私人特拉华盆地勘探与生产公司富兰克林山能源（Franklin Mountain Energy）可能被视为一个有吸引力的并购目标，但该公司似乎正在加紧行动并“超越自己的能力”，而没有过多关注流言蜚语。

Moelis & Co.董事长兼全球能源和清洁技术主管 Stephen Trauber表示，富兰克林山公司在交易中可能获得“30 亿美元左右”的报价。该公司可以参与各种大型公共勘探与生产项目，包括EOG Resources、Devon Energy、Permian Resources或Matador Resources。

富兰克林山公司首席执行官克雷格沃尔特斯 (Craig Walters) 在 8 月 20 日的 EnerCom 丹佛会议上发表讲话时从一开始就明确表示，他上台不是为了向投资人宣传公司；他不会分享任何前瞻性预测、财务状况或惯例披露声明。

但他确实谈到了这家不断突破界限的公司，包括透露在新墨西哥州利县南部油田刚刚上线的 18 口井项目。

沃尔特斯表示，自 2018 年首次收购盆地土地以来，富兰克林山公司已在 144 口井上作业。“盆地继续向右推进，”沃尔特斯说。“我们不仅能够开发这个南部位置，而且我们在 2022 年 12 月下旬又完成了另一组非常具有变革性的收购。这一次，我们在同一天进行了两次收购，真正形成了北部位置。”

沃尔特斯表示，他不会透露交易细节，以“不放弃我们的竞争优势”。

他说道：“我要说的是，盆地的边缘继续向外扩展，显然，我们看到钻井和完井方面的效率在提高，而成本在降低。” 

他表示，实际上，这意味着很多二级库存——昨天是今天的一级位置。”

在富兰克林山的 32,000 净英亩土地上（98% 已投入运营），该公司已开发出平均 50,000 桶油当量/天的产量，其中 73% 为石油，总体而言 85% 为液体。该公司共运营 170 口油井，拥有丰富的 Bone Spring 和 Wolfcamp 地层资源。富兰克林山的水平段平均长度约为 2 英里或更长。

他说道：“我真正将其归功于（公司）的基石——创造力、耐心、信念和灵活性，这不仅是在公司成立之初，而且在我们一路走来进行的一些变革性交易和收购中，这些都为我们提供了更大的运营足迹。”

这种耐心的一部分在于等待钻井项目投入运营，直至所有中游部分和关键基础设施都到位。

“我们的行动目标实际上是确保唯一会阻碍生产的因素是井口堵塞，”沃尔特斯说，“换句话说，当我们启动项目时，我们已经解决了所有这些问题。”

沃尔特斯表示，他认为使用第三方中游运营商毫无意义。

“我不想冒犯今天在座的任何中游公司，但如果我的资本成本低于这个数字，我为什么要向你们支付高出 15% 或 20% 的回报率呢？”他说。“我对我的生产状况有信心，哦，我最终可能会在这里找到一些其他可以利用这种固定基础设施的机会。这就是我们所做的。”

该公司还投资了沃尔特斯所称的“技术和科学”，包括 3D 地震“从第一天起就了解井规划和地质导向”。

“更重要的是，这些科学研究围绕先导孔、全开放孔、套件记录、微地震研究和压裂研究展开，所有这些都是为了更好地了解岩石压裂相互作用以及如何开发这片油田并实现价值最大化，”他说。

其中一些努力促成了阿瓦隆骨泉的诞生，“实际上，这些测试是我们利用所投入的科学资金所获得的一些知识的结果，”他说。

所有这些最近都达到了顶峰，即位于利县南部的富兰克林山 Gunbarrel 项目。

8 月份，该公司将 Gunbarrel 的 18 口油井投入生产，目标是瞄准公司的核心层位，包括 Third Bone Spring 和 Wolfcamp A。

“我们在这个特定的开发项目中分层铺设了一些 Third Bone Spring 碳水化合物，我们并不羞于隔着栅栏看看该地区的其他运营商，看看他们正在开始开发什么，”他说。

富兰克林山公司此前曾钻过一口阿瓦隆井，这在当时是特拉华州最东边的钻井。

“当我们在 2022 年这样做时，我们很喜欢那里的结果。我们想在这个特定的项目中用两口井进行半结合测试，”他说。

沃尔特斯说，在完井作业期间，富兰克林山团队出色地完成了项目，钻探了 75 英里，完成了 34 英里。

他说道：“我们看到，在我们随后开展的每一个项目中，我们都不断在钻井方面、完井方面、当然还有再生水和双燃料方面创下记录。”

“就像我告诉内部团队的那样，我们的能力远远超出了我们的水平，无论是 ESG 还是 18 口井项目，”沃尔特斯说。“我们并不害怕在大公司里接受这些挑战。所以看比赛很有趣。”

沃尔特斯拒绝谈论具体结果，称现在还为时过早。

在电话采访中，沃尔特斯告诉哈特能源，最早的一口油井于 8 月 5 日投产，目前结果仍在陆续公布。

他说道：“成本控制得很好，早期结果也令我们感到鼓舞。”

在 EnerCom，沃尔特斯还表示，富兰克林山公司希望根据独立数据提供商Novi Labs 的数据了解该公司的衡量标准。

沃尔特斯表示，“富兰克林山”在所有盆地、所有运营商中，按 12 个月平均累计产油量计算排名第三。“拥有优质的岩石、出色的执行力和强劲的油井结果真是太好了。”

“但归根结底，我们来这里是为了经营企业，而企业需要有利润。我们是一家以商品为基础的企业，但我们也需要获得投资回报，”他补充道。

他表示，与二叠纪盆地的同行相比，该公司的 EBITDA 利润率为 50 美元/桶，比该盆地的五个同类竞争对手高出约 70%。

“利润率很重要，但你是否也从资本投资中获得回报？这正是这里的回收率所详述的。所以，我们再次获得了出色的成果，我们取得了出色的成果，这不仅在运营方面，更重要的是在财务方面。”

Private Delaware Basin E&P Franklin Mountain Energy may be getting noticed as an attractive M&A target, but the company appears to be pressing ahead and “punching above its weight” without paying much attention to the gossip.

