Tullow Acquires Ghanian Interests of EO Group

- Tullow Acquires Ghanian Interests of EO Group

Monday, July 25, 2011
Tullow Oil plc

Further to the announcement made on May 26, 2011 in relation to the conditional acquisition of the Ghanaian interests of EO Group Limited for $305 million, Tullow announced that all of the conditions to the acquisition were satisfied and the acquisition completed today.

This acquisition, with an effective date of 1 December 2010, will increase Tullow’s interest in the West Cape Three Points licence offshore Ghana by 3.5% to 26.4% and increase the Group’s interest in the Jubilee field, which Tullow operates, by 1.75% to 36.5%.

Following the completion, 10,137,196 ordinary shares of 10p each in the capital of Tullow (Shares), are expected to be admitted on July 26, 2011 to the official list of the UK Listing Authority and the official list of the Irish Stock Exchange and to trading on the main markets of the London Stock Exchange and the Irish Stock Exchange. The shares satisfy approximately $216 million of the consideration and the balance, which includes certain working capital adjustments, has been paid in cash.

Following Admission, the total number of Shares in issue is 900,315,402, and the total number of voting rights in the Company is 900,315,402. The Company holds no Shares in treasury.

The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

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Tullow to Buy EO Group's Interests Offshore Ghana

- Tullow to Buy EO Group's Interests Offshore Ghana

Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tullow Oil plc

Tullow has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the interests of EO Group Limited (EO), consisting of its entire interests offshore Ghana, for a combined share and cash consideration of $305 million.

This acquisition will increase Tullow's interest in the West Cape Three Points license offshore Ghana by 3.5% to 26.4% and increase the Group's interest in the world-class Jubilee Oil field, which Tullow Operates, by 1.75% to 36.5%.

Tullow will issue 10,137,196 ordinary shares of 10p each in the share capital of the Company to EO to satisfy approximately $216 million of the consideration. The balance, which will include certain working capital adjustments, will be paid in cash. The number of shares has been determined using an average of the closing share prices and exchange rates for the five business days up to and including May 24, 2011. The receipt of Tullow shares as part of the consideration gives EO the opportunity to retain an indirect interest in the upside potential of all of Tullow's Ghanaian assets.

The effective date of the transaction is December 1, 2010. The agreement is conditional on the receipt of various consents, approvals and assurances, including from the Government of Ghana.

Upon completion of the agreement, application will be made to the UK Listing Authority and the Irish Stock Exchange for the Shares to be admitted to the official list of the UK Listing Authority and the official list of the Irish Stock Exchange and application will be made to the London Stock Exchange and the Irish Stock Exchange for the Shares to be admitted to trading on their respective main markets.

Aidan Heavey, Tullow's Chief Executive, commented, "This acquisition represents an excellent opportunity to extend our interest in these high-quality assets in Ghana. Following our exploration and production successes over the last few years, which culminated in First Oil in late 2010, this purchase further demonstrates Tullow's long-term commitment to Ghana and our belief in its significant remaining potential."

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Petsec to Sell Chinese Interests to Fund U.S. Shale Oil Development

- Petsec to Sell Chinese Interests to Fund U.S. Shale Oil
Development

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Rigzone Staff
by Karen Boman

Australia-based Petsec Energy will sell its interests in China's Beibu Gulf in order to fund its exploration efforts for unconventional shale oil on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Petsec Chairman Terrence N. Fern said the company's board has determined that the US $37 million of funding required to develop the Mmbbl net to Petsec in the 6.12/12.8W oil fields would most likely deliver superior and earlier returns if applied to shale oil operations in the U.S. Fern anticipates the process and completion of a sale could take four months. The 6.12/12/8W oil fields are located in Block 22/12.

The company has developed a number of potentially large conventional oil subsalt plays in the Gulf Coast and near onshore areas which the company hopes to test later in 2012. However, Fern said during a presentation Wednesday that the company believes the quickest and least risky acquisition of sizable oil reserve additions is through shale oil onshore Louisiana and Texas.

"The advanced of horizontal drilling, fraccing and completion technologies which has given us a glut of gas, has in recent years allowed the investigation of profitable extraction of oil from shales."

The company has formed a joint venture with an experienced Eagle Ford shale player and has been conducting a regional review over the past nine months to identify areas of shale oil potential which are not being actively explored. In the past two years, the Eagle Ford has developed into a viable oil play, indicating reserves of 250,000 to 400,000 bbl/well for each 120 acre spacing. The play also has had highly repeatable success, $20/bbl finding and development costs, and operating cost of less than $3/bbl.

