据油价网2021年8月15日报道，美国页岩行业先驱之一的切萨皮克能源公司，在通过一项重大收购协议从破产中复苏6个月以后重新开始运营，这标志着切萨皮克能源公司重返路易斯安那州的页岩气盆地。
尽管这一举动已被广泛预期，但切萨皮克能源公司是去年年中申请破产的美国页岩公司中最知名的能源公司之一。
如今，这家转型后的页岩气先锋将收购Vine 能源公司，后者在路易斯安那州西北部的超压堆叠的海恩斯维尔和中博西尔页岩远景区开发天然气资源。切萨皮克能源公司本周表示，此次收购为零溢价交易，价值约22亿美元。
《福布斯》记者克里斯托弗·赫尔曼指出，此次收购将使这家美国页岩巨头成为海恩斯维尔页岩远景区的最大天然气生产商，页岩气日产量约为15亿立方英尺，可供钻探的地点有数百个。
随着收购Vine能源公司，新切萨皮克能源公司将加倍下注页岩气和海恩斯维尔页岩远景区。切萨皮克能源公司曾在2015年和2016年出售了其在海恩斯维尔盆地的许多资产，旨在压低其巨额债务，然而，巨大债务最终还是迫使切萨皮克能源公司在2020年宣布破产。
切萨皮克能源公司董事会主席兼临时首席执行官Mike Wichterich表示：“这笔交易加强了切萨皮克能源公司的竞争地位，显著增加了我们的自由现金流前景，深化了我们优质天然气的库存，同时保持了我们的资产负债表的实力。”
Wichterich补充说：““通过整合海恩斯维尔页岩远景区，拥有规模和运营经验的切萨皮克能源公司能够迅速成为墨西哥湾沿岸和海外高端市场的主要天然气供应商。”
切萨皮克能源公司对Vine能源公司的收购反映了美国页岩行业的两大趋势。 首先，这是合并正在进行的整合浪潮。 其次，由于今年大宗商品价格的上涨，许多公司都在进行自我改造，用现金流来偿还债务。或者，就切萨皮克能源公司而言，他们在破产重组后，拥有了新的管理层，并对如何在不陷入债务的情况下开展业务有了新的看法。
2020年，危机和低天然气价格使得切萨皮克能源公司成为主要受害者，切萨皮克能源公司在6月份申请了破产保护。 分析人士表示，这一特殊申请要等很长时间。
伍德麦肯兹上游团队首席分析师Alex Beeker当时表示：“如果我用一个词来形容切萨皮克能源公司的话，那就是‘过度’——过度的负债、过度的成本、供过于求市场上的天然气供应过度。”
切萨皮克能源公司是美国页岩公司“自取灭亡”的典型代表，在今年1月份脱离破产保护。
今年第二季度，切萨皮克能源公司产生了3.94亿美元的运营现金流，第二季度末手头有6.12亿美元的现金。
Wichterich称，该公司“不再是过去的切萨皮克能源公司”，并向投资者保证，在海恩斯维尔的交易中，切萨皮克能源公司不会为Vine能源公司多支付钱。
“我们拥有超稳定的资产负债表，”这位高管在接受路透社采访时表示。 “我们的语气和态度有些不同，”他补充道。
在切萨皮克-Vine收购海恩斯维尔盆地的两个月前，西南能源公司表示将以约27亿美元价格收购海恩斯维尔盆地生产商Indigo 自然资源公司，这表明海恩斯维尔盆地的整合已经开始。
增加了Vine能源公司之后，切萨皮克能源公司在海恩斯维尔盆地又转了一整圈。 5年前，切萨皮克能源公司通过多笔交易出售了ArkLaTex投资组合的很大一部分。 但现在有了Vine能源公司，切萨皮克能源公司将以超过15亿立方英尺/天的页岩气产量重新成为海恩斯维尔盆地最大的页岩气生产商。”
伍德麦肯兹对切萨皮克能源公司在新的领导层和财务状况改善后在运营方面变得更加激进并不感到意外。
伍德麦肯兹说：“我们并不惊讶切萨皮克能源公司通过并购在其最好的资产之一上加倍下注。”
本周的交易使切萨皮克能源公司成为与先锋自然资源公司和EQT能源公司一样，拥有“盆地主导”增长战略的美国页岩企业之一。“这是投资者可以充满信心地支持的交易。 节约成本的问题也得到了更清晰的理解。”
李峻 编译自 油价网
原文如下：
The Shale Pioneer Preparing For A Comeback
One of the U.S. shale pioneers, Chesapeake Energy, is back in business six months after emerging from bankruptcy with a major acquisition— marking its return to the shale gas basin in Louisiana.
