US E&P A&D Deal List (First-Half 2019)

Below we take a look at upstream deal-making activity in the U.S. from the first half of the year including the blockbuster takeover of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

In total, the U.S. E&P sector saw 72 deals announced or closed during first-half 2019. The number of transactions dropped from our tally of second-half 2018 deals (116) and first-half 2018 deals (125).

Topping the first-half 2019 list was the completion of multibillion-dollar mergers between Encana Corp. and Newfield Exploration Co. as well as Chesapeake Energy Corp. and WildHorse Resource Development Corp.

The first half of this year also saw the announcement of Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s $57 billion (including debt) acquisition of Anadarko and the takeout of Haynesville private operator Covey Park Energy LLC by Comstock Resources Inc.

Comstock closed the Covey Park acquisition in July. Meanwhile, the Occidental-Anadarko deal is expected to close this week.

Other notable transactions include several deals in the Gulf of Mexico such as a roughly $1.6 billion acquisition of deepwater assets by Murphy Oil Corp. and Equinor ASA’s $965 million deal for U.S. Gulf assets from Royal Dutch Shell, which closed in July.

Mineral transactions also made the list topped by an acquisition by Alliance Resource Partners LP and Kimbell Royalty Partners LP’s purchase of EnCap Investment LP’s Phillips Energy Partners LLC.

Editor's note: A version of this list will appear in the September 2019 issue of Oil and Gas Investor. Subscribe to the magazine here.

