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 Acquisitions and Divestitures by Foreign Direct Investors in U.S. Energy in 2006 Contacts | Report Home

Release Date: May 2008
Next Release Date: May 2009  

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Acquisitions

There were three large FDI acquisitions of U.S. energy assets in 2006.  One was Maurbeni’s (Japan) purchase of Gulf of Mexico properties from Pioneer Natural Resources for $1.3 billion.  Marubeni has been expanding its international upstream investments in oil and gas assets as one of its core lines of business in recent years.  During December 2005, the acquired properties produced at an annual rate of almost 14 million barrels oil equivalent.  A number of other large, foreign-based companies that had not been active in the Gulf before have begun acquiring oil and gas properties there in recent years including Statoil and Norsk Hydro (now StatoilHydro) based in Norway, Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras, Brazil), Repsol YPF (Spain), and fellow-Japanese company Mitsui.  Pioneer plans to use a portion of the proceeds to complete the repurchase of $359 million of its shares.  Proceeds will also be used to fund a portion of its 2006 capital budget and reduce short-term debt.

The second major acquisition was the purchase and recapitalization valued at $1.2 billion of CDX, an oil and gas exploration and production company focusing on unconventional gas, by TWC, an asset and mutual fund management group.  It provides institutional capital to the energy and other sectors globally and had previously extended a bridge loan to CDX.  TWC is a U.S. affiliate of Société Générale, the French bank with operations in global investment management, retail banking, and specialized financial services.

The U.S. affiliate of International Power (England and Wales) made the third large acquisition in 2006 by acquiring the Coleto Creek power plant, a 632 megawatt coal-fired electric power generation facility in Texas for $1.1 billion.  International Power is an independent electric generating company with operating facilities around the globe.  The U.S. sellers were Sempra Energy, the California-based parent of two utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas, and Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Funds, a private equity partnership that provides capital to the energy industry. The Funds are jointly owned by The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings, private equity firms with worldwide investments.

                 
  Table 2.  Completed Acquisitions of U.S. Energy Assets by Foreign Direct Investors, 2006*  
  Acquiring Foreign Parent Company
(Country)		 U.S. Subsidiary Company or
Asset Being
Acquired		 Business of
Acquired
Company
or Asset		 Divesting
U.S. Parent
Company		 Estimated
Asset
Value
(million $)		 Closing Month  
  Marubeni
(Japan)		 Marubeni Offshore Production (USA)  deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil and gas properties oil & gas production Pioneer Natural Resources 1,321   March  
  Société Générale
(France)		 TCW Group CDX unconventional natural gas production private individuals 1,175 e April  
  International Power (England & Wales) American National Power Coleto Creek power plant electric power Sempra Energy & Carlyle/Riverstone 1,140   July  
  Statoil
(Norway)		 - Gulf of Mexico oil and gas properties oil & gas production Carlyle/Riverstone 706   November  
  National Grid
(England & Wales)		 National Grid USA Rhode Island properties of New England Gas  natural gas distribution Southern Union 575   August  
  Alon Israel Oil Alon USA Energy Paramount Petroleum petroleum refining - 504   August  
  Mitsui
(Japan)		 Mitsui (U.S.A.) Gulf of Mexico oil and gas properties oil & gas production Pogo Producing 500   June  
  Nabors Industries
(Bermuda)		 - NFR Energy
(50 percent)		 oil & gas production - 500   September  
  Fortis
(Belgium & the Netherlands)		 - Cinergy Marketing & Trading electric power & natural gas trading Duke Energy 475 c October  
  Energy XXI
(Bermuda)		 Energy XXI Gulf Coast oil & gas properties oil & gas production Marlin Energy et al. 448   April  
  TransCanada TC PipeLines Northern Border Pipeline
(20 percent)		 natural gas pipeline ONEOK 427   April  
  EPCOR Utilities
(Canada)		 EPCOR Operations Primary Energy Ventures electric power American Securities Capital 380   November  
  Energy XXI
(Bermuda)		 - oil & gas properties oil & gas production Castex Energy et al. 311   July  
  PrimeWest Energy
(Canada)		 - producing oil and gas properties  oil & gas production CanWest Petroleum 300   July  
  EnCana
(Canada)		 EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) oil & gas properties oil & gas production Leor Energy 243 b July  
  Frère-Bourgeois
(Belgium)		 - U.S. Oil and Refining petroleum refining - 200   March  
  TransCanada TC PipeLines Tuscarora Gas Transmission
(49 percent)		 natural gas pipeline Sierra Pacific Resources 137   December  
  Alimentation Couche-Tard
(Canada)		 - 90 retail outletsa petroleum marketing Spectrum Holdings 130   June  
  BP
(England & Wales)		 BP America Orion Energy electric power - 115   December  
 
-->   *Includes only transactions valued at $100 million or greater.		  
 
-->   aMay include some convenience stores that do not sell gasoline.		  
 
-->   bDoes not include value of acreage transferred.		  
 
-->   cIncludes purchase of Cinergy Canada.		  
    dEstimated.  
    eIncludes the provision of $340 million in working capital to CDX.  
 
  NA = not available.