Oklahoma producer Camino Natural Resources, reportedly testing the market for a $2 billion exit, has pulled back from a sales process in the Anadarko Basin, Hart Energy has learned.

Denver-based Camino holds approximately 135,000 net acres in the core of the Anadarko and is one of the top producers in Oklahoma. The company is sponsored by private equity firm NGP.

Reports from earlier this year indicated that NGP was exploring a sale of Camino. NGP retained RBC Capital Markets to run a sales process that began in January. But the firm apparently found a less lucrative appetite for Camino’s Midcontinent package than initially expected.

Camino and NGP could not agree on deal terms with potential buyers, despite a healthy interest in the Midcontinent assets, according to sources familiar with the matter.

NGP and Camino declined to comment.

Camino’s operated production averaged about 60,000 boe/d in the fourth quarter, according to the sources.

Camino still holds considerable undrilled inventory across the Anadarko Basin’s oil and natural gas windows, sources said.

About half of Camino’s assets sit in the SCOOP play, while the other half fall within the Merge play.

Camino Natural Resources Rextag
Acreage, horizontal wells and laterals operated by Camino Natural Resources. (Source: Rextag)

Midcon momentum

Anadarko Basin drilling activity has declined significantly over the past decade because of low natural gas prices and exits by several major operators.

The Anadarko is quite gassy for an oil basin. Experts have said the Midcontinent’s trajectory would hinge on the direction of natural gas prices.

However, U.S. natural gas prices have risen precipitously in a short time. Henry Hub futures prices average $4.09 over the next 12 months, per CME Group data as of April 7; 24-month strip is $4.03.

Henry Hub prices averaged $2.20 in 2024, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.

With higher prices and rising demand fueled by LNG and data centers, the once dormant Midcontinent M&A market is showing signs of life.

Privately held Canvas Energy is exploring a sale of Anadarko Basin assets, Hart Energy first reported last week.

Canvas, which rebranded from Chaparral Energy in 2022, holds 223,000 net acres mostly in the Anadarko’s STACK play. The company has retained investment bank Evercore to market the Midcontinent assets to potential buyers.

ConocoPhillips is shopping Anadarko Basin assets it picked up through the $22.5 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil last year, Hart Energy reported last week.

Privately held Validus, an active Midcontinent consolidator in the past year, has spent more than $4 billion on Anadarko acquisitions from Citizen Energy and Continental Resources. Most recently, Validus closed an $850 million acquisition from 89 Energy in late March.

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