Today, Jan. 9, Glacier Oil & Gas, an independent oil and gas company focused on the exploration and production of Alaska oil and gas resources from the North Slope to Cook Inlet, announced that Pontem Energy and Sweat Equity Partners, or SEP, have acquired 100% ownership in the company. Glacier owns and operates upstream and midstream assets in Alaska that produce approximately 2,500 barrels of oil per day in the North Slope at the Badami unit, in the Cook Inlet basin at 1) the West McArthur River unit and 2) off the Osprey Platform at the Redoubt unit.
Originally built at costs that exceeded $500 million, Glacier's assets have produced more than 31 million barrels of oil over the past 25 years. Using recent third-party estimates, Glacier's fields contain more than 9 million barrels of remaining proven reserves.
"We are excited by the opportunities that lie ahead for Glacier, its employees, and its new financial backers, Pontem and SEP," Glacier President Stephen Ratcliff said.
"Over the last couple years, we have remained committed to building Glacier during the pandemic while working diligently on production enhancement operations, plans for drilling additional wells, evaluating capital enhancement options, and better alignment through vested ownership. We are excited that this acquisition aligns our vision of growth through development drilling and increased production, maintains our strong corporate culture and our team, and provides an avenue to develop the Glacier brand as a sustainable and long-term player in - Alaska," Ratcliff said.
Pontem's Managing Partner Jeff Bartlett said: "We are thankful for Glacier's prior owners' focus on safety, environmental stewardship and for positioning the company to capitalize on its remaining growth opportunities during today's improved commodity price environment. We expect to supplement Glacier's operating cash flow with outside capital to generate attractive returns by drilling additional wells within Glacier's North Slope and Cook Inlet assets. Such investment will benefit Glacier's employees, its operating partners and oilfield service providers while generating additional royalty income for the State of Alaska."
SEP's President Andrew White stated, "We invest in management teams who build culture to attract and retain the best employees and who understand how to profitably, and sustainably, grow their business. Stephen and his team at Glacier have proven their leadership in safety culture with no lost time accidents in eight years and in operating culture with consistently strong environmental and financial results."
White said Ratcliff's team has a "clear strategy: to build Glacier into the preeminent Alaskan oil and gas operator, and I look forward to working with them to achieve their goals."
Bracewell provided legal representation to Glacier during the transaction while King & Spalding provided legal representation to Pontem and SEP.
For more information about Glacier go to: www.GlacierOil.com.
For more information about Pontem, which provides capital solutions for and consulting services to the upstream and midstream energy sectors, go to www.pontemec.com.
For more information about Sweat Equity Partners, which is an entrepreneur-led family of companies in domestic energy, CleanTech, PropTech & SaaS, go to www.SEPLP.com.
- PETROLEUM NEWS
See story in Jan. 15 issue of Petroleum News, available online Jan. 12 at www.petroleumnews.com
For information on PN's news bulletin service, call 907-522-9469.
PO Box 231647, Anchorage AK 99523-1647
