Longtime Amarillo friends close $1.8 billion oil and gas deal in September

On Sept. 19, two longtime Amarillo friends and business executives in the energy industry closed their second major deal together over the past 18 months: a $1.832 billion acquisition by Matador Resources of Ameredev II Parent, LLC, an EnCap portfolio company. The deal involving Joe Foran — founder, chairman and CEO of Matador Resources — and Gary Petersen — founder of EnCap Investments — marks the single largest acquisition in Matador’s history, according to a news release.

Petersen graduated from Tascosa High School in 1965, and Foran graduated from Amarillo High School in 1970. They have been friends for more than 50 years. The pair previously completed a $1.6 billion acquisition deal between two oil and gas companies that closed in April 2023 .

The release says the newest Matador Resources Company acquisition includes approximately 33,500 contiguous net acres in the core of the Delaware Basin; production expected to average between 25,500 and 26,500 barrels of oil and natural gas equivalent (BOE) per day during the remainder of the third quarter of 2024; 431 gross (371 net) operated locations; total proved oil and natural gas reserves of approximately 118 million BOE; and about 19% equity interest in the parent company of Piñon Midstream, LLC.

“On behalf of the Board and executive committee, I would like to acknowledge the extra effort and professionalism of everyone at Matador, Ameredev and EnCap to close this important transaction on time and as scheduled," Foran said in the release. "The Ameredev assets include one of the largest, contiguous blocks of available acreage in the core of the Delaware basin — directly between two of our better asset areas — and we are excited to have the opportunity to integrate the Ameredev properties into our existing assets. The Ameredev gathering assets include 135 miles of water, natural gas and oil pipelines."

“We are excited about our positive outlook for the remainder of 2024 and 2025," Foran added. "We look forward to further discussing the Ameredev assets, including our plans for the fourth quarter of 2024, during our third quarter 2024 earnings release and conference call next month. We especially want to express our respect and appreciation for Ameredev’s professionalism and cooperation in the transition process, both with its management team and its field and office staff.”

Foran is originally from Amarillo, where his family owned a pipeline construction business. He was one of the featured speakers at the 95th Annual Convention of the Panhandle Producers and Royalty Owners Association (PPROA) at the Amarillo Civic Center last month, where he spoke about why Amarillo is a special place where it all started, with the continued local support to this day.

From 1980 to 1983, Foran was vice president and general counsel of J. Cleo Thompson and James Cleo Thompson, Jr., Oil Producers, and prior to that was a briefing attorney to Chief Justice Joe R. Greenhill of the Supreme Court of Texas. He began his career in the oil and natural gas business in 1983 when he founded Foran Oil Company with capital support from his closest friends and neighbors in Amarillo. Years later, that initial venture lead to the sale of that company and the creation of Matador in 2003. Today, Matador has an enterprise value approaching $10 billion and is one of the top 10 oil and natural gas producers in New Mexico. Among his many honors, Foran was named to Institutional Investors’ All-American Executive Team as one of the top chief executive officers in the Small Cap Energy Division in 2021.

After his high school days, Peterson served from 1970 to 1971 in the U.S. Army in Washington, D.C., as a first lieutenant in the Finance Corps and as an Army officer in the Army Security Agency. Prior to the formation of EnCap, Petersen was an executive and manager with the Energy Banking Group for Republic Bank, Houston (1985-1988), where his duties and responsibilities included mergers and acquisitions and financial advisory services for the energy industry. Petersen's career has also included roles at Nicklos Oil & Gas Company in Houston and Republic Bank, Dallas.

In 1988, he founded EnCap, a leading provider of venture capital to the energy industry, raising more than $40 billion since inception. Today, EnCap's team has 500-plus years of combined experience in energy finance, operations, and investments. Petersen is a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas Tech University. He currently serves on the board of directors of several EnCap portfolio companies and is a member of the board of Plains All American, Inc. and EV Energy Partners.

The local Amarillo roots of these two companies, from the friends themselves to the investors' support, continue to this day.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Longtime Amarillo friends close $1.8 billion oil and gas deal in September