Viper Energy, subsidiary of Midland-based Diamondback Energy, and operating subsidiary Viper Energy Partners said last week they are acquiring mineral- and royalty interest-owning subsidiaries of Tumbleweed Royalty IV for $461 million and 10.1 million units of Viper Energy Partners. Closing is expected in 4Q.
Viper also said it earlier closed two transactions of certain mineral- and royalty interest-owning entities from Tumbleweed Q Royalty Partners and MC Tumbleweed Royalty for a total of $189 million. The combined acquisitions are 3,727 net royalty acres of highly undeveloped assets in Permian Basin – 3,237 in Midland Basin and 490 in Delaware Basin. Current production is 4,000 boed (2,500 b/d of oil). Production for 2025 is forecast at 4,500 b/d of oil. Primary operators are Diamondback and ExxonMobil in Midland and ConocoPhillips and Mewbourne in Delaware.
Travis Stice, CEO, said Sept. 11, “The set of acquisitions … is a continuation of Viper’s strategy to consolidate high-quality mineral and royalty assets that not only provide meaningful and immediate financial accretion, but also provide significant undeveloped inventory that supports our long-term production profile… With this visibility, we expect Diamondback-operated production to increase from an average of 1,000 b/d of oil in 2025 to 3,000 b/d in 2026.”