Financing Of The Year: Blue Whale North America brought $1.4 billion to the Permian Basin in two acquisitions involving three private E&P sellers. These deals were done on behalf of a company based in Shanghai, with private equity from Phoenix Tree Capital, a Beijing-based firm interested in North American energy investments. Blue Whale has said it will identify further opportunities for these Chinese investors.

M&A Deal Of The Year: WPX Energy spent $2.75 billion to acquire the Permian Basin assets of privately held RKI Exploration & Production LLC. This deal transformed formerly gas-weighted WPX’s portfolio, as its oil production will rise to 36% of volumes by 2017. Included in the package were 3,600 Delaware Basin gross, risked drilling locations across several stacked pay intervals. Total net resource potential is estimated at more than 1 billion boe on the acquired assets. This deal rewarded RKI for successfully developing a core position that was attractive to a larger buyer.

  • Curtis Newstrom, president and CEO of Blue Whale Energy North America;
  • Richard E. Muncrief, president and CEO of WPX Energy; and
  • Ronnie Irani, president and CEO of RKI Exploration & Production LLC.