Marathon adds to recent Permian entry with US$700m Delaware bolt-on acquisition

On 21 March 2017 Marathon bought 21,000 net acres in the Delaware Basin for US$700 million from Black Mountain Oil & Gas and other private sellers. The deal comes soon after Marathon entered the Permian through a US$1.1 billion deal with BC Operating. Marathon has quickly amassed a position of scale in the play – it now holds 91,000 net Permian acres. After adjusting for production at US$40,000 / flowing barrel, the purchase price equates to US$32,571 per net acre. This is significantly higher than the US$17,475 per net acre that Marathon paid for the Delaware acreage in the earlier deal. Our valuation indicates a similar picture. But the new acreage helps to fill in the fragmented position that Marathon acquired from BC Operating and is more concentrated in core Delaware areas.