Corporate social responsibility in the oil and gas industry

Two interesting articles that appeared last week highlighted for me a project that ADI Analytics recently completed on benchmarking corporate social responsibility (CSR) in oil and gas companies.  The first was in the Economist and talked about how CSR is now more constructive and better ingrained with core business operations and goals.  The second is a long piece in the New York Times describing Shell’s efforts — not just within CSR but across a host of related corporate functions, including government relations — to begin drilling in the Arctic.

North American resources such as shale gas, unconventional oil, and the Arctic present to oil and gas companies a huge economic opportunity without the political and security risks that are often present in pursuing resources overseas.  However, the industry will have to assure communities, environmentalists, and other stakeholders of their commitment to responsible development.  Such efforts will need CSR and other functional capabilities that are best in class, driven by expertise and analytics, and both robust and flexible.

ConocoPhillips: An unfair rap?

So ConocoPhillips has not done well on the stock market in recent times.  It also did not help when Warren Buffett described his super-investment in the company as a “dumb” mistake.  Conventional analysis has held ConocoPhillips’ $35.6-billion acquisition of Burlington Resources responsible for its recent woes.  We are not convinced.

For example, ExxonMobil’s $41-billion acquisition of XTO Energy prices out at $15.57 per barrel of oil equivalent.  In comparison, the ConocoPhillips-Burlington transaction was at $17.79 per barrel of oil equivalent, a premium of about 14%.  While any premium in hindsight is too large, this is not as large as analysts make it out to be.