Anadarko is trying to rapidly reform incentive structure because Activist investors are targeting APC. They have already gotten Chevron CEO fired (layoffs coming), GE (CEO fired, splitting up for parts, the crown jewel digital/ Predix platform is being gutted and put up for sale and massive firings), BHP exiting Oil Gas (huge layoffs, whole oil gas operations up for sale). No where to hide— CEO likely to get booted for lowest returns vs highest salary in industry peer group, crap strategy (not shale, not deep water, lost $50B in market cap, cut dividend, sold best assets, missed expectations across the board). New CEO will be have almost all compensation tied to profits, fix ship and either focus on returns or prepare company for sale. Get ready, buyers will attack once confident that oil sitting above $55. Likely to push everyone closer to rock (Woodlands shrink), cut AAET (HUGE expense, no results, cult like fascination— notice they removed AAET from the most recent earnings slides, investors are angry!!!), focus all bonuses on profits, and cut support staff like crazy (APC revenue per employee is WAY too low compared to peers). XOM buyout is best bet. Either way, don’t get too comfortable, gravy train is going to crash down very soon! You have been warned, get out or get as hands on as possible— management going to be chopped!
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To compare what AAET is doing to Six Sigma just shows how little you know. CODING VS CLIPBOARDS!
AAET will be in the upcoming earnings call slides! Six Sigma is just a framework for operations people to break a problem down. AAET is using technology to make huge differences, just look at how many people are concentrated on AAET! It is so much growth. We are exclusive in the org, none of the bureaucracy and processes every other second rate employee is encumbered by.
Technology is the way we will be able to reduce headcount to become the new highest revenue per employee company in the industry. Better join in or be ready to get out! Progress keeps marching on.
The "Field" hasn't gotten along with the "Office" since one guy invented the wheel and the other one had to drive it.
That's just the way it is.
At best AAET will slightly improve efficiency that provides a temporary cost benefit that keeps us even with the competition. But we are not losing money based on inefficiency. LOOK AT THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS! I don't care how really goddamn smart you think you are, if you don't understand the money, you won't make the company profitable, and if you don't understand the engineering, you won't make any money at all.
Eventually everyone in the market creates their own version of the same fad (remember Six Sigma) and the minuscule marginal efficiencies squeezed out maintain economic parity among competitors but never allow anyone to pull ahead of the pack and dominate the market over the long term.
Analytics are a useful tool to help make decisions, to remove biases and logical flaws, but not a substitution for the skill that built a company like Exxon over a long period of time. If you think otherwise, you are pretty much admitting you don't know how to run an oil company. And it is not with a spreadsheet.
Data analytics can provide us with insights that allow us to grow through acquisitions. But if we get acquired, the algorithms will be deleted but the oil will valued.
But don't lose heart, they will keep some of your cleaned datasets so your life's work will live on.
Anadarko has an overpaid mediocre C suite but it's an upstream company. There's nothing wrong with it that higher oil prices won't solve. Activists don't get involved unless something is really f---ed up. As much as I dislike RAW and what he has done to this company, I don't see there is value to be "unlocked" by an activist throwing his weight around.
This sounds like the same confident bulkshit as the NBL takeover rumor postings.
"They're production is flat, they need our innovation and data science. AAET has direct support from the board, even if the CEO is replaced, we are the future. " Way to go, dummy: it's "their production..."
Your sh-- is soon to be a commodity. In a few months if not already, all the fancy "innovations" and algorithms will be downloadable on an itunes equivalent. Don't think that what you guys are doing is superior to all the advances a thousand other oil companies, startups, NOC's are making. You are delusional.
To match the best performers (Exxon and EOG) in the industry on revenue per employee, we would need to cut 50%+ of employees or double revenue with same employees (although any revenue increase just due to price still won’t help APC relative to EOG and Exxon since they will also benefit— except maybe a little bit if Brent is significantly higher than WTI.
Not sure if an investor would expect APC to match them but definitely would want to close the gap.
Sorry to interrupt your lovers’ quarrel, but I’m curious to know how many houses and lives the company plans to destroy in 2018. Is this year going to be huuuuge? Bigly-er than 2017 was?
What kind of manager would hire someone like this? Management might get away with doing nothing but come on guys, don’t hire people like this. Culture like that starts at the top. Looks to me like CIO or IT managers need some accountability. This AAET is not the Anadarko I know.
Guys you are embarrassing us in front of Exxon. Act like adults.
Damn straight they're proud of me. After all, I bet my Personal Wealth Account adds more in one year than yours does in 5.
The board is funding the future, they are backing AAET. The CEO and CIO are totally behind technology from AAET. The shareholders want AAET to succeed. They don't know any other groups by name.
Just do your job. Oh and I'm sure your parents are proud of you and your colleagues are blowing houses up.
It's the little and inefficient, Oh just drive to every well everyday, sweat, go home tired, don't care about efficiency or the company, just need braces for my kid mindset that leads to tons of cost overruns.
You ever notice that when layoffs happen, everything keeps running? The lazy get cut and the real workers use technology to be more efficient. Want to keep your job? Get more efficient before layoffs and embrace technology!
Welcome to 2018, the year of Advanced Analytics and Emerging Technology!
