ExxonMobil buys Bass family assets in Permian Basin for $6.6 bn

IRVING, US: ExxonMobil Corporation is expanding its Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, through the acquisition of companies owned by the Bass family for $5.6 billion in shares and cash payments adding up to $1 billion.

This deal doubles Exxon’s holding in the Permian basin, adding acreage with an estimated resource of 3.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent in New Mexico’s Delaware Basin, a highly prolific, oil-prone section of the Permian Basin.

The cash payments totalling up to $1 billion is to be paid beginning in 2020 and ending no later than 2032 appropriate with the development of the resource.

The acquired companies, which include the operating entity BOPCO, hold about 275,000 acres of leasehold, and production of more than 18,000 net oil-equivalent barrels per day, about 70 percent of which is liquids. This includes about 250,000 acres of leasehold in the Permian Basin, the bulk of that in contiguous, held-by-production units in the New Mexico Delaware Basin, with more than 60 billion barrels of oil equivalent estimated in place. The companies also hold producing acreage in other areas in US.

ExxonMobil is producing approximately 140,000 net oil-equivalent barrels per day across its Permian Basin leasehold.

Darren Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and CEO, said the high-quality properties are a major addition to ExxonMobil’s unconventional liquids portfolio managed by its subsidiary, XTO Energy Inc.

“This acquisition strengthens ExxonMobil’s significant presence in the dominant US growth area for onshore oil production. This investment gives us an exceptional Delaware Basin position in a proven multi-stacked play that can generate attractive returns in a low-price environment,” said Woods

“The highly-contiguous position will provide significant cost advantages in developing 3.4 billion barrels of resource, of which 75 percent is liquids. By utilising ExxonMobil’s technological strength coupled with its unconventional development capabilities we can drill the longest lateral wells in the Permian Basin, reducing development costs and increasing reserve capture,” concluded Woods.

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