MDU Finalizes Sale Of Its Last Marketed Oil And Natural Gas Production Property -- April 5, 2016

Updates

April 6, 2016: Zacks on the MDU sale. The narrative appears to simply be the MDU press release.
 

Original Post

 

From the MDU press release (not the entire press release):

MDU Resources Group, Inc. announced today that it has finalized the sale of its last marketed oil and natural gas production property. This completes the sale of the oil and natural gas assets marketed by subsidiary Fidelity Exploration & Production Company. Fidelity’s offices, headquartered in Denver, are expected to be closed by mid-year.

Since late 2015, MDU Resources has sold its oil and natural gas production and lease assets under several agreements, including its Bakken assets in North Dakota; its Baker and Bowdoin assets, primarily in Montana; its Powder River Basin assets in Wyoming; its Greater Gulf Coast assets, primarily in Texas; its Cedar Creek Anticline assets in Montana; and its Paradox Basin assets in Utah.

The company, in aggregate, recognized proceeds and tax benefits of approximately $500 million from the oil and natural gas asset sales. MDU Resources is using the proceeds primarily to repay debt associated with Fidelity. The company expects to reinvest proceeds in excess of debt repayments into its other business units, including the utility operations’ $1.5 billion, five-year capital expenditure program.

According to Yahoo!Finance, MDU has slightly less than $2 billion in debt. 

At the sidebar at the right, there is a "section" that links to "deals in the Bakken." The deals in 2015 are consolidated here.

In the Bakken, the primary benefactor of Fidelity's oil and gas wells appears to be Kaiser-Francis.