Also, Trump is a Racist and Midland is a sh--hole.
AAET jerk: You know some of us go to bed worried about layoffs and got to tell our wives and kids everything is going to be ok. We got mortgages, car payments, kids in braces, and all that other crap, same as you. Don't come in here with that elitist crap and firing people with misspellings. Come spend one day in my shoes. You are gonna sweat, work hard, and make an honest living trying to keep oil moving. YOU KNOW OIL THE THING THAT PAYS OUR BILLS. These coders come around here in their brand new "field trip" outfits to figure out what hillbillies do. Same bunch of pansies that cry about Hillary losing and call everyone who thinks differently a racist. That's progress I'm not gonna support. Bet your parents are proud knowing you use computers to fire people.
What in the sam hill is AAET? Anybody who thinks their sh-- don't stink, is a damn fool or liar. Are we firing field guys and replacing them with AAET?
Unlike a lot of the posts (and definitely comments) on this site, this one makes a lot of sense... How bad does it have to get before APC stops with the political crap, shiny stupid investments, and promoting jerks into "Center of Excellence" or "Advisor" or "Internal Innovation" or "AAET". I knew things were bad at HQ but this is crazy. Oh well, what does a hillbilly know?! PS We prefer Redneck over Hillbilly. Jerk,
"This is incorrect: "AAET is the only source of innovation left""-- Sounds like someone who was so unemployable that they had to take a Midland assignment.
AAET might not have made the last earnings call slides, but it was because OPERATIONS managed to miss all estimates.
We have a tough enough job fixing all the crap data that the hillbillies in the field slam into the databases. Maybe if they learned how to spell and stopped blowing up people, we'd have time to talk about innovative advanced in analytics and exciting new technologies.
I just hope I get to write the algorithms that decide who gets laid off, misspelled words inside company emails sounds like a great place to start! Less time wasted on data cleaning, smarter people, optimized operations: That is an all around win!
We're going to change Anadarko's Culture, it's time to get aggressive!
Yes, absolutely, we are the only thing valuable left at this company. If Exxon only wanted rock, they would buy a few smaller operators with less baggage. They're production is flat, they need our innovation and data science. AAET has direct support from the board, even if the CEO is replaced, we are the future. Get on board, or get out of the way. Unless you're in Midland, no way to make that a good situation,
"Activist Investors Coming" Proof ? Or speculation?
This is incorrect: "AAET is the only source of innovation left"
Also completely wrong: "AAET is the main reason Exxon would want us."
True statement: “Leveraging technology will lower costs and improve profits.” Only if implemented strategically.
This is true: "AAET (HUGE expense, no results, cult like fascination— notice they removed AAET from the most recent earnings slides"
New technologies are powerful if done right. What are chances APC / AAET figures it out? Slim.
“AAET is the main reason Exxon would want us.“
Exxon would never buy Anadarko for AAET. They have tech and research groups that are far ahead of anything coming out of this company. If they ever buy Anadarko it’ll be for resources in the ground that are priced cheaper than their other options.
“Leveraging technology will lower costs and improve profits.”
They said the exact same thing in the ‘80s & ‘90s. It’s one of those tried and true arguments used to appease the analysts during periods of challenging commodity prices. The sales pitch being: “we’re gonna increase profits by cutting staff and more than make up the difference with this “new” tech.” Sounds great, unfortunately it’s mainly a ploy to buy time by sacrificing people. The magical tech never quite works as advertised, but management gets another 2-3 years at the helm.
Don’t get me wrong, appropriate use of tech could help, but only when it’s done right and that tends to be expensive. It typically takes good equipment and lots of knowledgeable and experienced staff to make it work. After all, the algorithms are only as good as the people creating and using them (garbage in, garbage out). Hardly the type of thing that returns an uplift from a cost cutting exercise.
I hope to God Exxon has the same 5 hour workday we do. Nothing scares me more than having to put in an honest day’s work.
Break out the popcorn, the show is about to start! It would be funnier if people weren’t going to lose their jobs. Houston will have a glut of incompetent middle management for the next decade
Excel and miles of paper built Anadarko. Today you get promoted faster if you use PowerPoint than Excel. This is crazy.
AAET is the only source of innovation left, the days of Excel and miles of paper are gone. Leveraging technology will lower costs and improve profits. AAET is the main reason Exxon would want us. Imagine how much we could save with Exxon’s spending, speeding up geology and making bigger wells. You don’t have to be a Wall Street genius to see all the value makers! Rather than complaining about politics, maybe you should put away your Dowsing rods and support AAET— the future of oil is centered on technology and AI. The faster APC pushes out the flat earthers, the better!
We cannot trust Anadarko, even at $65 oil! I guess my kids should get student loans, who knows what is coming. Now it makes sense why we are spending all our money on stock buybacks!! Al is trying to buy himself a few more quarters
A lot of good hard-working people would still have jobs if Goons didn’t run the show. Politics, PowerPoints and Puckering up are the keys to success these days! A great company is dying under b---s---ters and bureaucrats!!!! The only way to motivate people these days is to tell them they are more layoffs coming! Higher oil prices are going to kill APC, if XOM buys— almost all Woodlands will be redundant! Start applying now! Anyone know how the gym is at the XOM campus? HA!