世界石油

(彭博社)“雪佛龙公司斥资 530 亿美元收购赫斯公司的计划再次遭遇挫折，因为与埃克森美孚公司解决所有权纠纷的仲裁听证会要到明年才能举行。

埃克森美孚和雪佛龙周三表示，负责处理该案件的国际仲裁小组计划于 5 月举行听证会。埃克森美孚声称，雪佛龙的收购并未赋予其控制赫斯在圭亚那石油项目中的股份的权利。

两家公司在一份联合声明中表示：“埃斯和雪佛龙曾预期并要求提前举行此次听证会。但仲裁员的共同日程安排使得这无法实现。”

此次推迟对这笔陷入困境的交易是一个重大打击，该交易宣布九个多月后仍远未完成。美国联邦贸易委员会仍在审查该交易，该委员会计划推迟决定是否试图阻止合并，直到仲裁案解决之后。

纽约常规交易结束后，赫斯股价一度下跌 3.5%，雪佛龙股价一度下跌 1.7%。

雪佛龙于 10 月宣布同意收购赫斯，这将成为该公司 20 年来最大的收购案。此次收购的核心是赫斯持有埃克森美孚控制的圭亚那大型油田 30% 的股份，这是过去十年来最大的油田发现。

埃克森美孚负责运营该区块，并拥有 45% 的股份。赫斯和中国海洋石油有限公司分别拥有剩余的 30% 和 25%。雪佛龙表示，如果赫斯的股份不包含在交易中，它将放弃收购赫斯的全部交易。

埃克森美孚于 3 月份向仲裁机构提出申请，声称其对赫斯的股份拥有优先购买权，这对该并购案造成了沉重打击。

5 月份，赫斯的投资者仅以 51% 的票数批准了雪佛龙的收购案，因为几位大股东和 Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. 认为投票应该推迟到仲裁案结束后。投资者表示担心，在交易完成之前，他们将无法收到雪佛龙的股息，这会削弱交易的价值。

雪佛龙表示有信心在仲裁中获胜。

两家公司周三表示，“雪佛龙和赫斯对此事的看法保持不变。”“美孚和中海油继续无视运营协议的明确措辞，而雪佛龙和赫斯仍然充满信心。”

World Oil

(Bloomberg) – Chevron Corp.’s $53 billion proposed takeover of Hess Corp. suffered another setback as an arbitration hearing to settle an ownership dispute with Exxon Mobil Corp. won’t be held until next year.

The international arbitration panel handling Exxon’s claim that Chevron’s acquisition does not give it the right to control Hess’ stake in a Guyanese oil project has scheduled the hearing for May, the companies said Wednesday.

“Hess and Chevron had expected and requested that this hearing be held earlier,” the companies said in a joint statement. “But the arbitrators’ common schedules did not make this possible.”

The delay is a significant blow to the embattled deal, which remains far from completion more than nine months after it was announced. It is still under review by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which plans to delay its decision whether to try to block the merger until after the arbitration case is settled.

Hess shares fell as much as 3.5% after the close of regular trading in New York. Chevron dipped as much as 1.7%.

Chevron announced its agreement to buy Hess in October, marking what would be the company’s biggest takeover in two decades. The centerpiece was Hess’s 30% stake in a giant Guyanese oil field controlled by Exxon, the largest oil discovery of the past decade.

Exxon operates the block and owns a 45% stake. Hess and China’s Cnooc Ltd. own the remaining 30% and 25%, respectively. Chevron has said it would scrap the entire deal to buy Hess if the company’s stake was not included in the transaction.

Exxon dealt the merger a body blow in March when it filed for arbitration, claiming it has a right of first refusal over Hess’ stake.

Hess investors approved the Chevron takeover in May by just 51% after several large shareholders and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. argued the vote should be delayed until after the arbitration case. The investors expressed concern that they would not receive Chevron dividends until the deal is complete, eroding the value of the transaction.

Chevron has said it is confident it will prevail in arbitration.

“The views of Chevron and Hess on the merits remain unchanged,” the companies said Wednesday. “Exxon and Cnooc continue to ignore the plain language of the operating agreement, and Chevron and Hess remain confident.”