Stories We Will Be Talking About Today -- WTI Falls; WBA Crashes; One Well Coming Off Conffidential List -- June 27, 2023

Locator: 45083MISC.

Right on cue, in early morning trading, at the open:

WBA: crushed. On an up day for the market, drops 10%.

• earnings out
• loses 10%; drops $3.15; trading at $28.45.
• missed expectations for the first time since July, 2020
• slashes guidance

Stories we'll be talking about today.

• Hurricanes: both Bret and Cindy were duds.
• The great Sriracha shortage: link here.
  
• LIV - PGA: details now emerge.
• Apple: posted; will discuss again, later.
• Tax the rich: not gonna happen; SCOTUS will rule.
  
• Wind:
  
• Copper:
• Ford cuts: again.
• Investing: link here for the items below --
  
• SWKS: hmmmm.
• MSFT: growth expected to surge.
• KMI: raises dividend (old news); not sure if previously posted.

******************************
Back to the Bakken

WTI: $68.56.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023: 38 for the month; 146 for the quarter, 401 for the year
None.

Tuesday, June 27, 2023: 38 for the month; 146 for the quarter, 401 for the year
39305, conf, CLR, Meadowlark FIU 10-6H,

RBN Energy: public non-op E&Ps eemeerge as new source of Permian consolidation funding.

The wave of Permian corporate consolidations has continued unabated as spring transitioned into summer with the public company purchases of two EnCap-funded Delaware Basin private operators: Forge Energy, which was purchased by Vital Energy for $540 million, and Novo Oil & Gas, which was purchased by Earthstone Energy for $1.5 billion. Although the theme hasn’t changed, the funding of the transactions includes an intriguing new element — Northern Oil & Gas, which primarily invests in non-operated minority interests, partially funded the acquisitions by agreeing to take 30% and 33% interests in the assets from buyers Vital Energy and Earthstone Energy, respectively. In today’s RBN blog, we review the emergence of three public non-op-focused E&Ps — Northern Oil & Gas, Granite Ridge Energy and Vitesse Energy — and their recent evolution from consolidators of asset packages to trusted partners of acquisition-focused operators.

First, some background. Non-operated oil and gas interests are ownership stakes in oil and gas leases that do not involve the day-to-day management of the wells. While most E&Ps have accumulated non-operated interests in the normal course of building their portfolios, many of these interests have typically been held by investors who want to participate in the profits from oil and gas wells without having to bear the responsibilities and costs associated with operating the lease. Non-op interest owners also have the right to decide to participate (or not) in any individual well proposed by the operator, which provides capital investment flexibility. The downside is that the operator decides whether to further develop the lease, establishes the timing of any development, and controls the costs of drilling, completing, and operating the wells. Profiting from non-op investment requires careful assessment of the quality of the acreage involved, the predictability of well results, and evaluation of the financial strength, investment strategy and operational expertise of the operator.