Permian Resources lifts forecast on working interest gains, acquisitions
The leaders of Permian Resources Corp., Midland, have lifted their production and capital spending forecasts for 2026 after recently closing on a $520 million acquisition, exercising an option for a 5,600-acre bolt-on buy and growing its working interest in completed wells more than expected.
Permian Resources on July 31 closed on the purchase of about 20,500 acres in the Delaware basin’s Ward County that are largely non-operated and produce about 5,000 boe/d. The land sits adjacent to Permian property but James Walter, co-chief executive officer, told analysts on Aug. 6 that his team have since struck a deal with another operator that will trade some of the acquired bolt-on parcels as well as other acreage with goals of densifying Permian Resources’ holdings and lowering the share of acres that are non-operated or have low working interest.
“The trade also increases the number of operating net locations from 50 to 120 while increasing the average lateral length by 20%,” Hickey said. “We view this trade as a true win-win for [Permian Resources] and our counterparty, who is a valued industry partner as it helps them to further core up their acreage position and increase their working interest in their own operated units.”
Permian Resources also has finalized a deal with Tascosa Energy Partners to buy 5,600 net acres in the Parkway area of Eddy County that builds on a test well drilled last October and the acquisition of about 9,600 net acres in a Bureau of Land Management sale early this year.
Combined with growing the company’s working interest in completed wells to 82% during the quarter–which was 7 points higher than Hickey and co-CEO James Walter had forecast–those deals have grown planned capex this year to $1.9-2.0 billion versus the previous forecast of $1.75-1.95 billion. Of the increase, about $25 million will go toward building out infrastructure on the just-acquired Ward County acreage.
“Incremental workovers and ground game transactions are exactly the types of investments we want to make in a volatile market,” Hickey said. “Both generate incremental oil production and cash flow almost immediately, allowing us to recycle capital quickly and derisk returns through shorter payback periods.”
Permian Resources’ total production in the second quarter came in at more than 376,000 boe/d, which was down a few percentage points from roughly 385,000 in the same period of last year as the company cut back on natural gas production. At 198,000 b/d, oil production was up 12% year over year and executives expect that figure to top 200,000 b/d in what remains of 2026. Their full-year production guidance now stands at 199,000 b/d.
Shares of Permian Resources (Ticker: PR) rose more than 2% after the earnings report and conference call. In midday trading on Aug. 7, they were changing hands at $20.34 and are now up 20% over the past 6 months. The company’s market value now tops $17 billion.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has more than two decades of business journalism experience and writes about markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications Healthcare Innovation, IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal and T&D World. With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati and later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal. Most recently, he oversaw the online and print products of the Nashville Post and reported primarily on Middle Tennessee’s finance sector as well as many of its publicly traded companies.