Protesters rally at Glenelg against exploratory oil drilling in the Bight

2004 Gulf of Mexico oil spill could leak another 100 years - report Published time: May 16, 2015 03:58 Get short URL Reuters/Daniel Becerril Reuters/Daniel Becerril Tags Biology, Ecology, Globalization, Oil, Politics, USA, Weather An oil leak that occurred when an offshore platform toppled during Hurricane Ivan in 2004 has continued to spill oil into the Gulf of Mexico – and could keep leaking for another 100 years, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The documents show that a century-long leak could occur if nothing is done to address the problem. The platform owners, Taylor Energy Company, tried to work with Department of the Interior "to resolve financial obligations for the leak" worth hundreds of millions of dollars, which were set aside to pay for leak-related work. Read more Shell Oil wins approval to drill in Arctic However, the company has tried to cover up the extent of the damage to the ecology of the Gulf, and the government has been unwilling to renegotiate the costs to the Taylor. Instead, it ordered them to do more work on the matter. "There is still more that can be done by Taylor to control and contain the oil that is discharged," said an Interior Department fact sheet obtained by AP. It is suspected, by officials, that the leak is coming from at least one of 25 wells that were buried under mounds of sediment from an underwater mudslide that was triggered by waves during Hurricane Ivan. The company ordered new wells drilled in order to plug nine of the wells that were suspected could leak oil, but company officials cited experts to argue that the best course of action is do no further drilling because of risks. In reviewing more than 2,300 Coast Guard pollution reports from 2008 onwards, the AP found that since September 1, 2014, the leaks have been getting greater. When they approached the Coast Guard about the uptick, reporters were provided with new estimates showing leaks 20 times greater than what the company claimed. Read more A drop in the ocean: Recovery projects worth $134 million proposed for BP oil spill Taylor claimed the site was leaking 4 gallons per day, but revised Coast Guard estimates show "shines as large as 1.5 miles wide and 14 miles long." They also show daily oily discharges ranging from 42 gallons to as high as 2,300 gallons, with a daily average of 84 gallons. AP said the company is now down to one full-time employee after its founder died, and it sold all its offshore leases and oil and gas interests in 2008. A spokesman for the company declined to comment to AP on Friday. ====================================== Protesters rally at Glenelg against exploratory oil drilling in the Bight Posted 24 minutes ago BP protesters at Adelaide Photo: Protesters rallying against BP's oil exploration plans in the Great Australian Bight draw attention at Glenelg. (ABC News: Tom Fedorowytsch) Related Story: Adelaide statue converted into oil spill during environmentalists' protest Map: Glenelg 5045 About 100 people have rallied at Glenelg in Adelaide to protest about plans by energy company BP to explore for oil in the Great Australian Bight. Other demonstrations have been held at Kangaroo Island, in Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast, as part of nationwide protests. Wilderness Society of SA director Peter Owen said Australia could not respond to a disaster on the scale of BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico if there was a spill in the Bight. "There was something like 40,000 people involved in that clean-up," he said. "Where is the infrastructure out in the Great Australian Bight to even start to grapple with the magnitude of that scenario? "It's simply not there. The risks are too high." BP is one of several big explorers looking to assess the region's potential, which is widely considered one of the most prospective, unexplored offshore basins in the world. BP said it welcomed scrutiny by the community to ensure its work was environmentally sound. Powered by Bing Topics: environment, environmental-impact, environmental-policy, mining-environmental-issues, community-and-society, glenelg-5045, penneshaw-5222, sa

Gusher: Crude slump will stoke European oil and gas M&A : Rouhani says countries that planned to decrease oil prices will regret decision

