This news is worrying. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/22/bhpbilliton-permian-idUKL5N0IC3BX20131022
"BHP Billiton plans to sell roughly half its oil and gas acreage in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, an area revived by the shale boom, to focus on its most lucrative assets there."
and
"Chesapeake's sale of Permian assets last September, for example, implied a price per acre of roughly $3,100 for one of the buyers, Shell, which bought in the Delaware basin. Though below past Permian deals, that would imply a value of almost $800 million for what BHP is selling.
Sources familiar with the industry, though, cautioned BHP could achieve a considerably different price a year later - even for nearby assets. They also warned that there were few natural buyers for the acreage, with a fractured sale to local suitors the most likely outcome.
Bids are due on December 2.
BHP had already booked an impairment charge of $167 million in the full year to the end of June 2013 for the Permian assets, stating the evaluation of some wells in the Permian basin showed they did not "support economic development".
This doesn't look good for MPO's prospect of getting a decent bid. In my opinion, the board should be trying to sell the whole company, not just individual assets. Us suffering shareholders can then get on with our life
MPO Price at posting:
19.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
