CALGARY – International oil and gas producer Vermilion Energy Inc. is increasing its exposure to the U.S., announcing a $186-million acquisition of assets in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming near its existing operations.
It says the purchase includes wells producing about 2,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (63 per cent oil and natural gas liquids) as well as land upon which it expects to drill 93 future wells using horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing technology.
The Calgary-based company announced a $530-million exploration and development budget for 2019, up from $510 million this year, and said it is targeting production of between 101,000 and 106,000 boepd next year.
It reported a net loss of $15 million in the third quarter on oil and gas sales of $508 million, an improvement over a net loss of $39 million on sales of $249 million in the same period of 2017.
It produced 96,222 boepd in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from 67,403 boepd a year earlier, mainly because of the purchase of Calgary-based Spartan Energy Corp. for $1.23 billion in shares — a deal that closed in May and added about 23,000 boepd to Vermilion’s Canadian output.
Production and financial results were in line with analyst expectations.
Outside of North America, Vermilion operates in Australia, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia.
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