Iran's Rouhani says countries behind oil price drop will suffer Tue, Jan 13 05:28 AM EST image By Michelle Moghtader DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that countries behind the fall in global oil prices would regret their decision and warned that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait would suffer alongside Iran from the price drop. "Those that have planned to decrease the prices against other countries will regret this decision," Rouhani said in a speech broadcast on state television as oil plunged to near six year lows on international market "If Iran suffers from the drop in oil prices, know that other oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will suffer more than Iran," he added. Oil prices have fallen 60 percent from their June 2014 peaks, driven down by rising production, particularly of U.S. shale oil, and weaker-than-expected demand in Europe and Asia. Earlier this month, Iran described Saudi Arabia's inaction in the face of the six-month price slide as a strategic mistake, but hoped that the kingdom, Tehran's main rival in the Gulf, would respond. On Tuesday, Rouhani singled out Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's budget dependency on oil exports. Data showed that 80 percent of Saudi Arabia's budget is based on oil sales, while in Kuwait the figure stands at 95 percent, he said in a speech in the city of Bushehr. In 2013, oil accounted for roughly 90 percent of Saudi Arabia's overall budget income and Kuwait at 92 percent, according to Reuters' calculations based on official data. On the other hand, only one-third of Iran's budget is based on oil sales, with an estimated 60 percent of the country's exports tied to oil, Rouhani said. Due to Western sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Iran's oil exports have dropped from 2.5 million barrels a day in 2011 to about 1 million barrels per day on average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Iran had adjusted to the drop in exports due to higher oil prices, but that buffer no longer remains today. The United Arab Emirates energy minister repeated on Tuesday that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would not cut output to support prices. Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf Arab countries have accumulated hundreds of billions of dollars of reserves due to high oil prices over the years. Saudi authorities appear confident they can ride out the market slide, with state spending set to hit a record this year. (Additionaly reporting by Martin Dokoupil, Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Crispian Balmer) ==== Iran's Rouhani says countries that planned to decrease oil prices will regret decision - @Reuters (Reuters) - Oil prices continued their rout on Tuesday with Brent crude and U.S. WTI both falling to their lowest in almost six years as a big OPEC producer stood by the group's decision not to cut output to tackle a glut in the market. Oil prices have fallen 60 percent from their 2014 peaks hit in June in a rout that has seen a collapse of more than 36 percent in the past seven weeks. February Brent crude fell almost 5 percent to a low of $45.23 a barrel by 0730 GMT, the lowest since March 2009. U.S. crude for February was trading at $44.44 a barrel, its weakest since April 2009. The price fall is a result of rising output, especially of U.S. shale oil. At the same time, producers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have not cut output, instead offering discounts to customers in an attempt to defend market share. The United Arab Emirates' oil minister, Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui, said on Tuesday that OPEC's decision in November not to cut output had been right. He also said that U.S. shale oil was an important part of global oil supplies. "Shale oil producers are very important for the market supply and we all need them to stay," he said, adding that the market would stabilize at a level at which conventional producers can sell profitably, "whether $60 or $70 or $80". Adding to the glut are slowing Asian economies, which now face deflationary pressures. "Even without the full effect of the recent collapse in energy prices, GDP deflator in the region (Asia) ... is estimated to have slipped. We believe that weaker aggregate demand is at the heart of this generalized deflationary pressure," U.S. bank Morgan Stanley said on Tuesday. The downward pressure on prices is so big that even record Chinese crude imports for December - above 7 million barrels a day for the first time as the world's No.2 oil consumer took advantage of low prices to build up reserves - could not lift the market for long. Meanwhile, banks have slashed their oil price outlook, with analysts at Goldman Sachs cutting their average forecast for Brent in 2015 to $50.40 a barrel from $83.75. (Editing by Joseph Radford, Himani Sarkar and Alan Raybould) ====== OPEC price war in Asia intensifies as oil falls below $50 Reuters EDITION:U.S. BY FLORENCE TAN AND HENNING GLOYSTEIN SINGAPORE Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:54pm EST Shaybah oilfield complex is seen at night in the Rub' al-Khali desert, Saudi Arabia, November 14, 2007. REUTERS/ Ali Jarekji CREDIT: REUTERS/ ALI JAREKJI RELATED NEWS Slump in oil weighs on equities in volatile session Oil dives anew, falling 5 percent on Goldman downgrade, outages U.S. oil tanks barely one-third full beckon crude contango play CORRECTED-Global oil prices extend falls; two large U.S. refineries hit by fires MIDEAST STOCKS - Factors to watch - Jan 12 ANALYSIS & OPINION Is the gold to oil ratio a sign of trouble? Retail Therapy Amid Oil’s Decline (Reuters) - Even as Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies appear united in their refusal to cut output to boost global oil prices, they are becoming locked in an increasingly fierce battle to secure market share in Asia. Oil prices have slumped below $50 a barrel, the weakest since 2009, triggering a price war between producers to secure customers in Asia. And the price outlook remains grim with Goldman Sachs slashing its three-month benchmark crude forecasts to just above $40. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week joined Kuwait and Iraq in pricing crude they sell to Asia below that of OPEC's top producer Saudi Arabia. The discounts show how Gulf members, who account for more than half of OPEC output, are prepared to take on each other to retain market share and, in so doing, put more pressure on global oil prices. "It's a fight for the market," said Tushar Bansal of consultancy FGE, who says Gulf producers such as the UAE are prepared to stomach lower prices to hold their market share. The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) set the official selling price (OSP) for flagship grade Murban in December at a discount to similar quality Saudi's Arab Extra Light for the ninth month in a row, data from Reuters and trade sources showed last week. This was despite Saudi Arabia raising its prices to customers in Asia after sharp reductions in previous months. ADNOC had felt it had to reduce prices to ensure its crude remained attractive to Asian refiners, a source familiar with their strategy said. GOLDMAN LOWERS PRICE FORECAST Goldman Sachs has lowered its average 2015 price forecast for benchmark Brent and WTI futures to $50.40 and $47.15 per barrel, respectively. The U.S. bank cut its three-month price forecast for Brent to $42 from $80 and U.S. crude to $41, down from $70, adding it would need to stay near $40 for most of the first half of 2015 before it would hold up shale oil investments. "To keep all capital sidelined and curtail investment in shale until the market has rebalanced, we believe prices need to stay lower for longer," its analysts said in a report. As well as targeting North American shale, oil ministers from OPEC, including the UAE, have called for exporters, such as Russia, to cut output to lift prices. Russia, in turn, wants OPEC and Saudi Arabia in particular to cut production first. Over the past decade, UAE's Murban OSP has been on average 15 cents a barrel higher than Saudi's Extra Light OSP, but the relationship between the grades switched since April last year, the data showed. In September, Murban was priced at the widest discount to Extra Light in over a decade at $2.28. Another Abu Dhabi grade, Upper Zakum, also flipped into a discount against Saudi's Arab Medium in December, even though Upper Zakum has been priced at an average premium of $1.11 a barrel above the Saudi grade in the last decade. ADNOC sets its prices two months behind those of Saudi, Kuwait and Iraq, which gives the UAE's main producer more time to react to market changes. The UAE, OPEC's fifth largest producer, has been expanding its output and remains on track to boost production capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day by 2017, up from about 2.8 million bpd, its oil minister said in remarks published last week. The UAE's price cuts have spurred demand for Abu Dhabi grades in the spot market, with Taiwanese refiner CPC Corp buying volumes of Murban crude at the start of the year. But Bansal of consultancy FGE warned that to restore market balance output cuts will have to come from OPEC and non-OPEC producers. "If no one blinks, then prices will continue to drop." (Editing by Ed Davies) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Print Reprints Sponsored Links by Taboola From The Web NEVER Do This Exercise (accelerates aging) MAX Workouts Fitness Guide Military Armored Vehicle Taxi Hits the Mark Yahoo7 via Reuters DevOps Engineer? What Is That Supposed To Mean? Cloudyn Blog 10 Pics of Jennifer Lawrence Before She Was Famous! Trending.Report The Idea of Sea Water Desalination SanDiego6 These 31 Builders Made Mistakes That Will Leave You BAFFLED. Ridiculously Hilarious. ViralNova Having Diabetes Is Not A Life Sentence. Learn How You Can Naturally Reduce the Symptoms of It The Diabetes Protocol eBook How To Stop Your Husband From Snoring (No Surgery) My Snoring Solution More From Reuters Oil kings: The House of Saud’s uncertain future |12 Jan UPDATE 2-Mexico proposes historic crude oil swap with United States |9 Jan Only 1.6 percent of world's oil production at risk at $40: WoodMackenzie |10 Jan U.S. oil tanks barely one-third full beckon crude contango play |12 Jan North Dakota county feels Bakken boom ebb away as oil falls |12 Jan TRENDING ON REUTERS U.S. military Twitter feed hacked, apparently by IS sympathizers | Video 1 Divers retrieve one AirAsia 'black box', explosion theory questioned | Video 2 Oil prices extend falls; Goldman Sachs slashes price forecasts 3 Exclusive: Cuba has freed all 53 prisoners as agreed in U.S. deal - U.S. officials 4 OPEC price war in Asia intensifies as oil falls below $50 5 Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube RECOMMENDED VIDEO Video of Paris attack shows gunmen shooting wounded officer dead... 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Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here. Oil needs to stay at $40 to curb US shale boom – Goldman Sachs Published time: January 12, 2015 11:36 Get short URL David McNew/Getty Images/AFP Crisis, Energy, Oil, Shale Oil prices hit new lows on Monday as Goldman Sachs halved its forecast for 2015 to $42 a barrel. The bank says low prices could curtail a number of shale projects, mostly in the US, cutting oversupply, and contributing to further price stabilization. Goldman reduced its six month WTI predictions to $39 a barrel from $75, and for 12 months to $65 from $80 , while its estimate for Brent for the six month period were cut to $43 from $85, and for 12 months from $90 to $75, according to the report. The bank suggests reserves will increase in the second half of the year, as the market can run a surplus longer than previously thought due to excess storage, said Goldman analysts to Bloomberg. The bank believes oil at $40 should help cut excess supply, primarily in the US that has been pumping oil at a record pace, largely due to the Eagle Ford shale formation in Texas, and the Bakken field in North Dakota. “To keep all capital sidelined and curtail investment in shale until the market has re-balanced, we believe prices need to stay lower for longer,” Goldman said in a report. “The search for a new equilibrium in oil markets continues.” On Sunday, WBH Energy LP, a private Texas-based drilling group, became the first shale company to file for bankruptcy protection saying their bank was no longer willing to advance money. The company estimates its debt at between $10-50 million. READ MORE: $200 bn in debt looms over American oil and gas The global oil price decline continued after OPEC decided not to cut oil output in November believing the market will stabilize itself. READ MORE: Oil slumps into tailspin as OPEC leaves output unchanged On Sunday, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia agreed to intensify cooperation in restoring the global oil market, said Venezuelan Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres following a meeting between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Saudi Arabia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi. "An excellent meeting with important results. We agreed to work to restore the market and oil prices," Torres said on his Twitter account. Although the countries seem to have realized the importance of bringing together their efforts, Saudi billionaire businessman Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal believes no attempts will be made to bring the oil price back to $100. “If some supply is taken off the market, and there's some growth in demand, prices may go up. But I'm sure we're never going to see $100 anymore. I said a year ago, the price of oil above $100 is artificial. It's not correct,” he told USA Today. Overall, oil prices have fallen more than 50 percent since July 2014. ==============

