Privately-held Permian basin producer Double Eagle is reportedly considering the sale of assets potentially worth more than $6.5 billion, including debt, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. Reuters’ sources said they were anticipating the official start of the sale in the second half of this year, with existing Permian operators expected to be the most likely buyers amid a bit of merger mania in the American shale patch.
If Double Eagle’s assets end up being sold for the estimated $6.5-billion value, it would represent one of the biggest deals involving a private American producer in the past year, following Diamondback Energy’s $26-billion merger with Endeavor and Occidental Petroleum’s $12-billion deal for CrownRock.
This is already the third version of Double Eagle, which is now Double Eagle IV. The previous version of this company was acquired by Pioneer Natural Resources in 2021, for a similar price tag.
Double Eagle IV assets include some 55,000 acres in Texas with output anticipated to surpass 90,000 boepd by the end of the year, according to Reuters’ sources.In a deal valued at $2.1 billion, Crescent Energy said earlier this month that it would buy SilverBow Resources to create a major Eagle Ford shale player.
U.S. oil and gas exploration and production companies spent as much as $234 billion on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) last year—the highest such spend in real dollar terms since 2012.
2024 also began on a high note—companies announced a record $51 billion in deals in the first quarter, driven – again – by deal-making in the Permian, according to Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR).
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
