SM buys Rock Oil Holdings from private-equity giant Riverstone Pays almost $40,000 an acre for drilling rights in Permian
SM Energy Co.’s $980 million purchase of drilling rights in the biggest U.S. crude field indicates producers are willing to pay a premium for access to one of the few spots where oil exploration still turns a profit.
SM, which extracts oil and natural gas from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf Coast, agreed to pay the equivalent of $39,543 an acre for drilling rights across 24,783 acres in the Permian Basin, almost doubling the Denver-based company’s holdings in the region, according to a statement on Monday. SM plans to deploy a rig as soon as October to drill the acquired acreage, which Chief Executive Officer Jay Ottoson called “top tier.”