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration on Dec. 30 announced a policy change that allows condensate, a lightly treated form of crude oil, to be exported from the United States. While the move marks a slight relaxation of the 40-year ban on oil exports, the ban remains intact for almost all domestically produced crude.

The average U.S. retail price of conventional gasoline reached $2.30 per gallon for the week ending Dec. 29 – the lowest since May 2009 – according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The sharp drop in the price of Brent might make it harder to get deals done in the short term. But if the downturn persists, financial distress will put some small players in play. Larger, more defensive mergers, designed to create value by sharing costs, are also possible. Oil glut cracks foundation of U.S. export ban Cheap gasoline could make lawmakers consider loosening the 40-year-old prohibition on crude exports. Plentiful oil may also force a rethink of ethanol and natural gas policies. Help for domestic producers smarting from low prices could even bring a rare show of Washington unity.

The global glut of oil could lubricate the Washington machine enough to bring a rare show of unity. Cheap gasoline and plentiful crude could make lawmakers consider loosening the 40-year-old prohibition on exports and maybe rethink ethanol and natural gas policies.

The slide in global oil prices has Americans enjoying the lowest retail gasoline prices since 2009, even as the United States imports less crude because of booming domestic shale production. The biggest knock-on change for the new Republican-controlled Congress in 2015 would be ending the decades-old ban on petroleum exports. President Barack Obama’s administration just tweaked the rules by allowing condensate, a lightly treated oil, to be sold abroad.

Lawmakers could go much further. Unleashing U.S. crude on global markets, where similar oil sells at a premium, could even soften global prices further – helping all kinds of oil users – while scoring somewhat higher prices for domestic producers. Markets aren’t usually so compliant, but talk of that kind of win-win outcome might tempt Washington’s politicians.

Meanwhile, lower crude prices also bring back the prospect of competition for other fuels like natural gas, which has enjoyed a huge price advantage for several years. Tougher rivalry may translate into less exploration and fewer jobs. That in turn could encourage policymakers to rethink more stringent environment-saving rules for fracking. Requirements surrounding the amount of ethanol added to gasoline could also come under the microscope.

Cheap oil may, however, gunk up the legislative gears in some ways. It could make the political-football Keystone XL pipeline even less likely to be approved, with the transport of Canada’s relatively pricey oil-sands products arguably less important.

Then there’s tax reform. Obama and other Democrats often complain about the tax advantages handed to profitable big oil companies. As the energy giants make less money and become less flush – ConocoPhillips, for example, recently announced a 20 percent cut in its capital-spending budget for 2015 – those criticisms lose power.

The most sensible measure on which U.S. lawmakers could expend political capital would be to stop banning oil exports. But sliding crude prices could unite opposing politicians in less desirable endeavors, like perpetuating or adding to the welter of tax concessions companies turn to their advantage.

Welter=1. A confused mass; a jumble: a welter of papers and magazines. 2. Confusion; turmoil.

There was $383 billion worth of oil and gas sector M&A in the 2014 year to Dec. 11. Yet Europe has largely missed out on the gusher: about three-quarters of the targets have been in North America, according to Thomson Reuters data. Shale has played a big role. In 2015, oil and gas bankers in Europe will get a bigger slice of the action.

The sharp drop in the price of Brent, to around $60 a barrel, will make it harder to get deals done in the short term. It makes everyone more cautious. Buyers worry prices could fall further, while the seller’s instinct is to hold out for a recovery. The last big oil price fall at the end of 2008 was too short-lived to push a big M&A wave.

But if the current oil price persists, financial stress could make small players vulnerable. Net debt at explorers including Afren, EnQuest, Premier Oil and Tullow Oil could all reach three times EBITDA, or more, if oil remains at $60 through 2015, estimates Barclays.

Cash-rich Repsol already took the plunge with a $13 billion bid for Canada’s indebted Talisman. Chinese companies, active players in the past, have a lot on their plate with big capital commitments but buyout groups have raised billions of dollars to invest, including in energy infrastructure assets.

All-stock defensive mergers of the type seen in the late 1990s are possible too. This has already started on a small scale with Ophir’s all-share takeover of Salamander. The industry has a cost problem which cannot be met forever by shrinking capex and selling assets. BP’s former Chairman John Browne wrote in his memoirs that a merger with Shell, pondered while he was at the helm, might have delivered $9 billion in annual synergies.

