OKLAHOMA CITY—FourPoint Energy—one of the largest players in the Western Anadarko Basin—enjoys “a world-class position in a world-class basin,” George Solich, the company's president and CEO, told attendees of Hart Energy’s recent DUG Midcontinent Conference and Exhibition.

Solich noted his organization is hardly a new player in the Western Anadarko. “FourPoint is the fourth company of a proven franchise rooted in the Western Anadarko Basin,” he said.

The private firm, Cordillera Energy Partners I, II and III, were active in the basin since 2000. But these previous incarnations “were very adept at buying high and selling low,” Solich added with a chuckle. The basin offers unsurpassed opportunities for value creation and FourPoint was created in 2013—and returned. “Each time we build a company we come back to the Western Anadarko Basin.”

Quoting country singer Alan Jackson, Solich said: “Oklahoma has always been good to me.”

Since its start, FourPoint has gone on to establish a significant position, with interests in about 2.2 million gross (800,000 net) acres. That acreage spreads across 13 Oklahoma counties and crosses into the northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle.

Solich said the company has 18,000 gross locations with exposure to an undeveloped resource of 17 trillion cubic feet equivalent. Current production stands at 400 MMcfe/d with an IRR range of 20% to 100%. It currently has five active rigs.

“That is one of the largest land positions in the Lower 48,” Solich said.

Technology gives FourPoint an opportunity for great growth, he said, noting the firm’s database “is a significant advantage. The industry’s long legacy has created extensive information on the basin’s geology. He said FourPoint has access to 20,000 well logs and more than 1,500 square miles of 3-D seismic, as well as a proprietary production database from 7,300 wells.

It knows the Western Anadarko so well that “when we go out and lease, we’re actually buying reserves.”

The Western Anadarko enjoys five characteristics that make any producing basin top notch, attributes that have always created “haves and have-nots,” he said. Solich ticked off stacked-pay potential, areal extent, a positive regulatory environment, an established infrastructure and an attractive commodity mix.

He compared the Western Anadarko to the Bakken, Denver-Julesburg, Permian, and Scoop/Stack in his presentation and noted the Western Anadarko “checks nearly all of boxes for key drivers.”

But the region’s prospects have been held back by regulatory hurdles in Oklahoma, fragmented operatorship that inhibits creation of multi-unit laterals in both Texas and Oklahoma, and drilling challenges and consistency, he said. One particular challenge has been the application of advanced technology.

“The Western Anadarko has seen a cyclical reinvention over time with a new application of technology,” Solich said, with improvements occurring in completion technology tweaked according to the geologic target. “Completions should be custom-tailored to the formation and well that is being drilled. To complete wells smarter, you must understand your rocks thoroughly,” he explained.

Longer laterals have created “a significant opportunity.” He credited Oklahoma’s Energy Jobs Act of 2017 for solving a regulatory hurdle, which allows longer, non-shale laterals. That will allow the Western Anadarko to truly emerge as one of the oil and gas industry’s top plays, Solich said.

Longer laterals can double production while increasing drilling and completion costs 1.65x, “and that drives up your IRR,” Solich added.

Given all of the Western Anadarko’s positives, FourPoint “is here for a reason,” he concluded.

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