Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and Rosneft have signed an agreement to cooperate in exploration and development offshore Venezuela.
PDVSA said the agreement envisions joint ventures for production of nonassociated natural gas and gas condensate off the eastern part of the country.
Rosneft said the companies will study joint projects in Rio Caribe and Mejillones fields (the second stage of the Mariscal Sucre Project, and exploration in the Venzuelan part of the Caribbean basin and in the Gulf of Venezuela as well as near the Atlantic Coast.
The agreement also covers joint studies of LNG exports and gas sales in Venezuela.
Among other agreements signed during a visit by Venezuelan officials to Moscow was one between GazpromBank and PDVSA for $1 billion of financing to their joint venture Petrozamora for a business plan for development of Lagunillas Tierra and Bachaquero Tierra fields.
PDVSA said Petrozamora recently reported average production of 65,100 b/d of oil.
In other recent company news:
• Rosneft has taken 100% control of Itera Oil & Gas Co. LLC with the $2.9 billion purchase of 49% of the company from Itera Holdings Ltd.
• BreitBurn Energy Partners LP agreed to acquire Oklahoma Panhandle assets for $860 million from Whiting Oil and Gas Corp., a unit of Whiting Petroleum Corp.
• Surge Energy Inc. agreed to buy a tight oil asset in southern Saskatchewan from Cenovus Energy Inc. of Calgary for $240 million, with closing expected by mid-July, subject to normal closing conditions.
• Exco Resources Inc. agreed to acquire producing and undeveloped oil and gas assets in the Eagle Ford and Haynesville shale formations for a total of $1 billion from Chesapeake Energy Corp.
• Centrica PLC has acquired a 25% interest in the Bowland exploration license in central England from Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. and AJ Lucas for £40 million cash. It also committed to pay exploration and appraisal costs of as much as £60 million if development proceeds.
Rosneft-Itera deal
Rosneft said consolidation of Itera Oil & Gas, a joint venture it formed last year with the Itera group, will enable it to accelerate development of the Kynsko-Chaselsk group of fields in the Krasnoselkupsk region of the Yamalo-Nenets Automous District (OGJ Online, Aug. 6, 2012).
"It forms a stable platform for consistent implementation of Rosneft's gas strategy aimed at gas production increase to 100 billion cu m/year and transformation of Rosneft into the largest independent gas producer in the Russian Federation," a Rosneft press statement said.
BreitBurn to acquire assets
BreitBurn plans to acquire Whiting's interests in the Postle and North East Hardesty oil fields, along with associated midstream assets.
Closing is expected by July 31. BreitBurn is acquiring other interests in certain of the acquired assets from other sellers for an added $30.2 million.
The publicly traded partnership of Los Angeles has assets in northern Michigan, the Los Angeles basin in California, Wind River and Big Horn basins in central Wyoming, Green River and Evanston basins of eastern Wyoming, Sunniland trend in Florida, and New Albany shale in Indiana and Kentucky.
Surge buys Saskatchewan tight oil assets
Surge's agreement involves what Cenovus calls the Shaunavon asset, which involves 54 sections of land and currently produces 3,600 b/d.
Previously, Cenovus said it was looking for buyers for its Bakken and Shaunavon assets. The Bakken assets remain unsold.
Last year, Cenovus said its oil production in Alberta increased 14% to more than 29,000 b/d as the company continued to focus on developing new tight oil plays on its existing lands in southern Alberta.
Average oil production from the Lower Shaunavon and Bakken tight oil plays more than tripled compared with the same period last year to about 6,200 b/d due to a successful drilling program, although production continues to be affected by delays in facility construction (OGJ Online, July 25, 2012).
Exco to acquire assets
Through the acquisitions, Exco is establishing its position in the South Texas Eagle Ford and expanding its holdings in the Louisiana Haynesville.
The effective dates of the Eagle Ford and Haynesville acquisitions are Apr. 1 and Jan. 1, respectively. Exco anticipates closing the transactions in July with the Haynesville acquisition closing first.
In the Eagle Ford, Exco of Dallas agreed to buy leases and assets covering 55,000 net acres for $680 million. Assets include 120 producing wells. The average net production was 6,100 boe/d in May.
Chesapeake said Exco was acquiring assets in the Texas counties of Zavala, Dimmit, La Salle, and Frio counties.
In the Louisiana Haynesville, Exco agreed to buy leases and assets covering 5,600 net acres for $320 million. Chesapeake said the Haynesville transactions involve Chesapeake's operated and nonoperated interests in Louisiana's Desoto and Caddo parishes.
The average net production was 114 MMcfd of natural gas equivalent in May.
Chesapeake said the Exco transactions bring Chesapeake's year-to-date asset sales signed or closed to $3.6 billion, which, combined with forecasted net operating cash flow, enables Chesapeake to fully fund its 2013 capital expenditure budget.
Centrica acquires UK shale license
Three exploration wells operated by Cuadrilla, of Lichfield, UK, have confirmed the presence of natural gas in the Carboniferous Bowland shale.
The British Geological Survey recently estimated the Bowland shale resource at 822-2,281 tcf of gas in place (OGJ Online, June 27, 2013).
Centrica, of London, said initial data suggest 200 tcf in place in the Cuadrilla's license, but further drilling is required to determine commerciality.
AJ Lucas is an Australian service provider.