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Hunting for a mystery seller Pengrowth and Canadian Natural the buyers of C$830 million in assets; Murphy said it would sell off properties Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary Correspondent
Somebody is hiding out there in the Western Canadian oil patch.
Pengrowth Energy Trust and Canadian Natural Resources have paid a combined C$830 million this month for a bundle of oil and gas assets in Western Canada.
Pengrowth says the seller was Murphy Oil.
Canadian Natural, despite dropping some earlier hints, won’t say.
Murphy is staying mum.
All that’s known for sure is that Murphy, after 50 years in Western Canada, announced last December that it was embarking on a big sell-off of its conventional properties to cash in on a red-hot market and seek a better return on its dollars elsewhere.
Four months later the El Dorado, Ark-based company said it had entered binding agreements to sell the bulk of those assets, including proved reserves of 46 million barrels of oil equivalent, for C$830 million.
No buyers were identified and none will be according to company spokeswoman Mindy West.
But the divestiture was announced a day after Pengrowth said it had a C$550 million deal with Murphy to buy 43.6 million boe of proved reserves. Canadian Natural pays C$280 million for properties A week later, Canadian Natural was quoted in stories by Reuters and Canada’s Financial Post as offering C$260 million for Murphy properties producing about 40 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Investor relations director Corey Bieber said it might take a month to wrap up the transaction because other companies had right of first refusal to match or better any offer.
Then on April 23 Canadian Natural said it paid C$280 million for oil and gas properties in northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.
It did not disclose the seller or sellers, saying only that it had picked up 395,000 acres and daily production of 68 million cubic feet of gas and 200 barrels of light oil and natural gas liquids, although the Toronto Globe and Mail, without any attribution, reported the seller was Murphy.
The Canadian independent said the package included production of 50 million cubic feet per day from British Columbia’s Ladyfern field, in which Murphy had a 50 percent stake. Another 18 million cubic feet per day of gas output was acquired within other Canadian Natural core areas in British Columbia.
Canadian Natural also said the undeveloped acreage has “significant natural gas potential in deeper zones and will add a new exploration base in the Alberta Foothills” complementing the company’s established holdings and production base.
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