FOR SALE: SAMSON?

[Teatownclown]

Big Prize Awaits Energy Patch
Closely Held Samson Weighs Its Options; Oil-and-Gas Explorer Could Be Worth Up to $10 Billion
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204450804576623453310949760.html
By GINA CHON, ANUPREETA DAS and RYAN DEZEMBER
Samson Investment Co., one of the country's largest privately held oil and gas explorers, is considering strategic options including whether to sell itself in a deal that could fetch as much as $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Tulsa, Okla.-based company, little known outside the oil patch, has been seeking a financial adviser to assess a range of options from setting up a joint venture to a full sale, the people said. Hiring an investment bank would be a first step, although the company could still decide not to proceed further, they cautioned.
More
•   Deal Journal: The Family Behind Samson
Samson operates more than 4,000 wells and has significant production operations in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico's deep waters. In the last three years, it invested more than $4 billion in drilling and oil and gas property acquisitions, according to its website.
If the Schustermans decide to pursue a full sale, Samson could fetch between $7 billion and $10 billion, they added. The company has more than 1,200 employees and has offices in Canada and Scotland.
Samson did not reply to requests for comment.
It is owned by one of the country's wealthiest families, the Schustermans. Charles Schusterman founded the company 40 years ago and built it through acquisitions, according to the company's website. Mr. Schusterman, who died in 2000, was an active philanthropist and gave generously to programs designed to improve Jewish life and culture in the U.S., a family foundation website says.Stacy Schusterman, his daughter, is chief executive and vice president of the family's charitable foundation.
Samson's interest in exploring options comes amid a boom in shale drilling, which although lucrative is far more expensive than traditional drilling. Samson, the people said, wants to do more shale drilling beneath its oilfields, mostly in the U.S. To finance the shale push, Samson is weighing whether to partner with another company or raise funds through a full or partial sale, those people said.
Shale is an oil and gas-bearing rock that companies have learned how to tap in recent years by combining complex horizontal drilling techniques and a rock-cracking process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Although Samson now drills in some shale formations in North Dakota, Texas and Pennsylvania, much of its focus has been on extracting oil and gas from conventional fields. Samson is active in the Haynesville Shale, which straddles the Texas-Louisiana border, and the Marcellus Shale, which lies beneath several states including New York and Pennsylvania.
Shale ventures have generated a number of deals in recent years. Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. has sold stakes in five shale ventures to pay for drilling. Combined those five deals thus far have exceeded $12 billion. The country's second-largest natural gas producer says it plans to strike similar deals in three more fields, including Ohio's oil-bearing Utica Shale, by the end of 2012.
Other shale-intensive producers, such as XTO Energy Inc. and Petrohawk Energy Corp., have opted to simply sell their entire operations to major oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp. and BHP Billiton Ltd., respectively.
Write to Gina Chon at gina.chon@wsj.com and Anupreeta Das atanupreeta.das@wsj.com


Plus side: Lots of money for Tulsa. Downside: jobs?

[swake]

Big Prize Awaits Energy Patch
Closely Held Samson Weighs Its Options; Oil-and-Gas Explorer Could Be Worth Up to $10 Billion
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204450804576623453310949760.html
By GINA CHON, ANUPREETA DAS and RYAN DEZEMBER
Samson Investment Co., one of the country's largest privately held oil and gas explorers, is considering strategic options including whether to sell itself in a deal that could fetch as much as $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Tulsa, Okla.-based company, little known outside the oil patch, has been seeking a financial adviser to assess a range of options from setting up a joint venture to a full sale, the people said. Hiring an investment bank would be a first step, although the company could still decide not to proceed further, they cautioned.
More
•   Deal Journal: The Family Behind Samson
Samson operates more than 4,000 wells and has significant production operations in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico's deep waters. In the last three years, it invested more than $4 billion in drilling and oil and gas property acquisitions, according to its website.
If the Schustermans decide to pursue a full sale, Samson could fetch between $7 billion and $10 billion, they added. The company has more than 1,200 employees and has offices in Canada and Scotland.
Samson did not reply to requests for comment.
It is owned by one of the country's wealthiest families, the Schustermans. Charles Schusterman founded the company 40 years ago and built it through acquisitions, according to the company's website. Mr. Schusterman, who died in 2000, was an active philanthropist and gave generously to programs designed to improve Jewish life and culture in the U.S., a family foundation website says.Stacy Schusterman, his daughter, is chief executive and vice president of the family's charitable foundation.
Samson's interest in exploring options comes amid a boom in shale drilling, which although lucrative is far more expensive than traditional drilling. Samson, the people said, wants to do more shale drilling beneath its oilfields, mostly in the U.S. To finance the shale push, Samson is weighing whether to partner with another company or raise funds through a full or partial sale, those people said.
Shale is an oil and gas-bearing rock that companies have learned how to tap in recent years by combining complex horizontal drilling techniques and a rock-cracking process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Although Samson now drills in some shale formations in North Dakota, Texas and Pennsylvania, much of its focus has been on extracting oil and gas from conventional fields. Samson is active in the Haynesville Shale, which straddles the Texas-Louisiana border, and the Marcellus Shale, which lies beneath several states including New York and Pennsylvania.
Shale ventures have generated a number of deals in recent years. Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. has sold stakes in five shale ventures to pay for drilling. Combined those five deals thus far have exceeded $12 billion. The country's second-largest natural gas producer says it plans to strike similar deals in three more fields, including Ohio's oil-bearing Utica Shale, by the end of 2012.
Other shale-intensive producers, such as XTO Energy Inc. and Petrohawk Energy Corp., have opted to simply sell their entire operations to major oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp. and BHP Billiton Ltd., respectively.
Write to Gina Chon at gina.chon@wsj.com and Anupreeta Das atanupreeta.das@wsj.com


