BY Pietro Pitts|HART ENERGY|FORT WORTH, Texas – Double Eagle IV has expanded its Permian Basin leasehold to about 40,000 acres and is considering the addition of another rig this summer, the company’s co-CEO and co-Founder Cody Campbell said May 23 at Hart Energy’s Super DUG conference.
Double Eagle IV is currently running four rigs and will pick up a fifth rig in July, the company’s co-CEO and co-founder Cody Campbell revealed May 23 during Hart Energy’s Super DUG event in Fort Worth, Texas.
About 80% to 90% of the company’s acreage is in the Midland Basin, Campbell told Nissa Darbonne, Hart Energy’s executive editor-at-large, during a one-on-one session at the event.
“As of right now, we’re running four rigs out there and are picking up a fifth rig in July,” Campbell said. “I think that as it’s turned out we’ve been able to get pretty good critical mass in the Midland Basin and that’s where we’ve operated the most, and the most comfortable. So I think that’ll probably be our focus. But I certainly wouldn’t rule out doing some things in the Delaware as well.”
The Double Eagle IV partnership aims to focus on investing in oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin while Tumbleweed IV, also founded by Campbell with business partner John Sellers, will focus on royalty and mineral investment across the basin.
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Campbell said Double Eagle IV looks to focus on being in the core part of the basin and isn’t afraid to pay up for higher quality properties.
“We think that in the long run, that’s how you do the best, [get] the lowest break-evens, great ideas, and best results,” Campbell said. “That’s what we’re focused on… the areas that are most productive in both basins.”
Asked what was special about the Permian, Campbell said the geology is “just so incredible.”
“It’s sort of the gift that keeps on giving,” Campbell said. “We’re starting to see some really positive results out of some of the deeper formations.”
Campbell also expects to see EOR-type opportunities in the basin in the future while takeaway infrastructure has added to the basin’s success.
On the topic of what drives the deals in the Permian, Campbell said M&A is related to multiple metrics but ultimately he said any deal needed to be accretive to buyers and sellers.
“If you’re going to sell a deal… the net present value has to be there, which means that you have to have enough inventory to keep cash flow up and make a return on investment. So it needs to be EBITDA accretive for them… needs to be leverage accretive, it needs to be net cash flow accretive within a certain period of time,” Campbell said. “Now the bar is very high in terms of what a company can buy, what the market is going to accept a public company buying.”
Campbell said a key component to building a company is creating an E&P you’d be happy owning forever.
“We have been very focused on making sure that all our infrastructure is in place and everything is there to actually put the drill bit in the ground and actually produce oil,” he said. “And with this current iteration of Double Eagle, we’re fully prepared to own the thing for a very long time and ultimately make returns the old-fashioned way, just selling oil and gas.”
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