Crescent Point Energy Trust and Pilot Energy announced on Wednesday their respective boards of directors have approved a proposal to which Crescent Point will acquire all of Pilot's issued and outstanding shares with trust units of Crescent Point.

Currently, Pilot is producing approximately 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) of focused high netback oil, 50 per cent of which is in Crescent Point's core Viewfield Bakken resource play.

The total consideration to be paid by Crescent Point to acquire Pilot is approximately $76 million, comprised of 2.9 million Crescent Point trust units and the assumption of $11 million of net debt.

The Pilot Bakken consolidation acquisition will increase Crescent Point's dominance in the Viewfield Bakken light oil resource play in southeast Saskatchewan, adding flexibility and control in the play with expected reductions to costs.

Approximately 500 boe/d of Pilot's current production is from the Viewfield Bakken resource play, increasing Crescent Point's production to more than 10,500 boe/d. In addition, Pilot has 6.5 net sections of undeveloped Bakken land on which Crescent Point has identified 22 (19 net) low risk development drilling locations.

With the closing of the Plan of Arrangement, Crescent Point will have 1,275 net low risk drilling locations in inventory, including 1,022 (969 net) locations in the Viewfield Bakken resource play. This represents more than 10 years of low-risk drilling to sustain the company's current production.

To date, over 215 wells have been drilled on Crescent Point's Bakken lands with an 100 per cent success rate. Over the past year, drilling and completion techniques used on these lands have improved significantly and Crescent Point expects to see continued refinement and improvement of these techniques over time.

Based on the expected January, 2008 closing of the plan, Crescent Point is upwardly revising its preliminary 2008 guidance from 30,250 boe/d to 31,250 boe/d.

The preliminary capital expenditures budget has been set at approximately $150 million, which will be balanced more towards the development and exploitation of the Bakken resource play, with upwards of 53 (50 net) Bakken wells planned.

Crescent Point's Bakken consolidation strategy provides the company with increased development drilling flexibility as well as anticipated capital, operating and administrative cost savings in the company's main operating area of southeast Saskatchewan.

The company's drilling inventory increases to 1,275 net lower risk development drilling locations.

This is Crescent Point's second plan to acquire another company since September when they announced plans to acquire Innova Exploration.