Statoil and Cirque in shale partnership to exploit Montana oil

Statoil's Brigham assets Bakken Shale

Knowing the territory: Statoil managed to keep most of its experienced Bakken Play (left) personnel after its acquisition of Brigham Exploration.

STATOIL

By NOAH BRENNER Houston

 10 May 2012 22:59 GMT

Norwegian giant Statoil is taking the next step in its push to master US tight oil and gas development through a partnership with privately held Cirque Resources in the frontier Heath Shale play in central Montana.

Statoil and Cirque declined to comment on the breadth or terms of the deal but both independently confirmed that they were partnering on an initial exploration programme in the emerging shale play.

“I can’t tell you too much about it because it’s very early stage,” Statoil senior vice president Torstein Hole told Upstream.

Cirque amassed about 275,000 net acres in the Heath and now holds rights to about 115,000 net acres, said chief executive Peter Dea.

Dea declined to comment on whether the 160,000 acres no longer controlled by Cirque was all held under…

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