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Decades of free inventory from one deal: Vermilion Energy buys Leucrotta Exploration for $477 million
04/07/2022
As part of its effort to expand its Montney Shale play, Vermilion Energy Inc. recently acquired Leucrotta Exploration Inc. for a net cash purchase price of CA$477 million.
Dion Hatcher, Vermillion's president, believes the Leucrotta acquisition is integral to the company's strategic plan due to the asset's scalability and expected availability of high-value Tier 1 drilling inventory for at least the next 20 years.
Located in the Mica region of Northeast British Columbia and Northwestern Alberta, Leucrotta is a publicly-traded company focused on Montney hydrocarbon exploration. Leucrotta's acquisition by Vermilion follows its agreement to purchase Equinor Energy Ireland Ltd. last November for CA$556 million (US$434 million).
In addition to adding Equinor Energy Ireland to Vermilion's gas holdings, this acquisition will broaden the company's European gas exposure while also helping it to reduce debt faster.
After completing both deals, Vermillion aims to reduce debt by $1 billion by the end of the year, three years ahead of schedule.
Vermilion anticipates being debt-free by end-of-2023 at current strip prices. As for the company's near-term strategic objectives, Top management also plans to complete them without issuing any more shares, which maximizes free cash flow for shareholders and prevents dilution.
It is anticipated that Leucrotta's acquisition will close by the end of May. While closing of the Corrib acquisition is scheduled for the second half of 2022.
According to the Leucrotta acquisition agreement, Vermilion will pay CA$1.73 per share in cash for all of the company's issued and outstanding shares.
Mica is the primary Leucrotta asset, consisting of 81,000 gross (77,000 net) contiguous acres of Montney mineral rights which border both Alberta and British Columbia. The asset is expected to produce approximately 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2023, with a plateau production level of 28,000 barrels per day anticipated over the next few years.
As of today, Vermilion has identified 275 high-quality, high-return, low-risk multi-zone drilling prospects. Top management believes, these prospects represent 20 or more years of low-risk, self-funding, high-deliverability drilling.
Assuming the anticipated May closing date, Vermilion is increasing its capital budget for E&D in 2022 to $500 million and increasing guidance for production from 86,000 to 88,000 boe/d to take into account the Leucrotta acquisition.
The acquisition deal also involves the transfer of a portion of the Leucrotta land base and approximately CA$43.5 million of cash to a new company, which will be managed by the existing Leucrotta team.
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Canadian Assets on Sale: Energy Transfer Sells Gas Processing Bussines to Pembina-KKR for $1.3 Billion
Under the agreement, Energy Transfer will sell its 51% interest in Energy Transfer Canada to the Pembina-KKR joint venture, for more than CA$1.6 billion (US$1.3 billion) including debt and preferred equity. KKR's funds already own the remaining stake. TC’s assets include 6 natural gas processing plants with a combined operating capacity of 1.29 Bcf/d and an 848-mile naturalgas gathering and transportation network in the Western Canadian Sedimentary (WCS) basin. While this process is underway, Pembina and KKR will combine their Western Canadian natural gas processing assets into a single, new joint venture entity — Newco, owned 60% by Pembina and 40% by KKR. This new entity is expected to have a natural gas processing capacity of about 5 Bcf/d or about 16% of Western Canada’s total processing capacity.
All Eyes Are on the Rocky Mountains State, as PDC Acquires Great Western for $1.3B
Great Western Petroleum's assets will be acquired by PDC Energy for $1.3 billion. Via this deal, PDC Energy’s position in the D-J basin increases roughly to 230,000 net acres. Denver-based Great Western has core operations in Weld and Adams counties in Colorado with 54,000 net acres and about 55,000 boe/d (42% oil / 67% liquids) of PDP. As part of the agreement, the acquisition will be financed by issuing 4 million shares of common stock to existing Great Western shareholders and by providing $543 million in cash to the company. All in all, PDC expects to increase its total production by 25% and its oil production by 35% as a result of the deal. The deal should also result in some synergies including a 15% reduction in overall cost per BOE.
In Wyoming during 2023, the oil and gas industry experienced various trends and developments. Wyoming ranked 8th nationally in both crude oil and natural gas production, significantly contributing to the economy through property and severance taxes. The state had a peak of 27,951 producing wells in 2022, including oil and gas wells, with 33 operating gas plants processing nearly 97% of the state's gas production. Notably, 21 of Wyoming's 23 counties produce oil and/or natural gas, with Converse County leading in crude oil production and Sublette County in natural gas production. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted that crude oil production across the United States would increase to 12.8 million b/d in 2024. Throughout 2023, oil production in Wyoming showed an upward trend, with more than 95 million barrels expected to be produced, an increase of about 3 million barrels from 2022. This rise in oil production was partly attributed to the completion of 110 newly drilled oil wells in the first half of the year, mainly in the Powder River Basin. However, natural gas production faced a decline due to the aging of wells and a low number of new gas wells being completed. Only 18 new gas wells were finished in the first half of 2023, with a noted interest in drilling applications, suggesting potential future developments.
XCL Resources is seeking approval from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its proposed acquisition of Altamont Energy LLC, another Utah-based oil producer. This initiative is backed by XCL's parent entity, EnCap Investments LP, a notable private equity firm. Discussions about purchasing Colorado-based Altamont Energy began in the previous summer, as highlighted in FTC documentation.
Tallgrass Energy has started a new open season for the Pony Express Pipeline, and this is the second time they're doing it in 2024. They're looking for companies that want to move their crude oil from the Williston Basin and are offering special rates as an incentive. This 30-day event kicked off on March 11. To get the full details, companies need to sign a confidentiality agreement with Tallgrass.