Cnooc Ltd.’s Nexen Energy unit is getting out of the oil trading business as the company cuts jobs across its Canadian operation.
The marketing division is being simplified and run as an “equity-focused model,” said Diane Kossman, a spokeswoman for Calgary-based Nexen.
In an equity model, producers market only their own oil. Nexen, which China’s Cnooc purchased for $15.1 billion in a deal announced in 2012, last week said it was cutting 300 workers in Canada, 40 in the US and 60 in the UK.
Nexen’s marketing division has long included oil trading. Since June 2013, Nexen and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have been responsible for marketing the bulk of roughly 70,000 barrels a day of conventional crude that the Alberta government receives in lieu of royalty payments from producers.
The provincial government is selecting from multiple bidders seeking to take on a two-year marketing contract to start June 1, Richard Masson, chief executive officer of the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission, said by phone.
He said the government is confident Nexen will sell volumes till then.