Alta Mesa Sells Texas Assets For $19 Million, Acquires Louisiana Acres For $45 Million
Sold portion of working interest in the Deep Bossier Hilltop area
Alta Mesa Holdings LP said Oct. 3 that sold a portion of its working interest in the Deep Bossier Hilltop area located largely in Leon County, Texas, for $19 million.
The Houston company’s assets included wells and production that were primarily non-operated and have total estimated net proved reserves of 11.2 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe).
Alta Mesa also announced a bolt-on acquisition of producing and undeveloped oil and gas assets in and around the Weeks Island field in southern Louisiana for approximately $45 million in cash. Total estimated net proved reserves associated with the acquisition are 1.8 million barrels of oil per day.
Alta Mesa's lenders completed a redetermination of the company's borrowing base under its senior secured revolving credit facility. Under the terms of the reserve-based revolving line of credit, the borrowing base has been increased by its lenders to $385 million, an increase of $55 million.
Alta Mesa currently has about $291 million outstanding under the updated revolving line of credit.
Alta Mesa is a privately held company engaged in onshore oil and natural gas acquisition, exploitation, exploration and production. The company aims to maintain a portfolio of lower risk properties in plays with a large inventory of drilling, development and enhanced recovery and exploitation opportunities in known resources.
The company’s website says it has held a contiguous acreage position in the Hilltop, which it acquired in 2009 as its largest natural gas assets due to reserves in the Deep Bossier and Knowles formations.
EnCana is the primary operator, managing approximately two-thirds of the wells, with Gastar Exploration Ltd. (NYSE MKT: GST) operating the remainder and Alta Mesa operating one well. The company’s interests in the area include about 58 producing wells.
The Louisiana bolt-on is located in Iberia Parish, where the company has operated one drilling and one completion rig since 2011. Weeks Island oil sales prices are based on the Louisiana Light Sweet crude market price index, which has trended appreciably higher than the West Texas Intermediate index.