U.S. E&P Acquisitions & Divestitures
Deals closed from Jan. 1-June 30, 2019. Deals closed in second-half 2018 were listed in the March 2019 issue of Oil and Gas Investor. All deals, updated in real time, are now available at *HartEnergy.com/ad-transactions*.
Deal No.	Estimated Value ($MM)	Buyer/ Surviving Entity	Seller/ Acquired or Merged Entity	Month Deal Closed	Comments
1	$7,700	Encana Corp.	Newfield Exploration Co.	2	Acquired The Woodlands, TX-based Newfield in an all-stock transaction and the assumption of $2.2 B net debt; includes positions in the Anadarko Basin (Stack/Scoop), Arkoma Basin, Uinta Basin and Williston Basin. MORE
2	$3,977	Chesapeake Energy Corp.	WildHorse Resource Development Corp.	2	Acquired Houston-based WildHorse in a cash-and-stock merger; includes roughly 420,000 net acre position in the Eagle Ford Shale and Austin Chalk formations in S TX with 47,000 boe/d of production (88% liquids/73% oil). MORE
3	$1,625	Murphy Oil Corp.	LLOG Exploration Co. LLC; LLOG Bluewater LLC	6	Acquired deepwater US GoM assets comprising 26 GoM blocks in the Mississippi Canyon and Green Canyon areas with 38,000 boe/d of current net production; includes up to $250 MM of contingency payments. MORE
4	$1,600	Cimarex Energy Co.	Resolute Energy Corp.	3	Acquired Denver-based Resolute which controls 21,100 net acres (89% HBP) within the Delaware Basin in Reeves County, TX, with an average 79% WI (97% operated) and average production of about 34,752 boe/d during 3Q 2018. MORE
5	$735	Aethon Energy III; Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan; RedBird Capital Partners LLC	QEP Resources Inc.	1	Bought QEP’s Haynesville/Cotton Valley business comprised of about 49,700 net acres including 137 gross operated producing wells in NW LA with production averaging 49,500 boe/d (100% dry gas) during 3Q 2018; includes midstream operations. MORE
6	$475	Ensign Natural Resources LLC; Warburg Pincus LLC; Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP	Pioneer Natural Resources Co.	5	Bought Pioneer’s Eagle Ford Shale assets comprising roughly 59,000 net acres in S TX with 14,000 boe/d of average net production during 4Q 2018; comprised of $25 MM at closing and $450 MM contingent payments. MORE
7	$400	Diversified Gas & Oil Plc	HG Energy LLC; HG Energy II Appalachia LLC	4	Acquired certain Appalachia assets including 107 unconventional, producing gas wells with combined net production of over 20,000 boe/d across PA and WV. MORE
8	$345	Montage Resources Corp.; Eclipse Resources Corp.	Blue Ridge Mountain Resources Inc.	2	Acquired Irving, TX-based Blue Ridge Mountain through merger; creates Montage Resources with about 227,000 net effective undeveloped core acres across the Appalachia Marcellus and Utica shales plus 500-560 MMcfe/d of pro forma production. MORE
9	$320	Sequitur Energy Resources LLC; Sequitur Permian LLC	Callon Petroleum Co.	6	Purchased Ranger operating position within the Midland Basin of the Permian comprising 85% WI in 9,850 net Wolfcamp acres averaging about 4,000 boe/d (52% oil) of production; purchase price includes contigency payments tied to oil prices of up to $60 MM. MORE
10	$300	Ring Energy Inc.	Wishbone Energy Partners LLC; Quantum Energy Partners	4	Purchased Wishbone’s North Central Basin Platform assets in the Permian comprising 49,754 gross (37,206 net) acres of mostly contiguous leasehold located primarily in SW Yoakum County, TX, and E Lea County, NM, with an average net production of 6,000 boe/d. MORE
11	$245	Red Wolf Natural Resources LLC; Pearl Energy Investments	Apache Corp.	5	Purchased roughly 56,000 net acres and associated production in OK Scoop, Stack and Merge shale plays as well as the broader Anadarko Basin; includes infrastructure and midstream agreements. MORE
12	$235	Undisclosed	California Resources Corp.	5	Acquired 50% of CRC WI and operatorship in certain zones in the Lost Hills Field in CA's San Joaquin Basin; includes 200-well development program to be drilled through 2023. MORE
13	$191	Stronghold Energy II Holdings LLC; Warburg Pincus LLC	Devon Energy Corp.	2	Purchased Devon’s Central Basin Platform assets located in the Permian Basin, which had 4,000 boe/d (about 45% oil) of production in 3Q 2018). MORE
14	$176	Alliance Resource Partners LP	AllDale Minerals LP; AllDale Minerals II LP	1	Purchased remaining partnership interests in AllDale; includes control of 42,000 net royalty acres in the core of the Anadarko, Permian, Williston and Appalachian basins. MORE
15	$171.6	Kimbell Royalty Partners LP	EnCap Investments LP; Phillips Energy Partners LLC	3	Bought certain oil and gas royalty assets in a 100% equity transaction; includes 12,200 net royalty acres and 1,600 boe/d of production with more than half of production from the Eagle Ford Shale, Permian Basin, Haynesville Shale and Powder River Basin (Fortis Minerals LLC acted as manager of the Phillips assets prior to sale). MORE
