US oil firm Apache Corporation said last night it had completed a “merger” with fellow-Houston company Mariner Energy.
The deal follows recent acquisitions by Apache of assets from BP and Devon Energy Corporation and was sealed after approval by Mariner’s shareholders and the completion of formalities.
Apache, which operates the Forties field in the UK North Sea, said it had issued around 17.5million shares and paid about £500million in cash to Mariner’s investors. The transaction also sees Apache take on debt valued at around £1billion. As a result of the deal, former Mariner shareholders now own about 5% of Apache, which said 79% of the other firm’s stockholders had voted in favour of the move.
Apache said: “The Mariner merger, along with our $7billion (£4.34billion) acquisition of BP’s upstream operating regions in the Permian Basin, Canada and Egypt and our earlier $1billion (£620million) acquisition of Devon’s Gulf of Mexico Shelf assets, will provide Apache with a rich inventory of growth and value-enhancement opportunities for years to come.”
Steven Farris, Apache’s chairman and chief executive, added: “Apache’s team, including new people from Mariner, BP and Devon, is looking forward to tackling the enlarged opportunity base that these assets bring to three core regions in our portfolio. The Mariner merger also adds a new dimension to our portfolio — deepwater oil exploration.”
Mariner, which is among the largest independent energy companies operating in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, had interests in nearly 350 US offshore leases at the end of last year, with more than 110 being developed. Apache has operations in the US, Canada, Egypt, the UK North Sea, Australia and Argentina.