BP faces big liabilities in the Gulf of Mexico and volatility in Russia. BG has long been a target and the new CEO starts in March. It’s not clear Shell, the wallflower in the 1990s, would make a move. Exxon and other U.S. majors might be tempted. Either way, chances are Big Oil will get even bigger next year.

This view is a Breakingviews prediction for 2015. Click here to see more predictions.  

=============== UPDATE 3-Ophir Energy offers to buy Salamander in SE Asia push Fri, Nov 21 08:01 AM EST * Offers 0.5719 Ophir shares for every Salamander share * Offer values Salamander at about 267 mln stg at Thursday's close * Ophir shares fall as much as 7.1 pct; Salamander up 5.8 pct (Adds analyst comment, background) By Abhiram Nandakumar Nov 21 (Reuters) - British oil and gas explorer Ophir Energy Plc offered to buy Salamander Energy Plc for 267 million pounds ($419 million) to expand in southeast Asia. Ophir could be getting a bargain, analysts said, after a possible rival in the bidding process walked away. But shareholders might be less happy about taking on Salamander's $250 million debt, as well as the all-stock nature of the deal. "We expect arbitrage between the two to weigh heavily on Ophir's share price," Societe Generale analysts said in a note. Salamander's shares rose as much as 5.8 percent to 96.0 pence. Ophir's stock fell as much as 7.1 percent to 167.4 pence, also hit by disappointing drill results in Tanzania. The recent drop in oil prices has renewed appetite for deals, posing a dilemma for oil companies keen to pick up bargains but under pressure to cut costs. A consortium led by Spain's Compania Espanola de Petroleos (CEPSA) had been considering making an offer of 121 pence in cash and one contingent value right of up to 24 pence per share for Salamander. CEPSA said on Monday the consortium had decided not to proceed - leaving the way clear for Ophir. BMO Capital Markets analyst David Round said the offer was "slightly disappointing". While making strategic sense for both companies, he said it fell "a long way short of previous expressions of interest". Ophir's offer of 0.5719 shares for every Salamander share values Salamander at 266.9 million pounds, based on Ophir's closing price of 180.1 pence on Thursday. Salamander has 259.13 million shares outstanding, according to Thomson Reuters data. The acquisition would give Ophir an oilfield already in production off Thailand's coast and a gas development in Indonesia. The offer is conditional on Salamander cancelling its deal with Malaysia's Sona Petroleum Bhd to sell 40 percent of two oil and gas blocks in the Gulf of Thailand. Though almost all of Ophir's assets are scattered throughout African waters, the company has recently acquired acreage in Myanmar and Indonesia. "They have to inject some sort of fresh momentum into what is a lacklustre story," FirstEnergy Capital analyst Gerry Donnelly said. "Africa itself, for Ophir, is getting just too expensive." (1 US dollar = 0.6377 British pound) (Additional reporting by Ron Bousso in London; Editing by Robin Paxton) ======================= Oil uncertainty remains high, even as calm returns to stocks Tue, Dec 23 16:54 PM EST By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A divergence between the expected volatility in the stock market and the oil market is now the widest since December 2008 but some market watchers do not see this as a sign that price swings may increase in the stock market. The CBOE Volatility Index, the so called "fear gauge" of the stock market, has swung around a fair bit since touching a two-year high of 31.06 in mid-October but has crept back in recent days and on Tuesday fell to as low as 14.32, close to the lowest it has been this year. Volatility in oil has increased and the CBOE implied volatility index for oil was at 53.72 on Tuesday, close to the highest it has been in over three years. The gulf between the two is unusual, leading some commenters to suggest that stocks may follow oil volatility higher, but such a comparison is difficult to make. Looking at the longer-term realized volatility in stocks and crude oil, there have been a number of times when the two have been completely unrelated, BGC Partners Inc equity derivatives strategist Jared Woodard said. The broader stock market is currently reflecting a much lower amount of risk in the next 30 days than the risk in oil, said Ophir Gottlieb, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Capital Market Laboratories. "The divergence between the two indicates monumental uncertainty in oil prices in the short-term," Gottlieb said. Booming oil production in North America and OPEC refusing to cut output have sent both U.S. crude and international oil prices sliding in recent months. The falling oil prices did affect the VIX, but with the market factoring in the lower oil prices the VIX has rebounded, said J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist at retail brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. "It was just a repricing of stocks with the market saying, 'We had stocks priced for $70 oil. Now we have to price stocks for $55 oil,'" Kinahan said. (Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) =======================

