Global Impact of North American Shale Gas Boom Forces Qatar to Shift Focus
The global impact of the US shale gas boom was in further evidence this week as Qatar Petroleum, along with its MOU partner, Centrica, made its first move into the North American E&P market in a $1 billion acquisition of Canadian assets from Suncor Energy. North America had been earmarked by Qatar as a guaranteed .. read more
Deals of the Week: Linn Energy Makes the Largest Move in Quiet Week in E&P Market
In a subdued week for E&P deals, Linn Energy were the main protagonist for the second week in a row with the largest, albeit at $175 million, a small fraction of the $1.2 billion it had to pay to BP last week to take a position in the Hugoton Basin. In this week’s deal, Linn .. read more
Deals of the Week: Chevron Enters New Partnership in Canadian Atlantic with Repsol and Statoil
After the extremely busy start to 2012 last week, M&A activity slowed down considerably this week, with only a few deals breaking $100 million. Three major companies joined forces in one of the most significant deals of the week, as Chevron, Repsol and Statoil continued their Newfoundland partnership in the Orphan Basin exploration block EL .. read more
Deals of the Week: ConocoPhillips is Biggest Spender in First Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale Since Horizon Disaster
This week, the Gulf of Mexico held its first lease sale since the Horizon oil spill of April 2010. The Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 218 reaped a total of $337 million, with 20 companies gaining tracts. ConocoPhillips was the most prominent among the successful bidders, gaining the most tracts (75 – spending $159 .. read more
Deals of the Week: Premier Make an Opportunistic Grab for Encore Oil
Premier Oil made a timely offer for fellow North Sea exploration company Encore Oil this week, for a consideration of $325 million (net of cash held by Encore). The offer per share, which has been recommended by the board, is for either £0.70 in cash or 0.2067 shares of Premier Oil, representing a 55% premium .. read more
Weekly Energy Round-Up: Chevron Commits to Wheatstone Project as China Looks Abroad For Shale Gas Investment
Wheatstone Project Gets Green Light This week, Chevron announced the final investment decision (FID) for its Wheatstone project in Western Australia. The initial $29 billion project involves the construction of two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) processing trains with a combined annual capacity of 8.9 million tonnes. The project received federal approval last week for an .. read more
Weekly Energy Round-Up: Tullow & Total Make Important Discoveries as Cairn Falters
Tullow Makes French Guiana Oil Discovery, New Basin Unlocked Tullow Oil this week announced a major success with its Zaedyus exploration well in French Guiana in South America. The Zaedyus exploration well was drilled in the Guyane Maritime license, and made an oil discovery, encountering 72 metres of net oil pay in two turbidite fans. .. read more
Deals of the Week: Hayward’s Vallares Announces Kurdistan Merger
Vallares Plc, the acquisition vehicle formed in June 2011 by former BP Chief Exec Tony Hayward and Nathaniel Rothschild, announced the $2.1 billion reverse takeover of Turkish company Genel Energy International Ltd this week. Not only is Genel the largest producer in the Kurdistan region, with production of around 41,000 boe/d, the company has major .. read more
Deals of the Week: Energy Transfer Equity Regains Pole Position in Race To Acquire Southern Union
Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) regained control this week in the battle to acquire Texas-based Southern Union Company (SUG). 3 weeks ago, the company had made an initial approach and signed an agreement with SUG, only for Williams Companies to swoop in with a better offer (around $8.6 billion). ETE maintained that its offer was superior .. read more
Iraq 4th Bidding Round Offers New Opportunities for IOCs
Iraq is one of the few countries where a high volume of reserves remains yet resources have vastly been under exploited. Although Iraq ranks highly as an oil producer, major fields are yet to reach their expected peak production rates and only a few fields are in development. In early 2011, the Iraq Oil Ministry .. read more