Northern Rockies Study

Energy Advisors Group has released a study of the Northern Rockies as a continuation of our Market Monitor Series and thought leadership efforts. This Northern Rockies report covers six Basins including the Uinta, Piceance, Powder River, Green River, Bighorn and Wind River Basins. The 50-page Special Report provides unique perspectives on M&A, E&P, Capital Markets, Midstream and Operations activity in the area. This report also includes a list of the Top private, P/E backed and public companies with meaningful production.

Report Update:

---- On April 25, 2025 and "in light of the extraordinary volatility in the market", Amplify Energy and Juniper Capital terminated their merger agreement announced January 15, 2025 when Amplify agreed to buy Juniper Capital's upstream Rocky Mountain portfolio companies for 26.7 million shares of AMPY common stock plus assumption of $133 million in net debt. Prior to the termination, on April 15, 2025, Juniper agreed to contribute $10 million to reduce the net debt. The parties agreed for Amplify to pay Juniper an $800,000 termination fee.

Here are our quick quotes, and takeaways from our report.

Quick Quotes:

------- Growing. “Horizontal redevelopment is underway in the Northern Rockies led by Powder River and Uinta with the Lewis Shale emerging in the Greater Green River area.”

------- Attractive Oil. "Increasing oil volumes, up 37% since 2021, sourced from stacked pays and drilling returns equal or exceeding Midland Basin."

------- High Value Gas. "The Northern Rockies is an epicenter of U.S. gas supply and benefits from existing infrastructure than can send gas east, northwest, southwest or south to premium markets."

------- Active A&D. "Second only to the Delaware in 2024, the Northern Rockies saw $6.5 billion in deals led by private equity players Quantum and Kayne Anderson moving fast backing billion dollar purchases and public companies like SM Energy and Williams also jumping in."

------ Opportunity. "The Northern Rockies offers multiple ways to play the area (gas play, cheaper oil inventory, EOR, emerging plays, scale/efficiencies). There are over 300 operators among privates, publics and P/E portfolio companies to court and entry prices are less that hot areas like the Permian, Haynesville & Eagle Ford."

Observations & Takeaways---

A&D – Totaled $6.5 billion in 2024

• Surge in Northern Rockies M&A to $6.5B in deals and over 2.5x the average U.S. share since 2015;
• Uinta Basin sees major buys by SM/NOG, FourPoint, QB/KODA;
• Buyers drawn by early stage horizontal redevelopment (oil) and promising gas outlook;
• P/E likely to continue its focus on the area targeting large acreage HBP acreage positions for growth while also looking to sell down long held portfolio companies;
• Publics also likely to be active as both buyers and sellers.

E&P – Horizontal Redevelopment, Vertical Gas, Emerging Plays, EOR

• Volumes of ~438,000 Bopd (87% in Uinta and Powder River) and ~5.0 Bcfpd (Green River, Piceance, Powder River);
• Top 3 Oil operators (SM Energy, Anschutz, Crescent) produce ~140,000 Bopd (~32% of Northern Rockies total);
• Top 3 Gas operators (PureWest, Terra, KODA) produce ~1.6 Bcfpd (~32% of Northern Rockies total);
• 29 Rigs running, 22 horizontal, 7 vertical;
• Over 200 Boepd peak IP30/1,000' in 2024 in across the area (Turner, Mowry, Shannon, Niobrara in Powder River, Lewis Shale (emerging) in Green River, and Uteland Butte in Uinta).

Capital Markets – Northern Rockies Thesis: Low cost inventory, hz redevelopment, rosy gas outlook

• Private Equity Leading the charge is Quantum stepping up to back 2 billion dollar buys. One by itself in a $1.8 billion buy from Caerus and one with Kayne Anderson to back FourPoint's $2 billion buy of Uinta assets from Ovintiv;
• Quantum says with most horizontal plays maturing, the opportunity to get a multi-decade high returning, undrilled inventory is "exceedingly rare" in a comment regarding its backing for FourPoint's buy in the Uinta;
• We could expect more P/E checks Warburg, NGP, ArcLight, EnCap plus smaller players;
• Public investors can look to SM Energy and Berry Petroleum to gain Northern Rockies exposure.

Energy Advisors is working hard to expand our thought leadership and look forward to providing additional market insight for our clients through regional perspectives, M&A analysis and market monitor. 

Our firm has been serving the needs of buyers, sellers and capital providers for over thirty-five years.

TO LEARN MORE

Energy Advisors Group

Blake Dornak

Vice President

Phone: 713-600-0169

---Email: [email protected]

Brian Lidsky

Director

Phone: 713-600-0138

---Email: [email protected]

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