US independent Samson Resources has become a pure play operator Wyoming’s Powder River basin after selling off assets in the Greater Green River to an undisclosed buyer, the company said Tuesday.
Samson did not offer financial details on the transaction, the proceeds of which will be used for general corporate purposes and for a distribution payment of $46 million to shareholders.
"Samson remains committed to executing its business plan and to the continued development of its extensive PRB assets. With our recent strong drilling results in the PRB, the board of directors has decided to explore strategic alternatives for the company’s Powder River basin assets, consistent with the strategy the company has pursued since emerging from bankruptcy in 2017. While conducting our strategic alternative review for these assets the company remains committed to drilling safely and efficiently,” chief executive Joseph Mills said in a statement.
The company also closed on a sale of 8500 non-core acres in Johnson County, Wyoming.
Mills had earlier said the gassy 46,000 net acres in Green River were being marketed to pivot the company toward developing the Powder River.
Samson holds more than 154,000 net acres in the Powder River, where it recently brought on two wells targeting the Turner formation in Converse County. The wells were drilled in the company’s Hornbuckle acreage spanning 17,000 net contiguous acres.
"The Brushy Creek and Reynolds wells represent a meaningful step-out away from existing Turner production and help expand the growing reserve potential of the Turner formation in the Powder River basin, where Samson has a significant leasehold position," Mills said.
The Bushy Creek well had an initial production rate over 30 days of 1708 barrels of oil equivalent per day, while the Reynolds well showed an IP30 of 1674 boepd.