Crocotta approves $40M drilling program in Canadian assets
Crocotta Energy Inc. has approved a Q3/Q408 drilling program of $40 million. The program will allow Crocotta to further its key growth plays in the Rock Creek and Montney formations using horizontal multi-frac technology in addition to conventional drilling on various key properties. The program will be funded entirely from cash flow and undrawn bank credit facilities.
The program consists of roughly 16 gross wells (12 net) and is estimated to add approximately 2,000 boe/d of risked production.
The Niton and North Pembina areas of Crocotta's West Central Alberta core area are the main focus of the drilling program with nearly 50% of the budget ($20 million) allocated to the area.
Crocotta holds an average 76% interest in approximately 12,500 acres of Montney rights in the Tupper and Dawson areas of British Columbia. The lands are located in the Montney fairway that has significant natural gas resource potential. Crocotta anticipates it will drill its first Montney horizontal in late September or early October of this year.
Crocotta holds a 50% working interest in 7,040 acres of land and can earn a 50% working interest (via farm-in) in an additional 5,120 gross acres by drilling 2 wells by early 2009. Crocotta plans to drill 2 (1.0 net) wells following up a Mannville discovery well that was drilled by the company late in 2007.
Atwood snags contracts for Aurora, Southern Cross
Atwood Oceanics Inc.'s Atwood Aurora, a LeTourneau Super 116E Jackup currently being constructed in Brownsville, Tex. by Atwood Oceanics Pacific Ltd., has been awarded a contract by RWE Dea Nile GmbH for work offshore Egypt.
Thhe two year contract holds an operating dayrate of $165,000. This contract includes a cost escalation clause and provides for two separate options to extend the term to three years.
The contract also provides for a mobilization payment of $4.5 million. The company expects total construction cost to be $177 million to $180 million.
The Atwood Southern Cross has received a commitment from an operator in West Africa for the drilling of one well.
The contract is presently expected to commence immediately upon the rig completing its current contract offshore Italy, and provides a dayrate of $262,500 during mobilization from its current location to West Africa and $352,000 during drilling operation.
Expro secures major well test contract
International oilfield service company Expro has been awarded a two and a half-year well testing services and production clean-up contract from StatoilHydro ASA.
It will involve exploration work in Norway plus production clean-ups in the North Sea, as well as production clean-ups in the Norwegian Sea and, potentially, in the Barents Sea.
The initial contract is expected to be completed in December 2010 and, if options are secured, the contract will run until the end of 2014.
Marathon to donate $2.4M Detroit Science Center
Marathon Oil Corp. has made a $2.4 million grant to the Detroit Science Center for the creation of a new Future Fuels Gallery at the museum. The 6,000 square-foot, three-story gallery will be one of the museum's largest exhibit areas and the Midwest's only public, educational display of petroleum and alternative fuels technology. It is planned to open at the Science Center in 2010.
Future Fuels will give the public an up-close look into the complex world of petroleum-based energy from the exploration and production of crude oil through the refining and marketing of products that consumers use every day.
Future Fuels Gallery visitors will experience a dramatic elevator ride simulating the movement of oil to the Earth's surface from a dark, underground reservoir where they will learn how crude oil was formed and the advanced technology necessary to produce and deliver this important energy resource. With a scaled model of a refinery, the gallery will include interactive exhibits on the steps and processes used to refine crude oil into transportation fuels and thousands of other products. The alternative fuels area will provide a look at evolving technologies that have the potential to help meet our current and future energy needs.
Acorn Energy completes acquisition of Coreworx
Acorn Energy Inc. has acquired Coreworx Inc. (formerly Software Innovation Inc.) of Kitchener, Ontario, provider of the Coreworx suite, a software tool for capital project information management and collaboration. Coreworx is currently utilized to help manage the construction of hundreds of major capital projects, including offshore oil production, refineries, mining operations and power plants around the world.
Acorn Energy Inc. is a publicly traded holding company focused on two goals: improving the efficiency of the energy grid and reducing the environmental impact of the energy sector.
Deep Well secures $10M private placement
Deep Well Oil & Gas Inc. closed an equity investment for US $5 million for 10,638,297 units at a price of US $0.47 per unit. The company expects to close a further US $5 million, with the same subscriber, closing on October 31, 2008.
The majority of the funds are planned to be used to drill six additional wells, with an optional seventh well. The drilling is expected to commence on or about November 1, 2008.
Total E&P Canada cinches acquisition of Synenco
Total E&P Canada Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Total SA, has taken up approximately 94% of the issued and outstanding common class "A" voting shares of Synenco Energy Inc.
