The energy company that recently purchased complete or partial interest in several oil and gas wells in Weld County’s Wattenberg Field has merged with a Tulsa, Okla.-based company.
San Francisco-based HS Resources Inc., which runs many of its operations from a Denver office, is merging one of its new subsidiaries with Tide West Oil Co. of Tulsa. The merger will expand HS Resources’ operations in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
Additionally, HS Resources, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HSE, is acquiring all of Denver-based Basin Exploration Inc.’s Denver-Julesberg Basin holdings, as well as its interest in Weld County’s resource-rich Wattenberg Field. The transaction includes some 850 wells.
Late last year, HS Resources purchased 175 wells in Wattenberg Field from Freedom Energy Inc. That deal was valued at $12.4 million. The Basin Exploration purchase will cost HS Resources a total of $125.5 million.
“We have increased activity in Wattenberg,´ said Phil Winner, director of investor relations for HS Resources, “but in no way is Weld going to see the level of activity it saw two or three years ago.”
Then, many farmers were upset by the high pace of drilling in their fields.This time, said Ron Jacobs, HS Resources’ vice president for governmental and environmental affairs, drilling should be compatible with farmers’ needs.
“We’ll try to get in and out before the planting season,” Jacobs said.
Mike Highum, president of HS Resources, said the acquisitions bolster his company’s effort to become “the premier energy marketer to the Colorado Front Range.”