BP's Pain Is Apache's Gain

Throughout the financial crisis, I kept wondering when Apache (NYSE: APA  ) was going to pull the trigger. The company had a beautiful balance sheet and access to low-cost debt. Sure, the company acquired a few small things, like some of Marathon Oil's (NYSE: MRO  ) Permian Basin properties, but there were no fireworks.

As it turns out, Apache waited until 2010 to really make it rain. In April, the company bought Devon Energy's (NYSE: DVN  ) shallow-water Gulf of Mexico assets and then snapped up deepwater-focused Mariner Energy (NYSE: ME  ) . These purchases, both announced in the days leading up to the Deepwater Horizon accident, totaled roughly $5 billion. The company probably could have saved several hundred million bucks had it made these acquisitions after the incident, but Apache still got a good deal, if not a great one.

Speaking of the catastrophe, on Tuesday afternoon Apache announced an even bigger deal with corporate persona non grata BP (NYSE: BP  ) . As part of its plan to divest $10 billion of assets, BP is selling three groups of assets to Apache for a grand total of $7 billion. Apache is already active in all three areas, so this is basically one huge bolt-on acquisition.

The first chunk is BP's entire Permian Basin business, which Apache is buying for $3.1 billion. This purchase will double Apache's acreage in the area (which spans western Texas and southeastern New Mexico) and increase production by 44%. Apache is paying quite a bit less on a per-flowing barrel basis than SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD  ) shelled out for Arena Resources earlier this year, but BP's production mix is also only 53% liquids. Arena Resources was all oil, all the time, and therefore commanded a strong premium.

In western Canada, Apache is picking up all of BP's natural gas assets for $3.25 billion. This production should plug in nicely to the company's planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in British Columbia at Kitimat. In May, EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG  ) picked up the 49% ownership in this venture that Apache doesn't own, so the financing for this multibillion-dollar plant should be a lock.

The final and smallest acquisition is in Egypt's Western Desert, where Apache is picking up around 400,000 acres for $650 million. Apache has had tremendous success in this area, and you can count on the company's doing a lot more with BP's assets by applying advanced exploration and exploitation techniques like 3-D seismic and waterfloods to these development leases.

These sorts of acquisitions are Apache's bread and butter. The company acquires producing assets, applies additional capital and technology, and squeezes out a lot of incremental value. Shareholders should be very pleased with this announcement.