Deal metrics for three recent Fayetteville shale transactions were as much as $59,000 per flowing Mcf/d, reports Sylvia Barnes, managing director, Merrill Lynch & Co., global energy and power group, in Houston. Merrill Lynch Petrie Divestiture Advisors advised on the three deals, which total more than $1 billion. Southwestern Energy Co. plans to sell some 56,000 net acres for $520 million in cash to XTO Energy Inc., averaging $9,347 per net acre. The 10.5 MMcf/d of production went for approximately $50,000 per flowing Mcf/d. “Merrill Lynch Petrie was able to leverage its prior, recent experience in the Fayetteville shale to help design and engineer a development drilling program with 1,400 locations identified and modeled,” Barnes reports. “This most recent Fayetteville divestiture achieved robust metrics, similar to the previous two transactions.” Two other deals both involved Fayetteville divestments by Contango Oil & Gas and partners, one package to Petrohawk Energy Corp ($343 million) and the other to XTO Energy ($236 million). Petrohawk paid $31,182 per flowing Mcf/d and $14,292 per net acre; XTO Energy paid $59,000 per flowing Mcf/d and $11,572 per net acre. Barnes reports, “Our expectation is the remainder of 2008 will continue to be influenced by growing confidence in shale completion techniques and resultant positive return on investment parameters.” –Nissa Darbonne, Executive Editor, Oil and Gas Investor, A&D Watch, Oil and Gas Investor This Week, www.OilandGasInvestor.com; ndarbonne@hartenergy.com