Permian Basin

ExxonMobil Corp. has added 17,800 net acres to its Permian Basin portfolio in a swap of some of its California land with Linn Energy LLC.

Callon Petroleum Co. has agreed to purchase more than 6,000 gross acres of both undeveloped and producing property, spread across four Texas counties in the Midland Basin, from undisclosed private sellers for $212.6 million in cash.

The empty, windswept plains of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where tumbleweeds the size of SUVs roll down the highways and blinding dust storms stretch for miles, belie the growing prosperity of rural, mile-wide communities, with some fast food workers making $20/hour and motel rooms going for $400 a night.

LRR Energy LP will acquire producing oil and natural gas assets in Central Oklahoma, in a legacy field in the Permian Basin, from an undisclosed seller for $38 million, the company said Tuesday.

About 15 months since its initial public offering, Fort Worth, TX-based Athlon Energy (ATHL) has continued to win praise from analysts who follow the company. The latest results from a trio of Midland Basin wells brought the company more of the same.

A proposal last month by Plains All American Pipeline to build the 200,000 b/d Diamond crude pipeline from Cushing, OK, to Valero’s refinery in Memphis (see Shale Daily,Aug. 22) could spell the end of existing Louisiana-to-Memphis oil shipments by pipeline and rail, according to two analyses of the proposed pipeline.

The Denver-Julesburg (DJ) and Permian basins, and the Utica Shale, should lead all onshore plays for horizontal fracturing (fracking) this year as drilling and completion (D&C) activity continues to escalate, according to PacWest Consulting Partners LLC.

Parsley Energy Inc. is spending $252 million in multiple deals to acquire undeveloped acreage and producing properties adjacent to its operating areas in Reagan County, TX.

Preliminary data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) show that both crude oil and natural gas production in the Lone Star State climbed during June.