Special Report: In oil baron's divorce, company lawyer plays star role

Epic divorce of U.S. oil baron may end after ex-wife deposits check Thu, Jan 08 22:46 PM EST image 1 of 3 By Joshua Schneyer NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sue Ann Arnall, the ex-wife of Oklahoma oil magnate Harold Hamm, has deposited a handwritten $975 million divorce check, Hamm's lawyer said on Thursday, in a move that may end an epic divorce battle over a fortune worth billions. Arnall, 58, deposited the check after earlier this week declining the payment and pledging to pursue her appeal of a divorce ruling she viewed as unfair. In the November ruling by an Oklahoma County Court judge, Hamm, the chief executive of Continental Resources was allowed to keep his 68 percent stake in the firm, now worth about $9 billion, while Arnall was awarded about $1 billion in cash and assets from the marital estate. The check represents the entire remaining balance of what Hamm owes Arnall based on the November ruling, including interest. The oilman's divorce lawyer, Craig Box, said he believes Arnall's deposit of the check will end her efforts to appeal the case and that Hamm also wants the case resolved. "We have received confirmation that the check was deposited in an Oklahoma City bank," Box said. "We feel this is the end of the case from her perspective. It means she's done and should dismiss her appeal." A person familiar with Arnall's case confirmed the deposit, which represents one of the largest divorce awards in U.S. history. Arnall could not be reached directly for comment. It was not clear whether she intends to pursue an appeal after the check clears. "If she's cashing the check, I would think the reasonable conclusion is that they both will accept the trial court's decision, dismiss their appeals and put an end to the case," said Oklahoma family law expert Carolyn Thompson. Earlier, Hamm had filed his own appeal, seeking to have Oklahoma's Supreme Court reduce what he owes Arnall, after a plunge in oil prices shaved billions from the value of his Continental shares in recent months. During a trial last year, the shares had been worth as much as $19 billion. The Hamm case, initially filed in 2012, has pitted Oklahoma's most successful oil wildcatter against his former wife of 26 years, an attorney and longtime executive at Continental. The firm, a leading oil driller in North Dakota, was dragged into the case but has said it did not affect business. In an appeal document, Arnall contended a trial judge wrongly allowed Hamm to keep more than 90 percent of the wealth the couple accrued during their marriage. Although Hamm owned Continental before the marriage in 1988, the value of his shares surged 400-fold during the union. Arnall has been seeking a multi-billion dollar portion of those gains. To limit what he would owe, Hamm's defense sought to show that his company's growth during the marriage resulted mostly from "passive" factors beyond his control, such as rising oil prices. Under Oklahoma law, only the growth in wealth stemming from the active efforts and skills of either spouse during the marriage is split in a divorce. Arnall contended that Hamm's deft management of the firm led to its growth. Hamm has already paid Arnall more than $20 million during the case, and the parties have spent millions in legal fees. (Additional writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Chris Reese, Alan Crosby and Ken Wills) = Special Report: In oil baron's divorce, company lawyer plays star role Wed, Nov 05 14:11 PM EST By Joshua Schneyer and Brian Grow OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - During the divorce trial of oil baron Harold Hamm and wife Sue Ann, an unusual relationship took shape in the Oklahoma courtroom as the marriage was being dismantled. From the bench, Special Judge Howard Haralson playfully tossed red and white peppermints to a lawyer sitting alone in the jury box who didn't represent either of the Hamms in the case. The man, Eric Eissenstat, serves as general counsel, senior vice president, secretary and chief risk officer for Continental Resources, the publicly traded oil company founded and run by Harold. And during a trial that could result in one of the largest divorce judgments in U.S. history, Eissenstat emerged as one of the most important people in the courtroom. For all but a few hours of testimony in the nine-week trial, the proceedings were closed to the public and to the media – a practice atypical in divorce cases that don't involve child custody disputes. But interviews with a half-dozen people who were present in the courtroom, and with others familiar with the case, indicate that Eissenstat played an extraordinary role throughout the trial: 'GENERAL CHITCHAT' On several occasions, Eissenstat, 56, passed through the judge's chambers or into a court staff room and engaged the judge and his staff in conversations, said Haralson's bailiff (1. A court attendant entrusted with duties such as the maintenance of order in a courtroom during a trial. 2. An official who assists a British sheriff and who has the power to execute writs, processes, and arrests.), Jessica Rodriguez. The conversations were “general chitchat,” Rodriguez said. “We're all pretty friendly around here.” In a statement, Continental said Eissenstat “did not speak privately with Judge Haralson in his chambers, and his relationship with Judge Haralson is professional and no different than the other individuals present in his courtroom.” To at least one witness, Eissenstat, a tall, slim career litigator, was an imposing presence. “Eric positioned himself in a very tactical way in the room, in the jury box, basically right on the witness's shoulder,” said a former associate of Harold's who testified in the case. “When the judge looks at the witness, he's also looking at Eric. It just seems intimidating.” Reuters interviewed more than a dozen legal experts including family law attorneys, law professors, retired judges and marital dissolution consultants. All said that Eissenstat's level of involvement in his boss' divorce trial seemed uncommonly deep. Some said that the role Eissenstat – and by extension, Continental – played at the trial raises questions about whether the company supported the personal agenda of Harold Hamm, the company's top shareholder, to the detriment of other shareholders. On Thursday, the day after Continental releases its quarterly earnings, analysts will have a chance to ask about the divorce case during a conference call the company is hosting. “It sounds like the corporation is part of the divorce case,” said Arnold Rutkin, a lawyer at Rutkin Oldham in Connecticut. Rutkin represented the wife of Gary Wendt, a former chief executive at the General Electric Capital unit of GE, in one of the biggest U.S. divorces of the 1990s. “There are only two parties in a divorce: husband and wife.” In that case, Rutkin said he did not recall GE Capital's attorneys playing anything close to the role that Eissenstat is playing in the Hamm divorce. A key difference in the cases is that although Wendt was a top executive, he wasn't a major owner of GE. Hamm owns about two-thirds of Continental. Haralson did not respond to questions from Reuters. His bailiff said the judge would not speak publicly about the case before ruling. MAJOR ROLE Continental, in its statement, said it "did not seek to participate in the divorce case." It was compelled to by Sue Ann, it said. In a court filing last month, Continental said the extent of its involvement in the case may be unprecedented. It contends it has been required to turn over more documents and data than any company “has ever been forced to produce in divorce proceedings in Oklahoma and possibly the nation.” Hamm started Continental in 1967, and about 68 percent of the firm's shares are in his name. His stake was worth more than $18 billion when the trial started in August. It's worth around $14 billion today. Since the couple wed in 1988, Continental has grown from a smalltime driller worth less than $50 million into a $20 billion behemoth (Something enormous in size or power.) and one of Oklahoma's largest companies. Because Harold owned his shares before he and Sue Ann were married, they belong to him. But under Oklahoma law, their “active” appreciation since 1988 is subject to “equitable distribution” with Sue Ann, a former executive at Continental who filed for divorce from