Statoil Adds to Gassy Marcellus Position As Gas Heads to Canada

摘要

Statoil completed a $590 million bolt-on acquisition in the Marcellus Shale in the US Northeast last week, as the Norwegian firm seeks to take over as operator at each of its core unconventional resource plays. The all-cash deal with undisclosed sellers will give Statoil an additional 70,000 net acres in the Marcellus — all operated — and an associated gas gathering system. Statoil first entered the play in 2008 through a joint venture with US gas giant Chesapeake Energy, but it operates none of the 680,000-plus net acres acquired through that deal (NGW Nov. 1708). As such, Statoil views its latest purchase as fitting into a "targeted and stepwise growth strategy to expand its US onshore holdings and develop operational and organizational capacity."