American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2022 - 21

IndustryDigest
extraction, production and ultimately
consumption of natural gas, which is a
purpose that exceeds PHMSA's
mandate. "
The letter cites the U.S. Supreme
Court's decision in Utility Air
Regulatory Group v. EPA that expresses
skepticism whenever an agency claims
previously unheralded power in a
longstanding statute.
" In short, if Congress intended
PHMSA to regulate natural gas
extraction, production or consumption,
it has to clearly and expressly say so, "
the letter concludes. ❒
Whiting, Oasis Initiate
Merger of Equals
HOUSTON-Whiting Petroleum
Corp. and Oasis Petroleum Inc. in early
March agreed to combine through a
merger of equals transaction. The
combined company says it will have a
premier Williston Basin position with
top-tier assets across approximately
972,000 net acres, combined production
of 167,800 barrels of oil equivalent a
day, significant scale and more free cash
flow. The company adds that it will have
an enterprise value of about $6.0 billion.
Upon closing, Whiting President and
Chief Executive Officer Lynn Peterson
will serve as the combined company's
executive chair of the board of directors,
while Oasis CEO Danny Brown will
serve as president, CEO and a board
member. The combined company
indicates it will headquarter in Houston
but retain the Denver office for the
foreseeable future. The combined
company will operate under a new name
and is expected to trade on the
NASDAQ under a new ticker to be
announced before closing.
" The combination will bring together
two excellent operators with
complementary and high-quality assets
to create a leader in the Williston Basin,
poised for significant and resilient cash
flow generation, " Brown assesses.
" Over the last year, both companies
have executed a series of deliberate
strategic transactions, reducing costs
and establishing a leading framework
for ESG and return of capital. The
combination of the two companies,
together with the ongoing momentum
from these strategic actions, will
accelerate our efforts and ideally
position the combined company to
generate strong free cash flow, execute a
focused strategy and enhance the return
of capital. "
Peterson comments, " Both
organizations have outstanding talent
and operational practices that we are
excited to integrate to create an even
stronger combined company. This is
also an exciting and very positive
development for the communities in
which we operate and the great states of
North Dakota and Montana. " ❒
Apache Sells Assets
To Bring In $1 Billion
For Alpine High Activity
HOUSTON-Apache Corp. holding
company APA Corp. in mid-March
announced it had closed a pair of
transactions for net proceeds of about
$1 billion.
According to the company, its
subsidiaries on March 7 sold a
Delaware Basin mineral package to an
undisclosed buyer for approximately
$805 million, subject to post-closing
adjustments. The divested assets
primarily consist of nonoperated
properties across West Texas and
Southeast New Mexico, with estimated
production of approximately 7,000
barrels of oil equivalent a day.
In a second transaction on March
11, APA continues, one of its
subsidiaries sold 4 million shares of
Kinetik Class A common stock for net
proceeds of $224 million following
Kinetik's formation with the
combination of Altus Midstream and
BCP Raptor Holdco LP. Within the next
24 months, APA says Apache will
invest a minimum of $100 million for
new well drilling and completion
activity at the Delaware Basin's Alpine
High play, where Kinetik has exclusive
gas and natural gas liquids gathering
and processing rights.
" Completion of these transactions
reflects the ongoing streamlining of our
portfolio, " explains APA Corp.
President and Chief Executive Officer
John J. Christmann. " We remain
committed to returning free cash flow to
shareholders and continuing to
strengthen the balance sheet. As such,
we plan to direct a portion of these sales
proceeds toward debt reduction. "
" With first-quarter 2022 results, we
will begin deconsolidating Altus
Midstream contributions, thereby
deleveraging APA's balance sheet,
simplifying our financial reporting,
and enhancing comparability with
pure upstream peers, " relates Steve
Riney, the company's chief financial
officer and executive vice president.
" As of March 31, 2022, among other
items, APA's balance sheet will no
longer reflect the $657 million in
Altus long-term debt and $712 million
associated with Altus' preferred
equity previously consolidated at
year-end 2021. " ❒
Petro-Hunt Closes Deal
To Buy Permian Wells
DALLAS-Petro-Hunt Permian LLC
says it has completed the acquisition
from APR Operating LLC of
predominantly operated oil and gas
production and leasehold in Texas'
Northwest Reeves and Northeast
Culberson counties in the Delaware
Basin.
According to Petro-Hunt Permian,
gross operated production from the
acquired assets is approximately 7,000
barrels a day and 100 million cubic feet
a day on 21,430 net acres of leasehold.
Petro-Hunt says it plans to commence
an active development drilling program
on these assets later this year. ❒
Williams Buy Expands
Its Haynesville System
TULSA-Williams says it has
reached an agreement to acquire the
Haynesville gathering and processing
assets of Quantum Energy Partners
portfolio company Trace Midstream in a
transaction valued at $950 million.
Adding the Trace system to
Williams' footprint increases the
company's gathering capacity in the
Haynesville Shale from 1.8 billion
cubic feet a day to more than 4.0 Bcf/d,
Williams reports.
As part of the transaction, Trace
customer and Quantum affiliate
Rockcliff Energy has agreed to a longterm
capacity commitment supporting
Williams' Louisiana Energy Gateway
(LEG) project, which Williams says is
designed to gather Haynesville gas and
connect it to Transco markets, as well as
industrial and liquefied natural gas
export demand along the Gulf Coast.
APRIL 2022 21
American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2022

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