Newfield

Encana Corp.’s combination with Newfield Exploration Co. to create a North American onshore exploration beast is set to be completed on Wednesday following approval by the companies’ shareholders.

Encana Corp. has clinched a deal to buy Oklahoma stalwart Newfield Exploration Co. in a stock trade worth an estimated $5.5 billion, as well as assuming $2.2 billion net debt, expanding its four core exploration areas of North America’s onshore to a solid five.

With a $5.5 billion merger with Encana Corp. in the offing, Newfield Exploration Co. on Thursday reported a more than one-third increase in Midcontinent production and said it would spend more to reach higher production targets by year’s end.

Stronger-than-expected domestic production during the second quarter, including from the Anadarko Basin, prompted Newfield Exploration Co. to raise its full-year production guidance for both and announce plans to spend an additional $50 million on capital expenditures (capex) in 2018.

Newfield Exploration Co. is planning to learn a lot this year in the Anadarko Basin, allocating about 85% of a slightly larger capital budget to Oklahoma’s stacked plays with a number of goals in mind.

Newfield Exploration Co. has secured a 10-year contract with a subsidiary of Enable Midstream Partners LP for 205,000 Dth/d of firm natural gas transportation from Oklahoma’s stacked reservoirs.

Newfield Exploration Co. has broken ground on a water recycling facility in its STACK play in the Anadarko Basin in Kingfisher County, OK. The Barton Water Recycle Facility is expected to process 30,000 barrels of water per day upon completion early in the third quarter.

Newfield Exploration Co. said it expects 1Q2017 production will likely exceed the high end of its guidance for the quarter, thanks in large part to enhanced completions at 16 wells the company drilled recently in Oklahoma’s stacked reservoirs.

Heading into 2017, Newfield Exploration Co. is preparing to accelerate activity in the Anadarko Basin, going from drilling to hold by production (HBP) to full-field development, the operator told analysts during a conference call Wednesday to discuss 3Q2016 results.