Business
$21 Billion of Oil and Gas Deals Announced Third Quarter 2009
$21 Billion of Oil and Gas Deals Announced Third Quarter 2009
About this update from Touchstone Exploration Inc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nOct. 1, 2009 (Canada NewsWire Group) -- HOUSTON, Oct. 1 /CNW/ --PLS, Inc. and Derrick Petroleum Services Report U.S. and Canada E&P DealMomentum IncreasingPLS, Inc. (\"PLS\") in conjunction with its international partner Derrick Petroleum Services (\"Derrick\") reports that Global M&A activity for the 3rd Quarter 2009 totaled nearly $21 billion in 112 separate transactions. According to Brian Lidsky, Managing Director of Research at PLS, Inc., \"Oil and gas deal volume increased markedly beginning in late August 2009 due to a confluence of events. These include: 1) a growing consensus that the economy bottomed in the 2nd quarter 2009 and a recovery is under way, 2) price stability of oil in the $65 - $75 per barrel range, and 3) a dramatic drop of U.S. natural gas prices in late August - early September towards the $2.50 range that signaled a buying opportunity to the U.S. markets. For perspective, the oil and gas forward 12-month strips at 3rd Quarter 2009 end were $73.00 per barrel and $5.93 per mcf (thousand cubic feet) versus year ago numbers of $99.02 per barrel and $8.15 per mcf.\"Canada led the world in oil and gas transactions (see Table 1) with total deal volume of $6.9 billion in 35 deals and was home to the two largest deals of the quarter. The largest global deal of the quarter is the $2.5 billion merger of Petrobank Energy and Resources and TriStar Oil and Gas Ltd. which went off at a value of $27.79 per barrel of oil equivalent (\"BOE\") of proved reserves. This strategic merger was driven primarily to form a premier, Bakken-focused light oil and gas E&P company -- newly named PetroBakken Energy Ltd. -- which will provide investors a focus on the unconventional Bakken shale play (which straddles both sides of the U.S. and Canada border) on the Canadian side in southeast Saskatchewan and plus significant upside in the emerging Big Horn and Montney unconventional gas shale plays of northeastern British Columbia. The second largest deal is also an unconventional play in Canada. PetroChina International Investment Limited paid $1.7 billion to acquire a 60% working interest in Athabasca Oil Sands Corporation's (\"AOSC\") MacKay River and Dover in-situ oil sands projects. Recent independent assessments estimate five billion barrels of bitumen resources for the projects with regulatory approval expected in late 20...