Jagged Peak Energy Inc. (NYSE: JAG) clawed its way to $69.1 million in acquisitions in 2017 despite what CEO Joe Jaggers described as A&D “combat, acre by acre.”
The company said March 22 it secured 9,200 net acres of Permian leasehold interest at an average cost of about $7,500 per acre in the Eastern Delaware Basin in Winkler, Ward, Reeves and Pecos counties, Texas. The acreage trickled in at about 2,100 acres per quarter.
“Our acreage has increased to [about] 75,200 net acres, up 14% through the year,” Jaggers said on a March 23 earnings call that would be his last as CEO after his retirement this week.
“We increased our inventory of locations to some 2,090 as a result of our efforts to prove new zones and our success adding acreage,” he said. The inventory count is a 65% increase since the company launched its IPO last year.
“All of these locations are based on our original 880-ft spacing,” Jaggers said. “Because of our contiguous land position, we are able to drill some of the longest lateral wells on the basin.” The company’s position is also 97% operated.
Robert W. Howard, Jagged Peak’s CFO, said the company doesn’t provide a budget for leasehold acquisitions but that in 2018 it will “continue to seek strategic leasehold interests at attractive costs and we will complete acreage trades to add well locations, increased lateral lengths, increased our ownership in the wells we drill.”
But picking up the acreage was a slog for the company.
Jaggers lamented at a Denver conference in August 2017 that the company had struggled to find any large tracts to lease. Partly that was due to the long history of drilling in the Permian Basin area. He noted that on one well, the company paid royalty owners on a single well by cutting 600 separate checks.
“We haven’t done anything of any size out there,” he said. “I think probably the biggest piece we’ve picked up is a two-section piece out there.”
Still, Jaggers said 2017 was a transformational year in which Jagged Peak became a public company, more than quadrupled the wells it brought online and tripled production.
Jaggers, asked by a Goldman Sachs analyst on the earnings call whether his retirement had prompted contemplation of selling or merging the company, said a sales process didn’t come into consideration.
“It was just a result of the age I’m at,” he said. “I’ll turn 65 this year, and the thought that the company would be operated for some time in the future—it was probably an appropriate time.”
In a February announcement, Jaggers said he was stepping down to shift focus from full-time professional duties to personal priorities.
Jaggers noted March 23 that new President and CEO James J. Kleckner is a little bit younger, has served on Jagged Peak’s board and was a person who could “step in here quickly who had a lot of experience with resource plays.”
In 2018, Jagged Peak is already planning to acquire one key asset: 3-D seismic data. The company has licensed high-quality 3-D seismic in its three operating areas: Cochise, Whiskey River and Big Texas.
For Cochise, in Winkler and Ward counties, initial results have successfully identified high-quality shale targets and assisted in geosteering laterals.
The company is also participating in a 3-D seismic survey over its Whiskey River project area. The acquisition phase was completed in March with data analysis anticipated to be completed by mid-year. In its southernmost assets in Pecos County, seismic permitting work is nearing completion in the Big Tex project area with data acquisition planned to commence in second-quarter 2018.
Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.
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