Acquisitions NEWS

A news report has revealed that Korean National Oil Company (KNOC) is looking to divest its stakes in Dana Petroleum. KNOC has received offers from ten investment banks for the same. The Korean firm's 30% stakes in Dana is assumed to be worth more than £410 million. The aggressive acquisition of Dana took place in 2010 but now, KNOC wants to sell it in order reduce its debt. Western Isles is operated by Dana and it started production in 2017.

With the aim to pump up its private equity in the energy sector, Elliott Management Corp. has offered a proposal of $2 billion to acquire a portion of QEP Resources Inc. Elliott Management is New York’s investment firm who is ready to pay $8.75 a share in cash for the oil driller. QEP has given a conformation on receiving a proposal from Elliott.

Ring Energy closed its transaction with Tessara Petroleum Resources, acquiring acreage in the Permian. Tessara is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Carlyle Group L.P. The acquired acreage is in, around and contiguous to the core assets of the company in the Central basin platform. The total assets are of 4,763 net acres. Ring will have 100% working interest and 75% net revenue interest, and will be the operator.

Total has decided to sell 4% stakes in its Australian Ichthys LNG project to Inpex. This procurement will be worth $1.6 billion following cost overruns. Total E&P President said “This transaction is part of our constant portfolio review to optimize our capital allocation,” He has also given assurance that Total will be committed to its Australian project and won’t give up its 26% stakes in the same.

Equinor has successfully completed its sale of stakes in Alba field in the North Sea. The deal has been made between Verus Petroleum and Equinor and the sum has not been revealed. Moreover, Verus has been awarded 17 % interest in the Cheveron-operated development. After this, Verus will have the responsibilities for any new Alba facilities. This sale has been in line with Equinor’s strategy to aim at “core activities”.

Chesapeake Energy Corp has announced that it will buy oil producer Wild Horse Resource Development Corp. The deal is worth nearly $4 billion. Chesapeake has strategized this move to increase the oil production capacity in the course of rising crude prices. CEO of Chesapeake said “We plan to focus the vast majority of our projected 2019 activity on our high-margin, higher-return oil opportunities in the PRB and Eagle Ford Shale”

After a bidding held by Oman Oil Company, Malaysia’s Petronas informed that its subsidiary, PC Oman Ventures Ltd, will buy 10% stakes in Al Khazzan gas field of Oman. The subsidiary of Petronas will procure the stakes in Block 61 of the field and its expected production capacity is 1.5 billion cubic feet per day by 2020. Oman Oil Company Exploration and Production has 40% stakes in the block.

The former chairman of India's ONGC, DK Sarraf revealed that ONGC bought the stakes of Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) in KG basin block at Rs 8,000 crore when the asking price was Rs 20,000 crore. He said that unlike the comments of opposition, ONGC’s move to meet the disinvestment target through GSPC by selling the stake in HPCL was “strategic and of immense value proposition”.

Earlier this month, Husky Energy Inc. made a formal offer to buy each MEG share for C$11 in cash. Canada’s MEG has rejected its rival’s offer by considering it as an undervalued proposal. MEG issued a statement saying, “The board ... has unanimously determined that the Husky offer significantly undervalues the common shares and is not in the best interests of MEG or MEG shareholders,”

Europe’s leading E&P Company, Lundin Petroleum will acquire Equinor’s 15% in the Norway’s license including the discovery of Luno II. The deal involves the transfer of 20% stake in the Rungne to Equinor. This acquisition will increase Lundin’s interest in PL359 to 65%. The transaction date has been decided as January, 2018 and completion is the matter of government approvals.

London’s major oil and gas company, HALO, has entered into an agreement with the conditional acquisition of Third Energy Offshore Ltd. The London major will acquire the complete share capital of Third Energy whose portfolio includes 45% interests in the Greater Pegasus Area. HALO will proceed with this procurement through its wholly owned subsidiary Hague and London Oil B.V. (HALO).

UAE’s state-owned ADNOC is purchasing a 25% stake from Saudi Aramco in the $44 billion refinery and petrochemical project in India. The company will enter into an agreement with Saudi Aramco and Indian companies (IOCL, HPCl, and BPCL) on Monday. This decision is being seen as the realization of the growing fuel demand in Asia, which will prove to be a stable outlet for the crude they produce.

Gulf-based Cox Oil has entered into an agreement to acquire Energy XXI Gulf Coast in $322 million. Cox Oil will secure all of the outstanding shares of Energy XXI’s common stock for $9.10/share, as part of the agreement. This will effectively terminate Energy XXIs partnership with Orinoco Natural Resources LLC announced last month. Upon completion of the deal, Cox Oil’s production will be boosted to more than 61,000 boe/d.

Dutch multinational, LyondellBasell, is into discussions with Odebrecht to acquire leading plastic producer, Braskem. The two companies jointly talked about sharing a strong culture of operational excellence and legacies of value-creating innovation. The negotiations are into preliminary phase and no agreements have been reached yet. Appropriate diligence, definitive agreements, and corporate approvals are still due.

The Australian gas pipeline company APA has received a $9.8b takeover offer from a Hong Kong based conglomerate led by CK Infrastructure Holdings yesterday, with the Australian firm agreeing to open its books. APA, whose assets include some 15000 km long gas transmission pipelines and storage, with wind and solar farms across Australia, said that it was in shareholders’ interests to engage further.

In a $40m and $6m share deal, Northern Oil & Gas Inc has acquired the Williston basin oil production and acreage from Salt Creek Oil & Gas LLC. Salt Creek’s major shareholder, Deutsche Rohstoff AG, said that the transaction value at closing was $63.6m. Northern O&G’s assets in Williston basin include 1,380 boe/d of production and 1,319 acres, held by production with an average net revenue interest of 86%.

Canada-based Akita Drilling is acquiring its rival Xtreme Drilling Corp. in a major C$209-million stock-cum-cash deal. The merged companies, which will operate under Akita’s umbrella, will have a total of 44 rigs in major resource basins in Canada and the United States. The merger is expected to help Akita sustain its position in the active Canadian markets. The merger is likely to be completed in Q3 of 2018-19.

State-owned Qatar Petroleum has signed an agreement with Exxon Mobil to become a 30% equity holder in ExxonMobil Exploration Argentina SRL and Mobil Argentina SA. The companies hold rights with other partners for seven blocks under unconventional exploration licenses with active drilling plans. This is, notably, Qatar Petroleum’s first investment in Argentina, and first ever international investment in unconventional resources.