Clear signals from Eric that the majors are intensifying their interest in us. Will Conoco be our next JV partner?
A few highlights from Eric’s recent interview:
There is now intense interest in the Canning Basin with three major companies taking positions. Most recently Hess has entered the basin after it acquired Kingsway Oil, and Conoco came in last year with New Standard.
You just have to look at a map of acreage holdings in the Superbasin to see that there is now no material vacant acreage. What this means it that the only entry points are via farm-ins or through takeovers.
It is therefore not surprising to us that there is interest in Buru, and we have really started to see this interest increase over the last few months,
With oil and gas stocks being generally deflated over the past 6 to 8 weeks you are already starting to see some M&A activity in the sector and there is clearly potential for this to spread to the Canning.
And this from Conoco:
“We’re chasing a bunch of stuff,” Todd Creeger, president of Conoco’s Australian unit, said today in an interview in Adelaide. “There are some large acreage holders interested in talking to us about what we could do together. New Standard was a good entry. We’ll see more of that.”
The Canning Basin in Western Australia, where New Standard Energy and ConocoPhillips are exploring, is at the top of the Houston-based company’s list, Creeger said. The Cooper Basin in central Australia also has potential, he said.
BRU Price at posting:
$2.71 Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
