Update On Enerplus Acquisition In The Bakken -- May 15, 2021

Much of this has been previously posted.

From The Williston Herald, the lede: 

A mere three weeks-worth of production from newly acquired Bruin assets was among factors pushing production stats 6 percent higher than expected in first-quarter earnings reports for Calgary-based Enerplus.

Then:

Discussion during the call was dominated by what the addition of 230,000 net acres purchased from Bruin and more recently from Hess, will mean for the company. These acquisitions have quadrupled Enerplus’ size in the Bakken, adding at least 340 economic drilling locations. Even more top tier drilling locations may yet unfold as the company examines the upside potential of the Three Forks in Dunn County locations.

And:

“We estimate we will be at or below 1.3 times by the end of this year, based on a $55 WTI price,” he said. “If today’s ($64) prices hold, we will be ahead of that estimate.”

The company’s free cash flow for the first quarter, meanwhile, was $60 million, Dundas said. That’s going to get higher going forward, with the new acquisition. Projections show $1.2 to $1.8 billion in free cash flow through 2025 in a $50 to $55 oil price world, while delivering growth rates of 3 to 5 percent.

As a result these metrics, Enerplus announced a 10 percent increase to their dividend, effective beginning in June.

“The second and third quarters will be our most active this year,” Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Wade D. Hutchings said. “We expect to bring 32 gross, 26 net operated wells online over this period. Our execution has been solid with completions performance on both paths having averaged approximately 13 stages per day, representing an improvement of over 30 percent compared to our 2020 average performance.”

Drilling locations:

The company has identified at least 100 net drilling locations in the eastern third of its newly acquired Williams County acreage, Hutchings added.

“Over time we will look at testing the western Williams acreage, but our near and medium term plans will be focused on FBIR and Eastern Williams,” he said.

Meanwhile, there are 110 net drilling locations considered Tier 1 in the newly acquired Dunn County acres, as well as 120 more believed economic at current prices.

Those locations are all in the middle Bakken, and do not account for anything in the Three Forks layer.

Spending on these new areas will be integrated and optimized over time with existing Enerplus assets, Hutchings said.

“There are several specific areas we are actually quite keen to test,” he added. “The first one I would note is starting with the Bruin acquisition in Williams County.”