Oil giants BP, Shell and Statoil are in talks to buy US-based Toreador Resources, which holds extensive assets in France’s oil shale play, according to reports.
Source: News wires Thursday, 21 January, 2010, 08:54 GMT
The companies have signed confidentiality agreements with Toreador, which has a market capitalisation of $210 million, and concluded technical due diligence on the company’s oil properties, Reuters quoted a report on the New York Times’ DealBook blog as saying.
Toreador has the right to develop 649,000 acres in the Paris basin, with a further 153,000 acres pending regulatory approval. Toreador believes the basin’s source rock hosts an estimated 65 billion barrels of oil. New drilling technology has opened up drilling for oil and gas in complex rock formations, including shale, which were previously uncommercial. In November, Toreador said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including raising capital by equity or debt offerings, and possible partnership in the Paris basin oil shale.
Shell declined comment. BP and Statoil were not available for comment, Reuters said.
[...] when oil giants BP, Shell and Statoil began talks of buying Toreador earlier this month (read: Oil giants BP, Shell and Statoil in talks to buy US-based Toreador Resources) in the interest of acquiring its French shale [...]