The Permian boooom is REAL and $CEGX will be part
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MAR 13, 2017 @ 12:35 PM5,318 VIEWS
Deal-Making Frenzy In The Permian Basin Expected To Spread
Thousands of energy industry folks from across the globe descended on Houston last week for the annual CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference -- and in a considerably more jovial mood than last year, when oil prices were trading a little over $30 per barrel. “I don’t think I heard anyone laugh about anything last year,” BP plc CEO Bob Dudley said during his address to the crowd.
While there was a lot of talk about persistent oil inventories (which are keeping a lid on oil prices), peak oil demand (is it coming?), climate change (and the increasing developmen of renewable energy sources) and opportunities for growth around the world, a lot of industry executives were focused on one subject in particular: West Texas’ and New Mexico’s Permian Basin.
Activity has been rampant in the area — which some have called “Permania” — because of its high returns at below $50 oil, which has pushed acquisition prices for acreage higher and higher. Marathon Oil Corp. announced its reentry into the field last week through its purchase of 70,000 acres in the northern Delaware Basin from private equity firm-backed BC Operating Inc. and others for $1.1 billion in cash (it also said it was selling its 20% stake in a money-losing oil sands project in Canada for $2.8 billion). Marathon CEO Lee Tillman called the moves “transformative milestones that will further align our portfolio with our strategy.”
Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said the acquisition makes Marathon one of the few companies with resources in four of the main oil-rich plays in the U.S. — the Permian, the Eagle Ford in South Texas, the Scoop/Stack in Oklahoma and the Bakken in the Rockies — and that the oil sands sale leaves it with plenty of “dry powder” to buy other properties.
Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental Petroleum, one of the largest players in the Permian, said at CERAWeek that she thinks production in the area could more than double to as much as 5 million barrels per day, depending, of course, on what oil prices do. “Right now there are significant opportunities that are economical to develop under $40 per barrel,” she said.