In the following video, Motley Fool energy analysts Joel South and Taylor Muckerman discuss an announcement by Hess (HES 0.35%) to divest its retail arm, thereby completely exiting the downstream segment, and use the cash on some outstanding projects that will refocus the company entirely into an exploration and production company. Joel tells us what similar moves have looked like from other companies that have divested their downstream assets to refocus more on exploration and production, and gives investors an idea of what they can expect in terms of the company distributing some of the cash from this deal to shareholders.