Panhandle Oil and Gas Inc. will fork over $9 million to acquire mineral rights and producing oil and gas wells in North Dakota and Oklahoma.
The company also reports it spent $940,000 in June to acquire 54 net mineral acres and producing oil and gas wells in Oklahoma’s SCOOP play in Grady and Stephens counties, with undeveloped locations identified in both the Woodford and Springer shale plays. CEO Paul Blanchard said the deals advance the company’s goal to re-enter the acquisitions market “in a measured way.”
Officials said the latest transaction will be paid using cash supplied by the company’s revolving credit, which recently was reaffirmed at an $80 million level with $40 million of current availability. Panhandle also has paid off about $12 million in debt since the start of the 2018 fiscal year, the company said.
This most recent deal involves 3,126 net mineral acres in the core of the Bakken/Three Forks Play in Williams, McKenzie, Dunn and Divide counties of North Dakota. It includes royalty interests in 94 Bakken and Three Forks producing wells with current net production of 53 barrels of oil equivalent per day, royalty interests in 20 more drilled wells that have not yet been completed, and royalty interests at 194 other permitted, but undeveloped wells.
Panhandle said primary operators include Continental Resources, Crescent Point, Hess, Oasis, Statoil and Whiting, and that their production and reserves are about 66 percent oil, 17 percent natural gas liquids and 17 percent natural gas. The portion of the $9 million deal involving Oklahoma involves mineral rights for 802 net acres in Atoka, Beckham and Creek counties. Mineral rights for other plays in Texas, Wyoming and Colorado also are part of that package.
“These acquisitions are perfect examples of the company’s focused mineral strategy,” which looks for valuable, high-quality and low-risk mineral rights outside of overpriced plays, Blanchard stated in a news release announcing the deals.
