Why a Whiting Asset Sale Does Not Cut It

Energy

Published: March 13, 2015 11:10 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 10:13 am

Independent energy producer Whiting Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: WLL) is said to be seeking a buyer for its acreage and pipeline assets in Texas as the company struggles to maintain its balance in the face of collapsing crude oil prices. Whiting paid more than $3 billion last year to acquire rival Kodiak Oil & Gas, becoming in the process the largest producer in North Dakota.

Sources have said that J.P. Morgan has been shopping the entire company recently, but that Whiting’s debt load of $5.63 billion is keeping potential buyers at bay.

Thus, a sale of some assets may be in order. In an investor presentation on March 2, Whiting discussed its assets and plans for its North Dakota and Colorado operations, but it had nothing much to say about its Permian Basin assets. The enhanced oil recovery operation in the Permian Basin is projected to receive $82 million in capital expenditures during 2015, of which $80 million is targeted to pay for carbon dioxide to flood the wells.

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Of Whiting’s fourth-quarter 2014 total production of roughly 120,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, more than 100,000 barrels comes from North Dakota and about 10,000 barrels a day from each of Colorado and Texas.

Whiting has reported that the Permian Basin holds an estimated 133 million barrels of proved reserves of the company’s total of 780.3 million barrels of oil equivalent. The hard part is figuring out what those 133 million barrels are worth in today’s market. Is the right price $15 a barrel? $20? More? Less?

Valued at $20 a barrel in the ground, Whiting’s Permian Basin barrels are worth about $2.66 billion. The company’s market cap Friday morning is around $5.9 billion, indicating that the Permian Basin barrels are worth about $10 a barrel in the ground.

The company’s Permian Basin assets are unlikely to find a buyer who wants to acquire anything more than a steady cash flow at low cost. Such a company is unlikely to be able to pay the kind of price that Whiting needs to give itself some breathing room.

Whiting’s shares traded down nearly 8% Friday morning, at $35.38 in a 52-week range of $24.13 to $92.92.

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