"Our strategy is to be an 'early mover' in areas where the shale source rocks are liquid rich and to acquire high quality acreage before it becomes extremely competitive and costly to lease," Fern said. "Initial leasing in a trend may take place at rate of $100/acre (more or less), but once a play has been proven and competition becomes heated, rates can climb to $10,000/acre (or more)."

The global financial downturn, weak U.S. gas prices, and the impacts of Hurricane Ike and the Macondo oil spill has prompted Petsec to refocus its business plan from the Gulf of Mexico and towards a exploration and production focus onshore Louisiana and Texas, and to pursue unconventional shale oil plays. As part of this strategy, Petsec has also repaid its debt, increased its exploration targets size, and increased its exposure to oil.

As part of its 2011-2013 business plan for the U.S., the company will target conventional oil and gas/condensate prospects with net reserve additions of more than 100 Bcfe, and has 10 prospects of 20 Bcfe to 200 Bcfe each on which to focus. The mapped potential of these 10 prospects ranges from 400 to 750 Bcfe, which Petsec plans to test over the next three years.

For unconventional shale oil, Petsec will target prospects with net reserve additions of over 35 MMbbl and will focus on lease acquisition and drilling activity in the second half of 2011.

The company will participate in three to five conventional wells in 2011 in the Gulf Coast and on the Gulf of Mexico shelf, with most activity to take place in this year's fourth quarter. One to two wells will be drilled on the Marathon gas/condensate discovery made in October 2010, and at least one high impact Gulf of Mexico well will be drilled as well.

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Tap Oil Divests Carnarvon Interests

Tap Oil Divests Carnarvon Interests

Monday, April 11, 2011
Tap Oil Ltd.

Tap Oil has agreed to sell its interests in a portfolio of non-core assets in the Carnarvon Basin to companies in the Sydney based and privately owned Hardie Energy Group. As consideration for the assignments, the companies will pay Tap $2,000,000. Further details of the assets and the assignments are set out in the attached schedule.

The completion of the sale of the portfolio is subject to joint venture and government approvals, with an effective date of 1 February 2011.

Tap's Managing Director/CEO Troy Hayden said, "While still having tangible value, these interests are better placed in the hands of companies like the Hardie Energy Group.

"The sale of these interests allows our technical staff to focus on our three core areas: being Zola and WA-351-P, Carnarvon Basin; Gulf of Thailand; and Ghana."

The Hardie Energy Group is a significant shareholder in fellow Sydney based explorer Energetica Resources Pty Ltd, which holds nearby acreage in the Carnarvon Basin and will manage the asset interests going forward.

LG International to Take Stake in Geopark Assets

LG International to Take Stake in Geopark Assets

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Geopark Holdings Ltd.

LG International and GeoPark announced the acceleration of their strategic partnership by the acquisition of and investment in certain upstream oil and gas interests of each company.
In 2010, GeoPark and LGI entered into a strategic partnership to acquire a portfolio of oil and gas upstream assets in Latin America. As an initial step to cement this relationship, GeoPark has reached an in-principle agreement to sell to LGI a 10% interest in GeoPark Chile Limited, a company registered in Bermuda, for US $70 million. The transaction is expected to close in 2Q 2011.

In addition, in a separate transaction, and subject to obtaining regulatory approvals, GeoPark has reached an in-principle agreement to invest up to US $10 million in the drilling of an exploration well on the Sholkara prospect in the LGI-operated Block 8 in Kazakhstan, which would give GeoPark effectively a 25% participating interest in Block 8. The Sholkara prospect has an unrisked mean oil resource estimate of 100-400 million barrels and represents an exciting opportunity for GeoPark outside its historical and principal area of focus.

LGI is the energy, natural resource and trading affiliate of LG Corporation, the large international Korean company with 147 subsidiaries operating in over 50 countries and with annual sales exceeding US $100 billion. LGI has successfully invested and operated in the oil and gas exploration and production business for over twenty years including current upstream oil and gas projects in Oman, Vietnam and Kazakhstan. LGI has adopted a long term strategy of investing in oil and gas upstream investments in emerging resource-rich countries and has targeted Latin America as a new growth region.

Both transactions are subject to the signing of definitive legal agreements and final approval of the GeoPark and LGI Boards of Directors.

Commenting on today's announcement, James F. Park, Chief Executive Officer of GeoPark, said, "GeoPark views its strategic partnership with LGI as a key element of its future growth and expansion in Latin America. The opportunity to cement this relationship by an initial sharing of projects builds a solid base for a promising long term and committed acquisition partnership. It also clearly demonstrates the value of the business that GeoPark has developed since 2006. GeoPark's primary operational focus will continue to be on developing an exploration and production business in Latin America and we look forward with genuine excitement to the prospect of growing our business across Latin America in partnership with LGI."