Oklahoma City-based American Energy-Woodford LLC announced today it has changed its name to White Star Petroleum LLC as a stand-alone company. At the same time, it is making a $200 million purchase of assets from Devon Energy.
Elliot J. Chambers, newly named as Chief Executive Officer, said it means White Star will be fully independent of the American Energy Partners LP. He also added that the name change was actually made March 25, 2016.
“This separation has been a strategic objective of our business since the company was founded in 2013, and we look forward to bringing it to fruition as quickly as possible during the second quarter,” added Chambers.
White Star has signed an agreement to buy certain Mississippi Lime and Woodford Shale assets from Devon Energy. The transaction is subject to the usual purchase price adjustments, terms and conditions and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.
The assets include nearly 210,000 acres of largely contiguous land which immediately offset White Star’s acreage in Central Northern Oklahoma. The land is located in Payne, Lincoln, Logan and Garfield Counties. Net production from the assets in the first quarter of the year averaged 12,800 barrels of oil a day from 555 operated and non-operated Mississippi Lime and Woodford Shale horizontal wells.
“This acquisition will be significantly accretive to production, liquidity, reserves and leverage metrics and will allow White Star to continue to leverage our core competency in low-cost Mississippian and Woodford resource development,” explained Chambers. White Star already put the new assets to use.
“Upon signing, we executed hedges covering a substantial portion of acquired FDP production, providing stability to our cash flows while preserving upside,” said Chambers.
