, Strategic Planning and Marketing, and Morris L. Helbach, vice president, Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer (CIO), have elected to retire.

Mario M. Coll III will join Anadarko as vice president, Information Technology Services and CIO. For the past several years, Coll has been CIO at Devon Energy and Ocean Energy, where Hackett had previously been employed. Sharples’ replacement was not named on Wednesday.

Sharples took over marketing operations in 2001, and he had been president of both Anadarko Energy Services Co. and Anadarko Gathering Co. Sharples was responsible for all of Anadarko’s natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids sales and trading. Additionally, he has operating and financial responsibility for Anadarko’s minerals business, which includes both royalty and operating interest in coal and other mineral operations, principally underlying the former Union Pacific Resources land grant in Colorado and Wyoming.

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