By Kjetil Malkenes Hovland
OSLO--Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil ASA (STO) said
Wednesday it had purchased 70,000 acres of shale gas acreage in the
U.S. Marcellus area for $590 million, and said it would become
operator of the acreage.
The acreage was purchased from the unlisted U.S. energy
companies Grenadier Energy Partners LLC, PetroEdge Energy LLC and
the Tulsa-based Protégé Energy LLC, Statoil said.
Statoil estimated its share of the resources at 300 million to
500 million barrels of oil equivalent. Its share of production at
this stage was about 5,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, but
there was a significant ramp-up potential, it said.
"Statoil is further strengthening its U.S. onshore portfolio,"
said Torstein Hole, Statoil's senior vice president for U.S.
onshore. "The U.S. unconventional plays hold a substantial resource
base and represent an increasingly important part of future energy
supplies."
The company said most of the new acreage was located in the
liquid rich part of the Marcellus. In the U.S., natural gas liquids
such as ethane, propane and butane currently trade at better prices
than dry gas resources.
Statoil entered the Marcellus in 2008 through a partnership with
Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK). It also acquired acreage in the
liquid rich Eagle Ford Shale in Texas in 2010, and became operator
of leases in the Bakken in North Dakota and Three Forks in Montana
in 2011.
In 2013, Statoil will become operator of 50% of its Eagle Ford
acreage, following a 2010 agreement with Talisman Energy Inc.
(TLM).
"We are already operator in Bakken, we are on schedule to become
operator in Eagle Ford next year and with this transaction Statoil
will become operator also in Marcellus", said Mr. Hole. "We will
then be operator in all our significant U.S. shale plays."
The transaction was closed Dec 18, 2012, and effective from Sep
1, 2012.
At 1037 GMT, Statoil shares traded 1.1% higher at NOK140.50.
Write to Kjetil Malkenes Hovland at
kjetilmalkenes.hovland@dowjones.com
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