Oil and gas producer Diamondback Energy has agreed to acquire acreage in Delaware Basin in Texas, US from Brigham Resources Operating and Brigham Resources Midstream in a deal worth $2.43bn.
Under the terms of the deal, Diamondback will purchase 76,319 net leasehold acres in the highest oil content region of the Delaware Basin.
Following the completion of the deal by the end of February 2017, Diamondback will increase its total leasehold interests in the Permian Basin to approximately 182,000 net surface acres.
Diamondback CEO Travis Stice said: "Diamondback's pending acquisition of Brigham Resources in the Delaware Basin represents an important milestone for our company and creates a standard for growth within cash flow in the independent North American E&P space.
“This acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive on operational and financial metrics, and the existing production allows Diamondback to grow volumes on a pro forma basis without compromising balance sheet integrity.
"With Diamondback's proven ability to execute, we now believe we have the resource and acreage base to efficiently support 15 to 20 operated rigs.”
In addition to deploying sixth rig in near future for developing previously acquired acreage in the Delaware Basin, Diamondback plans to add two additional rigs to develop the pending acreage acquisition in 2017.
Subject to certain adjustments, the transaction involves $1.62bn in cash and 7.69 million shares of Diamondback common stock.
Stice added: "We believe our near-term acceleration across our asset base, along with the production from this acquisition, will put us in a position to achieve over 60% production growth in 2017 at the midpoint of our current guidance range."
The assets considered for acquisition includes approximately 9,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day of net current production from 48 gross producing horizontal wells and 16 gross producing vertical wells.
The acquisition is subject to completion of due diligence and satisfaction of other closing conditions.
Image: Diamondback intends to increase its oil and gas acreage in Delaware Basin in Texas. Photo: courtesy of suwatpo/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.