The sale of its heavy crude and gas operations in Canada means ConocoPhillips will lay off 170 jobs at its Bartlesville offices. Most of the layoffs will involve finance positions but corporate officials have yet to offer detailed explanations.
The nearly $13 billion deal was with Cenovus Energy which is paying $10.6 billion in cash and 208 million Cenovus shares valued at $2.7 billion.
“This is a significant, win-win opportunity for ConocoPhillips and Cenovus,” said Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
He said the deal will make an immediate and significant impact on the company’s value proposition by allowing it to rapidly reduce debt to $20 billion. It will also double the company’s share repurchase authorization to $6 billion.
“This means we will not only accelerate but exceed the three-year plan we laid out in November 2016,” added Lance.
The sale means ConocoPhillips will exit its Foster creek Christina Lake oil sands mining operations in Canada but keep 50% operated interest in the Surmont oil sands joint venture.
“ConocoPhillips Canada will now focus exclusively on our Surmont oil sands and the liquids-rich Blueberry-Montney unconventional asset,” added Lance.