An acquisition of 435,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale play was announced this week by Philadelphia-based WhiteHawk Energy, LLC.
It’s a shale play where Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy also has operations. The natural gas mineral and royalty assets acquired by WhiteHawk Energy are across southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia and expands the company’s holdings to more than 1 million acres and nearly 3,400 producing wells in the U.S. areas of operation.
WhiteHawk said the acquisition expands its core Marcellus position to include top-tier operator Antero Resources Corporation alongside additional mineral and royalty interests operated by EQT Corporation, Range Resources Corporation and CNX Resources Corporation. Inclusive of the acquired assets, WhiteHawk owns natural gas mineral and royalty interests across approximately 1,050,000 gross unit acres and over 3,400 producing wells.
“The Marcellus Acquisition marks our fifth acquisition to date and complements our existing Marcellus Shale and Haynesville Shale assets. This acquisition further adds additional diversity and cash flow to WhiteHawk’s portfolio of core mineral and royalty assets. Increasing our asset base to include core positions in West Virginia is an exciting next step for WhiteHawk,” stated Daniel C. Herz, Chief Executive Officer of WhiteHawk.
“These assets are directly in-line with our Company’s thesis – diversified acreage positions in the core of well-established basins, operated by best-in-class companies, generating significant cash flow with no additional capital expenditures.”
With this week’s acquisition, WhiteHawk’s Marcellus Shale assets cover approximately 700,000 gross unit acres, with production from approximately 2,029 horizontal shale wells. Additionally, WhiteHawk owns mineral and royalty interests in 135 wells-in-progress, 76 permitted wells, and 1,267 undeveloped Marcellus locations, with additional potential from the underlying Utica Shale.
Approximately 95% of production, cash flow, and present value associated with the Marcellus Assets are operated by EQT Corporation, Range Resources Corporation, CNX Resources Corporation, and Antero Resources Corporation.
WhiteHawk also owns natural gas mineral and royalty assets in the Haynesville Shale, covering approximately 375,000 gross unit acres and approximately 1,371 producing horizontal shale wells. It’s the same play where Chesapeake Energy, through its earlier-announced merger with Southwestern Energy company, intends to expand its operations.
Additionally, WhiteHawk owns mineral and royalty interests in 127 wells-in-progress, 189 permitted wells, and 966 undeveloped Haynesville locations. The Company’s Haynesville Shale assets are actively being developed by Southwestern Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Aethon Energy Management and Comstock Resources.
WhiteHawk’s combined positions benefit from diversified sales points in both the Northeast and Gulf Coast regions with several public company operators of combined market capitalization of approximately $58 billion.
WhiteHawk’s Marcellus Acquisition was financed by EIG, a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors.