Double Eagle Energy Permian LLC is now worth nearly $3 billion, reported Mike Stone, Reuters. The company's value, which was founded by a retired NFL player and his high school buddy, is nearly triple the $1 billion threshold for a so-called unicorn, the moniker most often used in Silicon Valley for high-value private companies, Stone wrote in his report. An IPO would be a crowning achievement for John Sellers and Cody Campbell, who co-founded predecessor companies starting in early 2009.
The valuation is based on prices paid for mineral rights in the Permian Basin, where the duo has leased more than 65,000 net acres of oil-rich land in the past two years. Demand has soared here because of new drilling techniques that can extract crude at a profit despite low oil prices.
"Had it not been for the turndown," Sellers told Reuters, "we would never have seen as many opportunities to put together so much acreage."
Until now, most energy companies have been bought out before going public, but the successful IPO this month of Extraction Oil & Gas (XOG.O) - the first stock market debut of a U.S. oil and gas explorer in more than two years - could pave the way for more.
