Royal Dutch Shell plc will sell to Sanchez Energy Corp. its interest in Eagle Ford shale assets as the company refocuses its North American portfolio on acreage where it can reach the scale it needs to successfully execute projects.

Houston-based Sanchez will acquire Shell’s 100 percent working interest in approximately 106,000 net acres in Dimmit, LaSalle, and Webb counties in south Texas, which includes approximately 176 operated producing wells and associated field facilities and infrastructure.

The assets include 60 million barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves. Net production from this acreage in first quarter 2014 was approximately 24,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd); around 60 percent of this production was crude and natural gas liquids.

The acquisition will boost Sanchez’s position in the Eagle Ford to around 226,000 acres, with up to 3,000 potential drilling locations and average first quarter 2014 pro forma production of about 42,800 boepd, Sanchez said in a May 21 press statement. The pro forma potential drilling locations of nearly 3,000 wells include 200 identified low-risk and high rate of return drilling locations and up to 800 additional potential locations.

Sanchez said the acquisition would be immediately accretive to earnings and cash flow per share.

“This transaction is a catalyst in our strategy to grow through both the drill bit and prudent asset acquisitions,” said Sanchez President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Sanchez III in a May 21 press release.

He added that the 200 de-risked ready to drill locations included in the acquisition will provide at least four years of drilling inventory at a 50-well per year pace. This activity is expected to generate well-level rates of return of more than 35 and 50 percent.

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