Cepsa looking to acquire upstream assets for $3-$4 billion!! Will it acquire North American shales or ???

Spain's oil refiner Cepsa is looking to boost its upstream operations by buying assets or companies and has the financial capacity to spend 2 billion to 2.5 billion euros ($2.93 billion to $3.67 billion), says the company’s chief executive, Dominique de Riberolles.

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Source: Cepsa 2009 Annual Report

“Abu Dhabi's IPIC has asked us for more presence in upstream. It’s probable that we will have to make one or two acquisitions of oil and gas blocks or companies," de Riberolles said. IPIC, in February 2011, offered a bid to acquire the remaining 52.94% stake in Cepsa for $5 billion. A brief look at the deal is as follows-

Where will Cepsa venture into??? Try new areas or add to the existing portfolio???

The company, which has small upstream operations in Latin America (Peru and Colombia) and North Africa (Algeria and Egypt), has not yet identified companies or areas where it plans to invest.

Cepsa, going on acquisition spree, will most likely venture into North American shales. In the recent days North American shales have become the new pie to taste. Since the beginning of 2010, these shales have been acquired by Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and South Africans… This is justified with the following snapshot.

Source: Derrick Petroleum E&P Transactions Database

In addition, with the rising oil price it is quite obvious that Cepsa will be no different from the other foreigners to venture into American shales...