This morning Carrizo Oil & Gas announced it has sold “substantially all” of its Utica Shale assets, located primarily in Guernsey County, OH, for a grand total of $62 million. The Carrizo website says the company owns 25,900 acres in the Utica. Do the math, and if they sold all 25,900 acres for $62 million it works out to a relatively low $2,394 per acre–essentially a fire sale compared with lease prices in that area which are double that amount. Once upon a time Carrizo had big plans for the Utica. They (wisely) sold off their northern Utica acreage and retained their southern acreage in 2012 (see Carrizo Exits Northern Utica Shale, Retains Southern Acreage). The company has drilled four Utica wells–all of them in Guernsey County, with three of the four producing gas and oil. But the oily Eagle Ford play caught the company’s eye and in 2015 Carrizo quit drilling in the northeast (see Carrizo Cuts Budget 35%, No Drilling Planned in Utica/Marcellus in 2015). Since that time, they have not drilled any new wells in the Marcellus/Utica. In May of this year, Carrizo put all of their Marcellus/Utica assets up for sale (see Carrizo O&G Puts Up ‘For Sale’ Sign on Marcellus/Utica Assets). So it should be no surprise they’ve found a buyer (unnamed) to pick up prime acreage in the Utica…
This morning Carrizo Oil & Gas announced it has sold “substantially all” of its Utica Shale assets, located primarily in Guernsey County, OH, for a grand total of $62 million. The Carrizo website says the company owns 25,900 acres in the Utica. Do the math, and if they sold all 25,900 acres for $62 million it works out to a relatively low $2,394 per acre–essentially a fire sale compared with lease prices in that area which are double that amount. Once upon a time Carrizo had big plans for the Utica. They (wisely) sold off their northern Utica acreage and retained their southern acreage in 2012 (see 