Pieridae Energy Limited is pleased to announce that it has closed its acquisition of all of Shell Canada Energy’s (Shell) midstream and upstream assets in the southern Alberta Foothills (the “Assets”) for $190 million in accordance with the terms of the amended and restated purchase and sale agreement dated October 7, 2019 (the “PSA”). All references to dollars ($) are to Canadian currency.
Further to the $10 million deposit paid at signing the PSA, on closing, Pieridae paid to Shell $165 million of the purchase price of the Acquisition in cash (net of adjustments) which Pieridae funded through the issuance of term debt and equity (as further described below). Pieridae satisfied the balance of the purchase price of $15 million by the issuance to Shell of 15.2 million common shares of the Company having an aggregate value of $15 million determined in accordance with the PSA.
“We are very pleased to close this transformational acquisition as it secures the majority of the natural gas needed, once developed, to supply the first train at our Goldboro LNG facility for at least twenty years,” said Pieridae’s Chief Executive Officer, Alfred Sorensen. “We will now complete our negotiations with Kellogg Brown & Root Limited for a fixed price contract to construct the Goldboro LNG facility so that we can then proceed to complete the project financing and final equity raise and make a final investment decision.”
With the Acquisition, Pieridae now has an extensive drilling inventory encompassing multiple dry gas and liquids-rich gas reservoirs within the Foothills area. The Company has engaged professionals, many of whom are transitioning from Shell, who have strong experience managing the four major processing facilities and associated midstream assets. Together with existing Foothills drilling and development experience within the Company, Pieridae is well positioned to leverage the US$1.5 billion of the government-backed guarantees for conventional gas supply development which the German government approved in principle. This amount is in addition to the US$3.0 billion of government-backed guarantees for the construction of the Goldboro LNG facility which the German government has also approved in principle. Certain aspects of the asset retirement obligation with respect to the Jumping Pound and Waterton gas plants remain with Shell.
“There are additional opportunities to develop our liquids-rich areas, process the sour gas, strip out the liquids, store the dry gas and then further develop our dry gas resources down the road,” concluded Sorensen.
In addition to implementation of certain cost savings initiatives, Pieridae anticipates taking full advantage of the gas plant processing capabilities and other associated upstream services developed by Shell.
Moving forward, Pieridae is committed to working with the communities surrounding its newly acquired assets, including continuing to build trust with the Treaty 7 Nations through respectful engagement and collaboration.
Description of Assets Acquired
In the first six months of 2019, the Assets produced approximately 28,634 barrels of oil equivalent per day (“BOE/d”) consisting of approximately 119 million cubic feet per day (“MMcf/d”) of natural gas, 5,656 barrels per day (“bbl/d”) of natural gas liquids (“NGL”) and 3,163 bbl/d of condensate and light oil. Pieridae also acquired three deep cut, sour gas processing plants (Jumping Pound, Caroline and Waterton), with a combined capacity of approximately 750 MMcf/d (currently operating with 420 MMcf/d of spare capacity), a 14% working interest in the Shantz sulphur forming plant, and approximately 1,700 kilometres of pipelines.
Acquisition Highlights and Rationale
The Assets align well with Pieridae’s existing Central Alberta properties, providing further consolidation of the productive Alberta and British Columbia conventional Foothills natural gas pools. It is expected that synergies will be realized within the acquired Assets area, where consolidation of working interests in production and midstream assets complement Pieridae’s existing core areas. The Assets consist of long life, low decline production, in the range of 10%, with approximately 31% liquids and sulphur yields.
The Assets’ proved developed producing reserves on a barrel of oil equivalent basis make up 70% of total reserve bookings, while undeveloped reserves are only 6% of the total reserve base, based on independent third-party engineering reports prepared by Deloitte LLP and GLJ Petroleum Consultants, the details of which were previously disclosed by the Corporation on June 26, 2019.
About Pieridae
Founded in 2011, Pieridae (TSXV: PEA), a majority Canadian owned corporation based in Calgary, is focused on the development of integrated energy-related activities, from the exploration and extraction of natural gas to the development, construction and operation of the Goldboro LNG facility and the production of LNG for sale to Europe and other markets. Pieridae is on the leading edge of the re-integration of the LNG value chain in North America. After completion of all the transactions disclosed in this news release, Pieridae has 157,459,584 common shares issued and outstanding which trade on the TSX Venture Exchange (PEA).
About Royal Dutch Shell plc
Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.