The company rapidly assembled the roughly 70,000-net-acre Eagle Ford field as an upside bet on dry gas for LNG and Mexico exports. (Source: Hart Energy)
With startling speed, Sanchez Energy Corp. (NYSE: SN) built a 70,000 net acre dry gas position called Javelina and, sooner than some analysts expected, the company said Aug. 17 it will sell the Eagle Ford field named for a type of wild boar.
Sanchez agreed to sell its assets in the Eagle Ford Shale, largely in La Salle and Webb counties, Texas, for about $105 million cash. The buyer was not disclosed.
At EnerCom’s The Oil & Gas Conference on Aug. 14, CEO Tony Sanchez III donned a masterly poker face as he told analysts and media he thought the Eagle Ford, while now a more mature basin, would still see transactions.
“You hear rumblings of potential sales,” he said
In an Aug. 17 news release, Sanchez said the Javelina transaction highlights the value of its grassroots leasing program, which had sewn up a largely contiguous position in the Eagle Ford’s dry gas window during the past 18 months.
“This transaction accelerates the value of the asset while building our liquidity and providing value to our shareholders,” he said.
The Javelina position includes more than 450 net drilling locations with estimated capital costs of $6 million to $7.5 million—generally about twice as expensive as its Maverick, Comanche and Catarina positions. The company reported earlier this month an average working interest of 100% in the position.
Based on strip prices as of December, Sanchez valued the Javelina inventory of about 340 net well locations at $601 million.
Brad Heffern, an analyst at RBC Capital Partners, said the Javelina sale should satisfy investors who likely ascribe little or no value to an asset “that was unlikely to see any near term capital allocation.”
Sanchez said on Aug. 9 that it did not plan to drill wells on the position in 2017.
Javelina was assembled as an inexpensive option for potential natural gas upside in South Texas, including LNG and exports to Mexico. In January, the company said it has about 45,000 net acres in the Javelina area and in early August had doubled its leasehold to 68,000 net acres.
“We see the sale of the assets as somewhat early but not entirely surprising,” Heffern said. “While an exact per acre cost has not been identified, based on prior management commentary we estimate the position was leased for $35 million to $50 million, equating to an implied return on capital of 2.5-3x.”
In its earnings report on Aug. 9, the company estimated EURs per well in Javelina to range between 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and 2.5Bboe.
As of June, the company had $560 million in liquidity, including $128 million in cash and equivalents.
The deal is expected to close in third-quarter 2017.
Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.
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