A number of companies have exited significant positions recently. it started with Chesapeake Energy and BHP Billiton making big moves. In case you missed it, Chesapeake agreed to sell its Utica shale position in Ohiofor $2 billion to EncinoAcquisition Partners. With natural gas prices having fallen about 4% since the same quarter last year.  Chesapeake is turning its attention more to oil, mainly in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. It expects 2019 oil production to grow about 10% from 2018, with growth anticipated for 2020. 

BHP finally landed buyers for its treasure chest of U.S. shale assetswith two separate transactions worth a total of $10.8 billion cash. BP bought most of that taking on the Delaware, Eagle Ford and Haynesville assets, while Merit Energy grabbed BHP’s Arkansas Fayetteville shale assets.

Williams struck a big midstream deal trading its position in the San Juan Basinfor entry into Colorado’s D-J Basin. Harvest Midstream, an affiliate of Hilcorp Energy, agreed to take on the San Juan assets for roughly $1.1 billion dollars cash. In a separate deal, Williams formed a joint venture with private equity firm KKR & Co. to purchase discovery midstream, which operates in the DJ, from TPG Growth for about $1.2 billion dollars.

Northern Oil and Gas said it extended its Williston Basin holdingswith its largest acquisition to date—10,600 net acres in the Williston core from W Energy Partners. In exchange, W Energy will receive $100 million cash and 56.37 million shares of Northern common stock. 

Pioneer Natural Resources knocked out another target in its Permian pure-play strategywith the sale of its legacy west panhandle position in Texas for $201 million. The sale with an undisclosed buyer represents a full-field exit for Pioneer and includes all its interests in the field, producing wells and associated infrastructure.

Anadarko Petroleum reported an 88% jump in oil production in the Permian in the second quarter, but it’s also looking at other onshore opportunities in Wyoming, where the company said it made about $100 million worth of leasehold acquisitions and amassed more than 300,000 acres for less than $2,500 per acre. The company is focused on the Turner Formation, having already drilled wells in the play with rates exceeding $2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.