An oil tank is pictured in the Permian basin, Loco Hills regions, New Mexico, U.S., April 6, 2023. REUTERS/Liz Hampton/File Photo
NEW YORK: Endeavor Energy Partners is exploring a sale that could value the largest privately-held oil and gas producer in the Permian basin, the top US oilfield, at between US$25bil and US$30bil, according to a source.
The sale would come almost 45 years after Texas oilman Autry Stephens started the company that would become Endeavor.
The 85-year-old wildcatter has decided to capitalise on a wave of mega deals sweeping the sector, the sources said.
Stephens has asked JPMorgan Chase bankers to prepare to launch a sale process for Endeavor in the first quarter of 2024, the sources said.
Stephens has considered offers from suitors for Endeavor in the past, including in 2018, Reuters has reported. He now wants to settle the company’s future rather than let his estate decide after his death who it should sell it to, the sources said.
Endeavor’s operations span 1,416 sq km in the Midland portion of the Permian shale basin that straddles West Texas and eastern New Mexico.
The universe of potential deep-pocketed buyers for a company the size of Endeavor is limited. However, the consolidation wave hitting the industry, as producers seek to boost scale and lock up the best acreage, shows there would be appetite among the few.
In October, Exxon Mobil clinched a US$60bil deal to buy Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron announced a US$53bil agreement to buy Hess.
In the transactions, the acquirers are using their stock as currency, rather than tapping into their cash piles.
This leaves them with sufficient financial firepower to bid for Endeavor, even as they try to complete and integrate these acquisitions.
Exxon is familiar with Endeavor’s operations because the two companies teamed up to drill on some of the latter’s land until 2022.
ConocoPhillips completed in October a US$2.7bil deal to buy out a 50% stake in the Surmont oil sands project in Canada. — Reuters