Harold in 2012. Her legal team contends that the amount of marital wealth the court should divide is more than $17 billion, a sum that included most of Harold's stake in Continental a few months before the trial began. Court filings show that his attorneys argued that the couple's shared wealth is a tiny fraction of that amount. The couple never signed a prenuptial agreement. (a contract made between a man and woman before they marry, agreeing on the distribution of their assets in the event of divorce) Harold Hamm's leadership at Continental is central to the case. In court, his lawyers attributed most of Continental's success not to Hamm's business savvy but to factors beyond his control. If Haralson accepts the argument – that market factors such as rising oil prices, or decisions made prior to marriage caused Continental's growth – the award to Sue Ann could be much smaller. The trial ended on Oct. 9, and Haralson is poring over thousands of pages of evidence before he issues a judgment in the coming weeks, or the two sides settle. Last week, Haralson denied a motion by Reuters to intervene in the case to have trial transcripts and other records unsealed. The Oklahoma Supreme Court, which heard the Reuters request to unseal the records this week, has not yet ruled. In a filing before those hearings, Continental said it opposed opening court records because the documents contain confidential business information, including strategic plans, board minutes, and highly sensitive information on its oil reserves, among other things. “A corporate counsel would have a legitimate role in trying to keep confidential information about the company from being disseminated,” said Ilan Hirschfeld, head of the marital dissolution practice at the consultancy firm Marcum LLP in New Jersey. Continental may also have a significant interest in the outcome of the trial. If Sue Ann, 58, wins a multi-billion dollar award, a judgment that size could prompt Harold to sell Continental shares, a move that could lead to a change in control of the company. In one court filing, Continental dismissed that possibility as "unfounded speculation." Eissenstat, appointed as Continental's general counsel in 2010, previously had represented Continental and Harold Hamm personally during 27 years in private practice. As recently as 2010, he served as Harold's personal lawyer in a case involving Oklahoma oil and gas wells. Continental was not a party in that case. As of Feb. 22, Eissenstat also owned shares in Continental valued at more than $7 million, SEC filings show. Months before the Hamm divorce trial, Continental expanded Eissenstat's role at the firm, naming him its chief risk officer. The new responsibilities put Eissenstat in charge of keeping Continental out of corporate governance trouble and guarding against conflicts of interest and reputational damage – duties that would give Eissenstat reason to be concerned about the divorce trial. In court filings, Continental said it was brought into the case by Sue Ann Hamm's broad and “abusive” demands for evidence from the company, and because dozens of its current or former employees were subpoenaed ( A writ requiring appearance in court to give testimony. tr.v. sub·poe·naed, sub·poe·na·ing, sub·poe·nas To serve or summon with such a writ). “Continental doesn't like being here,” Eissenstat said at a pre-trial hearing, according to a transcript. Eissenstat told the judge he was only present in court to protect the firm's interests, not Harold's. Allegations by Sue Ann's team that Continental meddled in the case to help Harold have been a sore point between the spouses. In one court filing, his divorce attorneys wrote that the divorce is a matter of “common interest for Mr. Eissenstat,” citing his duty to “all shareholders to oversee any litigation impacting the company.” They added: “Harold Hamm and his counsel are frankly insulted by Petitioner's veiled suggestion of some collusion between them and (Continental) against her interests.” Although Continental says it hasn't taken sides in the divorce, the company has taken unusual steps that could help Harold's case. In September, Reuters reported that the company revised its corporate history in ways that diminish the part Hamm played in its success. In downplaying the CEO's role, the firm recently deleted, added or revised at least 18 items on its website or in corporate filings, Reuters found. (http://reut.rs/1uYWqpH) In addition, Continental has weighed in against Sue Ann. In one of the company's many filings in the case, a “friend-of-the-court” brief in February, Continental urged the judge to deny Sue Ann additional time to prepare for the trial. “To say the least, it's highly unusual for a company to file a friend-of-the court brief in its CEO's closed-door divorce proceeding to oppose his wife's request for more trial preparation time,” said appellate attorney Lawrence Ebner, a Washington-based partner at law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. Court records show that Haralson denied Sue Ann Hamm's request for another five months of trial preparation. Being hurried to trial could hurt her case, her lawyers contended in court filings, because they were racing to examine about 700,000 pages of uncategorized Continental documents that Eissenstat had delivered to them in response to evidence requests. 'ENORMOUS EXPENSE' A spokeswoman for Continental, Kristin Miskovsky, has repeatedly said the divorce has had no effect on the company. “Mr. Hamm's divorce proceeding is a private matter and has not and is not anticipated to impact Continental Resources' business or operations,” the company said. In one court filing, however, the company says its role in the case has come at “enormous expense.” Eissenstat and his in-house team handled discovery requests in the case. They have filed more than 40 briefs, objections or motions in the divorce case. “Mr. Hamm has an interest in winning, and Continental should not have an interest in Hamm winning per se,” said Paula Dalley, a professor of corporate law at Oklahoma City University Law School. “That's where a conflict of interest could arise. The outcome for Hamm personally shouldn't matter to the corporation.” Former Continental employees who were deposed or called as witnesses told Reuters that the oil company paid for lawyers to represent them. The employees requested anonymity after signing agreements not to discuss their depositions or testimony. It is not unusual for company lawyers to represent employees who will testify in legal cases about their work. But Judith Maute, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma, said that if Eissenstat and Continental used company resources to help Harold, it could draw the ire of other shareholders. A general counsel's duty is to his corporation, not to the CEO's personal interests, she said. “If the general counsel is spending lots of time or company money to save the assets of the person, then he may be in breach of fiduciary duties to shareholders.” Eissenstat's role and Continental's costly involvement in the marital dispute have not been disclosed in detail to the firm's shareholders. How much the company's board knows about Continental's participation in the Hamms' divorce isn't clear. Continental declined to address the question of whether it plans to bill Harold Hamm for the costs it's incurring related to the divorce case. What is apparent is the trust the company has put in its top lawyer. Asked about Continental's involvement in the case, David Boren, the powerful Oklahoma politician who sits on Continental's board and testified in the divorce trial, had little to say. “I have a policy not to make separate statements as a board member,” Boren said. “If you have any questions, please contact Eric Eissenstat.” (Reporting By Joshua Schneyer in Oklahoma City and Brian Grow in Atlanta. Editing by Blake Morrison and Michael Williams) =========================================== Continental Divide U.S. oil baron rewrites his company’s history; move could stave off record divorce payout By Joshua Schneyer and Brian Grow Filed Sept. 24, 2014, 11 a.m. GMT LEGAL STRATEGY: Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm holds 68 percent of the company’s publicly traded shares – worth about $17 billion. Legal experts say changes on the corporate website may help convince the judge that the surge in Continental’s share value has little to do with Harold’s deft