Korea's SK Buys US Shale Firm

South Korea’s SK Innovation March 21 said it has signed, through its subsidiary SK E&P America, a definitive agreement to buy 100% equity in US shale oil and gas producer Longfellow Nemaha.

Without providing financial details, SK said the transaction is expected to close in 2Q2018 and “represent a significant expansion in SK’s core focus area in the US mid-continent region.” Longfellow Nemaha has assets in the STACK play in Oklahoma. Nor did SK disclose the vendor, although Longfellow Nemaha is listed as one of the operations of privately-owned Oklahoma producer Longfellow Energy on the latter's website which also gave no transaction details.

“SK initially invested in the growing US oil & gas upstream market in 2014, and through this platform we continue to build a balanced portfolio of conventional and unconventional assets. This transaction leverages our operational expertise in the region and represents a significant step towards realizing SK’s vision of being a top-tier operator in US Lower-48 mid-continent region and potentially beyond,” SK E&P America president Taewon Kim said.

The company said it will invest 485.3bn won ($453mn) to expand the operations of SK E&P America, which entered the US market in March 2014 when it acquired oil and gas assets in Oklahoma (SK Plymouth LLC) and Texas (SK Permian LLC).