Kimmeridge, Mubadala Raise JV Production to Over 1Bcfd

Caturus HoldCo LLC completed the acquisition of Galvan Ranch in Texas from SM Energy Co for $950 million, the companies said Thursday.

The purchase raises the net production of Kimmeridge Energy Management Co LLC's joint venture with Mubadala Investment Co to more than 1 billion cubic feet a day (Bcfd) and positions the joint venture among the top 10 private pure-play gas producers in the U.S., Caturus said in an online statement.

"The transaction adds approximately 60,000 high‑quality net acres in South Texas and ~250 MMcfe/d of production from 260 producing wells (as of December 2025)", said Houston-based Caturus.

Caturus chief executive David Lawler said, "Galvan Ranch is highly complementary to our existing assets with deep inventory and strong operating characteristics that enhance our ability to reliably produce gas for the growing demand in the Gulf Coast market".

Caturus launched 2025 as a rebranding of Kimmeridge's SoTex HoldCo LLC following Mubadala's acquisition of a 24.1 percent stake in SoTex. The partnership with New York City-based Kimmeridge marked Mubadala's entry into the United States, according to the Emirati sovereign investor.

On the downstream end of its business, Caturus owns Commonwealth LNG. Expected to start operation 2030, Commonwealth LNG is permitted to export up to 9.5 million metric tons a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG), equivalent to around 1.21 Bcfd of gas. The U.S. Energy Department granted the project authorization to export to countries without a free trade agreement (FTA) with the U.S. in August 2025 and FTA authorization in April 2020.

Earlier this month Caturus said it had finalized long-term agreements with buyers for supply from the project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The agreements have been executed with Aramco Trading Americas LLC, EQT LNG Trading LLC, Glencore Ltd, Mercuria Energy Trading SA, Petronas LNG Ltd.

Caturus expects to invest $12.5 billion in the first phase, which it says would generate around $3.5 billion in annual export revenue.

"Commonwealth has reached full commercialization and is advancing through its financing process in preparation for a forthcoming final investment decision", Caturus said Thursday announcing the closure of the SM Energy transaction.

"Together, the parallel growth of Caturus’ upstream production base and downstream LNG platform reinforces the wellhead-to-water strategy established by Kimmeridge in building the Caturus platform - integrating scalable, low-cost gas supply with direct access to global LNG markets to create a durable, vertically aligned natural gas company".

SM president and CEO Beth McDonald said separately, "The closing of our South Texas asset sale and the redemption of our high-yield debt due this year mark decisive progress on our 2026 strategic priority to bolster the balance sheet. Together with the early actions we've taken on our merger integration and synergy capture, these steps accelerate our path to a lower-leverage, investment-grade-quality capital structure".

Earlier this year Denver-based SM consummated its $12.8-billion all-stock merger with Civitas Resources Inc.

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