Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire certain Barnett Shale and Arkoma Basin properties from WPX Energy for $306 million.
The transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter, is being made through KKR Natural Resources (KNR), KKR’s partnership with Premier Natural Resources to pursue investments in North American oil and gas properties, and is KNR’s third acquisition in the Barnett Shale.
The Assets are comprised of 27,000 net acres in North Central Texas and Eastern Oklahoma and 66,000 net acres in the Arkoma. The Barnett shale properties have a current net production of approximately 67 million cubic feet per day.
KNR has acquired over $900 million of assets since inception, including over $600mm of assets to date in 2012, and now operates over 150 mmcfe/d of net production. With $1 billion of capital currently available for investment, KNR has the capacity to purchase over $2 billion of additional properties and will seek to acquire high-quality, producing assets both within and outside its core operating areas over the next few years.
“We see attractive opportunities to invest behind the development of domestic energy resources and remain excited about the opportunity to grow our natural resources platform by continuing to acquire non-core oil and gas properties from high quality operators and allowing them to reinvest the proceeds in their attractive growth opportunities,” said Jonathan Smidt, a Member of KKR and Head of KKR Natural Resources.
KKR announced its partnership with Premier in February, 2010. Founded in June 2006 by former executives of Vintage Petroleum, Inc., Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Premier currently operates a portfolio of assets located in the Barnett Shale, the Texas Gulf Coast, the Permian Basin, Louisiana, and Mississippi and has experience operating assets in most of the major producing basins in the United States.
KKR has been investing in the energy sector for more than twenty years, and today KKR’s energy business spans the globe and covers the full energy supply chain. KKR’s recent oil and gas transactions include Samson Resources and Hilcorp Resources, as well as the formation of partnerships with Chesapeake Energy and El Paso Corporation.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, April 2, 2012; Image: EIA