16	$165	Development Capital Management LLC; Ares Management Corp.	Undisclosed	6	Formed JV as a working interest owner to fund up to $165 MM worth of drilling and development in the Permian's Wolfcamp Shale. MORE
17	$132	Tall City Exploration III LLC	Noble Energy Inc.	2	Acquired roughly 13,000 net acres in Reeves County, TX, within the Permian Basin. MORE
18	$126.9	Viper Energy Partners LP	Undisclosed	6	Acquired 1,028 net royalty acres, primarily in the Permian Basin, through 74 separate acquisitions that closed in 1H 2019; added 73 gross horizontal producing wells with an average royalty interest of 3.2%.
19	$100	Viking Energy Group Inc.	Multiple sellers	1	Acquired oil and gas wells in Texas and Louisiana producing 2,469 boe/d. MORE
20	$100	WPX Energy Inc.	Undisclosed	2	Bought 14,000 surface acres in WPX’s core Stateline development area within the Delaware Basin. MORE
21	$68	Foundation Energy Management LLC	Riviera Resources Inc.	1	Bought interest in properties located in the Arkoma Basin in Oklahoma including about 37,000 net acres, 100% HBP, with 24 MMcfe/d of net production during 3Q 2018. MORE
22	$60	Scout Energy Partners	Mid-Con Energy Partners LP	4	Acquired substantially all of Mid-Con Energy’s TX properties within the Permian Basin’s Eastern Shelf across Coke, Coleman, Fisher, Haskell, Jones, Nolan, Runnels, Stonewall and Taylor counties. MORE
23	$55	Glendale Energy Ventures LLC; TPG Sixth Street Partners	Undisclosed	6	Bought nonoperated interests in drilling pads located in OK’s Stack play. MORE
24	$51.7	Undisclosed	Harvest Oil & Gas Corp.; Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp.	2	Purchased all of the stock Harvest holds in Eagle Ford producer and Houston-based Magnolia Oil & Gas comprised of roughly 4.2 million shares. MORE
25	$49	Pantheon Resources Plc	Great Bear Petroleum Operating LLC	1	Purchased private oil exploration company Great Bear based in Anchorage; includes 250,000 leased acres onshore North Slope of AK. MORE
26	$44	Dorchester Minerals LP	Undisclosed	3	Purchased producing and nonproducing mineral, royalty and net profits interests from multiple parties across 14 states in the US including positions in the Bakken of ND and interests in multiple EOR units in the Permian Basin. MORE
27	$42.8	Undisclosed	Harvest Oil & Gas Corp.	4	Bought all of Harvest's interests in the San Juan Basin in NM and CO with average production of 23,7 MMcfe/d and 163.2 Bcfe (65% natgas, 30% NGL, 5% oil) estimated proved reserves. MORE
28	$41.3	Brigham Minerals Inc.	Undisclosed	5	Acquired 2,700 net royalty acres in OK and TX (standardized to a 1/8th royalty interest) during 1Q 2019 with 90% of the capital deployed to the Permian Basin (51%) and Scoop/Stack (39%). MORE
29	$34	Undisclosed	Range Resources Corp.	6	Purchased certain non-producing acreage in NW Armstrong County, PA, within the Appalachian Basin that included about 20,000 acres. MORE
30	$31	Undisclosed	Riviera Resources Inc.	5	Bought certain nonoperatd properties within the Hugoton Basin in KS including 2,300 nonop wells with proved developed reserves of about 74 Bcfe. MORE
31	$29.6	Talos Energy Inc.	Samson Energy Co. LLC; Samson Offshore Mapleleaf LLC	1	Acquired 9.6% nonop WI in the Gunflint producing asset in the US GoM Mississippi Canyon core area. MORE
32	$27.5	Mid-Con Energy Partners LP	Scout Energy Partners; Scout Energy Partners IV-A LP	4	Bought producing OK properties in Caddo, Grady and Osage counties including 10 mature waterflood units with net PDP reserves of 6.2 million boe (96% oil) and a PDP decline rate of less than 5%. MORE
33	$22.4	Undisclosed	Extraction Oil & Gas Inc.	3	Bought about 5,000 net acres in Weld County, CO, within the D-J Basin. MORE
34	$22	Undisclosed	Rosehill Resources Inc.	4	Bought Permian Basin assets in Lea County, NM; about 880 net acres. MORE
35	$20	Undisclosed	MCM Energy Partners LLC	1	Purchased Midland Basin leasehold within the Permian in W TX. MORE
36	N/A	Alpha Energy Inc.	Premier Gas Co. LLC	3	Purchased OK oil and gas assets in Rogers County that consist of about 3,429 acres of proven developed and non-developed leases containing 126 wells, saltwater injection wells and well production equipment. MORE
37	N/A	BCE-Mach LLC; Mach Resources LLC; Bayou City Energy Management LLC	Undisclosed	5	Purchased producing Mississippi Lime properties primarily in Barber and Harper counties, KS. MORE
38	N/A	BlackGold Capital Management LP	Undisclosed	3	Bought a portfolio of ORRI in the Utica Shale of OH. MORE
39	N/A	Callon Petroleum Co.	Undisclosed	4	Acquired two incremental long-lateral DSUs (167 net acres) within the Midland Basin of the Permian in Howard County, TX, in exchange for low WI properties in Midland County, TX. MORE
40	N/A	Contango Oil & Gas Co.	Undisclosed	3	Purchased an additional 4,200 gross (1,700 net) operated acres and 4,000 gross (200 net) nonoperated acres in Pecos County, TX, adjacent to its current Southern Delaware Basin position in the Permian. MORE
