Page 7 - NorthAmOil Week 27 2022

NorthAmOil INVESTMENT NorthAmOil

The Bakken assets involved in the deal consist to be delivered through share buybacks.”
of approximately 88 wells, Ovintiv said. Most of Brendan McCracken, Ovintiv’s CEO, also
these are located in Richland County, Montana, stressed the expectations of positive returns
and are about 30 miles (48 km) away from the for the company’s shareholders. “These trans-
company’s main position in the Bakken forma- actions continue our track record of portfolio
tion, the statement said. optimisation, and this means we will double our
In the Uinta basin, Ovintiv is unloading cash returns to shareholders starting now,” he
approximate 3,000 gross vertical wells, all of said. “This enables our shareholders to directly
which are mature waterflood assets that carry benefit from these non-core asset sales and our
operating costs of about $35 per barrel of oil continuing strong performance.” ™
equivalent (boe). After selling these wells,
the company will still retain rights to around
130,000 acres (526.1 square km), most of it con-
tiguous, in the horizontal oil-rich part of the
play.
As of April 2022, the company reported,
these wells in the Bakken and Uinta basins were
yielding about 5,000 barrels of oil equivalent
per day (boepd). This total includes some 4,900
barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and gas con-
densate, it noted.
The company said it expected the sale to
benefit its shareholders. “As a result of these
agreements and continued strong financial and
operational results, Ovintiv has elected to accel-
erate the doubling of its cash returns to share-
holders,” it said. “Starting immediately for the
third quarter, Ovintiv will increase its returns
to shareholders to 50% of the previous quarter’s
non-GAAP free cash flow after base dividends.
Previously, the company had planned to increase
cash returns to the 50% level starting October 1.
Cash returns in the third quarter are anticipated The assets sold were yielding about 5,000 boepd as of April 2022 (Image: Ovintiv)

Freehold arranges to buy assets

in Eagle Ford, Midland basins

CALGARY-BASED Freehold Royalties revealed ($23.99mn) from operations, the statement
on July 7 that it had arranged to buy a number of noted.
“high-quality” assets in the Eagle Ford and Mid- Additionally, they will expand Freehold’s US
land basins in Texas for the sum of CAD155mn landholdings by about 147,000 acres or 594.89
($119.93mn). square km (gross) and 8,000 acres or 32.37
Freehold announced its plans in a statement, square km (in net royalty).
saying that it had entered into definitive agree-
ments with two private sellers to acquire the rel-
evant mineral titles and royalty assets.
It reported that it had paid CAD123mn
($95.17mn) for the Midland basin sites, most of
which are located within Howard County, Texas,
and CAD32mn ($24.76mn) for the Eagle Ford
sites.
The Canadian company intends to use its
existing credit facility to cover the cost of the
acquisitions, the statement said.
The new assets are expected to push Free-
hold’s production up by about 1,100 barrels of
oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2023, while
also generating an additional CAD31mn Most of the Midland basin sites are within Howard County, Texas (Image: Freehold

Week 27 07•July•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7