Whiting to acquire Williston basin asset, divest Colorado asset

Whiting Petroleum Corp. entered into separate definitive agreements to acquire oil and gas assets in the Williston basin of North Dakota and divest of all its oil and gas assets in the Denver-Julesburg basin of Colorado.

The Williston basin assets are being acquired from an unnamed private company for total cash consideration of $271 million. The assets include 8,752 net acres with net daily production of 4,200 boe/d (80% oil); 5 gross/2.3 net drilled and uncompleted wells; and 61 gross/39.5 net undrilled locations (100% operated) in Mountrail County, ND.

Separately, an agreement to divest Redtail assets in Weld County, Co. was reached, including associated midstream assets, to an unnamed private entity for total cash consideration of $187 million. The assets span 67,278 net acres with daily production of 7,100 boe/d (51% oil).

The deals “result in a significantly deeper drilling inventory in our key Sanish operating area, while divesting of properties in Colorado that were not going to compete internally for capital,” said Lynn A. Peterson, Whiting president and chief executive officer, July 21. “Including these transactions, the company now estimates that in a mid-$50s oil environment it has over 6 years of high-quality drilling inventory, assuming a two-rig drilling program,” he continued.

Both deals are expected to close in this year’s third quarter.