Milton Financials: Thailand’s PTTEP buys a $2.28 billion stake in Canada’s Statoil Stands.

Nov. 23, 2010 - PRLog -- Milton Financials has learned that PTT Exploration & Production Plc is set to acquire a 40% stake in Statoil ASA’s oil sands project in Canada for $2.28 billion making it the biggest acquisition by a Thai company.

Statoil is to retain 60% of the Kai Kos Dehseh project, the two firms announced in recent statements, adding that the deal is expected to close early next year.

The Stavanger, Norway-based Statoil’s head of international development and production told Milton Financials that the firm began the sale process in October.

PTTEP, Thailand’s largest energy exploration company is “opportunity constrained” within Thailand, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets in Singapore told Milton Financials sources recently. “In terms of growth, it has to focus overseas, and the oil sands is a key area for a lot of Asian energy companies.”

Chinese competitors have already bought Canadian assets this year, with PetroChina Co. buying a $1.86 billion share in two ventures, and China Petrochemical Corp. acquiring a $4.65 billion stake in Syncrude Canada Ltd.

“We’ve drilled a large number of wells, about 400 wells, we’ve had the reserves documented and we’ve built up geological models for the area, we’re about to start production, so we’ve reached a stage where we can document the values we’ve created and so we decided the time was right” to sell, a Statoil executive explained to Milton Financials sources.

Milton Financials was informed that the oil sand deposit is estimated to hold about 2.7 billion barrels of bitumen resources, and while Statoil provides no reserve estimates for the project other parties involved in the sale had estimated them to be between 2.5 billion and 3.7 billion barrels.

The Kai Kos Dehseh project consists of five main areas; Leismer, Corner, Thornbury, Hangingstone, and South Leismer all of which PTTEP has said it intends developing in stages. The Leismer area is expected to produce 10,000 barrels a day by early 2011, while all five areas are ultimately expected to produce 300,000 barrels a day according to the firm.

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