The $26 billion purchase of Endeavor Energy Resources by Diamondback Energy, with its stock up 2.6%, is the newest big deal combining oil and gas production in the Permian Basin under a few big companies

Peyto Exploration & Development Corp., a notable natural gas producer in Canada, has secured a significant acquisition deal with Repsol, a Spanish energy conglomerate, for its Canadian assets at $468 million. This acquisition is a deviation from Peyto's traditional approach of smaller, bolt-on acquisitions, reflecting a strategic evolution aimed at positioning the company to take advantage of the anticipated changes in North America's ability to export oil and gas by 2025.

ExxonMobil's joined assets speed up their Low Carbon Solutions business, offering better decarbonization options for customers. ExxonMobil's top CCS network supports their commitment to low carbon value chains, like hydrogen and biofuels. The transaction synergies will cut over 100 MTA of emissions, leading to strong growth and returns. Exxon Mobil Corporation revealed that it will acquire Denbury Inc., a company specializing in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCS) solutions and enhanced oil recovery. $4.9 billion deal will be completed through an all-stock transaction. Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO said “Acquiring Denbury reflects our determination to profitably grow our Low Carbon Solutions business by serving a range of hard-to-decarbonize industries with a comprehensive carbon capture and sequestration offering”.

The Haynesville oil and gas basin is a significant shale gas-producing region located primarily in northwest Louisiana and eastern Texas in the United Statesб with some estimates suggesting it could contain up to 500 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

To effectively manage ESG issues in O&G companies, a comprehensive approach is required, addressing multiple managerial issues. First, ESG considerations must be integrated into the corporate strategy, setting goals that align with business objectives, reflected in budgeting, capital allocation, and risk management. Accurate and efficient collection, management, and reporting of ESG data is necessary for identifying relevant metrics and indicators, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and social impact indicators.

ESG considerations are becoming increasingly essential for companies operating in the upstream sector. Failure to address ESG concerns may result in financial and reputational risks, given the growing focus from investors, regulators, and other stakeholders. Companies must prioritize ESG performance and engage with stakeholders to address concerns and mitigate risks. By doing so, they can improve their reputation, attract investment, and contribute to a more sustainable future

In order to sell its part of the sprawling Eagle Ford Shale acreage, Chesapeake Energy Corp. on January 18 concluded an agreement to trade its Brazos Valley region assets to WildFire Energy I LLC for $1.425 billion.

On January 5 Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) concluded a deal to acquire working interests in Midland-Petro D.C. Partners LLC (MPDC)'s Mascot Project in the Midland Basin, according to a January 9 press release. Firstly estimated at $330 million in cash, the deal was signed with an additional 3.25% working interest added to the 36.7% agreed upon when the transaction was announced on October 19. NOG paid $29 million more for the additional interests, which now totalled 39.958%. Finally, the deal closed for $320 million in cash and $43 million in debt at signing in October with the finance of Minnetonka, Minn.-based NOG with cash on hand, operating free cash flow, and assistance from its revolving credit facility.

Talos Energy Inc. is closing its $1.1 billion purchase of private operator EnVen Energy. A special meeting for Talos’ stockholders to vote on the deal and other matters is set on February 8, according to a prospectus filed on January 11 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shareholders are being asked to approve the EnVen merger, which as the company considered in September would raise its Gulf of Mexico production up to 40%. According to a January 11 press release, Talos asserted that it anticipates closing the transaction soon after the meeting. Talos Energy Inc. supposes that adding EnVen would double its operated deepwater facility footprint, extending key infrastructure in existing Talos operating areas. More than 80% of the combined assets will be deepwater, with the company operating more than 75% of the acreage it holds interests in. Talos is one of the largest independent operators in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, with production operations, prospects, leases, and seismic databases spanning the basin in both Deep Water and Shallow Water. The company aims to actively grow through a balanced focus on asset optimization, development, and exploration while also seeking to add to its portfolio through acquisitions and business development.

On January 3, U.S. natural gas producer Rockcliff Energy from private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners was set to be sold to a unit of Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. for roughly $4.6 billion, including debt. The all-cash agreement with Houston-based TG Natural Resources, which is 70% possessed by the Japanese energy firm, is decided to be claimed this month, according to anonymous resources, as the discussions were requested to be confidential. Castleton Commodities International (CCI) owns the rest of TG Natural Resources.