Plus side: Lots of money for Tulsa. Downside: jobs?

Why don't they just go public? Isn't that the simplest option?

[BKDotCom]

Why don't they just go public? Isn't that the simplest option?

¿And have finances / practices out there for all to see?

[SXSW]

¿And have finances / practices out there for all to see?

Very true.  It would be much better for Tulsa for them just to go public so they can expand their drilling operations and hire more people.  They have over 700 employees and occupy a huge chunk of office space downtown which would likely grow.  If not that then JV with a local company like H&P, ONEOK or Williams.  Here is an excerpt from the TW article:

"In the uncertain markets, it's very likely a deal will not transpire; but since the Wall Street Journal went ahead with the story, we felt the need to communicate with our employees and the community that we had been exploring some possible transactions," said Dennis Neill, Samson's senior vice president of technology and administrative services.

Neill, who was interviewed by the Tulsa World in Indianapolis during a Tulsa Metro Chamber-sponsored visit to that city, said Samson's talks about potential deals have been "somewhat ongoing this year. But right now, there's certainly no deal that's been completed."

On another related energy front, I have heard after BHP Billiton's acquisition of Petrohawk that they plan on keeping the Tulsa office, which employs several hundred at One Warren Place, as a base for operations in the Fayetteville shale (which they acquired from Chesapeake) and other Mid-Continent fields.  Hopefully that is the case as that could mean even more jobs for Tulsa, even if the BHP Billiton North American HQ remains in Houston with the corporate HQ in Australia.

[OUGrad05]

Very true.  It would be much better for Tulsa for them just to go public so they can expand their drilling operations and hire more people.  They have over 700 employees and occupy a huge chunk of office space downtown which would likely grow.  If not that then JV with a local company like H&P, ONEOK or Williams.  Here is an excerpt from the TW article:

"In the uncertain markets, it's very likely a deal will not transpire; but since the Wall Street Journal went ahead with the story, we felt the need to communicate with our employees and the community that we had been exploring some possible transactions," said Dennis Neill, Samson's senior vice president of technology and administrative services.

Neill, who was interviewed by the Tulsa World in Indianapolis during a Tulsa Metro Chamber-sponsored visit to that city, said Samson's talks about potential deals have been "somewhat ongoing this year. But right now, there's certainly no deal that's been completed."

On another related energy front, I have heard after BHP Billiton's acquisition of Petrohawk that they plan on keeping the Tulsa office, which employs several hundred at One Warren Place, as a base for operations in the Fayetteville shale (which they acquired from Chesapeake) and other Mid-Continent fields.  Hopefully that is the case as that could mean even more jobs for Tulsa, even if the BHP Billiton North American HQ remains in Houston with the corporate HQ in Australia.

Going public isn't always best.  But I suppose it could be.  It will be interesting to see how this turns out as it does have potentially significant consequences for Tulsa.

[tulsa_fan]

I'd been hearing rumblings that Devon was looking to buy Samson outright . . . . they do need to fill up the tower in OKC.  I think it would be horrible for Tulsa.  I guess the Shusterman's can give away more money, which will be good, because if we lose Samson, there will be a lot of new people lining up to get it.  These are not call center jobs, the start with high salaries and will trickle down all the way to the janitor at the parking garages. 

[Conan71]

Yep, like it or not decomposed fossils are still a huge driver of our economy.

[swake]

I'd been hearing rumblings that Devon was looking to buy Samson outright

If Devon buys Samson for $10 billion it would have to be done as a merger, and Samson is private. If that happens, who is buying who?

[Teatownclown]

Someone grab Delilah's scissors!