41	N/A	Eni SpA	Caelus Energy LLC; Caelus Natural Resources Alaska LLC	1	Bought remaining 70% WI plus operatorship in the Oooguruk oil field located in the Beaufort Sea offshore AK’s North Slope. MORE
42	N/A	Foothills Exploration Inc.	American Shale Energy LLC	3	Acquired undeveloped oil and gas leases in Fremont County, WY, within the Wind River Basin; includes 16,387 acres of predominantly continuous acreage. MORE
43	N/A	Inpex Corp.	GulfTex Energy LLC	3	Acquired multiple development and production assets in the Eagle Ford Shale in S TX marking Inpex's entry into US tight oil development; includes project covering 13,000 acres primarily located in Karnes County with net production of 7,600 boe/d. MORE
44	N/A	LLOG Exploration Co. LLC; LLOG Exploration Offshore LLC	Repsol SA	4	Formed JV to develop deepwater US GoM assets covering Keathley Canyon blocks; includes asset exchange of WI in Leon and Moccasin discoveries. MORE
45	N/A	Maverick Natural Resources LLC	Undisclosed	4	Purchased remaining 50% nonoperated WI producing properties in the Overton Field in E TX including about 7,600 net acres and 2,700 net boe/d (28% liquids); Maverick currently operates the field. MORE
46	N/A	Otto Energy Ltd.	Talos Energy Inc.	3	Formed JV by purchasing 16.67% WI in the Green Canyon 21 lease in the US GoM; plans to pay 22.22% of the cost of the drilling of the Bulleit appraisal well. MORE
47	N/A	Paloma Partners IV LLC; EnCap Investments LP	Travis Peak Resources LLC; TPR Mid-Continent LLC	2	Purchased Travis Peak's 44,635 net acres in Grady, Canadian and McLain counties, OK, and about 174 producing wells. MORE
48	N/A	Peregrine Energy Partners	Undisclosed	3	Purchased producing and non-producing oil and gas royalties in Santa Rosa County, FL, operated by Breitburn Energy. MORE
49	N/A	Peregrine Energy Partners	Summit Natural Resources LLC	3	Bought producing and non-producing oil and gas royalties across the Appalachian and Black Warrior Basins. MORE
50	N/A	Pin Oak Energy Partners LLC	Royal Dutch Shell Plc; SWEPI LP	4	Acquired roughly 43,000 acres prospective for Utica Shale development in NW PA in Mercer, Crawford and Venango counties; majority of acreage is HBP. MORE
51	N/A	Pin Oak Energy Partners LLC	Undisclosed	3	Bought certain producing Marcellus and conventional assets in Elk County, PA, within the Appalachian Basin; transaction includes 12-mile midstream gathering system and agreement to develop over 20,000 net acres, also in Elk County, prospective for both the Marcellus and Utica. MORE
52	N/A	Pin Oak Energy Partners LLC	Protégé Energy III LLC; EnCap Investments LP	4	Bought nearly 10,000 net acres in Appalachia's Utica Shale across Washington and Noble counties, OH, and Wood County, WV, plus the producing Caywood A 1H Utica well, the Big Red pad location, 60 sq miles of proprietary 3-D seismic and a four-mile gathering line. MORE
53	N/A	Prime Rock Resources LLC; Lime Rock Partners	New Dawn Energy LLC	6	Formed JV to jointly develop about 120,000 net acres contributed by each company in central LA targeting the Austin Chalk covering Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Rapides and Vernon parishes, primarily in the legacy Masters Creek Field. MORE
54	N/A	Spur Energy Partners LLC; KKR & Co. Inc.	Percussion Petroleum LLC; Carnelian Energy Capital Management LP	6	Acquired Permian Northwest Shelf assets within the core of the Yeso formation in Eddy and Lea counties, NM, comprising 22,000 net acres and interests in roughly 380 gross producing wells plus associate water and midstream assets; produced 9,200 net boe/d (85% liquids) during 1Q 2019. MORE
55	N/A	Talos Energy Inc.	Exxon Mobil Corp.	3	Acquired 100% interest in the Antrim Project in Green Canyon Block 364 in the US GoM. MORE
56	N/A	Undisclosed	Samson Resources II LLC	5	Purchased a portion of Samson's position in Converse County, WY, in exchange for cash plus 15,000 net acres bolt-on to an acreage position in Johnson County, WY, within the Powder River Basin; includes all depths below the Fort Union formation. MORE
57	N/A	Undisclosed	WPX Energy Inc.	2	Purchased noncore Nine Mile Draw E&P assets in southern Reeves County, Texas, within the Delaware Basin of the Permian. MORE
58	N/A	Viper Capital Partners LLC	Undisclosed	2	Purchased drilling rights to 1,923 acres in the Hendershot Ogden Berea Sand Oil Field in Wood County, WV, within the Appalachian Basin.
Deals shown are those closed during first-half 2019, involving U.S.-based assets or companies only, and having values of about $20 million or more. Deals are ranked in descending estimated dollar value, when available, and then alphabetically when no value was made public or when the deal was significant but valued at less than $20 million. Deals shown as pending may have since closed. The next E&P A&D list, covering July 1-Dec. 31, 2019, will appear in the March 2020 issue of Oil and Gas Investor. Details on all deal-making, updated in real time, are available at *HartEnergy.com/ad-transactions*.

