Empire closes deal to acquire Williston basin assets

Empire Petroleum Corp. closed a deal Apr. 1 to acquire operated and non-operated oil and natural gas assets from an unnamed public oil and gas company.

The assets lie in the Landa Madison and Landa West Madison Units in Bottineau County, North Dakota and the Birdbear area in Golden Valley and Billings County, North Dakota.

The deal increases North Dakota pro forma net production by an estimated 24% to about 9,250 boe/month and adds some 700,000 boe of long-life PDP reserves, the company said in an Apr. 20 release.

With the deal, Empire doubles its operated leasehold position in Landa field with calculated original oil in place of about 6.5 million bbl, the company continued.

The Birdbear Play in Central Western North Dakota adds a new potential consolidation play in the Williston basin’s Devonian formations. The play has similar attributes to those found on the eastern flanks of the Williston basin in Bottineau County and can be operated from Empire’s current North Dakota infrastructure, said Tommy Pritchard, chief executive officer.

The acquisition includes an average operated working interest of 92% and an average net revenue interest of 73% in 15 operated producing wells along with an average non-operated working interest of 6% and average non-operated net revenue interest of 5% in 9 wells currently operated by Empire. The acquisition also includes 2,482 net leasehold acres. Current estimated gross daily production from the assets are about 118 b/o.