ExxonMobil Corp. has executed two agreements to obtain horizontal development rights in 48,000 acres in the core of the Midland basin. Neither the seller or sellers nor the purchase price was disclosed.
The two agreements include an acquisition and farm-in adjoining ExxonMobil’s US shale-focused subsidiary XTO Energy Inc.’s existing acreage position in Martin and Midland counties, Tex., providing rights to all intervals within the basin. XTO will operate the acreage.
“We are continuing to grow our position in a prolific area of the Permian basin,” commented Randy Cleveland, president of XTO . “The recent emergence of strong Lower Spraberry results combined with the established Wolfcamp intervals demonstrates the significant potential of the stacked pays in the Midland Basin core.”
ExxonMobil has executed five agreements in the Midland since January 2014, providing the company with 135,000 operated net acres. Two of those deals have come by way of asset swaps with Linn Energy LLC (OGJ Online, Sept. 19, 2014).
“We are encouraged by the horizontal well productivity and cost reductions we have achieved to date,” Cleveland said. “We expect to drive continued improvements in productivity and cost as we develop our substantial inventory of wells across the multiple stacked pays.”
XTO is currently operating 11 horizontal and four vertical rigs across its Permian leasehold of more than 1.5 million net acres, with net production of more than 115,000 boe/d.