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Norwegian energy giant, Statoil makes large purchase in the U.S.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Norwegian oil and gas giant, Statoil said Wednesday it had made a purchased 280,000 square kilometers or 70,000 acres of shale gas acreage in the U.S. Marcellus area for Nkr3.3 billion ($590 million).

Statoil entered the Marcellus in 2008 through a partnership with Chesapeake Energy Corporation. Since then the company has pursued a targeted and stepwise growth strategy to expand its US onshore holdings and develop operational and organizational capacity.

Areas Statoil is reported to have a resource estimate of between 300 and 500 million barrels of oil equivalent. Current equity production is approximately 5,000 barrels of oil per day, Statoil said in a press release.

"The US unconventional plays hold a substantial resource base and represent an increasingly important part of future energy supplies. Statoil is further strengthening its US onshore portfolio by acquiring additional acreage in the valuable liquid rich parts of the Marcellus shale in Ohio and West Virginia," says Statoil US onshore senior vice president, Torstein Hole.

Since 2008, gas prices in the U.S. plummeted, and in 2010 Statoil acquired a site in the liquids rich Eagle Ford shale area in Texas where there is more shale oil than shale gas. The following year the company became the owner and operator of the licenses in the formations Bakken and Three Forks in North Dakota and Montana through the acquisition of Brigham Exploration. Now the group wants to focus further in fluid production from shale layers.

"Statoil went early into the shale, and has over time built up a diverse portfolio in some of the most attractive areas in the United States. We are already operating in the Bakken, we are on track in preparation for operating licenses in the Eagle Ford next year, and with this transaction, Statoil will be the operator in Marcellus. Then we will be operating in all the major shale areas in the U.S.," says Torstein Hole.
The price we pay is about the same as the previous acquisition of Eagle Ford, says Statoil expert Trond Omdal.
by Scancomark.com Team

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