Murphy Oil (MUR) Acquires Deep Water Assets In Gulf Of Mexico

Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) announced that its subsidiary — Murphy Exploration & Production Company – USA — has completed the acquisition of deep water Gulf of Mexico from LLOG Exploration Offshore, L.L.C. and LLOG Bluewater Holdings, L.L.C. The move was announced in April. The transaction with total cash consideration of $1.227 billion will be effective from Jan 1, 2019.

The company expects that acquired assets will increase net production by 31,000 to 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Boepd) for the second half of the year and will boost proved reserve volumes by 13% to 73million barrels of Oil Equivalents (Mmboe).

Focus on Oil Assets

Murphy Oilis a global oil and gas exploration as well as production company.The company is currently transforming itself into an organization primarily engaged in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) activities from an integrated oil player.In the past several months, Murphy Oil is trying to transition through acquisitions, divestitures and oil-weighted discoveries.

On Mar 21, 2019, the company signed a sale and purchase agreement to divest Malaysian assets for $2.1 billion to monetize Malaysia business and redeploy the proceeds in domestic operations. We believe that the recent acquisition of the Gulf of Mexico assets will continue to boost production.

The company focuses to develop high-margin liquid assets. Ongoing development in Murphy Oil’s North American onshore assets indicates continuous improvement in cost reductions with less operating expenses. Development of offshore assets will further boost the company’s production.The company plans to invest $1.15-$1.35 billion in 2019.

Other companies from the same industry are also undertaking acquisitions. To increase production from the resource rich Permian region, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) recently entered in an agreement to acquire Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) and outbid the offer made by Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) .

Zacks Rank & Price Movement

Currently, Murphy Oil has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Murphy Oil have lost 23.6% in the past 12 months compared with industry’s decline of 38.5%.

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