Oil and Gas

PetroQuest buys $24M stake in central La. oil play

by Leslie Turk

Independent energy producers PetroQuest Energy Inc. and Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc. are working together to develop Midstates' Fleetwood project.

Independent energy producers PetroQuest Energy Inc. (NYSE:PQ) and Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc. (NYSE:MPO) are working together to develop Midstates' Fleetwood project in central Louisiana.

Source: PetroQuest.com

Under the terms of the oil-focused joint venture, announced Monday, Lafayette-based PetroQuest Energy Inc. has acquired a 50 percent interest in Houston-based Midstates' Fleetwood project for $24 million. The purchase price includes $10 million in cash ($3 million paid at closing and $7 million due in January 2015) and $14 million in future drilling, completion and lease acquisition costs. PetroQuest plans to drill two wells within the project this year.

The assets acquired under the JV include an average 37 percent working interest in an approximately 30,000-acre leasehold position in Louisiana. In addition, the company obtained exclusive rights, along with Midstates, to a 200-square-mile proprietary 3D survey that has generated several conventional and shallow non-conventional oil focused prospects. PetroQuest will serve as operator of all but one of the drilling projects, and will work closely with Midstates to develop the Lower Oligocene and Eocene oil reservoirs.

The Lafayette company expects to spud its first prospect "Widgeon" in August of 2014 with a 25 percent working interest. It plans to utilize horizontal drilling to develop the oil-focused Cockfield formation that has been successfully tested through 13 nearby vertical wells and expects these 13 vertical wells will ultimately produce on average approximately 80,000 barrels of oil per well.

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