HEQ Deepwater, Houston, closed a deal Aug. 25 to acquire a 20% working interest in the ultra-high-pressure Shenandoah development in the US Gulf of Mexico from an affiliate of Beacon Offshore Energy II LLC.
The company was formed this year by Quantum Energy Partners and Houston Energy—a privately held independent oil and gas company operating in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico—with more than $400 million of equity capital commitments from Quantum and management, the company said in an Aug. 30 release.
On the day the farm-in deal closed, Shenandoah partners Beacon Offshore Energy and Navitas Petroleum sanctioned the development (OGJ Online, Aug. 26, 2021).
The buy-in was not surprising, said Mfon Usoro, senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, a Verisk company, in an Aug. 26 statement after project sanction. “We suspected a dilution of ownership before or at FID to help reduce Beacon and Navitas Petroleum’s cost burden,” she said.
HEQ Deepwater will be led by Ron Neal as chief executive officer. The company will look to build a diverse portfolio of development stage upstream and infrastructure assets in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, according to the release.