No Significant Change in Number of 'Deals in Play' So Far In 2011 In North America

There are no big changes in the numbers of 'deals in play' as measured on 1 Jan, 2011 & 1 Aug, 2011. Apart from an increase by 10 in Aug 1, 2011, the number of opportunities and their spread between country, sub-region/ plays, shales, and conventionals/ unconventionals remains largely the same. This analysis is based on opportunities recorded in Derrick’s “Deals in Play’ database as on 2 different dates: 1 Jan, 2011 and 1 Aug, 2011. Only opportunities where deal values are equal to or greater than $100 million have been considered for this analysis. The following charts show the split up of the number of opportunities vs Sub Region/ Play Type. Additional insights gleaned from this information are presented below.

Chart 1: Number of opportunities Vs Sub Region/ Play Type on 1 Jan, 2011. Source: DPS

Chart 1: Number of opportunities Vs Sub Region/ Play Type on 1 Aug, 2011. Source: DPS


On  Aug 1, 2011, there were 78 assets for sale in North America (US and Canada) with asset/ project values greater than $100 million. This is an increase by 10 in the number of deals in the market in this region as compared to Jan 1, 2011.

On Aug 1, 2011, the most number of deals in play were from Alberta, Canada at 14 (17.94%), for conventional assets/ projects. Deals in play from Alberta were also on top on Jan 1, 2011 at 11 or 16.17% of all opportunities.

Marcellus Shale related packages hold 2nd and 3rd place, in terms of number of packages for sale, as of Jan 1, 2011 & Aug 1, 2011, at 10 & 8 respectively. These numbers have remained constant for both these periods.

On Jan 1, 2011, there were 45 opportunities in the US (66%) and 23 in Canada (34%) as compared to 47 in the US (60%) and 31 in Canada (40%) on Aug 1, 2011.

On Jan 1, 2011, there were 28 (41%) shale opportunities as compared to 34 (44%) on Aug 1, 2011.

On Jan 1, 2011, there were 34 (50%) opportunities related to conventional hydrocarbons compared to 38 (49%) on Aug 1, 2011. On Jan 1, 2011, 34 (50%) opportunities were for unconventional hydrocarbons and on Aug 1, 2011, 40 (51%) were for conventionals.

Husky Seeks JV Partner for Accelerated Development of its Ansell, Liquids Rich, Gas Assets

Husky’s chief executive, Amit Ghosh, said in its 2nd quarter conference call, that the company is seeking a joint-venture partner to accelerate development of an emerging liquids-rich natural gas play in western Alberta.

Husky has created a preliminary development plan which could potentially see up to 2,600 Cardium and deeper Manville formation wells drilled in its Ansell assets, most of which would be horizontal. In the first two quarters of 2011, Husky drilled 21 Cardium Formation wells at Ansell. A further 12 Cardium and nine deeper multi-zone wells are planned to be drilled in the second half of 2011. The company is currently constructing additional offload capacity on its own, which will increase total production capacity at Ansell to 56 MMcf/d and over 2,000 Bbls/d liquids.

As prices for natural gas continue to remain low, North American natural gas producers have shifted focus towards fields rich in natural gas liquids, which trade at prices close to crude oil, and the Ansell property is one such liquids rich gas field, which could benefit from further development. 

Analyst Comment

Assuming a 50% JV for the undeveloped acreage of 150,000 acres, we value the 50% JV to be between $60 - $80 million. This valuation is based on similar recent deals in the vicinity involving the Cardium Formation acreage where the acreage metric was between $1,200/acre - $1,800/acre. 

Derrick 'Deals in Play'

Derrick has aggregated all publicly announced properties for sale. Derrick’ Deals in Play is the most comprehensive data set of its kind in the industry. This special feature includes every deal ranging from the large packages being brokered through investment banks to the much smaller, non-brokered prospects. For more information click here.