O'Brien Energy Resources Corp., a privately owned oil and natural gas exploration company, has announced the purchase of assets of two competitive oil and gas companies in Kansas and Oklahoma. O'Brien made these purchases as part of a long-term plan to strategically acquire distressed oil and gas production.
Effective January 1, 2021 the O'Brien Energy Resources Production Fund I acquired all of the production assets of Keith F. Walker Oil & Gas Company, LLC in Kansas and the Oklahoma panhandle, including 23 producing oil and gas wells along with approximately 6,080 mineral acres held by production. Effective February 1, 2021, the production fund acquired all of the production assets of Oolite Energy Corporation in Kansas including 8 producing oil and gas wells and approximately 1,000 mineral acres held by production.
"This first production fund is a pilot for the future," says Joseph Forma, President of O'Brien Energy Resources. "We are diligent operators and have built a strong team with decades of experience in managing production."
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became apparent to the company that there were small producers that needed to exit the market for economic reasons, creating an opportunity to purchase production at reasonable prices. The decision to buyout competitors also sets the stage for O'Brien to transition to an operating company model while remaining active in exploration.
O'Brien Energy Resources has been in business since 1990 and is a conventional driller that operates over 75 wells in 5 states. O'Brien uses the services of over 100 vendors and contractors, from drilling companies and service companies to engineers, land men, geologists, and contract pumpers. According to PwC, the oil and gas industry supports over 9.8 million jobs nationwide, approximately 5.6% of the workforce. The COVID-19 crisis has disrupted domestic exploration resulting in lower drilling activity, fueling concern about the future of short-term U.S. production.
"The production fund model provides the company with a great balance for our exploration activity, and also allows us the opportunity to apply our expertise to maximize the production of these added wells and potentially continue to explore the associated mineral leaseholds," says Mark Eddinger, Executive Vice President of O'Brien.
