SandRidge Agrees to Either Fire CEO or Give TPG-Axon Control of Board

SandRidge Energy Inc. agreed to fire its chief executive or give control of its board to an activist shareholder, settling a closely watched proxy battle amid an outbreak of investor unrest in the oil patch.

SandRidge, an oil-and-gas producer with a stock-market value of about $3 billion, immediately appointed four directors to its board who were nominated by hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital Management LP, which owns 7.3% of its shares.

The company, which is based in Oklahoma City, Okla., said Wednesday that it would review its strategy, costs and certain transactions with entities controlled by relatives of Tom Ward, its chairman and chief executive. The company also cut directors' annual pay to $250,000 from $375,000.

Mr. Ward's prospects of retaining his job appeared to dim. SandRidge said it would decide whether to fire him by the end of June; if he remains, three incumbent directors would resign and TPG-Axon would get another seat on the board, giving the hedge fund, which has repeatedly called for Mr. Ward's ouster, majority representation.

"We believe these actions open a new chapter for SandRidge," its lead independent director, Jeffrey Serota, said in a statement.

A SandRidge spokesman said Mr. Ward had no comment.

In what SandRidge said was a separate development, Matthew Grubb, its president and chief operating officer, said he would resign.

The company's shares jumped sharply late Wednesday afternoon, but ended 4 p.m. EDT trading on the New York Stock Exchange little changed at $5.85, up two cents.

Dinakar Singh, TPG-Axon's founder, said, "We all believe that SandRidge has tremendous asset value, and we expect that the company will relentlessly focus on growing and realizing that value through a particular focus on execution and efficiency."

"Score one for the activists," said Mark Hanson, a Morningstar Inc. analyst.

TPG-Axon and another large shareholder, Mount Kellett Capital Management LP, have questioned SandRidge's transactions with entities controlled by Mr. Ward and his family. SandRidge said Wednesday that a board review of the transactions hadn't found any improper conduct by Mr. Ward, but that it would examine the issue further with the help of a law firm.

The proxy battle is the latest case of a shareholder shaking up the board of an energy-industry company, as activists demand better stock performance and more-generous dividends from laggards. In January, Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon agreed to step down by April after the company's biggest shareholders took control of the board.

Hess Corp. is tussling with hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., which is opposing the company-backed directors who are up for election with its own slate.

Investor Carl Icahn, who agitated for change at Chesapeake, is now demanding that offshore driller Transocean Ltd. increase its dividend to $4 a share, up from the $2.24 the company plans to pay.

TPG-Axon took aim at SandRidge in November, pointing to poor stock performance and rich executive pay. It also demanded the ouster of Mr. Ward, who founded the company in 2006 after leaving Chesapeake, which he co-founded with Mr. McClendon in 1989.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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SandRidge Agrees to Either Fire CEO or Give TPG-Axon Control of Board

SandRidge Energy Inc. agreed to fire its chief executive or give control of its board to an activist shareholder, settling a closely watched proxy battle amid an outbreak of investor unrest in the oil patch.

SandRidge, an oil-and-gas producer with a stock-market value of about $3 billion, immediately appointed four directors to its board who were nominated by hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital Management LP, which owns 7.3% of its shares.

The company, which is based in Oklahoma City, Okla., said Wednesday that it would review its strategy, costs and certain transactions with entities controlled by relatives of Tom Ward, its chairman and chief executive. The company also cut directors' annual pay to $250,000 from $375,000.

Mr. Ward's prospects of retaining his job appeared to dim. SandRidge said it would decide whether to fire him by the end of June; if he remains, three incumbent directors would resign and TPG-Axon would get another seat on the board, giving the hedge fund, which has repeatedly called for Mr. Ward's ouster, majority representation.

"We believe these actions open a new chapter for SandRidge," its lead independent director, Jeffrey Serota, said in a statement.

A SandRidge spokesman said Mr. Ward had no comment.

In what SandRidge said was a separate development, Matthew Grubb, its president and chief operating officer, said he would resign.

The company's shares jumped sharply late Wednesday afternoon, but ended 4 p.m. EDT trading on the New York Stock Exchange little changed at $5.85, up two cents.

Dinakar Singh, TPG-Axon's founder, said, "We all believe that SandRidge has tremendous asset value, and we expect that the company will relentlessly focus on growing and realizing that value through a particular focus on execution and efficiency."

"Score one for the activists," said Mark Hanson, a Morningstar Inc. analyst.

TPG-Axon and another large shareholder, Mount Kellett Capital Management LP, have questioned SandRidge's transactions with entities controlled by Mr. Ward and his family. SandRidge said Wednesday that a board review of the transactions hadn't found any improper conduct by Mr. Ward, but that it would examine the issue further with the help of a law firm.

The proxy battle is the latest case of a shareholder shaking up the board of an energy-industry company, as activists demand better stock performance and more-generous dividends from laggards. In January, Chesapeake Energy Corp. Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon agreed to step down by April after the company's biggest shareholders took control of the board.

Hess Corp. is tussling with hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., which is opposing the company-backed directors who are up for election with its own slate.

Investor Carl Icahn, who agitated for change at Chesapeake, is now demanding that offshore driller Transocean Ltd. increase its dividend to $4 a share, up from the $2.24 the company plans to pay.

TPG-Axon took aim at SandRidge in November, pointing to poor stock performance and rich executive pay. It also demanded the ouster of Mr. Ward, who founded the company in 2006 after leaving Chesapeake, which he co-founded with Mr. McClendon in 1989.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Swift Wellhead Brought Under Control after Collision

Swift Energy has brought under control a well damaged by a marine vessel collision earlier this week, the company reported Friday.

