Empyrean hails Baytex takeover of Sugarloaf partner Aurora

Empyrean Energy, the AIM-listed onshore oil firm focused on the US, has said that a third-party takeover of its partner at its flagship Sugarloaf project spells good news for the Texan asset.Canada-listed energy group Baytex on Thursday said that it has offered to buy Aurora Oil & Gas of Australia for A$1.84bn, representing a hefty 52% premium to its average share price over the past week.Aurora is Empyrean's areas of mutual interest (AMI) partner in the Sugarloaf project, which is an Eagle Ford Shale development project operated by US firm Marathon Oil. Aurora has a 28% working interest in Sugarloaf, while Empyrean holds a 3% interest.Empyrean Chief Executive Tom Kelly said that the takeover of Aurora shows further evidence that Eagle Ford Shale assets are in demand."This acquisition and recent reserve updates announced by Aurora have positive implications for Empyrean and the underlying value of its Sugarloaf AMI asset," he said.Empyrean was trading 9% higher at 12.81p in early trading on Friday, pushing the company's market capitalisation to £28.2m.BC