Flat Creek Resources LLC recently secured an initial capital commitment of $400 million from EnCap Investments LP and management to pursue a Permian Basin strategy.

Flat Creek is an independent energy company focused on building an attractive asset through a core acreage consolidation and exploitation strategy initially in the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico.

The company was formed by CEO Mike McCracken, former COO of Permian E&P Black Mountain Oil & Gas which sold to Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) in 2017 for $700 million. McCraken began his career as an engineering specialist of upstream research at ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) before going on to work at Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) and Enduro Resource Partners.

The remaining members of Flat Creek’s management team, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, also bring extensive energy industry knowledge and a track record of value creation at several companies including ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy Inc., according to a company release on Nov. 14.

In addition to CEO McCraken, the Flat Creek team is comprised of CFO Chandler Quisenberry and Rebecca Harrington, who will oversee operations as vice president of geology, and Mike Gregory, who will serve as vice president of land.

Both Harrington and Gregory joined Flat Creek from XTO Energy and Quisenberry joins from Avista Capital Partners, where he served as a principal of the private-equity firm.

Locke Lord LLP was legal adviser to Flat Creek, with partner Mitch Tiras in the lead role from the firm’s Houston office. Vinson & Elkins LLP was EnCap’s legal counsel, with partner James Garrett in the lead role from the firm’s Houston office.

Since 1988, EnCap has been the leading provider of venture capital to the independent sector of the U.S. oil and gas industry. The firm has raised 21 institutional oil and gas investment funds totaling about $37 billion and currently manages capital on behalf of more than 350 U.S. and international investors, the release said.

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