The transaction unveiled on Tuesday will combine the pair's oil-producing assets in the Williston basin, including the Bakken and Three Forks plays in North Dakota and Montana, with Emerald’s assets in the emerging Niobrara shale in the Sandwash basin of Colorado and Wyoming.
The new combined entity, to be named Emerald Oil and based in Denver, intends to tap a multi-well database to carry out a multi-rig drilling programme in the Rockies, kicking off with an initial operated well in Dunn County, North Dakota that is set to spud next year.
The