According to the company’s press release on December 19, Northern Oil and Gas Inc. (NOG) closed its announced deal with a private seller of non-operated interests in the Northern Delaware Basin for $131.6 million in cash. The acquisition was announced with a $13 million deposit in October and is the third Permian Basin acquisition since August, adding to NOG’s $400 million of Permian Basin acquisitions in 2022. The assets of 2,100 net acres are primarily operated by a private company Mewbourne Oil Co., with production anticipated to total almost 2,500 boe/d in 2023. Also, Coterra Energy Inc. and Permian Resource Corp. are operators of the assets. The assets contain high-quality, low breakeven development that is leveraged to some of NOG’s top operating partners, as our investors have come to expect.

After reaching record-high production in 2021, the Haynesville Shale seemed to have a quiet 2022, with a smattering of deal activity and attention seemingly focused more on LNG exports than production. Meanwhile, the indications are that the third-largest producing gas shale in the U.S. is growing up for a robust 2023 if commodity prices stand still. Top basin performers Chesapeake Energy, Southwestern Energy, Comstock Resources, Aethon Energy, and Rockcliff Energy II produced a combined total of 1.53 MMboe/d, 83 bbl/d of oil, and 9.2 Bcf/d of gas in the first half of 2022.

On December 9, Crescent Point Energy Corp. announced a purchase and sale agreement to develop its core Kaybob Duvernay assets, which will bolt on production, the midstream infrastructure and technical data. With the deal, the company has committed more than US $1 billion to the play. Crescent Point, the Alberta-based company, is purchasing almost 65,000 net acres from Paramount Resources Ltd. for CA $375 (US $274 million) cash. The assets estimate more than 4,000 boe/d, 50% liquids, and include a gas plant, associated pipelines, water infrastructure, and seismic data. The acquired asset’s production consists of 35% condensate, 15% NGL, and 50% shale gas.

On November 16 Diamondback Energy Inc. decided to expand in the Midland portion of the Permian Basin with the acquisition of Lario Permian LLC in a $1.55 billion cash-and-stock transaction. The Permian operator announced another billion-dollar agreement to purchase FireBird Energy LLC, a private Midland Basin operator. In total, Diamondback is paying almost $3.3 billion to extend in the Midland Basin. When combined with the pending FireBird acquisition, Diamondback is increasing its Midland Basin footprint by roughly 83,000 net acres, is adding 500 high-quality drilling opportunities that compete for capital with the current development plan and is raising the 2023 production profile by almost 37,000 bbl/d of oil (50,000 boe/d).

Northern Oil and Gas Inc. (NOG) made a $330 million purchase in the Permian Basin, according to the release on October 19. NOG revealed an agreement to purchase a 36.7% working interest in the Mascot Project from Midland-Petro D.C. Partners LLC (MDPC). The acquisition will be funded with cash on hand, operating free cash flow, and borrowings. The Mascot Project is operated by Permian Deep Rock Oil Co., an affiliate of MPDC, which is a David H. Arrington-owned business based in Midland, Texas. NOG anticipates that the production from the acquired properties to average almost 4,400 boe/d in the first quarter of 2023 and 6,450 boe/d for the full-year 2023 (2-stream, about 80% oil).

A $3.0 billion cash definitive agreement to purchase the Eagle Ford assets of Ensign Natural Resources has been concluded by Marathon Oil Corporation on November 2.

Continental ResourcesInc. agreed to be purchased by its founder, Harold G. Hamm, in a $4.3 billion cash deal that would take the U.S. shale giant private. On October 17 Continental, based in Oklahoma City, concluded an agreement to be acquired by Omega AcquisitionInc., an entity owned by Hamm, for $74.28 per share. The offer price denotes a 15% premium to the closing price on June 13 — the day before Hamm’s family revealed their initial $70 per share proposal. Even with the proposed incremental leverage from the buyout, CLR would be almost 0.6x leveraged in 2023, and expected FCF, even before assuming reduced costs from going private (else dividend), would have the term loan repaid in about 1.5 years. As a private company, Continental should have greater freedom to operate, particularly in areas such as exploration. Being a chairman of Continental Resources, Hamm and his family own 83% of the company’s stock. Based on the shares outstanding as of October 12, the tender offer would be for almost 58 million shares of common stock, according to the Continental release. The tender offer values Continental at roughly $27 billion. The offer price is slightly under Siebert Williams Shank & Co. LLC’s $75 price target and compares to the consensus price target of $72.86 on FactSet and $71.73 on Bloomberg.

