Thai Banpu Completes US Shale Deal
Thailand’s Banpu on October 5 said it had completed the acquisition of Devon Energy's assets in the Barnett shale at a net investment value of $489.8mn ahead of schedule.
“With lean operation that focuses on cost management and efficiency improvement, it is expected that the gas business will continue to grow and become one of Banpu's strongest businesses in the near future,” Banpu said.
Net production from the Barnett shale properties averaged nearly 600mn ft3 equivalent/day net in the third quarter of 2019. Upon completion of this transaction, Banpu’s combined Marcellus and Barnett portfolio will have over 345,000 net acres containing over 4,000 producing wells with proven reserves in excess of 3.5 trillion ft3 of gas.
Banpu entered the deal late last year through Banpu North America Corporation, a subsidiary responsible for managing its shale gas business in the US, to acquire a gas operation in the Barnett shale.
“With a strategy to invest in low-risk, operating natural gas shale assets, we decided to close the deal sooner than originally planned in December 2020 so that we can realise revenue and generate cash flows for the company immediately, just in time when the gas price is about to rise,” Banpu CEO Somruedee Chaimongkol said.
Banpu was the first Thai company to invest in natural gas business in the US. It initially invested in the Marcellus shale.