Eclipse Resources Boosts Stake In Utica
Purchased the upstream energy company with acreage in Ohio.
Eclipse Resources I LP has purchased the Oxford Oil Co. LLC, an upstream energy company with about 184,000 net acres in Ohio, for an undisclosed amount.
Oxford, which was renamed Eclipse Resources Ohio LLC, has about 13.8 billion cubic feet equivalent of proved developed producing reserves.
In conjunction with the acquisition, Eclipse Resources has completed a private offering of $300 million of senior unsecured notes with the ability to sell an additional $100 million over the next 12 months to the note acquirers.
Prior to the acquisition, Eclipse Resources owned about 41,000 net acres in Belmont, Guernsey, Monroe and Noble counties, Ohio, where the largest wells in the Utica shale play have been reported to date. With the acquisition of Oxford, Eclipse Resources now owns about 90,000 net acres in the core Utica shale counties and in Harrison county, Ohio.
Benjamin W. Hulburt, president and chief executive of Eclipse Resources, said the acquisition makes Eclipse one of the largest acreage owners in the core areas of the Utica shale, in southeastern Ohio.
“We plan to grow our operated, Utica focused rig count to up to five horizontal rigs running in the play between now and year-end 2014. We are planning a very active drilling program in Harrison, Guernsey, Noble, Belmont and Monroe Counties commencing immediately and continuing for the next several years,” he said.
Eclipse will also attempt to add leases to enhance its contiguous acreage base, he said.
“While we plan to take a cautious approach to the oil window portion of the Utica Shale play, our 135,000 net acres in that portion of the fairway offer Eclipse tremendous additional upside should the industry prove the economic viability of extracting oil from the Utica Shale. With the additional equity capital that has been invested in Eclipse Resources from our partner, EnCap Investments, and through our unsecured notes offering, we are very well positioned to develop our assets and expect to realize very significant growth in the near future,” he said.
About 50 new Oxford employees will joint Eclipse. With the acquisition, Eclipse now has an established operational center in Zanesville, Ohio.
RBC Richardson Barr acted as financial advisor to Oxford Oil on the transaction. Jefferies LLC was the exlcusive placement agent to Eclipse Resources for the senior notes.
Eclipse Resources is a privately-held oil and gas company backed by capital from EnCap Investments. It is based in State College, Penn.