Newfield Exploration Co. stands to gain a big leasehold in the Maverick Basin of South Texas under an agreement with TXCO Resources Inc., which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

TXCO, formerly known as The Exploration Co., agreed to sell a big chunk of its assets for $223 million in cash to Newfield. The purchase price is to be paid at closing with no financing contingencies. Newfield also agreed to an earnest money deposit of $20 million. Newfield, based in Houston, said it initially bid $211 million in mid-October to acquire substantially all of TXCO’s assets. However, an offer from another company led Newfield to up its bid.

TXCO’s core operating area is in the Maverick Basin, where it holds almost 630,000 net acres (see Daily GPI, April 7, 2008). The San Antonio-based company also operates in the onshore Gulf Coast region, in the Marfa Basin of Texas and in the Midcontinent region of Oklahoma. The cash-strapped independent filed for voluntary bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in May (see Daily GPI, May 19).

Last month Newfield and Hess Corp. launched plans to jointly explore 140,000 gross acres of the Marcellus Shale (see Daily GPI, Oct. 15). Newfield, which is around 70% weighted to natural gas, already is one of the top operators in the Woodford Shale. It also has acreage in the Granite Wash in the Texas Panhandle and operates across the Midcontinent, the Rocky Mountains, onshore Texas and in the Gulf of Mexico (see Daily GPI, Aug. 21).

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