FireBird Energy Acquires Midland Basin Assets from Chevron

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a previous version originally published on Dec. 31, 2021.

FireBird Energy LLC completed an acquisition of operated assets on Dec. 30 located in the Midland Basin from Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and Chevron Midcontinent LP, marking privately held FireBird’s second major acquisition since its inception.

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, FireBird is an upstream oil and gas company focused on the acquisition and responsible development of assets in the Midland Basin of the Permian. The company, which, according to its website, made a significant acquisition of producing properties in the western Midland Basin at the time of its founding in 2019, is backed by RedBird Capital Partners and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Pro forma for the Chevron transaction on Dec. 30, FireBird will have about 72,000 gross acres in the western Midland Basin and about 11,500 boe/d of production.

“This transaction will be our second major acquisition as we continue to advance our consolidation strategy and enhance our western Midland Basin footprint with additional scale,” FireBird CEO Travis F. Thompson said in a company release.

Terms of the Chevron transaction weren’t disclosed but leasehold included total approximately 21,000 net acres. The acreage is 99% operated and located in Ector, Midland, Crane, and Upton counties, Texas, Thompson added.

“The acquisition of these high-margin, oil-weighted assets is a complementary addition to our acreage footprint, production, and cash flow base. ... We expect to benefit from additional operating synergies when production operations are combined with our base asset,” he said.

The Chevron transaction closed Dec. 30, with an effective date of Dec. 1. Other expected impacts from the transaction include the conversion of 60+ 1-mile locations to 2-mile locations plus significant development upside in four known benches.