Total Canada expects to cease the reporting issuer status of Synenco and to delist the common shares from the Toronto Stock Exchange as soon as practicable.
The total purchase price payable by Total Canada for the acquisition is roughly $541 million. All of the members of the Synenco board of directors will resign and will be replaced with the nominees of Total Canada following the payment by Total Canada for the shares taken up on August 5.
Pyramid Petroleum pays off GoM properties
Pyramid Petroleum Inc.'s debt of $9.1 million taken to acquire Gulf of Mexico properties in April and May 2007 has been paid in full. The only debt remaining is a long term promissory note of $1.0 million to be paid in 2011.
Freedom Financial forms JV to launch heavy-oil conversion technology
Freedom Financial Holdings Inc. has entered into a letter of intent with an oil technology company to form a joint venture to launch a new heavy-oil conversion technology and begin production on reserves within Southwest Missouri.
The first oil production lease that Freedom will be partnering on contains roughly 1,500 acres with oil reserves that are estimated to be over $800 million. Freedom will own a 12.5% working interest in the oil leases.
Greene's grabs oilfield services company
Greene's Energy Group LLC has closed its acquisition of Devin Rental Tools Inc., an oilfield equipment rental and services company, headquartered in Lafayette, La.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of Greene's, Devin will operate under the name Devin International Inc.
Mustang Engineering snags patent for LNG concept
Mustang Engineering has received a patent for the LNG Smart Small Scale, Short Haul concept. The system includes a floating liquefaction unit receiving gas associated with oil production or from a reservoir in a remote location, an LNG shuttle vessel for carrying liquefied gas, and a floating regasification unit for receiving the LNG, vaporizing it and sending it out to a local market distribution system.
The concept is appropriate for fields with gas production rates of 75 to 300 MMscfd, floating steel or concrete barges for liquefaction and regasification, conventional LNG offloading techniques and where the distance from the oil or gas field to market is approximately 1,000 to 1,500 nautical miles.
Mustang's LNG Smart regasification process and liquefaction processes can be used on the vessels, or other popular conversion methods may be employed, depending on client preferences. This is the fourth patent in the LNG Smart series.
Senergy completes third acquisition this year
LEA (Leading Edge Advantage) Ltd. is the latest company to join the stable of Aberdeen-based Senergy Ltd., and is the company's third acquisition this year. LEA is a well engineering consultancy specializing in advanced drilling techniques. LEA will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Senergy's oil and gas business, and will continue to be run as a specialist division within the Senergy's wells group. Dennis Donald, a founder and former chairman of LEA, and Duncan MacNiven, formerly LEA corporate director, are not joining Senergy. They are moving on with their new operating company Warrego Energy.
North Peace completes $26M private placement
North Peace Energy Corp. has completed a private placement offering. The company is issuing 13,333,300 units, at a price of $1.50 per unit, and 3,636,360 flow-through common shares, at a price of $1.65 per flow-through share for gross proceeds of roughly $26 million.
The offering was placed on a "best efforts" basis by a syndicate of agents led by GMP
Securities LP and including TD Securities Inc., Blackmont Capital Inc., Canaccord Capital Corp. and Raymond James Ltd.
Proceeds will be used to fully fund all costs associated with its CSS pilot project including the acquisition of capital equipment, construction costs and the drilling of two horizontal CSS wells. The remaining funds will be used to complete the 2008/2009 winter delineation drilling program, to advance engineering and environmental baseline work for the commercial CSS project, and for general corporate purposes.
Kodiak unveils pricing of underwritten public offering
Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. has announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 6,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $2.75 per share. The net proceeds of the offering, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and Kodiak's estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $15,450,000 million.
Kodiak intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for its working capital needs, to fund capital expenditures for drilling and development, principally in the Bakken play in North Dakota, and to finance the potential acquisition of oil and natural gas properties.
KeyBanc Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets will act as underwriters in the offering.
Ivanhoe files prospectus related to CA$88M placement
Ivanhoe Energy Inc. has filed its final short-form prospectus related to a CA$88 million private placement of special warrants completed on July 8, 2008. CA$22.5 million of the net proceeds from the offering was paid to Talisman Energy Canada as the down-payment under a CA$90 million agreement to acquire Talisman's interests in certain oilsand leases in Alberta's Athabasca region.
The balance of the funds will be used to continue delineation drilling of the acquired leases, to initiate site-specific engineering related to full commercial deployment of Ivanhoe Energy's proprietary HTL heavy-oil upgrading technology, and to order long-lead-time equipment. Lease 10, the principal oilsand lease acquired from Talisman Energy Canada, is expected to be Ivanhoe Energy's first integrated HTL heavy-oil project.
