Australia

Low natural gas prices and a “responsive regulatory environment” have prompted Australia’s Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) to devote $850 million toward the construction of a world scale ammonia manufacturing plant on a brownfield site in Waggaman, LA, the company said Wednesday.

Oil and natural gas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) “slowed dramatically” in the first three months of this year from 2012, with activity slipping about 40% from the full-year 2012 average and inventory down by almost one-third, according to PLS Inc. However, as it has been for a few years, North America continued to draw the most interest and the most dollars, pulling in close to two-thirds of the transactions by dollar value and almost 80% of the total deals.

Australia-based and Eagle Ford-focused Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. said a downspacing pilot on its non-operated acreage in the Eagle Ford’s Sugarkane Field is yielding strong results and the company is planning 40-acre spacing on its recently acquired operated acreage in the play.

The U.S. unit of Australia’s Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. has raised its 2013 guidance for Eagle Ford Shale well count by 25-30% and said it plans to spend $430-465 million this year on drilling and related infrastructure.

Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd. took a $2.84 billion pre-tax charge against the value of dry gas assets in the Fayetteville Shale that it acquired just last year due to weak natural gas prices and oversupply. Further, the company’s once-touted Petrohawk Energy Corp., also bought last year, so far this year has been a loss-maker.

Malaysian national oil company Petronas has increased to approximately C$6 billion its bid for Progress Energy Resources Corp. in a deal that would create a company that would deliver Canadian natural gas to world markets, Progress said. The amended offer was made in an effort to block an unsolicited proposal from another company.

As had been expected, the acquisition of Australia’s Eureka Energy Ltd. by Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. is to be completed, Aurora said in a letter to Eureka shareholders. Both companies have acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas. Eureka has three core assets with a combined net acreage position of 6,742 acres, all focused on the Eagle Ford, according to the Australian company’s website. “The assets are at different levels of maturity throughout the value chain, from ongoing production and development, appraisal and development to initial technical development,” the company said. Aurora participates in multiple separate joint ventures that form a contiguous land position totaling 76,989 acres that sit at the heart of the Eagle Ford, according to the company (see Shale Daily, July 3; May 1).

Malaysian national oil company Petronas plans to combine its liquefied natural gas (LNG) expertise with the unconventional resources abilities of Calgary-based Progress Energy Resources Corp. by acquiring Progress in a deal worth C$5.5 billion including debt. The combined enterprise would deliver Canadian natural gas to world markets.

Australia’s Aurora Oil and Gas Ltd. has made an A$107 (US$111.7 million) unsolicited offer for Eagle Ford Shale-focused Eureka Energy Ltd., which said Monday it is considering the proposal.