Private Equity Hunts for Oil Deals Outside U.S.

LONDON—Private-equity funds that once profited from energy deals in North American shale have found a new bargain basement for cut-price oil-and-gas fields: almost everywhere else.  

Flush with cash from recent fundraising, the groups are looking for assets with owners who have been hurt by the precipitous fall in oil prices—from the North Sea to Nigeria, South America to Southeast Asia. Their previous success in North America—where unconventional oil drilling has led to a boom—has stoked demand from investors, such as pension funds, endowments and insurance companies.  

 “The fall in the oil price has given us opportunities to buy larger assets and larger companies,” said Marcel van Poecke, a managing director for Carlyle International Energy Partners, or CIEP. “The next two years are obviously a very good investment period,” he said. (Wall Street Journal by SELINA WILLIAMS)

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Also, see our look at the prospects for exporting crude from the US.