Why should oil companies partner with one another?

In the past few months we have seen E&P partnerships dominating oil and gas headlines, all types of operators have been involved from IOCs and NOCs to small – mid caps. But what is driving these partnerships and what are oil and gas companies ultimately gaining out of them??

In several cases IOCs and small-mid caps have come together in joint exploration partnerships, there seems to be a trend here of operators working together in frontier regions. For example Chevron and Kosmos Energy will be exploring together offshore Suriname, see this article by the Wall Street Journal for more information. By partnering in frontier basins companies are able to do several things:

- Pool technical ability and experience

- Share financial burdens

- Mitigate operational risks

Another example of partnerships in frontier regions can be seen in the $1bn deal for exploration in the Falkland Islands, recently agreed by Premier Oil and Rockhopper.

The industry is also seeing partnerships continue in mature and less hostile regions, for example Centrica and Statoil recently extended their North Sea partnership.. a deal which includes both the UKCS and the NCS. More information can be seen on Offshore Magazine’s website here

Why do you think oil and gas companies should partner with one another?

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