Eric Watkins
OGJ Oil Diplomacy Editor
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15 -- Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. will pay an estimated ¥40-50 billion to acquire a 12.5% interest in the Fort Worth basin Barnett shale project from Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. Sumitomo may decide later to take an additional 12.5% stake.
In October, Carrizo said it had drilled 8 wells, fraced and completed 12 wells, and brought 15 wells on production since the end of this year’s second quarter. A backlog of 33 wells is awaiting completion, the company said, with an additional 6 wells awaiting connection to sales pipelines.
Separately, Delphi Midstream Partners LLC said it agreed to acquire from Carrizo the Mansfield natural gas gathering and compression system in Tarrant County, Tex.
Delphi said the Mansfield system has a current operating capacity of 70 MMcfd of gas—expandable to 90 MMcfd of gas with additional compression.
In addition, Delphi said it would obtain the right to invest up to an additional $100 million to develop midstream infrastructure in northeast Pennsylvania in support of Carrizo's Marcellus shale development plan.
In April, Carrizo Chief Executive Officer Chip Johnson told the Independent Petroleum Association of America conference in New York that his firm plans to drill 300 more wells in southeast Tarrant County near the University of Texas-Arlington.
Johnson described the area as particularly good, deep shale—possibly the Barnett shale's best.
In January 2008, Carrizo said its four New Dawn horizontal Barnett shale wells in southeastern Tarrant County finished fracture stimulation and began sales at a combined gross 17 MMcfd of gas equivalent.
“These wells, in addition to three new horizontal Tier 1 wells in Parker County, helped bring Carrizo's yearend production rate in the Barnett shale to 47 MMcfd of gas equivalent, 135% higher than the yearend 2006 rate of 20 MMcfd of gas equivalent.” the firm said.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].