Midland Energy Resources

Executive Summary

Midland Energy Resources is a leading global energy developer dedicated to providing advanced power systems and energy services around the world. Midland Energy Resources has three divisions Exploration & Production, Refining & Marketing, and Petrochemicals. They have been incorporated more than 120 years previously and they have 80,000 employees in 2007. Janet Mortensen, the senior vice president of project finance for Midland Energy Resources must determine the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for the company as a whole and each of its divisions as part of the annual capital budgeting process. As each division has different functions and risk associations, the company needs separate discount rate to evaluate its projects.

This report is prepared to find out the realistic measures for assessing cost of capital for Midland Energy Resources. After careful evaluation of available information and using finance literature and relevant course lectures, the analysis is prepared to offer appropriate recommendations for Midland Energy Resources to make future capital budgeting decisions.

Company Overview

Midland Energy Resources is a global energy company with operations in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) providing a broad array of products and services to upstream oil and gas customers worldwide including refining and marketing (R&M), natural gas, and petrochemicals. Exploration & Production business, including oil and natural gas exploration and field development and production, is its most profitable business with the highest net margin in the industry over the previous 5 years. With continued growth expectations, Midland is set to increase capital spending to meet growing demand. However, Midland’s refining and marketing business covers a comprehensive range of refined oil products worldwide, it ranks the largest division of the firm and investments will remain steady. Finally, Petrochemicals are chemical products made from...