Empire Petroleum Snags Eagle Ford Assets

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Empire Petroleum Corp. has acquired producing oil and gas assets and related midstream assets in Houston, Madison, and Leon Counties in Texas through its subsidiary, Empire Texas LLC. The assets were acquired from Pardus Oil & Gas LLC and Pardus Oil & Gas Operating GP LLC.

“We believe the Ft. Trinidad Field has tremendous stacked pay potential and a significant resource base,” stated Mike Morrisett, President. “In our view, these assets, including proprietary 3D seismic data and an extensive library of geological and geophysical analysis, combined with a better outlook for oil pricing coming off of the unprecedented COVID-19 slow down, will significantly expand Empire’s inventory of growth opportunities.”

The assets are comprised of 139 gross oil and gas wells with multiple stacked-pay formations in north east Eagle Ford and include 30,397 net acres of leasehold, of which 18,000 net acres comprise the Ft. Trinidad Field. The properties are characterized by 91% working interest and 83% net revenue interest and have been recently producing over 400 BOEPD primarily from the Woodbine, Buda, Georgetown, and Edwards formations. Empire Texas will operate the wells.

The related midstream assets at Ft. Trinidad consist of 77 miles of gathering lines, pipelines, and related facilities and equipment. These assets will allow Empire to control the marketing of its produced natural gas and natural gas liquids, as well as optimize the operations of its oil production, according to the company.

Empire entered a contingency value payment with the sellers in lieu of a closing cash payment. The quarterly CVP is based upon oil production over a minimum level of daily average production from the sellers’ assets, and an average oil price of $40 or more per barrel through Dec. 31, 2022.

CEO Tommy Pritchard added, “This acquisition continues our disciplined growth strategy to acquire, at the right price, and manage mature producing oil properties with predictable, long life production. These assets have abundant subsurface well control to enable us in the future to reduce geologic risk, and a proprietary 3D seismic survey over the substantial portion of the acquired acreage confirms natural fracturing across the field. The pipeline of growth opportunities for Empire remains robust and we are currently evaluating deal flow with a focus on building scale in several conventional properties.”

To contact the author, email bertie.taylor@rigzone.com.