Whiting Petroleum (WLL) has set its sights on acquiring oil and gas wells and development acreage in the Williston Basin region, located in North Dakota and Montana.
The company announced today that it has signed an agreement with an unnamed private party to purchase the assets with a purchase price of $260 million. The acquisition is expected to close on Sept. 30, financed by borrowings from Whiting's existing bank credit facility.
This new deal provides Whiting access to oil reserves within the Middle Bakken and Three Forks zones, including 17,282 net acres and 13 operated drilling spacing units. With regard to the certainty of oil with these new acquisitions, the company has estimated that 24% of the reserves are proved developed producing (or have a reasonable certainty of being recoverable), while 76% are proved undeveloped.
Net oil and gas production from the properties is estimated to average 2,420 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day in August 2013. Whiting estimates proved reserves at 17.1 million BOE with 85% of reserves being oil.
