Bison Oil & Gas Partners II LLC received a multimillion-dollar injection of strategic capital that puts the Denver-Julesburg (D-J) Basin operator on the offense, according to the company’s CEO.

The private-equity backed company said Oct. 15 that it has partnered with global alternative investment firm Värde Partners Inc. for a $155 million term loan facility to boost Bison’s D-J Basin operations.

Bison, backed by private-equity firm Carnelian Energy Capital Management LP, currently operates more than 20 wells in the D-J Basin across its roughly 50,000 net acre position in northeast Weld County, Colo.

“This [Värde] facility further cements our liquidity and provides additional ammunition to play offense during this opportunity-rich time in the oil and gas industry,” Bison CEO Austin Akers said in a statement.

Bison’s horizontal wells drilled to date have achieved average 30-day peak production rates of 125 barrels of oil equivalent per day, per thousand lateral feet (about 80% oil). The wells, which cost roughly $5 million to drill and complete, have demonstrated very flat decline profiles, resulting in highly attractive single well economics at current commodity pricing, the company said in a joint press release.

“The D-J Basin continues to offer some of the best drilling economics in the country,” Akers said.

Proceeds from the Värde loan will be used to fund Bison’s ongoing drilling program and expansion of its rural asset base. The company also has plans to use the capital to repay existing debt and provide a distribution to its equity holders.

In particular, Akers said the capital will be used to accelerate the development of Bison’s inventory of more than 300 permitted drilling locations across multiple proven benches of the Niobrara and Codell formations.

Commenting on the financing, Markus Specks, managing director and head of Värde’s Houston office, said: “We are impressed with the Bison team and the results they have delivered to date, and we are pleased to provide this strategic capital to further advance development of these assets.”

Värde Partners is a $14 billion global alternative investment firm headquartered in Minneapolis. The firm’s Houston-based energy team focuses on credit, equity and structured asset-level investments to provide tailored capital solutions to fit the needs of an evolving industry. In the last three years, the Värde energy team has invested nearly $1 billion in structured and asset-level energy solutions.

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