Hess Beats Shale Carnage as ‘Fairy Tale’ Find Rallies Stock
- Hess was 2019 champion in S&P 500 energy index with a 65% gain
- Guyana partnership with Exxon to be more lucrative than shale
Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg
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Hess Corp. rose above the carnage in shale stocks with a more traditional approach to oil exploration -- partnering in a massive offshore discovery in a frontier nation.
Investors flocked to New York-based Hess in 2019 to participate in Exxon Mobil Corp.’s gigantic Guyana oil find, and avoid cash-burning shale specialists. Hess, which holds a 30% stake in the Guyanese discovery that’s turned into the world’s biggest new deepwater oil prospect, climbed 65% last year, leading gains in the S&P 500 Energy Index. That was its biggest annual increase since 2007.