Miller Energy Resources Inc.'s (NYSE: MILL) strategy this year has been consistent. Buy big, buy cheap.
The Tennessee company has kept busy so far this year as it continues to position itself as a pure play E&P focusing on more than 600,000 lease acres in Alaska's Cook Inlet.
The company announced Sept. 15 it is expanding its holdings in the Cook Inlet area further through a deal with Buccaneer Energy Ltd. (OTC: BCGFQ). It will buy substantially all of Buccaneer's Alaskan operating assets for about $40-$50 million.
Buccaneer and related companies filed for bankruptcy in May.
Buccaneer, headquartered in Houston, has onshore and offshore assets in Alaska's Cook Inlet with about 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves and production of roughly 1.7 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Miller will fund the potential purchase with its existing facilities or other borrowings. Management expects the transaction would be accretive to both credit and cash flow per share metrics.
"We believe we are on target to meaningfully expand our footprint in Alaska and establish Miller Energy as one of the State's preeminent E&Ps," said Scott M. Boruff, CEO of Miller, in a Sept. 9 statement.
Miller's strategy to redeploy to Alaska has been productive thus far. The company reported a 144% increase year-over-year in net production to 3,313 boe/d in Miller's first quarter of fiscal 2015.
However, the company has been frugal while doing so. Miller has made a habit of buying small but important assets to improve its PV-10 value to $447.6 million in July from $360.9 million in April.
Miller said in May it planned to acquire Savant Alaska LLC (Badami Unit on North Slope, Alaska) to add 600 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil.
And in late August, Miller said it was selling its base in Knoxville, Tenn., in order to become a pure play E&P focusing on its acreage in Alaska. It is selling the Tennessee assets through PLS Inc., which has been retained to manage the negotiated sale.
Miller currently operates about 600 wells in Tennessee, which produce an estimated 57 bbl/d of oil and 400 thousand cubic feet per day net. The proved developed producing PV-10 value was nearly $4.7 million as of April 30.
The company also announced on Sept. 15 that it may use an MLP to monetize "its substantial midstream assets."
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