The Houston-based company stopped the flow of water, oil and gas from a wellhead Thursday afternoon that was shut in at the Lake Washington field, located offshore Plaquemines Parish, La. A vessel collided with the well late Tuesday.

Swift said it was appreciative of the assistance it received from the U.S. Coast Guard, Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinators Office, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and Plaquemines Parish to resolve the incident "in a safe, timely and efficient manner."

No injuries resulted from the incident, Swift said in a statement Tuesday. Primary containment boom and oil skimming equipment was deployed around the well site to protect the shorelines, facilities and private property.

Swift had shut in the well in January 2008; the well has not produced since that time. A last production test done before the well was shut in recorded production levels of 18 barrels of oil per day, three barrels of water per day and 59 thousand cubic feet per day of natural gas.

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Aker Buys Scottish Well Control Specialist

Aker Solutions announced Tuesday that it has agreed to buy a majority stake in Aberdeen-based subsea well control specialist Enovate Systems.

Enovate, which was founded in 2002 and now employs 62 people, has developed a range of patented components and products for use in open water workover systems, in riser workover systems, rigless intervention systems and drilling safety systems. In 2012, it had revenues of approximately $23.6 million (GBP 15 million), with an EBITDA profit of $7.8 million (GBP 5 million).

"Enovate has developed and qualified unique technology for safe and efficient well control. Components from Enovate are also important building blocks for systems within workover and well-intervention services for high pressure and ultra-deep water fields worldwide," Aker Chief Technology Officer Åsmund Bøe commented in a statement.

Aker added that Enovate will continue to be developed as an independent supplier of well control components.

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View the original article here

Aker Buys Scottish Well Control Specialist

Aker Solutions announced Tuesday that it has agreed to buy a majority stake in Aberdeen-based subsea well control specialist Enovate Systems.

Enovate, which was founded in 2002 and now employs 62 people, has developed a range of patented components and products for use in open water workover systems, in riser workover systems, rigless intervention systems and drilling safety systems. In 2012, it had revenues of approximately $23.6 million (GBP 15 million), with an EBITDA profit of $7.8 million (GBP 5 million).

"Enovate has developed and qualified unique technology for safe and efficient well control. Components from Enovate are also important building blocks for systems within workover and well-intervention services for high pressure and ultra-deep water fields worldwide," Aker Chief Technology Officer Åsmund Bøe commented in a statement.

Aker added that Enovate will continue to be developed as an independent supplier of well control components.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

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A Leftist’s Argument Against Gun Control

A Leftist’s Argument Against Gun Control -Truthdig .column > div, .eartotheground > div, .uncovered > div, .report > div, .interview > div, .arts_culture > div, .avbooth > div, .dig > div, .cartoon > div, .podcast > div, .margin {padding: 10px 10px 20px 10px;margin: 0 0 0 0px;border-bottom: 1px dashed #999999;}/*\*//*/ @import "http://www.truthdig.com/?css=home/site_styles_mac.v.1314771156";/**/body div#share_footer {margin-bottom: 30px;}body div#instory_newsletter_signup {margin-top: 30px;}.nav {font-size:90%;} December 18, 2012
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  A Leftist’s Argument Against Gun Control Email    Print    Share

Tweet Posted on Dec 18, 2012 Allan Cleaver (CC BY 2.0)

Kevin Carson of the Center for a Stateless Society wants school shootings to end. But he’s skeptical of the fixes offered by mainstream voices on both the right and left. He’s not crazy about firearms, but neither does he like the idea of “the same state responsible for warrantless wiretapping and the NDAA regulating the public’s access to weaponry for self-defense.”

Carson argues that the root of America’s problem with gun violence lies in culture, beginning with a broad, unquestioning acceptance of military solutions to social problems. Aggression begets aggression. Violence begets violence. Absent a reworking of cultural values, Carson says, authoritarian solutions to the gun problem are likely to do more for the creation of another facet of the police state than to reduce violence between Americans.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

Kevin Carson at CounterPunch:

I doubt the level of gun violence in the United States has much to do with the kinds of gun laws that are in effect. This country would have a high rate of gun violence regardless of the laws on the books, just because of our culture. There’s a lot of truth in the liberal arguments against America’s “gun culture.” The United States has more gun violence than other Western countries for the same reason it has a culture of flag-worship and “supporting the troops” unequaled anywhere else in the West, for the same reason Christian Zionism is such a powerful political force in our country, and for the same reason a large plurality of our population actually believes the earth is 6000 years old.

… Second, I expect strict gun laws to be about as effective as the post-9/11 “counter-terrorism” police state, the Drug War, or the strict digital copyright regime in actually reducing the activity they’re ostensibly intended to reduce. Strict gun laws will hardly put a dent in either gun ownership or gun crime. In the places touted as examples of the benefits of gun control, like Europe and Japan, levels of gun ownership and violence were already far lower than in the United States even before such laws were passed.

But third, what strict gun laws will do is take the level of police statism, lawlessness and general social pathology up a notch in the same way Prohibition and the Drug War have done. I’d expect a War on Guns to expand the volume of organized crime, and to empower criminal gangs fighting over control over the black market, in exactly the same way Prohibition did in the 1920s and strict drug laws have done since the 1980s. I’d expect it to lead to further erosion of Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure, further militarization of local police via SWAT teams, and further expansion of the squalid empire of civil forfeiture, perjured jailhouse snitch testimony, entrapment, planted evidence, and plea deal blackmail. In short, a War on Guns will take us even further in the direction of a society handed entirely over to violent criminal gangs, and the biggest gang of all: The criminal beasts of prey in uniform.

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