Hess Corporation (HES): ANSOFF MATRIX [Dec-2025 Updated]

Even with Chevron now in the picture, understanding Hess Corporation's underlying asset strategy is key to seeing where the real value creation lies. We've mapped out their entire growth potential using the Ansoff Matrix, anchored by their planned $4.5 billion E&P capital spend for 2025. This isn't just about maximizing Bakken output or accelerating Yellowtail in Guyana; it's a full spectrum plan. They are looking to secure premium Asian buyers for new crude volumes while simultaneously piloting EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) in old fields and even setting up a dedicated CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) business unit. This is how you manage a legacy asset base while building the next decade. See the full, actionable breakdown below.

Hess Corporation (HES) - Ansoff Matrix: Market Penetration

Maximize production from the Bakken Shale, targeting 195,000 boepd.

Hess Corporation's net production from the Bakken in the first quarter of 2025 was 195,000 boepd. The forecast for the second quarter of 2025 production in the Bakken is a range of 210,000 boepd to 215,000 boepd. During the first quarter of 2025, the Corporation operated four rigs in the Bakken, drilled 28 wells, completed 36 wells, and brought 32 new wells online.

Accelerate ramp-up of Guyana's Yellowtail development, starting in Q3 2025.

The Yellowtail development is on track to start up in the third quarter of 2025. This fourth development on the Stabroek Block has an initial gross production capacity of approximately 250,000 bopd. Hess's net share of development costs for Yellowtail, excluding pre-sanction costs and FPSO purchase cost, is forecast to be approximately US$390 million in 2025.

Drive down cash operating costs below the Q4 2024 rate of $12.95 per boe.

Cash operating costs for Hess Corporation in the first quarter of 2025 were $12.27 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe), excluding items affecting comparability of earnings between periods. This is below the fourth quarter of 2024 rate of $12.95 per boe. Cash operating costs in the second quarter of 2025 are expected to be higher than the first quarter of 2025.

Achieve the 2025 goal of zero routine flaring to reduce operational risk and cost.

Hess Corporation is committed to achieving zero routine flaring from its operated assets by the end of 2025. The company set a target to achieve a 0.75% routine flaring intensity in its North Dakota production operations in 2025, following an achievement of 1.5% in 2024.

Optimize well spacing and completion designs in core fields for higher recovery rates.

The following table shows recent operational metrics from the Bakken, which reflects the impact of drilling and completion activity:

The Corporation plans to continue operating four drilling rigs in 2025.

The overall E&P net production for Hess Corporation in the first quarter of 2025 was 476,000 boepd. The forecast for E&P net production in the second quarter of 2025 is in the range of 480,000 boepd to 490,000 boepd.

• Hess Corporation's operated GHG emissions intensity target for 2025 is 17 kg of CO2e per BOE versus a 2017 baseline of 34 kg CO2e per BOE.
• The Corporation's net proved reserve additions and revisions in 2024 totaled 247 million boe.
• The Corporation replaced 138% of its 2024 production at a finding and development cost of $19.67 per boe in 2024.

Finance: review Q2 2025 cost guidance against Q1 2025 actual of $12.27 per boe by end of next week.

Hess Corporation (HES) - Ansoff Matrix: Market Development

You're looking at how Hess Corporation, now part of Chevron Corporation following the July 2025 acquisition, can push its existing crude oil and NGL volumes into new geographic or customer segments. This is Market Development in action, focusing on getting what you already produce into new hands or new markets.

The core of this strategy revolves around the massive volumes coming from the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where Hess holds a 30% stake. The ramp-up of production is key to securing new, long-term offtake agreements, potentially with Asian refiners who are hungry for reliable, high-quality supply.

Here's a look at the recent production and pricing context from the first quarter of 2025:

The integration with Chevron Corporation, which closed in July 2025, directly supports market development by providing access to a massive, established global trading network. This network can help Hess Corporation's volumes reach premium buyers outside of existing contractual channels, potentially including European refiners looking for lower-carbon intensity crude. Chevron expects to achieve $1 billion in annual run-rate cost synergies by the end of 2025, which will enhance the competitiveness of these barrels globally.

For Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs), the focus is on expanding sales to new petrochemical hubs, particularly along the US Gulf Coast, where demand for feedstock remains strong. The realized pricing for NGLs in Q1 2025 shows a positive trend:

• Average Realized NGL Selling Price (Q1 2025): $24.08 per barrel.
• Average Realized NGL Selling Price (Q1 2024): $22.97 per barrel.
• NGL and Natural Gas Volumes (Percentage of Proceeds Contracts, Q1 2025): 19,000 boepd.

The overall E&P capital and exploratory expenditures for Hess Corporation in 2025 are projected to be approximately $4.5 billion, with a significant portion dedicated to the Guyana developments that fuel this market expansion.

Regarding exploration in proven adjacent basins, Hess Corporation has made a strategic decision in 2025. Hess relinquished exploration rights to offshore Block 59 in Suriname on July 8, 2025, after fulfilling minimum work obligations and deciding not to proceed to the next phase. This move avoids further financial commitments in an area deemed too risky for drilling an exploration well. However, Hess retains an interest in Block 42, which is contiguous with and located south of the relinquished Block 59, indicating a continued, albeit more focused, exploration presence near the prolific Guyana acreage.

The commitment to environmental performance also plays into market access, especially in Europe. Hess Corporation announced a plan to reduce routine flaring at Hess operated assets to zero by the end of 2025, which supports the narrative of offering lower-carbon intensity crude.

The transaction framework itself involved issuing approximately 301 million shares of Chevron common stock to Hess stockholders in the all-stock deal, which closed in July 2025.

Hess Corporation (HES) - Ansoff Matrix: Product Development

You're looking at how Hess Corporation is developing new offerings, which often means putting capital to work in areas beyond just finding more oil and gas. This is where the Product Development quadrant of the Ansoff Matrix comes into play, focusing on new products for existing markets, like cleaner energy offerings or specialized services.

Low-Methane Gas and Carbon Intensity Crude

Hess Corporation has set aggressive targets for its existing operations, which underpins the creation of lower-carbon intensity products. The company aims to reduce operated Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) and methane emissions intensities by approximately 50% from 2017 levels by the end of 2025. Furthermore, Hess is targeting zero routine flaring from its operations by the end of 2025. On the crude side, new infrastructure is being deployed. The Yellowtail development in Guyana, utilizing the ONE GUYANA floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), is slated for startup in the third quarter of 2025. This FPSO is designed for an initial gross production capacity of approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). Capital deployed for new assets like the Liza Destiny and Prosperity FPSOs totaled approximately $635 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The specific product development actions tied to these efforts include:

• Invest in advanced methane detection and abatement technologies to create a low-methane gas product.
• Develop certified low-carbon intensity crude by integrating carbon capture readiness into new FPSOs.

Extending Product Life and Commercializing Tools

In the mature Bakken fields, the focus is on maximizing the life of the current asset base through technology application. Hess plans to continue operating four drilling rigs in the Bakken throughout 2025. Bakken net production reached 195,000 boepd in the first quarter of 2025. While specific EOR pilot spending isn't itemized, the overall E&P capital and exploratory expenditures for the full year 2025 are projected to be approximately $4.5 billion. Regarding proprietary tools, while specific revenue from selling digital subsurface modeling tools is not public, the company's overall investment in technology is significant, as evidenced by the total CapEx budget.

The planned activities here are:

• Pilot enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques in mature Bakken fields to extend product life.
• Commercialize proprietary digital subsurface modeling tools for sale to other operators.

