HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Beacon Offshore Energy LLC (“Beacon”), an exploration and production company focused on exploring, developing, acquiring and operating upstream oil and gas properties in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (“GOM”), wholly owned by funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners, an affiliate of Blackstone (NYSE:BX), announced today that Scott Gutterman has joined Beacon as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. In addition, industry veterans Paul Dailly and John Hollowell have agreed to join Beacon’s Board of Managers.
Scott Gutterman brings 40 years of exploration and production experience primarily focused in the GOM. Prior to joining Beacon, Scott served as President and Chief Executive Officer of LLOG Exploration Company, guiding its deepwater exploration and production portfolio through multiple phases of transformational growth. During his 25 years with LLOG, the company safely and efficiently drilled over 350 wells in the GOM, including over 90 wells in deepwater, with an exploration success rate of almost 70% and built a strong track record as an operating and development partner. Scott will lead and augment Beacon’s management team to help enable and position the company to be a leading deepwater operator and a partner of choice, and to grow its existing portfolio of exploration, appraisal, development and producing assets.
Blackstone Energy Partners formed Beacon in early 2016 with the objective of building a significant, leading deepwater GOM company and high quality asset portfolio. The company currently holds significant working interest positions in fields including Blue Wing Olive, Buckskin, Claiborne, Crown & Anchor, La Femme, McKinney, Moccasin, Praline, Red Zinger, Shenandoah, Stonefly, and Yucatan. Beacon plans to further expand its extensive footprint to build and operate a leading GOM business with a scalable oil portfolio via participating in federal lease sales, farm-ins, and acquisitions to complement its high margin existing portfolio of producing, oil-weighted assets, sanctioned developments, pre-sanctioned discoveries, and exploration prospects.
Commenting on the announcement, Scott Gutterman, CEO, said: “I am very excited to join the Beacon team and to partner once again with Blackstone. Our goal is to develop a strong deepwater operating presence and to cultivate industry relationships in a manner that establishes Beacon as a long-term operating partner of choice. The opportunity to build upon Beacon’s existing resource base with the commitment and support of Blackstone’s significant energy expertise, capital, extensive industry relationships, and successful track record in the oil and gas sector provides us with an ability to target both organic and inorganic opportunities with high full-cycle cash-on-cash returns in one of the most prolific basins in the world.”
Angelo Acconcia, Senior Managing Director of Blackstone Energy Partners who oversees its upstream investments said: “Scott is a highly talented manager and operator who brings unique value, insights, and expertise to Beacon, and we are very excited to partner with him again. We are also excited and focused on continuing to grow Beacon into a significant oil exploration, appraisal and development company in the deepwater GOM, and being an operating and development partner of choice with the highest health, safety and environmental standards and policies. With Scott onboard, along with Marc Hensel, President and CFO, and the other members of the Beacon team, we are very excited for what the future holds for this team and investment strategy. Our commitment to Beacon and partnership with Scott is illustrative of our focus on aligning ourselves with best-in-class management teams with proven technical and operational expertise”.
In addition to Scott, Paul Dailly and John Hollowell will bring in excess of 70 years of combined oil and gas and management experience including an extensive background in offshore exploration and production. Most recently, Paul served as Senior Vice President Exploration, Chief Geoscientist, and Founding Partner at Kosmos Energy Ltd. John previously served as President, Chief Executive Officer of Shell Midstream Partners LP. Both will become independent managers on the Beacon board, joining Jim Farnsworth, former President Exploration & Appraisal and Co-Founder of Cobalt International Energy, who has served on the board since October 2017.
About Beacon Offshore Energy
Beacon Offshore Energy is a Houston, Texas-based exploration and production company formed by Blackstone Energy Partners in 2016 with a focus on exploring, developing and acquiring upstream oil and gas properties in the deepwater GOM. The company currently holds interests in 40 deepwater leases with net resource potential in excess of 200 mmboe. Visit www.beaconoffshore.com for more information.
About Blackstone Energy Partners
Blackstone Energy Partners is Blackstone's energy-focused private equity business, with a successful record built on our industry expertise and partnerships with exceptional management teams. Blackstone has invested or committed over $16 billion of equity globally across a broad range of sectors within the energy industry.
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with $457 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
