Texan oilmen seek North Sea bids

13 April 2012

AN American oil company backed by former directors of struggling Texan giant Anadarko has been set up to scour the North Sea for acquisition and exploration opportunities.

Endeavour International will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in a fortnight and plans to buy a British business worth up to £250m as part of an aggressive expansion drive.

The company's management team, which includes Anadarko's former chief executive John Seitz, has already run the rule over dozens of potential buying opportunities.

Joint chief executive William Transier said: 'You can expect us to do four or five deals in the next year. If we haven't done that, then we are not doing our job. We've been planning this for several months.'

Endeavour was formed a week ago when Transier and Seitz's vehicle North Sea New Ventures merged with little-known Houston-based firm Continental Southern, a company with a gas field in Thailand.

It has already raised $50m from institutional backers and comes to the North Sea with a market value of $300m, no debt and armed with a huge 3D seismic database provided by PGS Exploration in return for a minority stake.

'We know more about some of the UK firms' fields than they probably do themselves,' Transier said.

Endeavour wants to buy up production to generate cash for its exploration drive. Its team includes former Anadarko geologist Mike Cochran, the man behind the group's huge oil discovery in Algeria's Sahara Desert.

The group's move comes amid huge interest by overseas oil and gas companies in the North Sea as supermajors BP, Shell and Esso leave the region to plough their cash into new fields elsewhere.

US independents Apache, Newfield and EOG Resources are routinely linked with UK firms or interests in sizeable fields. Apache spent $1.3bn (£685m) on BP's Forties field a year ago.

Endeavour has already lodged its interest in privately-owned Intrepid's stake in the lucrative Buzzard field and is also looking at potential North Sea projects close to Norway and the Netherlands.

1,000 exploration licences up for grabs

OIL and gas firms will be able to bid for more than 1,000 North Sea exploration licences from today under the Department of Trade and Industry's latest licensing round - the biggest for nearly 40 years.

The DTI is also offering Frontier Licences for the Atlantic Margin west of the Shetland Islands. These are being pitched at a tenth of the cost of a traditional exploration contract.

Energy Minister Stephen Timms said: 'This licensing round for the UK Continental Shelf is the most extensive of its kind since 1965 - proof of the Government's strong commitment to the region.'

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