Liberty Resources II Returns To Williston Basin With $455 Million Acquisition
Acquired 53,000 net acres in Williams, Divide, Burke and McKenzie counties with more than 4,000 boe/d of Bakken/Three Forks production.
The Bakken has been hit with a sudden outbreak of déjà vu.
Roughly six months after Liberty Resources LLC sold out in North Dakota, the same management team working under the name Liberty Resources II LLC announced Jan. 30 the acquisition of undeveloped acreage in North Dakota's Williston Basin for $455 million.
Houston’s Liberty II entered into an agreement to acquire 53,000 net acres in Williams, Divide, Burke and McKenzie counties with over 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) of production from the Bakken and Three Forks formations. The properties are proven and include some of the most highly productive acreage in the Williston Basin.
This is the company's first acquisition since it formed in November with a $350 million equity commitment of funds managed by Riverstone Holdings LLC.
Riverstone and Liberty II have been here before. The two previously partnered in Liberty Resources LLC focused on the Bakken.
Over the course of two years and through 13 discrete proprietary acquisitions, Liberty established a land position of approximately 43,000 net acres and drilled and completed 29 operated wells in the Bakken and Three Forks formations of North Dakota.
Ultimately net production hit more than 6,000 BOE/d. Liberty realized industry-leading recovery rates in the Bakken due to its application of unique and proprietary completion designs. The majority of Liberty’s assets were sold to Kodiak Oil & Gas in July 2013 for approximately $680 million.
Liberty II is led by Chris Wright, chairman and CEO. Management also consists of Mark Pearson, president, Paul Vitek, CFO, and other former senior executives of Liberty.
Similar to the strategy employed by Liberty in the Bakken, Liberty II will apply the management team's expertise in well completion design and execution in the development of the newly acquired properties.
Liberty's unique completions approach over the past two years consistently demonstrated the highest average production rates of any operator in the Bakken formation, Wright said in the release.
“The announced acquisition provides us with exposure to highly attractive areas of the basin where we have not previously operated and where we hope to achieve similar operational success as that achieved during our team's prior venture,” Wright said.
Liberty II originally announced plans to concentrate in the Denver Julesburg (DJ), Powder River and Permian basins.
Riverstone is an energy and power-focused private investment firm founded in 2000 by David M. Leuschen and Pierre F. Lapeyre Jr. with roughly $27 billion of equity capital raised. Riverstone conducts buyout and growth capital investments in the exploration & production, midstream, oilfield services, power and renewable sectors of the energy industry.
The firm offices in New York, London and Houston and has committed approximately $25.1 billion to 105 investments in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.