ConocoPhillips Unloads Barnett Shale Assets
US major ConocoPhillips announced August 2 it has reached an agreement to sell its Barnett shale assets in Texas to Lime Rock Resources for an estimated $230mn, plus customary net adjustments.
Production from the assets averaged some 9,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day (boe/day) in the first half this year, of which about 55%, or some 28mn ft3/day was natural gas and the remainder natural gas liquids.
The assets are located primarily in Montague, Wise, Denton and Cooke counties, Texas, and represent Lime Rock’s first acquisition in the Fort Worth Basin. The Barnett shale is considered the ‘grand-daddy’ of US shale plays and is where, in the 1990s, Mitchell Energy & Development successfully implemented the horizontal multi-stage fracking technology required to unlock shale production.
“The acquisition provides the Lime Rock Resources fund with an entry into the liquids rich Barnett portion of the Fort Worth, which is a basin that we have been attracted to for several years,” Lime Rock co-CEO Eric Mullins said. “The acquisition comes with about 114,000 net acres and has relatively low associated water production rates.”
The transaction is expected to close by year-end, subject to customary closing conditions.