British Oil and Gas Explorer Takeover From Indian Energy Giant ONGC 1.4B
(Mining Daily) — British oil and gas explorer Imperial Energy said Tuesday that its management has agreed to a takeover from Indian energy giant ONGC worth 1.4 billion pounds (1.7 billion euros, 2.6 billion dollars).
“The boards… are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended pre-conditional cash offer… for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Imperial Energy,” the pair said in a joint statement.
The offer values Imperial Energy at “approximately 1.4 billion pounds” and was pitched at 1,250 pence per share, they added.
The London-listed group, which hunts for oil and gas in Russia and in Kazakhstan, has proven reserves of 864 million barrels of oil and 56 million barrels of gas.
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Zambia Oil Exploration Plans To Reposses Land
Zambia has proposed new powers to allow the president repossess land held by influential traditional leaders and award it to foreign investors to conduct oil exploration.
A proposed petroleum exploration and production law presented to parliament for adoption says government will as a first step grant exploration licences to investors in areas where analysis of soil samples suggest the presence of oil.
The government will then proceed to grant the investors petroleum development and production licences.
“The entire property (oil blocks)… and control over petroleum and accompanying substances, in whatever physical state, located in any land in Zambia is hereby vested exclusively in the president on behalf of the state,” the proposed law says.
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Cobar Iron Ore Exploration Ramps Up, Lake Cargelligo
A company probing iron ore deposits in Cobar and Lake Cargelligo is to spend $2 million stepping up its exploration.
Eastern Iron has spent the past year drilling for iron ore deposits in ancient creek beds.
The company’s exploration manager, Peter Buckley, says it has just raised $5 million through a public offering on the stock exchange.
He says about half the money will be used to accelerate its drilling program, to help determine the quality of the iron ore.
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Brazil’s Petrobras Resumes Bolivia Oil Exploration
Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras is pledging to spend US$1 billion on Bolivian oil and gas projects - making it the first foreign energy company to invest in Bolivia since President Evo Morales nationalized the industry in 2006.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Latin America’s biggest publicly traded oil company, plans to develop Bolivia’s two biggest natural gas fields, among other projects, said Claudio Castejon, Petrobras’ top executive in Bolivia.
The company should have its first new exploratory well up and running in Bolivia by November, he said Wednesday.
Brazil is the biggest market for Bolivian natural gas, buying an average 30 million cubic meters a day from its neighbor to fuel its booming economy. Read more
Zambia Oil Exploration, Company Start in Agust
Zambia will enact a law that will pave way for foreign oil companies to start major exploration in August, Mines and Minerals Development Minister Kalombo Mwansa told Reuters on Wednesday.
Mwansa said Zambia legal experts had completed drawing the new law and that the parliament would debate and pass it when it resumes its sittings in August. reuters
Zone Oil Exploration Signs Joint Venture Agreement with with Penn Virginia
Zone Oil and Gas, LLC has signed an Exploration and Geophysical Joint Venture Agreement with Penn Virginia Corporation.
The Joint Venture covers approximately 40,000 acres under lease in Tioga, Potter, Somerset, Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pennsylvania, and centers on exploring the Marcellus Shale, and the Oriskany and Tuscarora formations. Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture will conduct at least one 3-D seismic survey and intends to drill up to six wells in 2009.
“Zone, through its predecessor entities, has recorded solid success in the Oriskany in Pennsylvania and West Virginia over the past 25 years,” said Thomas H. O’Neill, Jr., Zone’s Chairman. “We strongly believe that the Marcellus, Oriskany, Tuscarora, and Trenton Black River formations in the Appalachian Basin have tremendous potential for future development.”
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BP Plc-led Oil Pipeline to Resume Shipments This Month
The BP Plc-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which transports oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, will resume tanker loadings next week following fire damage earlier this month.
BP, Europe’s second-largest oil company, and other exporters of Azeri oil have been unable to use the 1,768- kilometer (1,100-mile) link since Aug. 5 when a blaze engulfed the pipeline in Erzincan province in northeastern Turkey.
BP, StatoilHydro ASA and partners had to reduce production at oil fields in the Azeri part of the Caspian Sea after flows halted through the pipeline, which has a capacity of 1 million barrels a day, about 1 percent of the world’s supply. The military conflict in Georgia also highlighted risks for crude oil and natural gas transportation across the Caucasus.
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