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To: PuddleGlum who wrote (12686)	10/14/2005 10:12:47 AM
From: Galirayo	Respond to of 23958

[OXY] It's wayyyy off on this Buy Out news .. It's Spending some out of it's Cash Coffers. biz.yahoo.com Occidental to buy Vintage for $3.52 bln Friday October 14, 1:32 am ET By Deepa Babington NEW YORK (Reuters) - No. 4 U.S. oil producer Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:OXY - News) on Thursday agreed to acquire smaller rival Vintage Petroleum Inc. (NYSE:VPI - News) for about $3.52 billion to expand in Latin America and California. ADVERTISEMENT The deal allows Occidental, a major producer in Colombia and Ecuador, to build its production base in Latin America by adding Vintage's assets in Argentina to its portfolio. Vintage also has assets in Yemen and California. Soaring crude oil and natural gas prices have boosted cash levels at energy companies, spurring acquisitions. "This is probably the beginning or continuance of a wave of acquisitions in the exploration and production industry," said Jon Cartwright, analyst at investment firm BOSC Inc. "These companies are flush with cash and have record highs on their stock values, which puts them in an excellent position to acquire additional reserves." Under the terms of the deal, Los Angeles-based Occidental will pay $20 in cash plus 0.42 of an Occidental share for each Vintage share. Occidental will also assume $550 million in debt and $225 million in cash on Vintage's balance sheet at the end of the year. The terms value Vintage at $51.49 per share based on Thursday's closing prices, a 33 percent premium to its closing price of $38.59 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Occidental also plans to buyback 9 million of its own shares as part of the deal. In addition, it plans to divest Vintage assets in East Texas, along the U.S. Gulf Coast and in the Mid-Continent region that accounted for about 19,000 oil equivalent barrels per day in the second quarter. KING CASH IN ACTION Occidental expects to finance the acquisition and the stock buyback program from its cash coffers. "The bottom line is the high energy prices have created a huge cash position at many of these energy companies," said Cartwright. "They can either buy back their stock or do an acquisition and Occidental is doing both." A lack of access for Western companies to oil hotspots like the Middle East and Russia has also prompted them to increasingly consider buying independent U.S. oil and gas producers to grow output levels. In the most high-profile takeover in the sector this year, Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX - News) fought off Chinese oil company CNOOC Ltd. (HKSE:0883.HK - News) to buy Unocal Corp. for $18 billion in August. More recently, Norwegian energy group Norsk Hydro (Oslo:NHY.OL - News) agreed to buy U.S. producer Spinnaker Exploration Co. (NYSE:SKE - News) for $2.45 billion last month. The Vintage deal is expected to immediately add to Occidental's earnings and cash flow. It is expected to close in the first quarter and is subject to approval by shareholders and regulators. The combined company is also expected to save $40 million to $60 million per year in general and administrative expenses and about $100 million per year in exploration costs. Vintage produced about 76,000 oil equivalent barrels per day in the second quarter and had proved reserves of 437 million barrels at the end of 2004, with its operations in Argentina accounting for half of both. Occidental said it hoped to double Vintage's production in Argentina within five years and to increase its output from California by as much as 20 percent over the next few years. (Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Leonard Anderson in San Francisco)

To: PuddleGlum who wrote (12686)	10/17/2005 5:24:48 AM
From: Ditchdigger	Respond to of 23958

"I had to turn on the AC for a little while yesterday (93 degrees here)." Please spare a few of those degrees and send them northward!! ;^)DD