management(Quick and skillful; adroit) during his 26-year marriage to Sue Ann. REUTERS/Steve Sisney CEO Harold Hamm faces paying billions to his estranged wife. Do revisions to his corporation’s website strengthen his hand? OKLAHOMA CITY – The divorce trial of one of America’s wealthiest men, oil baron Harold Hamm, plays out mostly in secret here at the Oklahoma County Courthouse. For weeks, signs have been taped to the door of Courtroom 121. “CLOSED HEARING,” one reads. The other: “DO NOT ENTER.” But an examination of the website of the company Hamm founded, Continental Resources Inc, reveals part of the billionaire’s legal strategy as he seeks to avoid what could be the largest divorce award in U.S. history. Publicly traded Continental has been revising its corporate annals – in each case diminishing the company’s accomplishments under Hamm’s leadership or changing the dates of key achievements. Downplaying his role in Continental’s success is central to Hamm’s chances of minimizing the financial blow from his divorce, lawyers say. According to state law, if Hamm can show that market conditions – rather than his management prowess – led to Continental’s financial success, he won’t have to share those gains with his estranged wife, Sue Ann. The two never signed a prenuptial agreement. Reporters compared Continental’s current corporate website – www.contres.com – with a version from early this year. The analysis was done using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, a repository of past web pages. Related items Exclusive: Looming divorce could threaten oil baron’s empire Special Report: Lack of a prenup imperils oil billionaire’s fortune Billion dollar debate in Oklahoma divorce – was oilman just lucky? Exclusive: Wife defines stakes in Oklahoma divorce: $17 billion Continental Resources president quits, leaves leadership gap The comparison identified 18 separate items that had been recently deleted, added or revised. The changes included: • Altering a claim that the company was first to “discover” an important oil field near the massive formation known as the Bakken Shale. • Striking all references to Continental being “first” to successfully use or develop new technology that helped it find or pump more oil. • Backdating the company’s hugely profitable decision to shift its exploration focus from natural gas to oil – to before Hamm’s 1988 marriage to Sue Ann. If that decision came prior to the Hamm marriage, then Sue Ann may not be entitled to reap part of the reward. • Adding a date for when Continental moved into its most profitable drilling area. The company’s website now says that the firm moved into the Williston Basin, which straddles North Dakota and Montana, a year before the Hamms were married. The company also deleted an item that said Continental expanded into the Rocky Mountain region in 1993. The company also removed a notable passage from one of its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, key documents used by investors to evaluate firms. In 2013 and earlier years, the annual proxy statement described Harold Hamm as “one of the driving forces” behind Continental’s success, a man who had “successfully grown the Company through his leadership skills and business judgment.” That passage was dropped in the 2014 proxy. A spokeswoman for Continental Resources, Kristin Miskovsky, declined to comment about any of the specific website changes or the role of Continental’s board in reviewing them. She didn’t answer questions about the proxy change. In an email, Miskovsky repeated a prior statement: The Hamm divorce “has not and is not anticipated to impact Continental Resources’ business or operations.” Since Hamm vs. Hamm began eight weeks ago, journalists have largely been barred from the courtroom. At the request of Continental, nearly all records and exhibits in the trial have been placed under seal by Oklahoma County Judge Howard Haralson; all but three days of the trial have been completely closed to the public. In most states, including Oklahoma, divorce trials usually take place in open court unless a judge closes the proceedings to protect a child. The Hamms have no minor children. Before and After: Explore the changes made to Continental’s website CEO INSIGHTS: Continental has deleted a link on its website to "CEO Insights," the thoughts of CEO Hamm, shown at top; an external site - www.haroldhammonline.com - now says, "the authors have deleted this site." REUTERS GRAPHIC The reason: to shield Continental. Haralson ruled on the trial’s opening day, Aug. 4, that he did not want to “destroy” the company by allowing the public or media to hear discussion of Continental’s “confidential” business activities. “We’ve got an entire trial being conducted in secret,” said Joey Senat, a communications law specialist and associate professor at Oklahoma State University’s School of Media and Strategic Communication. “Mr. Hamm is saying his divorce is a strictly personal matter, but apparently it’s not, because Continental says it will harm the company if the doors are opened. Meanwhile, on the website, Continental appears to be changing significant facts about itself.” There are also personal reasons why Hamm may prefer to keep the proceedings private. In a filing dated March 7, 2013, Sue Ann Hamm alleged that Harold was “having an affair” that she discovered in 2010. In court testimony last month, Harold admitted to spending $150,000 on an “extra-marital pursuit.” HIGH STAKES At stake in the divorce is the $17 billion piece of Continental owned by Harold Hamm through his 68 percent holding in the company’s publicly traded shares. Legal experts interviewed for this article said the changes on the website appear to be part of Hamm’s strategy. “Very simply, the company may be framing Mr. Hamm’s impact as less important than it had before.” Ilan Hirschfeld, head of the marital dissolution practice, Marcum LLP The purpose, they say, is to persuade the judge that the surge in Continental’s share value has little to do with Harold’s deft management during his 26-year marriage to Sue Ann. Under Oklahoma law, if the growth of Continental was “passive” – that is, owing to market factors beyond Harold’s control rather than to his skill and effort – he won’t have to share those gains. “The corporate website, along with public filings, are places we always look when a divorce case involves a business,” said Ilan Hirschfeld, head of the marital dissolution practice at accounting and advisory firm Marcum LLP. “Lawyers love to use the company’s own reports to prove their case that the growth in marital wealth has been active.” “Very simply,” Hirschfeld said, “the company may be framing Mr. Hamm’s impact as less important than it had before.” Hirschfeld isn’t involved in the case. Attorneys representing the Hamms are under court order not to discuss protected information in the case. They declined to comment. Harold Hamm’s lawyers were given a big clue that Continental’s past accomplishments would be used by his wife’s team to demonstrate the central role the founder played in the company’s skyrocketing growth. That’s because parts of the unrevised version of the website – including its corporate “timeline”– were among the exhibits entered into evidence by Sue Ann Hamm’s lawyers before the trial began. Lists of exhibits are shared with both parties in a case. HAMM VS. HAMM: Continental Resources founder and CEO Harold Hamm (left) is believed to own more oil underground than any other American. His estranged wife, Sue Ann (right), is a former lawyer with the company. REUTERS/Steve Sisney “I’ve not tried to mislead anybody” Harold Hamm, Continental Resources founder and CEO One corporate governance specialist said the website revisions raise questions about Continental’s board of directors, chaired by Hamm: Did the board previously allow the company to overstate its achievements? And is it now allowing Hamm to reshape Continental’s image to serve his personal legal goals – and marshalling company resources to do so? When questioned by an attorney for Sue Ann during open testimony on Aug. 6, for example, Harold said he had ordered his staff to revise Continental’s corporate timeline after he realized it contained inaccuracies. “It puts the board in a very awkward position,” said the governance specialist, David Larcker, professor of accounting at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. “The question would be, ‘Would