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Continuing the alchemy that private-equity backed teams have brought to the Permian Basin, Carrier Energy Partners LLC said it has exited the Delaware Basin after closing out two deals, including a sale to WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX) that was part of a $775 million deal in Reeves County, Texas.
Overall, Carrier sold 8,900 net acres in the two transactions, one of which was to a private, undisclosed company. The company retains assets in the Midland Basin and Eagle Ford Shale.
WPX purchased Carrier’s 49% working interest in areas of mutual interest (AMIs) operated by Panther Energy Co. II LLC as well as production and about 4,600 net acres. Including Panther’s interest, WPX acquired average production of 6,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 920 gross undeveloped locations.
In the second deal, Carrier sold its 49% working interest in Culberson County, Texas, also operated by Panther. Both sales closed in March, Carrier said.
The divestitures were the first for Carrier, based in Sugar Land, Texas, following acquisitions from 2014 to 2016 by the company and Carrier Energy Partners II LLC. Both companies are backed by Riverstone Holdings LLC.
The company did not have a particular timetable to divest the assets, but participated in the sales process alongside Panther after determining that the area had been sufficiently de-risked in order to take advantage of a robust market for Delaware Basin assets, said Ryan Poole, Carrier’s financial manager.
In 2014, Carrier and Panther created a joint venture (JV) agreement to develop about 15,000 acres in Reeves, Culberson and Pecos counties, Texas. The JV gave Carrier the right to participate in 49% of Panther’s working interest in the wells it drilled.
At Hart Energy’s September A&D Strategies and Opportunities Conference in Dallas, Carrier’s President and CEO Mark Clemans said the company’s portfolio also includes Midland Basin acreage operated by PT Petroleum LLC and Eagle Ford acreage in Karnes County operated by Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO).
In the Southern Midland Basin, the company holds a 32% working interest in a 65,000-acre JV with PT Petroleum and Henry Resources LLC in Reagan, Crockett and Upton counties, Texas.
In the Eagle Ford, Carrier owns a roughly 13% working interest in the Sugarloaf AMI operated by Marathon.
Carrier primarily seeks nonoperated investments by partnering with proven operators in specific geographic regions. And the company continues looking out for deals, with additional pickups in the Permian and, Eagle Ford, while opportunities remain possible in other prolific unconventional basins such as core areas of the Scoop/Stack plays.
Carrier II was formed in May 2015 and has a$400 million equity commitment. Panther, based in Tulsa, Okla., is primarily backed by a Kayne Anderson energy fund.
Carrier is led by Clemans, an industry veteran who has worked at ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Netherland, Sewell & Associates and Goldman Sachs. He also founded Carrier Petroleum in 2009.
Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.
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