Robert Pattinson Sells Los Feliz Home for $6.37 Million

Robert Pattinson has sold his Los Feliz gated estate for $6.375 million, reports real estate blog Trulia.

The actor purchased the 1922 home, designed by Stiles O. Clements (of the El Capitan Theatre) in September 2011 for $6.275 million. The three-bedroom, three-bath home melds plenty of original details with state-of-the-art technology updates.

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Sitting on a stunningly landscaped 1.5-acre lot, the estate comes with a long line of entertainment industry owners, including Tim Curry, Noah Wyle and cinematographer Robert Richardson.

The Twilight and Water for Elephants actor lived in the home with Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart until her affair with Snow White and the Hunstman director Rupert Sanders was revealed. Stewart then moved out of the house, followed by Pattinson, who rented in Beverly Hills.

The actor first listed the home for $6.75 million in October 2013, and early this year actor Jim Parsons (CBS’s The Big Bang Theory) and his partner, art director Todd Spiewak, purchased the estate. Property records show that the deal closed on Monday.

David Gray of Partners Trust Beverly Hills represented Pattinson in the sale and Ronald Shore of Keller Williams Coastal Properties was Parsons' agent.

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Noble Energy signs MoU regarding Leviathan partnership

Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the sale of interest in the Leviathan licenses, offshore Israel, to Woodside Petroleum. Each of the existing Leviathan partners – Noble Energy, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration, and Ratio Oil Exploration – are participating as sellers of a 25% interest in the licenses to Woodside. Noble Energy will convey a 9.66% working interest and will continue as upstream operator with a 30% working interest. Following completion of the transaction, Woodside will become the operator of any LNG development of the field.

Total compensation to Noble Energy is anticipated to include $525 million in cash payments plus $502 million in shared future revenues. The initial cash payment of $390 million is payable at closing of the transaction, which is expected in 2014. The remaining cash amount of $135 million is due when a final investment decision is made in relation to an LNG or FLNG development or as regional export contracts are executed in excess of a threshold volume amount, whichever occurs earlier. The shared future revenue represents 5.75% of export revenue attributable to Woodside's net export sales, commencing once the gross exported volume from the Leviathan field exceeds 2.0 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas. 

An additional payment of $19 million, net to Noble Energy, will be made should ultimate recoverable Leviathan resources be determined to be in excess of 20 Tcf gross of natural gas. The determination and payment will occur no earlier than when cumulative field production reaches 4 Tcf.  In addition, the sellers will receive a royalty of 2.5% of Woodside's future oil revenues associated with the deep Mesozoic, should a commercial discovery and development result on the licenses. The royalty would go into effect following net payout of investment.

The MoU includes the agreed-upon commercial terms of the farm-out transaction and sets the time frame for execution of definitive agreements. The Leviathan project is located on the Rachel and Amit licenses offshore Israel in 5,550 feet of water. It has an estimated 19 Tcf of discovered natural gas resources.

Following completion of the transaction, working interests in the Leviathan project will be Noble Energy (30%), Delek Drilling (16.94%), Avner Oil Exploration (16.94%), Woodside Petroleum (25%), and Ratio Oil Exploration (11.12%).

The deal is viewed as positive by Global Hunter Securities analyst Mike Kelly who says that Noble “fetches > $1B (vs. $802 MM previously expected) and gains a world-class partner on the LNG development front, bringing the Leviathan project closer to sanction.”

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Consol Energy natural gas production up 44 percent in 2013

Consol Energy announced it produced an increase of 1.63 trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent (Tcfe) of reserves to reach 5.731 Tcfe by the end of 2013, up 44 percent year-over-year.

Consol Energy said it invested $679.7 million in extensions and discoveries in 2013. The company claims its drill bit finding and development cost of $0.42 per million cubic feet of gas equivalent (Mcfe) is one of the lowest in the industry. This is the fifth year Consol reported drill bit finding and development costs were lower than $0.50 per Mcfe.

"Much of the increase in reserves, through the category extensions and discoveries, was due to the company's highly successful Marcellus Shale program," Consol Energy said in a statement. "As of December 31, 2013, the Marcellus Shale consisted of 3,373 Bcfe of proved reserves."

Consol Energy said it will invest $1.5 billion in natural gas production in 2014 to meet its growth target of 30 percent and produce between 215 and 235 Bcfe. The company plans to focus these investments in Marcellus and Utica shale projects.

More information on the Marcellus shale and gas shale market can be found on PennEnergy's research area.

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Baytex to acquire Aurora Oil & Gas, strategic Eagle Ford acreage

Baytex Energy Corp., an oil and gas corporation based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has agreed to acquire Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. for $2.6 billion, providing Baytex with 22,200 net contiguous acres in the Sugarkane field of the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas. The total consideration to be paid by Baytex is $1.8 billion, plus assumed debt of $744 million, for a total transaction value of $2.6 billion. All amounts are in Canadian dollars.

Aurora’s fourth-quarter 2013 gross production was 24,678 boe/d (82% liquids) of predominantly light, high-quality crude oil. The company forecasted this year’s average gross production at 29,000–32,000 boe/d, about a 43% increase from 2013.

The Sugarkane field has been largely delineated with infrastructure in place, facilitating low-risk future annual production growth. The company noted that the assets have future reserves upside potential from well downspacing, improving completion techniques, and new development targets in additional zones.

Following the purchase, Baytex’s 2014 production is expected to reach 85,000 boe/d, comprising 53% heavy oil, 34% light oil and liquids, and 13% natural gas. The deal gives Baytex additional proved reserves of 106.7 million boe and proved plus probable reserves of 166.6 million boe.

Regarding the acquisition, Baytex President and CEO James Bowzer said, “Baytex will acquire premier acreage in the core of the Eagle Ford, one of the leading shale oil plays in the US. The acquisition will provide our shareholders with exposure to low-risk, repeatable, high-return projects with leading capital efficiencies. This is a highly accretive transaction on a per share basis to reserves, production, and funds from operations. The Eagle Ford play provides not only exposure to light oil, but also to Gulf Coast crude oil markets with established transportation systems. A portion of the produced crude oil benefits from Louisiana Light Sweet based pricing, which currently trades at a premium to WTI.”

In 2012, Baytex purchased 100% working interest in 46 sections of undeveloped oil sands leases in the Cold Lake region of northeastern Alberta, Canada, for $120 million. Provincial authorities had conditionally approved the company’s 1,200 steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) pilot and a 10,000-b/d development that was expected to launch in 2013.

Baytex is engaged in the acquisition, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and in the Williston Basin in the US.

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New Line Cinema to Move to Warner Bros. Lot

New Line Cinema will move onto the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank in June 2014, taking over offices formerly occupied by Legendary Entertainment.

The Warners-owned studio, which produced Oscar Award-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as Wedding Crashers, Horrible Bosses and We're the Millers, has operated out of a Los Angeles headquarters at Robertson Plaza in West Hollywood.

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The separate offices date back to New Line's origins as an independent studio run by Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, who left the company in 2008 as its operations were folded into Warner Bros. 

Now New Line, run by Toby Emmerich, is preparing to move into the plush offices of building 76, which was used by Warner Bros. Records from the late 1950s until 1978 and later, during the 1980s, housed offices for producer Paula Weinstein, James Garner and John Travolta. Most recently, Thomas Tull's Legendary Entertainment occupied the building until its high-profile breakup with Warner Bros. last year. 

Tull signed a deal with Universal and moved the studio to The Pointe, a LEED Gold-certified office tower located less than a mile from the Warner Bros. lot.

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