they have made those changes absent the personal situation of the CEO?’” A member of Continental’s board, Edward T. Schafer, declined to discuss the changes, or whether the board knew about them. “Given the legal aspects of what you are talking about, I think I ought to leave that question to the company,” said Schafer, former governor of North Dakota. Another board member, former Oklahoma Gov. David Boren, referred questions to Continental’s general counsel. Today, at 68 years old, Hamm is believed to own more oil underground than any other American. Continental’s assets include around 1 million acres of prime land leases in North Dakota and Montana, the location of the largest U.S. oil discovery in decades. Attorneys following the Hamm divorce say a judgment could award 58-year-old Sue Ann Hamm, a former lawyer for Continental, around $3 billion. CLOSED HEARING: Since Hamm vs. Hamm began eight weeks ago, journalists have largely been barred from the courtroom in the Oklahoma County Courthouse. REUTERS/Steve Sisney REVISING HISTORY Reuters could not determine exactly when Continental altered its website. The changes came sometime after March 29, 2014, the most recent day on which the Wayback Machine archived the site, and before Sept. 2, 2014, when Reuters began comparing the archive and the current site. Also unclear: Which version of Continental’s corporate history – revised or original – is more accurate. In media interviews, in the company’s annual report and in other SEC filings, Continental has for years touted its pioneering role in developing the Bakken Shale formation. And it has highlighted the prescient moves of its founder, Harold Hamm, as central to its success. Continental’s website does contain a disclaimer about its contents. Information is provided “as is, solely for convenience, and without warranty of any kind.” It may contain errors, and investors should not base decisions on it, the website cautions. Guidelines published by the SEC say that corporate websites, though considered “informal disclosure,” should adhere to some of the same standards that apply to formal SEC filings. “The broad principles are that the disclosures have to be truthful and fair and cannot be selective,” said Jim Hamilton, principal analyst for federal securities regulation at Wolters Kluwer Law & Business in New York. The Reuters analysis of archived Continental web pages shows a wide range of changes around the time that the CEO’s divorce trial began. A timeline entry describing a 1995 milestone, for example, previously gave Continental sole credit for a momentous event: “Continental discovers” the Cedar Hills oil field – the first major gusher in North Dakota’s recent fracking boom, which led to the development of the now-legendary Bakken Shale, the web page previously read. The old entry added that Continental “is the 1st to develop Cedar Hills exclusively through precision horizontal drilling,” an oil-industry technological innovation. Today, the timeline says Continental “co-discovers” the Cedar Hills field, and no longer takes credit for developing it first. Rather, the company now describes Cedar Hills passively, as “the 1st oil field in the U.S. to be developed exclusively through precision horizontal drilling.” (In his Aug. 6 testimony, Harold Hamm said he recalled that a competitor, Burlington Resources, had tapped into Cedar Hills several months before Continental did.) Other changes backpedal on Continental’s claims that it was ahead of industry competitors in implementing breakthrough oil extraction technologies, a potentially crucial differentiator in the oil industry. A 2007 entry used to say that Continental “is the 1st to complete a 1,280 long-lateral multi-stage frac in North Dakota.” The line referred to an important milestone in using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling to extract oil from the Bakken. That claim no longer appears on the current website. Two other entries, both for 2008, said Continental was the “first” to use specific fracking or horizontal drilling techniques in two separate oil fields. Those entries have been struck from the site. On the witness stand last month, Harold Hamm said several claims on the company’s website timeline were wrong. He pinned part of the blame on Brian Engel, the former vice president of public affairs at Continental, who left in 2011. Contacted for comment, Engel said he wasn’t aware of Hamm’s testimony. “I left Continental on good terms at the end of 2011 and have moved on,” Engel said. He declined to say whether Hamm reviewed the original items before they were posted. Sue Ann Hamm’s attorney, Jon Hester, questioned Harold about items on the company website. Hamm testified that he only recently discovered that some were inaccurate. Continental produces a significant amount of public information, he explained, and Hamm said he doesn’t personally review all of it. “I’ve not tried to mislead anybody,” Hamm testified. COMPANY’S INTERESTS Continental is not named as a party in the Hamm divorce. The company nonetheless sought to keep the trial closed to the public. Continental’s general counsel, Eric Eissenstat, has been a fixture in the courtroom and has arranged depositions and met with witnesses who are testifying at the trial, according to court records and proceedings viewed by Reuters. STOCK SPLIT? A billboard in downtown Oklahoma City touts the value of publicly traded shares in Continental. REUTERS/Steve Sisney “It puts the board in a very awkward position. The question would be, ‘Would they have made those changes absent the personal situation of the CEO?’” David Larcker, corporate governance specialist, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Continental still boasts in its SEC filings that it holds the largest acreage position of any oil company in the Bakken, a shale area that Hamm believes contains some 24 billion barrels of oil. Investors may not care about Continental’s revisions to its corporate history, so long as it continues to produce profits, stock analysts say. The driller is ahead of schedule on its five-year plan to double oil production. “I’m not sure it’s huge,” said Joseph Allman, oil and gas analyst at JPMorgan, which also provides investment banking services to Continental. The company should make sure it gets its public statements right, he said, but he added: “People don’t invest in Continental because it discovered the Bakken. They invest in Continental because of future cash flow generation.” Fidelity – the largest outside holder of Continental shares, with a 6.2 percent holding as of June 30 – declined to comment on the oil company’s history changes. Six other institutional holders of Continental shares didn’t respond or declined to comment. Wall Street has been kept largely in the dark about the divorce. Continental has not disclosed the case in the legal proceedings section of its SEC filings. The company first publicly acknowledged the divorce in response to questions from Reuters in March 2013. Judge Haralson already has ruled that Harold’s shares in Continental are an asset that he owned prior to the marriage. As a result, only the increase in the value of those shares during the marriage is at issue in the trial. The ruling leaves around $17 billion in accrued share value at stake. At trial, Continental’s value in 1988, when the Hamms were married, was estimated at less than $50 million. The company’s market capitalization is now near $25 billion. Haralson’s ruling may also pertain to key decisions that Harold or his company made before the 1988 marriage – decisions that subsequently made the company, and Hamm, billions. One of those big decisions occurred when Continental shifted its exploration focus from natural gas to oil, a move that bucked a prevailing U.S. energy industry trend and proved incredibly lucrative. In a news release dated January 24, 1992, Continental said that the shift to oil began in 1988, the year of the marriage. But in court testimony, Harold Hamm said that the news release was wrong and had been issued without his review. Backing Hamm’s courtroom denial, Continental has updated its timeline. In a new website entry, Continental now says the company “changes focus to oil” in 1985 – three years before Harold and Sue Ann Hamm married. Reporting by Joshua Schneyer in Oklahoma City and Brian Grow in Atlanta. Edited by Blake Morrison Photo editing by Jim Bourg and Stelios Varias ===========