Comstock Resources has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Northern Oil and Gas to sell its holdings in the Bakken shale for $154 million in cash. The properties being sold include nonoperated interests in more than 400 producing wells (a net of 65.9) with recent production of greater than 4,500 BOE/D net (approximately 65% oil).
The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year and will have an effective date of 1 October 2021, subject to adjustment and customary closing conditions. Comstock said it expects to recognize a pretax loss of $130 million–$140 million on the divestiture.
Comstock plans to reinvest the proceeds from the property sale into its Haynesville shale development program, including the acceleration of completing 13 (a net of 9.4) drilled and uncompleted wells that were originally budgeted to be completed in 2022. The company holds interest in more than 320,000 acres in the Haynesville/Bossier play and strengthened its position in the region with its 2019 acquisition of Covey Park Energy for $2.2 billion.
The operator added it may also use a portion of the proceeds to acquire additional leasehold and to fund additional drilling activity in 2022.
