Freespins, as per your post (Bloomberg) -- Tumbling oil prices...

Freespins, as per your post

(Bloomberg) -- Tumbling oil prices are delivering two benefits to coal producer New Hope Corp. -- an increase in acquisition opportunities and lower diesel fuel costs.
New Hope, which owns the Bridgeport Energy business, is hunting for onshore Australian oil assets, Chief Executive Officer Shane Stephan said Tuesday in a phone interview.
“We believe that the current situation actually presents an opportunity,” Stephan said.
Oil and gas companies will spend about $450 billion buying each other this year as lower valuations caused by a drop in crude prices stimulate mergers and acquisitions, according to consultants A.T. Kearney.
New Hope is seeking to tap its A$1.1 billion ($860 million) cash pile to snap up coal and oil assets.
The slump in oil at the same time has led to a 35 percent drop in the company’s diesel fuel costs, he said.
Brent, a global oil benchmark, has dropped almost 50 percent in the past year as Saudi Arabia and others in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries committed to maintain output amid a global surplus.
Those declines forced New Hope to book A$58.5 million in after-tax writedowns on oil and gas assets and investments, the company said Tuesday as it swung to a first-half loss.
Coal prices have halved in the past four years as expanding production and an economic slowdown in China created a supply glut. The price New Hope receives this half will probably decline further, according to the statement Tuesday.
Those lower coal and oil prices could give buyers more options, although New Hope isn’t currently in any talks to buy assets, according to Stephan.
“You need to be patient for the right opportunities,” he said. “Also some of sellers’ expectations with regard to the valuation of some of these assets have taken time to re-balance given changes in the global marketplace.”