ZaZa Selling Eagle Ford Assets To Sanchez Energy For $28.8 Million

ZaZa Energy Eaglebine Map
ZaZa Energy Eaglebine Map

ZaZa Energy is selling 10,300 net acres in Fayette, Lavaca, and Gonzales counties to a subsidiary of Sanchez Energy for $28.8 million. The properties are part of ZaZa's Moulton prospect that can be seen in the attached map.

Sanchez Energy's SN Marquis subsidiary has made a $1.4 million down payment and expects to close the deal by the end of July

The price is approximately 30% less than what ZaZa had planned to sell the acreage for just a few months ago. The previous buyer planned to pay more than $43 million, but was not able to secure financing.

Todd A. Brooks, CEO, stated, "Given the current landscape, we believe that transacting at this metric was the best and most prudent action for the company at this time. We remain focused on monetizing select Eagle Ford assets in order to improve our balance sheet and we are currently pursuing other joint ventures in the area. In the Eaglebine, our joint venture is progressing as planned and we anticipate timely drilling of the first three wells as part of the agreement."

The companay's Eaglebine joint venture is operated by EOG Resources.

Read the full press release at zazaenergy.com

Don't forget the Eagle Ford EXPO July 16-17 in Corpus Christi:

You can also learn more at our Texas Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Expo events page.

Eagle Ford Shale From Space - Updated NASA Photo

A new Eagle Ford Shale satellite photo from NASA shows just how many rigs are active in the area. At the time the photo was taken there were about 260 rigs drilling in the area. Eagle Ford rigs account for almost 15% of all drilling in the U.S.

Eagle Ford From Space
Eagle Ford From Space

The Eagle Ford accounted for more than 10% of oil production in the U.S. in April of this year. The play has grown from producing virtually nothing in 2008 to more than 800,000 b/d of oil in early 2013.

For reference, metro area populations are noted below:

  • Dallas-Fort Worth - 6.5 million
  • Houston - 6.1 million
  • San Antonio - 2 million
  • Austin/San Marcos - 1.7 million

Chesapeake & EXCO Reach Eagle Ford Deal - $680 Million

Chesapeake Eagle Ford Acreage Map
Chesapeake Eagle Ford Acreage Map

Chesapeake has agreed to sell approximately 55,000 net acres in Dimmit, Frio, La Salle, and Zavala counties to EXCO Resources for $680 million. The deal adds a new operating area for EXCO. The company currently operates rigs in West Texas, East Texas & North Louisiana, and the Marcellus Shale region.

The sale is part of Chesapeake's plans to raise $4-7 billion through assets sales in 2013.

The Eagle Ford acreage includes:

  • 120 producing wells (94 Eagle Ford wells)
  • 6,100 boe/d of production in May
  • 300 potential drilling locations

Douglas H. Miller, EXCO’s CEO, stated “The Eagle Ford acquisition establishes our position in the high value oil core area of the Eagle Ford shale, and delivers immediate production and reserve additions, significant resource potential, and solid economic returns.

Undeveloped locations in the Eagle Ford will be developed through a partnership between EXCO and KKR. KKR will fund approximately $133 million or 50% of the development costs and EXCO will operate the wells.

 

ConocoPhillips Ramping Up for the Future (2011) - Eagle Ford Flashback

ConocoPhillips Eagle Ford Acreage Map
ConocoPhillips Eagle Ford Acreage Map

ConocoPhillips began ramping up in South Texas not long after acquiring Burlington Resources. The following was taken from an Eagle Ford fact sheet over two years ago:

The conception of Eagle Ford started as a play off of a deal between Burlington Resources and Texas Crude. When ConocoPhillips acquired Burlington, the company began seeing well results in the area that enticed it to acquire more acreage, hence the birth of the ConocoPhillips Eagle Ford asset.

"ConocoPhillips was fortunate to acquire a strong position with low acreage costs in the Eagle Ford, one of the best shale plays in the county, before industry attention in that area became so intense," said Don Hrap, president, ConocoPhillips Americas. "When early results pointed toward a good opportunity to capture resource, the decision to ramp up was obvious."

With encouragement from top management in November 2009, Eagle Ford development was a go, and there was no looking back.

Read the full release at conocophillips.com