Already with a heavy commitment in Oklahoma’s STACK, Houston-based Newfield Exploration is now talking of possibly selling Bakken Shale assets in North Dakota to finance more drilling in northern Oklahoma. At the same time, the company’s chief executive officer, Lee Boothby offers some cautious optimism, suggesting the company needs more exploration time and a higher oil price before widening its ventures in Canadian, Blaine and Kingfisher counties as well as Oklahoma’s SCOOP, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
“People that are following the play, the investors, are going to have to be a little bit patient,” said Boothby in a recent interview with Bloomberg in Oklahoma City. “It’s such a huge and valuable resource, you want to get it right.”
Even with crude prices at $50 a barrel, Boothby said they need to be higher in order to take on the kind of debt needed to increase production in the STACK and SCOOP.
About the prospects of selling its Bakken holdings, Boothby said it’s a matter of “when, not if” such sales occur in the Williston shale basin. The company holds rights on 85,000 acres in the play.
Newfield has 5 rigs in Oklahoma’s big plays this week and would like to double the total. The company paid $470 million earlier this year to expand its drilling rights in Oklahoma’s shale fields.