Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR) is shedding 80,000 net acres of Williston Basin properties in North Dakota and Montana as it continues to chip away at its balance sheet to pay down debt.
The company, which is the largest leaseholder in the Williston, said Aug. 18 it signed a definitive agreement with an undisclosed buyer to sell the properties for $222 million. The sale includes 2,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) of net production.
The transaction works out to about $79,000 per boe/d of production and about $1,725 per net acre, said David Deckelbaum, director and equity research analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets.
“The price per net acre compares in line to recent transactions in the Bakken that have averaged an estimated $1,700 per net acre,” Deckelbaum said in an Aug. 18 report.
The properties include 68,000 net acres of leasehold primarily in western Williams County, N.D., and 12,000 net acres of leasehold in Roosevelt County, Mont.
For the year, Continental has sold a total of about 241,500 net acres of what it considers non-strategic assets in several states, bringing in $613 million in proceeds. The asset sales are part of the company’s goal to reduce its long-term debt.
Continental’s target is about $6 billion, Harold Hamm, the company’s chairman and CEO, said during a second-quarter earnings call. The company’s debt level was at about $7.1 billion at the end of the second quarter.
“CLR should have the ability to exit 2016 with a minimally drawn revolver [less than 5%] to better focus on its Stack assets in 2017,” Deckelbaum said.
On Aug. 3, Continental signed a definitive agreement with an undisclosed buyer to sell about 29,500 net acres in Oklahoma’s Scoop Play for $281 million. Located primarily on the eastern side of the Scoop, the leasehold had about 550 boe/d of net production.
The company also closed the sale in late April of about 132,000 net acres of leasehold in the Washakie Basin in Wyoming to an undisclosed company for $110 million. The leasehold was noncore, non-producing, undeveloped acreage in Sweetwater and Carbon counties and included no proved reserves.
RELATED: Continental Purges Unwanted Scoop Acreage To Pay Debts
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. expects Continental to continue its strategy, given the company’s “massive” footprint in the Scoop and Bakken and continued shift to the Stack.
Continental retained about 384,000 net acres in the Scoop and about 40,000 net acres in the Washakie following the divestments. In the Stack, the company holds about 183,000 net acres in the Meramec/Osage formations and about 168,000 net acres in the Woodford Shale.
Pro forma its sale in the Williston, Continental holds the basin’s largest acreage position with about 1.03 million net acres as of June, according to Stratas Advisors. Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) is the second-largest leaseholder in the basin with about 627,057 net acres, the firm said.
Continental’s guidance for 2016 has not changed, Hamm said in a statement.
“The combination of Continental’s high-quality drilling inventory, strong balance sheet and $560 million investment in drilled but uncompleted wells [DUCs] provides the company with a robust platform for high-value future growth,” he said.
Emily Moser can be reached at emoser@hartenergy.com.
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