Endeavor Energy Partners, a privately held exploration and production company based in the US, is contemplating a sale that might result in a valuation ranging between $25bn and $30bn.
The company operates in the Midland Basin of the Permian Basin.
Its potential sale marks nearly 45 years since oil tycoon Autry Stephens founded the company, which eventually evolved into Endeavor Energy Partners.
Stephens has opted to leverage a surge of huge deals that are currently impacting the sector, reported Reuters, citing undisclosed sources privy with the development.
Stephens has instructed bankers from JPMorgan Chase to ready a sale process for Endeavor Energy Partners in the first quarter of 2024, according to sources. They cautioned that no transaction is guaranteed and requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the deliberations.
Reuters has previously reported that the 85-year-old oil tycoon entertained offers for his firm in 2018. Now, he aims to determine the company’s future himself, rather than leaving it to his estate to decide on a buyer after his death, as per the sources.
Multiple interested parties reaching out in recent times have played a role in influencing the decision to explore the sale of the company, according to two sources.
Endeavor Energy Partners’s operations span across nearly 350,000 net acres in the Midland Basin with a focus on the Martin, Howard, Midland, Glasscock, Upton, and Reagan counties.
Having completed over 1,100 horizontal wells since 2006, the Texas-based company claims to have a production exceeding 400,000 gross operated barrels of oil equivalent per day (Boe/d).
In 2022, the company’s average full-year net production stood at 278,800Boe/d.
Prior to 2016, Endeavor Energy Partners was mainly a vertical driller. This was until Stephens introduced new leadership to carry on his vision and growth for the company and drive its transition into a major top-tier horizontal operator in the Midland Basin.
Presently, the company has a workforce of over 1,200 employees and is said to be among the largest private oil producers in the Lower 48.
