Acreage

Technology developer Petroteq Energy Inc. has signed a nonbinding letter of intent with Mareton Alliance LP to buy acreage and resources in the Utah oilsands. The pricing and structure of the transaction, which is subject to board approval, have yet to be finalized. The company is in the process of bringing its Uinta Basin facility in Asphalt Ridge up to its nameplate production capacity of 1,000 b/d.

Ridge Runner Resources LLC, a newly formed oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) company, has received a $300 million line of equity financing from Warburg Pincus for its plans in the Permian Basin’s Delaware sub-basin.

Comstock Resources Inc. is expanding a joint venture (JV) with USG Properties Haynesville LLC (USG) to build its inventory in East Texas and North Louisiana and drill more extended lateral wells.

Denver-based Foothills Exploration Inc. said it will purchase 67,330 gross acres (49,600 net) in the Uinta-Piceance Basin from an undisclosed seller. Financial details were not released. The acreage is 100% held by production, and the deal includes 85 wells, 31 of them producing and 54 of them shut-in. All but 19 of the wells will be operated by Foothills. The deal, which would deliver 100% working interest (87% net revenue interest), “bolsters the company’s current acreage position in the Rockies and specifically in the Uinta-Piceance Basin to over 100,000 acres, while adding significant proven reserves and expanding proved undeveloped drilling inventory,” Foothills said. The deal is expected to close by the end of June.

Texas Senate lawmakers on Tuesday approved HB 1818, legislation that reauthorizes the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), the state’s primary oil and natural gas regulator, until 2029. House lawmakers approved the measure in March. The bill does not change the name of the commission — as many have recommended over the years — and makes relatively modest changes to its operations. The oil and natural gas industry had supported the bill. Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners President Ed Longanecker testified in support of the bill in the House. HB 1818 is now on its way to Gov. Greg Abbott.

Midland, TX-based independent Ring Energy Inc. said Monday that it has acquired 33,000 undeveloped acres in Gaines County, TX, with an eye toward growing its horizontal drilling footprint in the Central Basin Platform (CBP) in the Permian Basin.

Denver-based Resolute Energy Corp. is increasing its position in West Texas after striking a $160 million deal to capture 4,600 net acres within the Permian Basin and adding 800 boe/d in output.

The frenzied land grab in the Permian Basin may be cooling down because there don’t appear to be too many substantial leaseholds left to purchase, Parsley Energy Inc. CEO Bryan Sheffield said Friday.

West Texas aficionado Parsley Energy Inc. struck for a second time in the Permian Basin in as many months, agreeing Tuesday to pay $2.8 billion for another 71,000 net acres, giving it command of 277,000 net acres total, mostly in the Midland sub-basin.