Pioneer Natural Resources has inked a deal to acquire energy independent DoublePoint Energy for a consideration of $6.4 billion, including the assumption of some $900 million in debt, Pioneer said in a press release.
The rest of the price will be made up of $1 billion in cash and 27.2 million Pioneer shares.
This is the second large acquisition for Pioneer, which late last year struck a deal to buy Parsley Energy for nearly $8 billion.
“DoublePoint has amassed an impressive, high-quality footprint in the Midland Basin, comprised of tier-one acreage adjacent to Pioneer’s leading position,” said the chief executive of Pioneer, Scott D. Sheffield. “We are pleased with their decision to become long-term partners with Pioneer in a transaction that will complement our unmatched position in the core of the Permian Basin.”
Pioneer also said that the newly acquired assets will boost its net acreage to over 1 million acres without exposure to federal lands. This latter part has become essential for oil and gas drillers in the United States after the Biden administration targeted federal land oil and gas drilling as a means of curbing the activity of the industry.
Production from the newly acquired acreage, Pioneer said, could reach 100,000 bpd in the second quarter of this year.
The deal is the latest indication that the U.S. shale industry is recovering, slowly but steadily. Consolidation has been a big part of that recovery process, with several large deals made last year during the height of the price crisis prompted by the pandemic.
The latest forecasts for the industry are upbeat. The EIA expects production growth in the Permian to return this month, while the latest Dallas Fed Energy Survey found that shale drillers were once again willing to spend on production growth.
Total U.S. production is still far off pre-pandemic heights of 13 million bpd, but it is climbing. The latest weekly data from EIA shows production of 11.1 million bpd for the week to March 26. That was up by 100,000 bpd from the previous week.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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