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Merger of Equals: Whiting and Oasis $6B Deal

The two Bakken shale producers announced in a joint statement on March 7 that they had reached an agreement to unite in a $6 billion "merger of equals."

The deal provides Whiting stockholders with 0.5774 shares of Oasis common stock in addition to $6.25 in cash per share of Whiting stock owned. It is expected that the combined company will be listed on the NASDAQ under a revised ticker that will be announced prior to the closing under the leadership of Oasis CEO Danny Brown.

Combining these two companies will create a leading Williston Basin position with assets covering approximately 972,000 net acres, production of 167,800 boe/d, and an enhanced free cash flow generation that will generate capital returns to shareholders.

A historic collapse in oil prices prompted both Whiting and Oasis oil companies to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020. Thus, the merger can be viewed as a preventive measure to avoid going out of business.

Each company has executed a series of strategic transactions over the last year, reducing costs and establishing leading frameworks for ESG. Together, these two companies' efforts should accelerate, and they will be better positioned to generate strong free cash flow, implement a streamlined strategy, and boost the return on capital. It should also benefit the development of the communities in which these companies operate in the great states of North Dakota, Texas, and Montana.

In the wake of the transaction, Brown will be named president and CEO of the combined company, which will have a headquarters in Houston but retain a Denver office going forward. Lynn Peterson, Whiting's president, and CEO will serve as the board's executive chair.

Both boards of directors of the companies have unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of 2022. Under customary closing conditions, the Whiting and Oasis shareholders will have to approve the deal as well.

The combined company will have approximately 53% Whiting shareholders and 47% Oasis shareholders, assuming that the transaction closes on an all-stock basis. A special dividend of $15 per share will be paid to Oasis shareholders upon the closing of the transaction.

An investment return program representing 60% of the free cash flow will be implemented during the second half of 2022. Combining the two companies will enable a quarterly dividend increase of roughly $25 million, which would equal $0.585 per share, through variable dividends and share repurchases. Prior to closing, each company will carry on with its formally announced programs.

Whiting has been advised regarding the transaction by Citi and Kirkland & Ellis LLP. While Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., RBC Capital Markets LLC, and Vinson & Elkins LLP advise Oasis.

If you wish to learn more about recent M&A in the O&G industry or just want to get a better hold on general basin development in Northern Hemisphere, contact our Houston sales office or SCHEDULE A DEMO to learn how Rextag can help you leverage energy data for your business.

Tel. +1 713-203-3128

Email: treitmeier@hartenergy.com

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Continental Resources Inc. Invests a Quarter of a Billion Dollars in a Sequestration Project in North Dakota

The investment will happen in the next 2 years. The project intends to capture CO2 from ethanol plants and other sources in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Upon aggregation, CO2 will be transported via pipeline to North Dakota, where it will be stored in subsurface geologic formations. The formations will be in the Williston Basin, where Continental Resources has been a dominant producer for more than half a century. At the moment it’s the world's most ambitious carboncapture venture of its kind. The sequestration itself should be underway by spring 2024.

Crestwood & Oasis Midstream merge to create a top Williston #basin player. $1.8 billion deal is expected to close during the Q1 of 2022. The transaction will result in a 21.7% ownership stake for Oasis in Crestwood common units. The remaining ownership of Oasis in Crestwood will also be of benefit to the company since it will create a diversified midstream operator with a strong balance sheet and a bullish outlook after this accretive merger.

Oil output in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico is supposed to go up 88,000 bbl/d to a record 5.219 million bbl/d in June, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced in its report on May 16. Additionally, gas productivity in the Permian Basin and the Haynesville in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas will rise to record highs of 20 Bcf/d and 15.1 Bcf/d in June, respectively. Given that this growth has been expected, recent global market changes make forecasting the output even more challenging. Learning how production will change is easier with early activity tracking, a new service recently launched by Rextag – Pad Activity Monitor. With the help of PAM, you are able to monitor well pad clearing, drilling operations, fracking crew deployment and completions with new data collected approximately every 2 days. Additionally, it cuts down activity reporting lag times by at least 98%, from 120-180 days down to just 5-8 days. In order to access reports, charts, tables, and mapping visualizations via Rextag’s Energy DataLink use a web-based application allowing users to filter, download and identify activity on a map or data table. Moreover, customers will be able to set up daily, weekly, and monthly email report notifications.

The EIA forecasts that total output in the main U.S. shale oil basins will increase 142,000 bbl/d to 8.761 million bbl/d in June, the most since March 2020. Oil productivity in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico is supposed to go up 88,000 bbl/d to a record 5.219 million bbl/d in June, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced in its report on May 16. In the largest shale gas basin, the productivity in Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia will grow up to 35.7 Bcf/d in June, its highest since beating a record 36 Bcf/d in December 2021. Gas output in the Permian Basin and the Haynesville in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas will rise to record highs of 20 Bcf/d and 15.1 Bcf/d in June, respectively. Speaking of the Permian future output, putting hands on upcoming changes in production has recently been made easier with the new Rextag's service - Pad Activity Monitor. Thanks to satellite imagery and artificial intelligence, customers are able to monitor the oil and gas wells and are provided with near real-time activity reports related to drilling operations. However, it is noticed that productivity in the largest oil and gas basins has decreased every month since setting records of new oil well production per rig of 1,544 bbl/d in December 2020 in the Permian Basin, and new gas well production per rig of 33.3 MMcf/d in March 2021 in Appalachia.

No sooner had the crude prices soared above $100/bbl than the industry professionals believed in an incredible growth of drilling activity in North America’s largest shale patch. Analysts speculate that additional output of 500,000 barrels of oil daily would become a significant part (4%) of overall U.S. daily production. That is going to flatter oil and gasoline prices. Drilling permits in the Permian Basin are persistently growing, averaging approximately 210 at the beginning of April. Moreover, the permits trend is noticed as an all-time high as a total of 904 horizontal drilling permits were awarded last month. Nowadays, learning and analysing the current situation and predicting the future development become easier with early activity tracking, a new service recently launched by Rextag. Rextag's Pad Activity monitor (PAM) allows you to see well pad clearing, drilling operations, fracking crew deployment and completions with new data collected approximately every 2 days with the help of satellite imagery and artificial intelligence. While the increase in drilling will result in higher production, U.S. shale producers will have to overcome several hurdles including labor shortages and supply constraints.

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