Page 8 - NorthAmOil Week 10 2022

NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT NorthAmOil

TC Energy offers 10% Coastal GasLink

stake to indigenous groups

BRITISH CANADIAN pipeline operator TC Energy representing 16 of these communities, that had
COLUMBIA announced on March 9 that it had signed option confirmed their support for the option agree-
agreements to sell a 10% interest in the Coastal ments. The entities have been named the CGL
GasLink gas pipeline, which is being built to First Nations Limited Partnership and the FN
serve the LNG Canada export terminal, to indig- CGL Pipeline Limited Partnership.
enous communities. “This is what we’ve been striving for, to finally
The move is aimed at giving groups that tradi- have a say and make informed business decisions
tionally hold the land being used for the pipeline that will benefit our communities back home,”
more ownership in the project. It comes amid the Cheslatta Carrier Nation’s Chief Corinna
ongoing opposition to Coastal GasLink from Leween told the Canadian Press. “A lot of our
environmental groups, as well as some of the Nations are still living in poverty, Third World
First Nations along the pipeline’s route in Brit- poverty, and not having access to capital or the
ish Columbia. Protests against the pipeline have infrastructure dollars that are needed to do the
occasionally become violent, with a recent inci- development of our communities. We are hoping
dent involving an attack on a work camp, which that this will help alleviate it.”
police said involved assailants with axes who Separately, Reuters quoted Leween as say-
threatened workers and damaged equipment. ing this was the first time many of the commu-
According to the police and TC Energy, millions nities involved had been included as owners
of dollars’ worth of damage was done during the in a major natural resource project on their
incident. territories.
The option agreements were made available to Financial terms of the agreements were not
all 20 First Nations holding existing agreements disclosed. The equity options are exercisable
with Coastal GasLink. TC Energy said the First once the pipeline enters commercial service,
Nations had established two entities, collectively which is targeted for 2023.™

INVESTMENT

Whiting, Oasis to combine in $6bn merger

NORTH DAKOTA US shale players Whiting Petroleum and Oasis assets” in their statement. On a conference call,
Petroleum announced on March 7 that they had Oasis’ CEO, Danny Brown, who will serve as
agreed to combine in a what they described as president and CEO of the combined company,
a merger of equals. The combined company is said the deal would generate $1.2bn in free cash
expected to have an enterprise value of about flow this year and boost returns on capital.
$6bn. Whiting shareholders will own roughly 53%
The companies are both focused on North of the merged entity, which has yet to be named,
Dakota’s Bakken play – a region that has not been and Oasis shareholders will own around 47%.
particularly prolific in the recent wave of consol- Whiting shareholders will receive 0.5774 shares
idation that has been playing out across the US of Oasis common stock and $6.25 in cash for
shale industry since 2020. Instead, oil-focused each share of Whiting common stock owned,
shale consolidation has centred on the Permian and Oasis shareholders will receive a special div-
Basin, but Oasis and Whiting’s merger appears to idend of $15.00 per share.
have some of the same drivers, such as a desire to Data analytics firm Enverus noted that both
build scale and boost free cash flow. companies had sold assets elsewhere in the US
The combined company will have a portfo- last year to reclaim their pure-play status in the
lio of 972,000 net acres (3,934 square km) in the Bakken. They have also bulked up their posi-
Williston Basin, which contains the Bakken and tions in the region – Oasis bought assets in the
Three Forks formations, and expects to produce play from Diamondback Energy for $745mn in
164,000-169,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day October, while Whiting agreed in February to
(boepd) in 2022. The companies described this acquire non-operated Bakken properties from
as a “premier Williston position with top-tier two private firms for $273mn.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 10•March•2022