By Shariq Khan and David French
(Reuters) – U.S. oil producer APA Corp agreed to pay about $700 million for West Texas properties owned by closely held Titus Oil & Gas LLC, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday, the people said, adding the purchase would mark a significant pivot to West Texas for the former Apache Corp after a failed bet on a remote corner of the top U.S. shale basin.
Titus Oil & Gas, backed by private equity firm NGP Energy Capital Management, is among the private oil and gas companies investors have put on the market in recent months hoping higher energy prices would secure bumper valuations.
An APA Corp spokesperson declined to comment.
Titus and NGP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Titus and NGP earlier disclosed an agreement to sell New Mexico oil producing assets to Earthstone Energy Inc for $627 million.
The people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential information, did not indicate the size of the land under the latest deal. It abuts existing APA assets in the Delaware portion of the Permian basin, one of the people said.
When oil prices crashed during lockdowns early in the coronavirus pandemic, APA briefly suspended U.S. drilling and reduced activity in Egypt and the North Sea in favor of developing discoveries off the coast of Suriname.
Through 2021, APA returned to normal operations in the Delaware portion of the Permian Basin in Texas, but began streamlining its Permian assets by selling noncore holdings and allocated most of its 2022 exploration budget towards Suriname.
Wall Street analysts expect APA will post a profit of $804 million for the second quarter, compared with $316 million reported for the same quarter a year-ago as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has tightened fuel supplies and driven up oil and gas prices.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
