Acquisitions and Divestments (“A&D”) are a key component in business as they help to replenish our inventory of development prospects targeted through our capital development program and also help to grow our asset base. We maintain a disciplined approach in our acquisition strategy as we look to maintain the quality of our overall portfolio and achieve the highest possible economic return. We have also pursued a strategy of investing equity in smaller energy companies that have a potential strategic benefit for us.

Our recent activities include:

- September 1, 2009 - We acquired an average 21.5% working interest in over 540,000 gross acres of land in the Marcellus shale region in the northeastern United States from Chief Oil and Gas ("Chief"). Total consideration for this interest was approximately US$411 million, consisting of an upfront payment of US$164 million that was paid upon closing and US$247 million to be paid as a carry of 50% of Chief's future drilling and completion costs in the Marcellus shale play, which we expect will be invested over the next four years. Our net production at the time of the transaction was approximately 1.8 MMcf/day, with line of sight to approximately 100 MMcf/day within the next five years. Our internal assessment has identified over 1.4 trillion cubic feet of best estimate contingent resources on these lands, net to Enerplus, which would almost double the proved plus probably natural gas reserves we currently have booked. For more details on our Marcellus shale gas play and this acquisition, click here.

- February 13, 2008 - We completed our single largest acquisition in our history - the $1.7 billion acquisition of Focus Energy Trust. The concentration and overlap of the Focus properties (approximately 85% of the total production volumes from Focus was derived from the Shackleton, Saskatchewan and Tommy Lakes, British Columbia properties) and our combined technical and execution expertise have been key elements in the integration. This acquisition has given us a production weighting of just over 60% natural gas and 40% crude oil and NGLs in our portfolio. This acquisition fit with our strategy of growth, with high quality assets that will help to improve our operating metrics and also add over $430 million of future development potential into our portfolio. The two key operated properties, Shackleton and Tommy Lakes, provide concentrated assets with significant overlap. This gives us an increased size that will provide greater financial capacity to pursue additional merger and acquisition activity and large capital projects. For more information on our shallow natural gas and tight gas resource plays, click here.

- July 31, 2008 - We announced the closing of the agreement to sell our 15% working interest in the Joslyn oil sands lease to Occidental Petroleum Corporation for net proceeds of $502 million. We used the proceeds initially to reduce bank debt and expect to redeploy the funds towards accretive acquisition and development opportunities. For the full news release outlining the details of this transaction, click here.

For a more detailed review of our A&D as well as our equity investment strategy, please click here for our Annual Information Form.