Pending Deals (as of July 1, 2019)
Deal No.	Estimated Value ($MM)	Buyer/ Surviving Entity	Seller/Acquired or Merged Entity	Comments
59	$55,000	Occidental Petroleum Corp.	Anadarko Petroleum Corp.	To acquire The Woodlands, TX-based independent producer with a portfolio of international assets including 600,000 gross acres in the Permian's Delaware Basin; stock-and-cash transaction includes assumption of debt. Expected to close 2H 2019. MORE
60	$2,200	Comstock Resources Inc.	Covey Park Energy LLC; Denham Capital Management LP	To acquire the Dallas-based privately held independent backed by Denham Capital with properties in the Haynesville and Bossier shale plays of N LA and E TX; includes assumption of debt and retirement of preferred units. This deal closed in July. MORE
61	$965	Equinor ASA	Royal Dutch Shell Plc; Shell Offshore Inc.	To acquire, through an exercise of preferential rights, an additional 22.45% interest in the Caesar Tonga deepwater US GoM field within the Green Canyon area; boosts Equinor's interest to 46% from 23.55%. This deal closed in July. MORE
62	$512	Amplify Energy Corp.	Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc.	To acquire Midstates through a merger; combined company portfolio includes CA, E TX/N LA, S TX's Eagle Ford and OK's Mississippian Lime. Expected to close 3Q 2019. MORE
63	$450	Oil Search Ltd.	Armstrong Oil & Gas Inc.; GMT Exploration Co. LLC	To buy the companies remaining interest in the Pikka Unit and Horseshoe Block plus other AK North Slope exploration leases as an option to a previous transaction. MORE
64	$322	Undisclosed; Sabinal Energy LLC	Diamondback Energy Inc.	To purchase, in separate transactions, a package of 103,423 net acres in the Central Basin Platform, Eastern Shelf and the Northwest Shelf plus 6,589 net acres in the Southern Midland Basin in Crockett and Reagan counties, TX; estimated full-year 2019 net production is about 6,500 boe/d from over 3,000 producing wells. Expected to close in July. MORE
65	$310.5	Northern Oil and Gas Inc.	Flywheel Energy LLC; Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP	To buy Williston Basin properties consisting of nonop interest in 86.9 net producing wells expected to produce 6,600 boe/d during 2H 2019; includes roughly 18,000 net acres (100% HBP). This deal closed in July. MORE
66	$200	W&T Offshore Inc.	Exxon Mobil Corp.	To purchase interests in and operatorship of US GoM properties and related onshore processing facilities in the Mobil Bay Area offshore AL; includes 19,800 boe/d (25% liquids) of production. Expected to close in August. MORE
67	$145	Alliance Resource Partners LP	Wing Resources LLC; Natural Gas Partners LP	To buy oil and gas mineral interests in the Permian Basin from Dallas-based Wing, which holds more than 200,000 gross acres with interest in over 4,000 wells throughout the Midland and Delaware basins. Expected to close in August. MORE
68	$44.5	Riverside Energy Michigan LLC	Riviera Resources Inc.	To acquire interest in MI properties consisting of 1,400 net wells with 193 Bcfe proved developed reserves and proved developed PV-10 value of $38 MM. This deal closed in July. MORE
69	N/A	Chisholm Oil and Gas LLC; Apollo Global Management LLC	Gastar Exploration LLC; Ares Management Corp.	To acquire Houston-based Gastar through a merger agreement; combined company to hold roughly 165,000 net acres in the OK Stack Play, primarily in Kingfisher County, with net production of about 20,000 boe/d. Expected to close 3Q 2019. MORE
70	N/A	ConocoPhillips Co.; ConocoPhillips Alaska	Caelus Energy LLC; Caelus Natural Resources Alaska LLC	To acquire 100% of the Nuna discovery comprised of 11 tracts covering 21,000 acres within the AK North Slope region. MORE
71	N/A	Lime Rock Resources	BP Plc; BP America Production Co.	To buy properties in the SWOOP area of Cleveland and McClain counties, OK. Expected to close 3Q 2019. MORE
72	N/A	Oil Search Ltd.	Repsol SA	To exchange certain AK North Slope assets in the Pikka Unit and the Horseshoe Block plus E of the Horseshoe area within the Nanushuk trend; includes $64.3 MM payment to Oil Search. MORE