Post Oak Backs Third E&P: Tiburon Captures Liquids-rich Utica Deal

Post Oak Energy Capital is continuing to roll out new portfolio companies across the Lower 48—including the Permian Basin and Haynesville Shale—with its latest move on Oct. 15 backing Utica liquids player Tiburon Oil & Gas Partners.

Tiburon closed on an initial acquisition of leasehold in the liquids-rich portion of the Utica Shale in Ohio in conjunction with the equity backing by Post Oak, along with commitments from Tiburon’s management team and other investors.

Post Oak has recently backed a number of teams, most recently committing equity behind Delaware Basin-focused Ichthys Energy Partners. Ichthys has not yet made an acquisition. In September, Post Oak also backed Quantent Energy Partners LLC, which completed an initial acquisition of natural gas assets in the Haynesville Shale.

Tiburon has received its initial unitization permit to develop a portion of its existing Utica position and is in the process of aggregating additional leasehold to move forward with its first phase of development.

Tiburon’s leadership team played an instrumental role in executing growth at Carrizo Oil & Gas, Post Oak said. The team has “a successful track record of working together in Appalachia and other key U.S. unconventional basins,” Post Oak said.

Based in Houston, Tiburon’s leadership includes industry veterans Scott Hudson, president and CEO; Andy Agosto, vice president of commercial and reserves; David Friedman, vice president of land; and Coleby Weinstock, vice president of operations.

Frost Cochran told Hart Energy earlier this month that Post Oak wants to sponsor younger management teams, such as the leadership behind Ichthys, that are “just getting started with their first company.”

Cochran said private equity has to constantly source new young teams “who have the skill sets and capabilities … with some support from us from the capital side. And whatever we can do to try to match assets with teams, we do as well,” he said.

Tiburon CEO Hudson said the company has a well-defined lease and drill strategy, paired with a strong management and execution team, that will position it to effectively access the Utica region's resources.

“With a solid foundation already established in the region, our focus will be on efficiently drilling and developing our leasehold while continuing to grow our position,” Hudson said.

Henry May, Post Oak director, said the Tiburon team organically generated an attractive position in the Utica, “and we are pleased to formalize the investment and partner with this incredibly talented team.”

“The liquids rich window of the Utica is experiencing a developmental renaissance, and we appreciate the opportunity to provide capital and insights alongside Tiburon to responsibly develop an asset that will provide both decades of critical energy supply to consumers and attractive returns to our investors,” May said.

Holland & Knight LLP served as legal adviser to Tiburon and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal adviser to Post Oak in connection to the formation of Tiburon.