Exxon Mobil has signed two agreements to acquire drilling rights of 48,000 acres in Permian Basin, Texas, US.

The agreements comprise an acquisition and farm-in adjoining existing acreage position of ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy in Martin and Midland Counties. This will provide ExxonMobil with rights to drill in all intervals within the basin.

Following the deal, XTO Energy will operate the acreage.

XTO Energy president Randy Cleveland said: "The recent emergence of strong Lower Spraberry results, combined with the established Wolfcamp intervals, demonstrates the significant potential of the stacked pays in the Midland Basin core."

Since January 2014, ExxonMobil has entered into five agreements in the Midland Basin for over 135,000 net acres.

"We are encouraged by the horizontal well productivity and cost reductions we have achieved to date.

"We expect to drive continued improvements in productivity and cost as we develop our substantial inventory of wells across the multiple stacked pays," Cleveland added.

At present, XTO is operating 11 horizontal and four vertical rigs located in more than 1.5 million net acres with net oil-equivalent production exceeding 115,000 barrels per day, in Permian Basin.