Early Beginnings: 1864-1981
Burlington Resources’ history dates back to 1864 when United States President Abraham Lincoln granted approximately 47,000,000 acres and permission to build a transcontinental railroad to Northern Pacific Railway Company, predecessor to Burlington Northern Railroad Company. After construction of the railroad was complete, Northern Pacific retained extensive land holdings and mineral rights, which ultimately became part of Burlington Resources’ extensive acreage holdings.
Nearly 100 years later, oil was discovered on Burlington Northern’s property in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. More than three decades later, this discovery resulted in two major Burlington Resources producing fields – East Lookout Butte and Cedar Hills South.
Company Growth: 1981-1987
Soon after production began in the East Lookout Butte and Cedar Hills South fields, Milestone Petroleum was formed to manage and develop Burlington Northern’s oil and gas properties and production in the Williston Basin and Colorado.
In the early 1980s, Burlington Northern acquired The El Paso Company, which included significant natural gas production in the San Juan Basin. Soon after, the company acquired Southland Royalty, an oil and gas company. Together, Southland, The El Paso Company’s exploration and production arm, and Milestone Petroleum combined to form Meridian Oil Inc.
Beginning of a New Era: 1987-1993
With the company’s rapid growth came the formation of Burlington Resources, a holding company for Burlington Northern’s non-railroad assets. The $1.75 billion resource and energy company’s stock successfully was sold to the public in 1988. Burlington Northern sold a 13 percent stake in Burlington Resources in an initial public offering in July 1988, and then distributed the remaining shares to holders of Burlington Northern common stock at the end of the year, making Burlington Resources a stand-alone resource company.
Over the next few years, Burlington Resources divested nonessential properties and acquired additional oil and gas assets to focus on its core business: oil and gas exploration, production and development. By 1990, the company had amassed more than $1 billion from the sale of nonstrategic assets. Glacier Park Co., Burlington Resources’ real estate subsidiary, was sold for $450 million, while other properties and subsidiaries were sold to provide capital for Meridian Oil.
Burlington Resources continued to focus exclusively on oil and gas operations in 1992 when the company spun off the El Paso Natural Gas Company and its gas transmission business to Burlington Resources shareholders. By this point, Burlington Resources had become the nation’s largest independent natural gas exploration and production company.
Continued Growth: 1993-2000
In 1994, Meridian Oil changed its name so its operations were conducted as Burlington Resources. Burlington Resources continued to divest nonessential resources, eliminating half of the company’s wells while also reducing costs. The company’s costs were considered to be approximately half of the industry average.
In 1997, Burlington Resources became the nation’s first “super-independent” company through a merger with Louisiana Land & Exploration. The merger gave Burlington Resources significant interests in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana and Wyoming’s prolific Madden Field, as well as prospective properties in Algeria and the East Irish Sea. A year later, the company announced that capital investments in the Gulf of Mexico shelf would be limited. Burlington Resources continued a multiyear exploratory program in Algeria that would ultimately yield more than 30 successful wells in multiple fields and establish commerciality.
The company continued its growth by acquiring Poco Petroleums of Canada in 1999, gaining entry into the highly productive Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The acquisition gave the company access to high-quality assets that complemented its existing United States asset base and core technical competencies. Soon after the acquisition, Burlington Resources initiated natural gas production in the East Irish Sea.
New Century, New Opportunities: 2000-2006
The turn of the century brought many exciting opportunities for Burlington Resources. In 2001, the company acquired Canadian Hunter Exploration of Canada to further enhance Burlington Resources’ focus on North American natural gas. The company gained major interests in the Deep Basin, North America’s third-largest gas field, through the acquisition. At the same time, the company refocused its international program toward a combination of near-term production and exploration opportunities with select high-potential exploration opportunities.
Burlington Resources successfully divested non-core properties and reduced its debt to less than 50 percent by mid-2002 to reduce expenses incurred by the recent Canadian Hunter acquisition. In the same year, the company acquired producing properties in Ecuador, purchased producing properties in Canada and signed a historic gas sales agreement in China. 2002 also marked the completion of new processing facilities in Wyoming’s Madden field, which doubled the field’s production.
During 2003, the company began production at two major international development projects: the Burlington Resources-operated MLN oilfield in Algeria and the partner-operated Panyu project offshore China. At the same time, Burlington Resources increased production in Canada, the Williston Basin and South Louisiana.
In 2004, the company reached significant milestones in maximizing returns while generating meaningful production growth in core assets in the Williston Basin, the Madden Field and South Louisiana. International oil volumes more than doubled, with increases from China offshore operations, Algeria and Ecuador. During 2005, Burlington Resources announced that successful exploratory drilling had established a promising southerly extension of the Bossier Trend in East Texas.
In December 2005, ConocoPhillips announced plans to acquire Burlington Resources in a transaction valued at $35.6 billion. On March 31, 2006, ConocoPhillips completed the acquisition of Burlington Resources.
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