Amplify Energy

Amplify is the successor of Memorial Production Partners, which went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017 and was traded as Nasdaq: MEMP. Amplify's CEO beginning May 2018 was Ken Mariani, previously from EnerVest. Midstates Petroleum (previously NYSE: MPO) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which had gone through bankruptcy in 2016, was merged with Amplify in 2019.

In the Memorial Production Partners 2017 bankruptcy, debt was reduced from $1.3 billion to $430 million. Memorial itself had, earlier, emerged from the NGP private equity fund and the Beta field in turn had been originally discovered in 1976 by Royal Dutch Shell. Huntington Beach field as a whole "was once considered the 12th largest in the nation, having produced more than a billion barrels since discovery by the Standard Oil Co. in 1920.

David J. Sambrooks, former CEO of Midstates, received $5.3 million in compensation in 2019, $1.1 million in 2018, $2.7 million in 2017. The 2019 compensation included $3.5 million in severance benefits. Likewise, Scott C. Weatherholt, EVP and general counsel, received $3 million compensation in 2019 (including $1.9 million in severance benefits), $1.6 million in 2018, and $416,000 in 2017.

Before the merger, the company bought back $1.3 million in stock in early 2019, having approved up to $25 million of buyback in 2018. After the mid-2019 merger, another $25 million buyback was approved, and the company purchased $24.9 in stock in late 2019.

Amplify's 2019 gross income was $275.6 million, versus $340 million in 2018. Two dividends were issued in 2019 totaling $15.9 million. The company had a revolving credit line with Bank of Montreal for $450 million; the company had an average of $265 million borrowed. The line of credit was reduced to $285 million in June 2020, and would be reduced monthly until it was at $260 million. In June the company had $264 million used in the line of credit.

Fir Tree Capital Management, a hedge fund founded by Jeff Tannenbaum, owns approximately 27.7% of Amplify's outstanding stock. Brigade Capital Management owns approximately 10.7%.

In 2019, its largest customers were Phillips 66 (27%), Sinclair Oil (21%), and BP America (13%).

CEO Mariani announced his retirement on April 1, 2020. CFO Martyn Willsher was announced as the interim CEO.

Amplify, through its Beta Offshore (Beta Operating Company LLC, registered in Delaware) subsidiary, owns three oil platforms near Los Angeles, California, titled Elly, Ellen, and Eureka. Elly and Ellen are connected. Ellen and Eureka have production oil wells and are connected by pipeline to Elly.

Elly separates the oil, gas, and water, burns the gas for fuel, and pumps the oil through a 16 inches (41 cm) pipeline, to the Port of Long Beach. San Pedro Bay Pipeline Company owns and operates the 17.5 miles (28.2 km) pipeline. Fracking is not used in the Beta field's unit, and would be banned or heavily restricted, per a court order given to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

San Pedro Bay Pipeline Company, registered in California, is owned by Amplify per Amplify's 2019 10-K. The Elly platform was installed in 1980, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Oil-in-ocean incidents

2021 oil spill, pipeline drag

In October 2021, a major oil spill off the coast of Southern California caused dead birds, fish and oil to wash up on Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. The spill was initially estimated to be the equivalent of as much as 144,000 gallons of oil but estimates were revised down.

As of mid-November 2021, "officials [had] said the actual amount [was] likely much lower," likely around 25,000 gallons, although there was "no firm number." In 2024 linking to October 2021 reports, CNN used the figure 131,000 gallons for the spill.

In the initial aftermath of the discovery of the spill it was termed a "potential ecological disaster" by Huntington Beach mayor Kim Carr on October 2, 2021. Orange County supervisor Katrina Foley said the oil had "infiltrated the entirety of the (Talbert) Wetlands." "We are fully committed to being out here until this incident is fully concluded," Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher said. He also the company has owned the pipeline for about nine years.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated in a press release it was sending investigators to gather information and assess the source of the oil spill. News outlets asserted that Amplify and Willsher were being "evasive" about a 15-hour delay in notifying federal regulators about the oil spill, which was reported by its crisis company, Witt O'Brien's. Rebecca Craven, program director of Pipeline Safety Trust, said Amplify had "failed to publicly explain how it responded to signs of a possible failure in the pipeline."

In November 2021, Coast Guard investigators determined that at least one container ship, the Beijing owned by Capetanissa Maritime Corp. of Liberia / V-Ships Greece Ltd., “was involved in an anchor dragging incident on Jan. 25, 2021 during a heavy weather event that impacted the Ports of L.A. and Long Beach.” The owner and the operator have been named “parties in interest” in the investigation.

The Beijing is chartered by COSCO and is sometimes referred to as the COSCO Beijing. The MSC Danit was also identified as "moving over the pipeline while in high winds Jan. 25, before eventually moving out to the channel near Santa Catalina Island" and the Coast Guard has also designated Mediterranean Shipping Company, the operator of the Danit, and Dordellas Finance Corp. of Panama, its owner, as parties of interest in the ongoing investigation.