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Miller close to sealing Savant purchase Deal would give Tennessee company control of Badami oil field on Alaska’s North Slope; new Cook Inlet well nears completion Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Miller Energy Resources Inc. says it’s close to wrapping up its acquisition of Savant Alaska LLC.
The deal would give Miller control of the small Badami oil field and related assets on Alaska’s North Slope.
In an Oct. 29 press release, Miller said it “has received nearly all the regulatory approvals for its acquisition of Savant,” and that the transaction is expected to close in November.
“Miller estimates that contractual purchase price adjustments from the May 1, 2014 effective date, as a result of ongoing production, will lower the effective acquisition price to approximately $5.8 million, down from $9.0 million,” the company said.
Upon closing, Miller said it expects the acquisition would add net production to the company of about 600 barrels of oil per day.
Savant is the current operator of the Badami field, the easternmost producing field on the North Slope. BP originally developed Badami, which performed poorly. Production started in 1998.
Miller announced in mid-May that it had a binding agreement to acquire Savant.
Under the deal, Miller is expected to acquire a 67.5 percent working interest in the Badami unit, with ASRC Exploration LLC remaining as a 32.5 percent working interest partner.
Tennessee sell-off Tennessee-based Miller is a small, publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company recently reported total net production of just over 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Miller’s production comes primarily from Alaska’s Cook Inlet region.
In the Oct. 29 press release, Miller announced it had reached an agreement to sell “substantially all of its Tennessee oil and gas assets and related liabilities for approximately $3.3 million in cash.”
The Tennessee deal is expected to close in November, Miller said.
Miller further announced that it “continues its discussions with Buccaneer Energy and its principal lender to purchase substantially all Buccaneer Energy’s Alaska operating assets out of bankruptcy.”
Well nears completion Miller, via its Anchorage-based subsidiary Cook Inlet Energy LLC, operates the Osprey platform in the offshore Redoubt unit.
Miller said it was finalizing completion of a new well known as RU-9.
“During drilling and logging RU-9, we saw prospective zones in both the Tyonek as well as the deeper Hemlock formations,” said David Hall, Miller’s chief operating officer. “We decided first to perforate and test the Hemlock formation. Initial results revealed high-quality oil with a low water-cut and variable flow rates that, at times, appeared well in excess of our expectations.”
Hall added: “Given indications of potential formation damage around the well-bore incurred while drilling, we decided to re-perforate the Hemlock formation and conduct a reservoir analysis. We also decided to perforate the Tyonek formation while these procedures were taking place and prior to running final completion.”
Following completion of RU-9, Miller said its drilling plans include “several low-risk development oil wells at Badami.”
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