Who’s Who in E&P A&D: Rockcliff Energy’s Christopher Simon

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The recent swirl of deals in and around the Haynesville Shale hasn’t exactly been a surprise to Rockcliff Energy. But the company isn’t in a hurry. It’s taken a workman-like approach to its 156,000 net Haynesville acres in East Texas and has worked to expand the core of the Haynesville well into East Texas.

The Houston-based company also generates a “significant amount of EBITDA” and free cash flow while upping its average daily production to a net 1.1 Bcfe of natural gas.

The company’s A&D and M&A plans remain somewhat coy as it alternatively plays the role of evaluator and target. But like many of its peers, Haynesville operators are considering their options, including simply continuing to generate money for their investors.

Christopher Simon, vice president of business development for Rockcliff, said the company is keeping its options open but is focused on developing its assets.

“We’re certainly keeping tabs on what’s going on in the markets,” he said.

What’s going on in those markets has been second only to the Permian Basin in deal activity, with two of the largest deals—November’s deal by Southwestern Energy to buy GEP Haynesville and Paloma Partners VI’s agreement to buy Goodrich Petroleum—combining for more than $2 billion in transactional value.

Those kinds of numbers have vaulted the Haynesville into a must-look hunting ground for natural gas buyers.

For a road map to the A&D point person for oil companies, big private players and newer upstream companies check out Who’s Who in E&P A&D 2021.

Built on two significant acquisitions in 2017, including a $525 million deal to buy Samson Resources’ East Texas and North Louisiana assets, the company is now being patient, Simon said.

Like all deal makers, Simon and Rockcliff are willing to make a deal on the right terms. And those terms may be headed their way. The company has become among the top five natural gas producers in Texas with the same proximity to the Gulf Coast and LNG and petrochemical complexes as other players in the area.

“There are a lot of advantages for companies to secure more inventory in that region,” he said. “And because many of the companies are becoming healthier, it puts them in a position to be acquisitive with these acquisitions being financially and operationally accretive to their company.”

But Rockcliff remains ever patient.

“We’re getting to a size that [Rockcliff’s position] has become of interest to various parties,” Simon said, adding that the company is not in a process but that the company’s 15x production growth hasn’t gone unnoticed.

While Rockcliff isn’t in the market, “people have noticed the growth we’ve had and the size of our position, not only our PDP base, but our inventory in East Texas,” he said.