Vermont Business Magazine HQI US Holding LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, concluded the agreement to purchase Great River Hydro, LLC, which possesses 13 hydropower generating stations with a total capacity of 589 megawatts along New England's Connecticut and Deerfield rivers in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The affiliates of Arc Light Capital Partners, LLC is selling Great River Hydro for a price of roughly US $2 billion. The facilities are situated along the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers. Hydro-Québec is the largest single supplier of electricity to Vermont, comparing to the closed Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in Vernon which produces 620 megawatts. Great River Hydro has A 589-MW hydropower fleet, 13 cascading generating stations and 3 storage-only reservoirs along some 310 miles (500 km) of the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers. Moreover, its annually supply has enough energy to power over 213,000 homes in New England. One fifth of the energy generated is subject to long-term supply contracts, guaranteeing revenue stability. Land holdings of almost 30,000 acres (12,140 hectares), allowing for the possibility of various renewable energy projects.

Talos Energy Inc. is acquiring EnVen Energy Corp. for $1.1 billion to raise Talos’ Gulf of Mexico production by 40%. The purchase of EnVen, a private operator, increases Talos' operated deepwater facility footprint 2 times, expanding key infrastructure in existing Talos operating areas. Almost 80% of the assets will be deepwater, with Talos operating more than 75% of the acreage it holds interests in. During a conference call on September 22, it was announced that the EnVen purchase “just checks a lot of boxes” in terms of scale, assets, similar strategies, and what Talos is doing from a technology standpoint. EnVen holds 78 MMboe of 2P reserves and 420,000 gross acres in the Gulf of Mexico. The deal also includes about 24,000 boe/d to Talos’ production stream. Consideration for the transaction consists of 43.8 million Talos shares and $212.5 million in cash, plus the assumption of EnVen's net debt upon closing, currently valued to be $50 million at year-end 2022.

Spanish energy group Repsol is putting a 25% stake in its oil and gas exploration division on the market. U.S. fund EIG purchases it for $4.8 billion and builds up a war chest for renewables projects due to the transition of the energy industry to a lower-carbon future. As Reuters reported earlier this year, the deal values the whole business at $19 billion including debt, and may conduct a U.S. stock market listing of a stake in the unit after 2026, according to Repsol’s statement. The process commenced with an unsolicited offer from EIG, Reuters said in June, increasing Repsol's shares to a 14-year high. Moreover, shares grew up after an announcement on September 7 before declining 1.8% by 7:46 GMT. Nevertheless, they outperformed the European oil and gas index, which was down 2.3%.

Your team’s ESG performance can be greatly improved applying the asset co-location analysis within upstream or midstream use cases. This has been a topic for a discussion at Rextag’s ‘Is ESG Improvement Next Door?’ webinar. We reviewed some cases like curbing gas flaring or renewable energy sourcing to power the fossil fuel infrastructure. Many combinations are available with access to the data Rextag provides on wells, acreages, power lines, substations, and such renewable infrastructure as wind turbines, methane landfills, etc.

Still waters run deep: after patiently waiting for 2 years, Lime Rock Resources starts the year with a pair of acquisitions worth $358.5 million The two acquisitions include Abraxas Petroleum’s Williston Basin position in North Dakota: about 3,500 acres of land and 19,400 boed of net production, as well as properties situated in Burleson, Milam, and Robertson in Texas from a third party, that contain 46,000 contiguous net acres and produce 7,700 boed as of the closing of the deal. The company intends to intensify its focus on low-risk opportunities and margins, which will significantly boost Lime’s market position going further.

Pioneer Natural resources is looking to divest properties in the lone star state. According to Rextag, Pioneer’s Delaware assets on sale have a trailing 12 month production of just over 22 MBOE against a total Permian Basin production of almost 212 MBOE. (The sale, if it happens, will effectively lead to a 10% decrease of Pioneer’s asset base in terms of the previous year's production.)

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