Chesapeake - Southwestern - Chord - Enerplus -- November 23, 2023

Locator: 46149INV.

Something seems messed up here. I can't get the URL for this story and I can't locate it again. Fortunately I have the screenshot and archived the full story.

There are two stories in this article: ruminations about a mashup involving:

• Chesapeake and Southwestern; and,
• Chord and Enerplus.

Archived. 

Headline:

From the article:

Kimmeridge Energy Management Co., which is among the most active and outspoken US oil and gas investors, said a merger of Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co. would create one of the industry’s most sought-after stocks.

“There are only a few must-own stocks in the sector, and this would ultimately be one of them,” Mark Viviano, a managing partner at Kimmeridge, said in a statement.

Bloomberg reported in October that Chesapeake is considering buying Southwestern through a deal that would create one of the largest US natural gas producers. Kimmeridge is Chesapeake’s 13th largest shareholder. The companies didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Also in the same article

Despite the spate of large deals over the last several weeks, the universe of shale drillers remains highly fragmented and more consolidation is necessary, Kimmeridge founder Ben Dell said in an interview.

While he’s not involved with the talks, Dell said he’s optimistic Chesapeake and Southwestern will eventually hammer out a deal. The roadblocks in such negotiations are typically “personal,” he said.

“My experience in M&A is that who survives from the board and who survives from management are the one and two sticking points,” Dell said. “It is almost never about actual economics.”

Merger and acquisition activity has been accelerating among shale drillers as the sector matures and companies begin to exhaust their portfolios of undrilled opportunities. As a result, executive teams seeking to shore up reserves to ensure ample, future production are buying up rivals.

Another potential deal that makes sense would be between Chord Energy Corp. of Houston and Calgary-based Enerplus Corp., Viviano said. Both have production in the Bakken shale formation of North Dakota, and a combination of them would create a $10 billion company that would establish a platform for consolidation across the basin, Viviano said.

It should be noted that it seems I recall Enerplus said it would like to become an American (US) company. This might be one way to do that, regardless who buys whom. I could be wrong on that -- about thinking I read that about Enerplus becoming an American company.