Eni Holding snags interest in HOEC
Eni Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eni SpA, has acquired 20% of the shares of HOEC. As a result, Eni Holding will become the largest shareholder of HOEC with a 47.17% interest. The aggregate consideration amounts to 3,765.8 million rupees equivalent to approximately 57 million Euro.
Eni considers its investment in HOEC as a means of participating in India's fast-growing upstream sector
Odim snags seismic contract
ODIM was awarded a contract worth some NOK 65 million by an international customer for the delivery of a 3D seismic handling solution. The contract comprises a complete automated handling system for a new seismic vessel. The system is due for delivery sometime in 2009.
Venture firm pumps $19M into drilling technology start-up
Norwegian investment firm Energy Ventures, which specializes in upstream technology in the oil patch, has invested $19 million Novatek International Inc. The Provo, Utah-based company has spun off a new drilling technology company, NovaDrill.
Novatek will supply its proprietary polycrystalline-diamond compact cutter design to NovaDrill.
Energy Ventures, with its North American headquarters in Houston, manages three oil and gas funds with a combined capital of $410 million.
XTO completes $1.2B stock offering
XTO Energy Inc. has completed its public common stock offering of 26,000,000 shares, priced at $48.00 per share, raising roughly $1.248 billion. The underwriters have exercised their option to purchase an additional 3,900,000 shares priced at $48.00, raising roughly $187 million.
As a result of the offering, common shares outstanding will increase to nearly 553 million. The company's management did not sell shares in the offering. Joint book-running managers for the offering were Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan, and UBS Investment Bank.
Scorpion snares $1.1B contract with Petrobras
Scorpion Offshore Ltd. signed its 6-year contract with Petrobras for a newbuild deepwater semisubmersible for operations offshore Brazil. The revenue from this contract will be approximately US $1.1 billion, plus operating cost inflation adjustments throughout the contract term.
To fulfill its obligations under this contract with Petrobras, Scorpion has ordered a DSS-38 from Keppel Fels with delivery in December 2011. This new rig will be a dynamically-positioned, four column semisubmersible capable of drilling wells to 8,500 meters in water depths up to 2,400 meters. The total estimated cost of this rig, including owner furnished equipment, commissioning, project management and financing costs is $700 million.
Alberta Clipper cinches $34.3M asset deal
Alberta Clipper Energy Inc. has closed the previously announced private company acquisition for a total consideration of roughly $34.3 million (including $9.0 million of positive working capital surplus), made up of 6,111,737 Alberta Clipper common shares and $14.9 million in cash.
The private company's assets are located in Alberta Clipper's Western Alberta core area and are comprised of 1.665 MMboe of proved-plus-probable reserves, as estimated by Sproule Associates Ltd. and roughly 400 boe/d of concentrated, 100% working-interest production (100% natural gas and associated liquids).
Aker awarded subsea contract offshore Angola
Aker Solutions has been awarded a frame contract by BP for the delivery of subsea umbilicals to the oil company's PSVM ultra-deepwater field development offshore Angola. Intial contract value is approximately NOK 360 million.The contract is for manufacturing and delivery of 48 kilometers of steel tube umbilicals. Delivery of the umbilicals is scheduled for Q3 and Q4 2010.
Cubic Energy receives AMEX listing approval
Cubic Energy Inc.'s common shares have been approved for listing on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and are expected to commence trading at the opening of the market on Monday, August 4, 2008. Cubic will trade on AMEX under the symbol "QBC". Concurrent with its first trade on AMEX, Cubic will no longer be quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board.
Cubic Energy Inc. is an independent company engaged in the development and production of, and exploration for, crude oil and natural gas. The company's oil and gas assets and activity are concentrated primarily in Texas and Louisiana.
Calyon goes live with OpenLink
Calyon has completed the deployment of OpenLink's Endur system across its oil, US natural gas, base metals, European power, gas emissions and structured products within its commodity derivatives groups in London, New York, Houston, and Hong Kong.
The deployment of Endur involved a revamping of Calyon's trading and operations infrastructure (trade capture, risk management, position keeping, operations management and accounting). It resulted in the replacement of many legacy systems within Calyon's commodity derivatives group by OpenLink.
The initial phase of the implementation focused on the back-office operations areas for energy and base metals.
By being able to broaden the front-office functionality to include the ability to trade oil, gas, power, metals and structured products, and integrate Calyon's proprietary valuation models, they are able to benefit from the integration of financial trading and physical scheduling capability.
Calyon Crédit Agricole CIB is Crédit Agricole's corporate and investment banking entity.
OpenLink is a developer of cross-asset trading, risk management, and related operational and portfolio management software.
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