After a whirlwind of private upstream exits in the past 24 months, another new startup E&P is entering the fray.
Blackjack Natural Resources is launching with financial backing from private equity firm Pearl Energy Investments and company management, the firm announced July 17.
Blackjack’s founding partners include co-CEOs Jeff Wampler and Andrew Haraway and Grant Sykes, executive vice president of operations. The three previously worked together at Anadarko Basin E&P 89 Energy in engineering, finance and operations roles.
Oklahoma City-based Blackjack plans to pursue upstream acquisition opportunities “with a primary focus on the greater Midcontinent region,” the company said.
“We believe the current market provides attractive opportunities for investment, and we are thrilled to partner with a premier financial sponsor in Pearl,” Wampler said.
Validus has deployed more than $3 billion into Midcontinent M&A over the past year. The company reportedly spent $450 million to acquire Anadarko Basin assets from Continental Resources last year.
In September 2024, Validus struck a deal to acquire private Oklahoma E&P Citizen Energy for over $2 billion.
The Midcontinent oil and gas market has suffered for the past decade under a lack of capital investment and exits by major operators.
But interest in the Anadarko Basin is growing once again, fueled by a rise in natural gas prices and scarcity in other key Lower 48 basins.
ConocoPhillips is currently marketing Marathon Oil’s legacy Anadarko assets—which it picked up through the blockbuster $17.1 billion Marathon acquisition last year.
Marathon’s Oklahoma portfolio includes around 250,000 net acres. Production from the asset averaged 40,000 boe/d in the third quarter of 2024, according to the company’s most recent filing.
Sources tell Hart Energy that bids recently came in for Marathon’s marketed package.
Acreage and horizontal oil (green) and gas (red) wells (active and permitted) operated by Marathon Oil in the Anadarko Basin. (Source: Rextag)
Private E&P Canvas Energy has also explored a sale of its Midcontinent assets. Canvas, which rebranded from Chaparral Energy in 2022, held 223,000 net acres in the Anadarko as of second-quarter 2024, according to investor materials.
Camino Natural Resources had been exploring a sale in the range of $2 billion but has pulled back from a marketing process, sources told Hart. Denver-based Camino holds approximately 135,000 net acres in the core of the Anadarko and is one of the top producers in Oklahoma. Camino is sponsored by private equity firm NGP.
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