Acquired assets add about 68,000 oil-equivalent barrels a day of net production
Devon Energy has agreed to sell its Eagle Ford assets in Texas to Crescent Energy for $4.2 billion in cash, the companies said. The transaction covers about 90,000 net acres in Karnes, DeWitt and Gonzales counties and accounts for roughly 4% of Devon’s total production. Crescent pegged the net purchase price at about $3.85 billion after price adjustments including allocations of certain revenues and expenses, and said the acquired assets will add about 68,000 oil-equivalent barrels a day of net production.
Devon’s President and Chief Executive Clay Gaspar said the divestiture is the outcome of an ongoing portfolio review aimed at sharpening the company’s focus on its highest-return and longest-duration assets. “Selling a relatively mature asset into a strong commodity price environment improves our go-forward capital efficiency and allows us to accelerate share buybacks, strengthen our balance sheet and increase long-term value for shareholders,” Gaspar said.
Devon said the cash transaction is accretive on a per-share basis to free cash flow and net asset value, with proceeds directed to accelerated share buybacks and debt reduction.
The Eagle Ford sale follows Houston-based Devon’s completion in May of a roughly $21.5 billion takeover of Coterra Energy, a deal the company said built one of the world’s largest shale operators with an asset base anchored in the economic core of the Delaware Basin.
For Crescent, the acquisition bolsters its Eagle Ford position by adding top-tier inventory and scale directly adjacent to operations the company already runs in the region. Chief Executive David Rockecharlie said the assets are ones Crescent knows well through longtime ownership of nearby operations.
The transaction has an effective date of July 1 and is expected to close around year-end.