Cimarex Energy and Cabot Oil & Gas said May 24 they will merge in an all-stock transaction creating a diversified U.S. onshore producer that Enverus said will have an enterprise value of about $17 billion. Cimarex drills on 560,000 net acres in Permian and Anadarko basins, and Cabot operates on 173,000 net acres in Marcellus Basin. Combined production for 2021Q1 was 600,000 boed.
The new company will be renamed and based in Houston with Dan Dinges as executive board chair and Tom Jorden as CEO. Annual cost savings will be about $100 million, the companies said. Cimarex shareholders will own 50.5 percent. Bloomberg analysts Talon Custer and Vincent G. Piazza said, “A Permian-focused partner would have made far more sense” for Cimarex.