New Carbon Offset Product Development

Hess Corporation is funding external research to create a novel carbon offset product via plant science. Hess is donating $50 million over five years, starting in 2023, to the Salk Institute's Harnessing Plants Initiative (HPI). This is in addition to a prior $12.5 million gift in 2020 and a $3 million gift in 2021. As of May 2025, the HPI has sequenced 900 plant genomes and developed 38 Salk Ideal Plant lines optimized for carbon storage. A dedicated biotechnology spinout, Cquesta, is now working to scale and commercialize these traits.

This initiative represents a clear product development path for a new type of environmental product:

• Partner with Salk Institute to advance carbon storage in plants, a new carbon offset product.

Here's a quick look at some of the key financial figures Hess Corporation reported around the time of these strategic plans:

Hess Corporation (HES) - Ansoff Matrix: Diversification

You're looking at how Hess Corporation, now integrated under Chevron following the $53 billion acquisition finalized in July 2025, might pursue diversification beyond its core upstream oil and gas business. This is about new markets and new products, which is the riskiest quadrant of the Ansoff Matrix.

Form a dedicated business unit for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf Coast corridor, both onshore and offshore, is a prime area for this, offering excellent storage reservoirs in Cretaceous and Tertiary sands. Industry data shows that proposed CCS sites in the Gulf Coast Corridor (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama) have a prospective storage resource capacity of 2.4 gigatonnes (Gt) of $\text{CO}_2$ across 287,000 acres. Anticipated injection rates for these proposed projects are between 5-20 Mt per year. For context, globally, about 70 CCS facilities are operating, storing roughly 61.5 million metric tons of $\text{CO}_2$ per year. This scale suggests a significant market for a dedicated unit.

Invest in blue hydrogen production, utilizing offshore Guyana natural gas reserves.

The strategic positioning in Guyana, a region with abundant offshore gas, is a key enabler for blue hydrogen. Following the acquisition, Chevron announced plans to allocate $1.5 billion of its 2025 capital expenditure to lower-carbon initiatives, which includes a $5 billion blue hydrogen and ammonia plant. Hess Corporation's full-year 2025 E&P capital and exploratory expenditures were projected to be approximately $4.5 billion, so the lower-carbon allocation represents a material shift in capital focus.

Acquire a minority stake in a utility-scale solar or wind project to balance the portfolio.

While Hess Corporation's historical focus remains on oil and gas, the new parent company's lower-carbon allocation of $1.5 billion in 2025 capital expenditure signals a clear path for portfolio balancing investments. A minority stake in a utility-scale project, perhaps in the $100 million to $500 million range for a meaningful percentage of a large asset, would fit within this new strategic envelope.

Develop geothermal energy projects, leveraging deep drilling expertise in new regions.

Specific capital allocation figures for geothermal projects by Hess or Chevron are not yet public as of late 2025. However, the core competency in deep drilling, honed over decades in exploration and production, is directly transferable. The cost for a single geothermal well can range from $3 million to over $10 million, depending on depth and region, making this a capital-intensive but expertise-leveraging diversification path.

Launch a venture capital arm to invest in energy storage and grid optimization startups.

The industry trend points toward enabling technologies. While specific Hess VC arm funding is not detailed, the broader context shows a need. For instance, Hess Midstream LP expected to generate approximately $135 million in Adjusted Free Cash Flow after distributions at the midpoint of its 2025 guidance. A dedicated VC arm could target seed-stage energy storage startups, where initial investment rounds often fall between $5 million and $25 million.

Here's a quick look at the scale of the core business versus potential diversification targets:

The company's cash position as of March 31, 2025, was $1.3 billion (excluding Midstream) against debt obligations of $5.3 billion. The debt to capitalization ratio stood at 27.8%.

The strategic moves involve:

• Focusing CCS unit on Gulf Coast geological formations.
• Leveraging Guyana gas for blue hydrogen production.
• Allocating capital to minority stakes in established renewables.
• Applying deep drilling expertise to geothermal exploration.
• Establishing a VC arm for energy storage technology investments.

Finance: draft the initial capital allocation proposal for the CCS unit by next Wednesday.