Apache shuts Tulsa office, shuffles operations

OREANDA-NEWS. June 08, 2015. Apache is shutting down its Tulsa, Oklahoma, office and relocating a number of its employees to Houston, Texas, as part of a wider drive to consolidate operations and reorganize.

The independent has shed businesses over the past few years such as its LNG assets in Australia and continues to do so under its new chief executive John Christmann. The company had a \\$4.7bn asset writedown in the first quarter, which followed a \\$5.2bn charge in the fourth quarter, but the asset sales are helping the company lower debt and retain cash,

Apache says the latest effort is to realign the company with its updated portfolio and to reduce redundancy and increase efficiency. It also promoted several senior management executives and created new roles as part of the move.

The changes include creating three super regions, with two in North America — the Houston and the Permian. The third will include operations in Egypt, the North Sea and the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM), called the international and offshore region.

Houston will consolidate operations for the Eagle Ford, Anadarko Basin, Texas Panhandle and Canadian properties into one region. The Canadian business will continue to be run out of the existing Calgary, Alberta, office. The Permian will continue to include the Midland Basin and the central basin platform operated out of Midland, Texas, with the Delaware business run by a separate team from San Antonio, also in Texas.

Key management changes include the appointment of Timothy Sullivan to the newly created role of senior vice president of operations support. Thomas Voytovich is the new executive vice president for international and offshore and exploration and production technology.

James House will take charge of the newly created position of senior regional vice president for Houston, while Grady Ables will be the head of Canada.

The company will provide an update on its plans and progress on its second-quarter earnings call.

"Our smaller footprint now requires less overhead, and a more prudent approach to spending," Christmann had said in their first quarter earnings call on 7 May.