NDB Energy, the aggressive, emerging oil and gas company, running the gamut operationally from exploration to production and marketing, via an ever-growing portfolio of carefully chosen undervalued, underdeveloped, and underperforming targets, recently reported yet another judicious growth initiative, securing key acreage (including a choice, 25k-acre project targeting the Niobrara/Casper formations) in Carbon County, Wyoming, through the successful acquisition of Armada Oil, Inc.
The Armada acquisition not only includes the obvious prime territory targets in Carbon County (that is ideally situated near abundant existing pipelines, refining/processing infrastructure, and other producing fields), but several additional pay zones as well that the company plans to test. The 25k acres over which Armada has control was developed as part of Armada’s overall Southern Wyoming strategy, which emphasized shale oil exploration projects in and around the Laramie and Hanna Basins.
The acquisition was completed via a share exchange agreement (to date Armada has 1,280 acres acquired, along with the important 2D seismic, and well control/engineering data on the project, as well as the option to buy an additional 23.7k plus acres) and places Armada under the umbrella of a public company for the first time, bringing the vast oil and gas exploration experience of Armada to NDBE’s bottom line. Armada is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of NDBE and is able to punch above its weight, while NDBE gains a strong foothold in the Niobrara shale.
President of Armada Oil, David Moss, noted the broad access to capital markets and improved workflow timeline this deal implements, explaining that the project could be advanced much more quickly now, driving shareholder value both through development, and through increasing the overall acreage position in Wyoming.
President and CEO of NDBE, James J. Cerna, called it a real milestone for the company, landing such a major growth deal in prime acreage, and commended Armada’s strategy to identify/exploit resources of potential shale/sandstone reservoirs in the upper and lower Permian-Pennsylvanian age Niobrara/Casper formations. Cerna explained that the acquisition was directly in line with NDBE’s focus on developing/commercializing “high-value domestic onshore properties.”
Cerna also noted the additional payzones, including deeper, conventional Tensleep Sandstone formation targets. Cerna underscored the progress made thus far from an engineering standpoint on the property and stressed the eagerness of NDBE to conduct more thorough analysis, including 3D seismic and drilling in 2012.
This acquisition adds quite nicely to NDBE’s already solid footprint in Texas via the company’s Young County property and the Eagle Ford shale play target property in Gonzales County. While the Niobrara shale is considered an unconventional play, the clear analogy to the Bakken is there, and it’s a potential up and comer on par with the Bakken due to advances in horizontal drilling, as well as hydraulic fracturing.
The big boys like Anadarko, Chesapeake, EOG, and Noble are just getting their feet wet in the Niobrara really. Getting in at these earlier stages with key acreage gives NDBE incredible hitting power, especially long-term. Superb steering of the company ship by NDBE’s management, as gas prices rise amid cooler spring weather and oil holds at around $103, despite implacable woes over EU sovereign debt dynamics. Many people say the economy is slowing down, but domestic onshore oil and gas just gets hotter every day, driven by a whole series of component market vectors.
For more information on the Armada acquisition, or to learn more about NDB Energy, Inc., please visit the company’s website at: www.NDBEnergyInc.com
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