Stephen Trauber, chairman and global head of energy and clean technology at Moelis & Co., has said that Franklin Mountain would likely command somewhere in the “$3 billion-ish range” in a deal. The company could fit in a variety of larger, public E&Ps including EOG Resources, Devon Energy, Permian Resources or Matador Resources.

Franklin Mountain CEO Craig Walters, speaking at the EnerCom Denver conference on Aug. 20, made it clear from the outset that he wasn’t on stage to spin the company for investments or investors; that he wouldn’t share any forward projections, financials or customary disclosure statements.

But he did talk about a company that continues to push boundaries, including teasing an 18-well project that had freshly come online in the southern portion of its Lea County, New Mexico, acreage.

Since initially acquiring acreage in the basin in 2018, Franklin Mountain has executed on 144 wells, Walters said. “The basin continues to push off to the right,” Walters said. “Not only have we been able to develop this southern position, but we've pulled off another very transformative set of acquisitions in late December of ‘22. This time we did two acquisitions in the same day to really form that northern position.”

Walters said he wouldn’t go into details about the deal so as to “not to give up our competitive advantage.”

“What I will say is the basin’s edge continues to push out and what we've seen, obviously, is our increasing efficiencies on the drilling and completion side, and we decreased costs,” he said. 

In practice, he said, that means a lot of the inventory that was Tier 2 “yesterday is today’s Tier 1 locations.”

Across Franklin Mountain’s 32,000 net acres (98% operated), the company has developed production averaging 50,000 boe/d, 73% oil and, overall, 85% liquids. The company operates a total of 170 wells with a deep inventory of Bone Spring and Wolfcamp formations. Franklin Mountain’s laterals average about 2 miles or more in length.

“I really attribute that to the building blocks [of the company] … creativity, patience, conviction and flexibility on the creativity side, not just the initial formation of the company, but in some transformative trades and acquisitions that we've made along the way to provide us a much larger operated footprint,” he said.

Part of that patience involved waiting on an operated drilling program until all of its midstream pieces and critical infrastructure were in place.

“Our M.O. is really to make sure that the only thing that's going to hold production back is the choke of the wellhead,” Walters said. “In other words, when we bring our project on, we've got all that stuff solved.”

And Walters said he saw no sense in using third-party midstream operators.

“I don't want to offend any midstream companies in the room today, but why would I pay you a high teens or low twenties rate of return if my cost of capital is lower than that?” he said. “I have conviction around my production profile and, oh, I may find some other horizons out here ultimately that are going to take advantage of that fixed infrastructure. And so that's exactly what we've done.”

The company also invested in what Walters broadly termed “technology and science,” including 3D seismic “from day one to understand well planning and geosteering.”

“More importantly, some of that science was around pilot holes, full open holes, suite logs, microseismic studies, frac studies, all in an effort to better understand the rock frac interactions and how to develop this acreage and maximize the value,” he said.

Some of those efforts led to the Bone Spring in the Avalon, “and really those tests were a result of some of what we had learned with those science dollars that we spent,” he said.

All of that culminated, most recently, in Franklin Mountain’s Gunbarrel project in southern Lea County.

In August, the company brought Gunbarrel’s 18 wells online, targeting the company’s core horizons, including the Third Bone Spring and Wolfcamp A.

“We have layered in some Third Bone Spring carb in this particular development and we're not ashamed to look across the fence at other operators in the area and see what they're starting to develop,” he said.

Franklin Mountain had previously drilled a single Avalon well, which at the time was the farthest east anyone had drilled in the Delaware.

“When we did that in 2022, we liked the results there. We wanted to follow that up in this particular project with two wells to have a semi-bound test,” he said.

During completion operations, Walters said Franklin Mountain’s team delivered solid execution on the project—drilling 75 miles and completing 34 miles.

“We've seen that subsequently on every project we do, we continue to set records on the drilling side, the completion side, obviously recycled water, dual fuel,” he said.

“Like I tell our team internally, we punch way above our weight class, whether it comes down to ESG or taking on an 18-well project,” Walters said. “We're not afraid to take this stuff on at the bigger boys’ town. And so it's been kind of fun to watch.”

Walters declined to talk about specific results, saying it was too early to do so.

In a phone interview, Walters told Hart Energy that the earliest well was brought online Aug. 5 and results were still coming in.

“The costs came in very good and we’re encouraged by early results,” he said.

At EnerCom, Walters also said Franklin Mountain wanted to know how the company measured up according to independent data provider, Novi Labs.

“Franklin Mountain … is number three with regard to average 12-month cumulative oil across all basins, all operators,” Walters said. “And it's great to have great rock, great execution, strong well results.”

“But at the end of the day, we're here to run a business and that business needs to have margin. We're a commodity-based business, but we also need to get a return on investment,” he added.

Stacked up against its peers in the Permian, at $50/bbl the company's EBITDA margin is about 70% higher than five of its comparable rivals in the basin, he said.

“So margins are important, but also are you getting a return on that capital investment? And that's really what's detailed by the recycler ratio here. And so again, we've got great rock, we've delivered great results, and that's both operationally and more importantly, financially.”