Vermilion To Buy From ZaZa

Purchase of 24,300 acres around Paris.

Calgary-based Vermilion Energy Inc. plans to buy Paris Basin assets from ZaZa Energy Corp. (Nasdaq: ZAZA) for $86 million. Vermilion will acquire interests across 24,300 acres (9,834 hectares) in the Saint Firmin, Chateaurenard, Courtenay, Chuelles and Charmottes fields around the French capital.

President Francois Hollande pledged to retain a French ban on hydraulic fracturing. The ZaZa assets had been held by Toreador Resources Corp., which later merged with ZaZa.

French energy explorers, through the Union Francaise des Industries Petrolieres, are lobbying the government to research potential shale energy projects. Studies would be allowed under the ban provisions as long as they are overseen by the state.