Chesapeake Energy was one of the most prominent names in the U.S. shale patch to file for bankruptcy in the middle of last year, although the move had been widely expected.
Now the reinvented shale gas pioneer is buying Vine Energy, which develops natural gas properties in the over-pressured stacked Haynesville and Mid-Bossier shale plays in Northwest Louisiana. The acquisition is a zero premium transaction valued at approximately $2.2 billion, Chesapeake Energy said this week.
The acquisition will make the shale giant the top gas producer in Haynesville, with around 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of production and hundreds of locations to drill, Forbes reporter Christopher Helman notes.
With the acquisition of Vine Energy, the new Chesapeake Energy is doubling down on shale gas and on Haynesville, half a decade after selling many of its assets in the basin in 2015 and 2016 as it was weighed down by enormous debts, which ultimately forced it to declare bankruptcy last year.
"This transaction strengthens Chesapeake's competitive position, meaningfully increasing our free cash flow outlook and deepening our inventory of premium gas locations while preserving the strength of our balance sheet," Mike Wichterich, Chesapeake's Board Chairman and Interim CEO, said.
"By consolidating the Haynesville, Chesapeake has the scale and operating expertise to quickly become the dominant supplier of responsibly sourced gas to premium markets in the Gulf Coast and abroad," the executive added.
Chesapeake Energy's acquisition is indicative of two major trends in U.S. shale. First, it's the ongoing consolidation wave in the patch. And second, many firms are reinventing themselves and pay down debt with cash flows as commodity prices rose this year, or, in Chesapeake's case, emerge from Chapter 11 restructuring with a new management and a new outlook on how to do business without drowning in debt.
In 2020, the crisis and the low natural gas prices claimed as a prominent victim as Chesapeake, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June. Analysts said this particular filing was a long time coming.
"If I were to describe Chesapeake in one word, that word is 'excess' - excess liabilities, excess costs, excess gas in an oversupplied market," Alex Beeker, principal analyst on Wood Mackenzie's corporate upstream team, said at the time.
Chesapeake, the poster child of U.S. shale firms "drilling themselves to oblivion," emerged from Chapter 11 in January this year.
For the second quarter of 2021, the company generated $394 million of operating cash flow and ended the quarter with $612 million cash on hand.
The firm is "no longer the Chesapeake of the past," Wichterich said, assuring investors it is not overpaying for Vine in the Haynesville deal.
"We have a super-stable balance sheet," the executive told Reuters in an interview. "There is a tone that is a little different and attitude that is a little different," he added.
The Chesapeake-Vine deal in the Haynesville basin comes two months after Southwestern Energy said it would buy Haynesville producer Indigo Natural Resources for around $2.7 billion, suggesting that consolidation in the basin has started.
"Adding Vine brings Chesapeake full circle in the Haynesville. The company sold off a large portion of its ArkLaTex portfolio in multiple deals five years ago. But now with Vine, Chesapeake will return to being the largest Haynesville producer, at over 1.5 bcfd," Wood Mackenzie analysts said, commenting on the deal.
WoodMac isn't surprised that Chesapeake became more aggressive in operations with its new leadership and refreshed financials.
"[W] e're not surprised to see the company doubling down on one of its best assets through M&A.
This week's deal makes Chesapeake one of the U.S. shale firms with a 'basin dominance' growth strategy, alongside Pioneer and EQT.
"And this is the kind of deal investors can support with confidence. The cost savings are more clearly understood," WoodMac said.
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