Ophir Energy today (23 Jan 2012) announced it has contracted the Eirik Raude Ocean rig to begin a three well drilling campaign in Equatorial Guinea.
Ophir plans a 60 day programme beginning in April 2012 of three firm wells, plus one contingent well in its operated Block R. The wells are designed to delineate sufficient additional gas reserves and facilitate a fast-track gas development. To date, Ophir has drilled two gas discoveries in Block R.
For more information on Ophir Energy or exploration in West Africa, use the Derrick Petroleum ‘DocSearch’ tool, an easier and faster method to view company documents. Click on the link below for a sample search on ‘West Africa’
There are many unconventional packages put up for sale, with most in the US or Canada. Given the flurry of unconventional deal activity recently, it wouldn’t be surprising if unconventional deal volumes and values reach record highs this year.
Jack Williams, president of the Irving, Texas-based ExxonMobil's XTO unit, which was acquired by ExxonMobil in June 2010, says that Exxon is looking to expand its shale gas holdings in more than a dozen gas-rich shale-rock formations worldwide. Exxon is also getting active internationally, starting hydraulic fracturing on formations in Poland this year and last week agreeing with China Petrochemical Corp. to jointly assess the resource’s potential in China. Although gas prices have been relatively low, Exxon is reportedly pleased with the returns they’re seeing with production from their unconventional assets, and particularly XTO’s assets.
This announcement by Exxon comes on the back of a series of multi-billion dollar deals involving unconventional (shale) transactions. Last week, BHP Billiton agreed to acquire Petrohawk Energy for $12.1 billion to expand its shale gas holdings in the US. Since June 1, companies including Exxon, Marathon Oil Corp. and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd have announced at least $7 billion worth of North American shale-gas deals.
The following table shows unconventional opportunities for sale recorded in Derrick’s “Deals in Play’ database, part of Derrick’s ‘E&P transactions’ database
Table 1: Unconventional opportunities available in US and Canada as of July 2011. Click on squares to get to the detailed deal sheet. Source: Derrick Petroleum Services. *HRB = Horn River Basin.
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There are currently 67 unconventional oil and gas packages for sale in the market. The majority of these packages are located in the USA (46) and most of them are either for unconventional oil (21) or unconventional gas (21). A large number of packages are for investments in undeveloped discoveries (30) and for investments in fields under development (20). Eagle Ford Shale has the most number of opportunities at 12 followed by the Marcellus Shale at 7. Most packages are related to selling undeveloped acreage (36), followed by Joint Venture related opportunities (17)
There are 33 opportunities recorded and analysed in Derrick’s ‘Deals in Play’ database for the 2 previous years till date (July 2011). A sample of these opportunities is shown in the chart below.
Indonesia has the highest number of opportunities at 9 followed by the Philippines at 5, India and Myanmar at 4 each and Vietnam at 3. Pakistan has 2 opportunities and Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Lebanon, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have 1 each.
There is 1 corporate M&A and 18 exploration/ developing undeveloped discoveries opportunities. 1 opportunity is related to producing fields and 3 are related to fields under development. 9 opportunities are for new exploration awards by governments/ NOC’s and 1 opportunity involves a mix of asset types.
Table 1: Sample of E&P Opportunities available in Asia with sellers, country and year of announcement shown. Hover over squares for additional information. Click on squares to go to the deal sheet in the ‘Deals in Play’ database (Pop ups need to be allowed).
