CLR and BEXP Both Announce New Senior Note Public Offerings

Within minutes of each other, CLR announces a $350 million senior note offering and BEXP announces a $250 million senior note offering, both to fund their expedited capital expenditure program (faster drilling, sooner). [Update, September 16, 2010: BEXP raised the offering to $300 million due to significant interest.] [Update, September 22, 2010: the CLR "$350 million" headline was at 8:15 a.m. on September 13, 2010; later that day, at 2:15 p.m., the headline was $400 million in senior notes.]

Yesterday's headline news: EPA's fourth and final public hearings on regulating fracking could end up with threats of a broader focus.

Coincidence? I think not.

Both CLR and BEXP announced expedited programs earlier this year, so the announcements might not be timed to any specific event, but to see both offering announcements within minutes of each other is interesting.

Other possibilities:

Is it also possible there is a growing consensus that price of oil is back on an upward trend, as the global economy recovers?

We're moving into our fourth or fifth year in the current boom on the North Dakota side of the Bakken. Is it possible that some of the leases are coming to an end? Top leases by other companies?