ExxonMobil acquisition bodes well for Bakken economy, says industry leader
Steve Hallstrom
Special to the Farmer
One of North Dakota’s leading mineral resources experts is pointing to ExxonMobil’s acquisition of Denbury Incorporated as a reason to be optimistic about the future of the state’s energy industry.
ExxonMobil, with the world’s largest market capitalization of approximately $350 billion, announced on July 13, that it is buying Denbury, a developer of carbon capture, storage solutions, and enhanced oil recovery. The company says its largest producing property is the Cedar Creek Anticline in Montana and North Dakota, which accounted for 23 percent of company production in 2021.
The acquisition is an all-stock transaction valued at $4.9 billion and gives the American multinational oil and gas corporation, and the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, the largest owned and operated Carbon Dioxide (CO2) pipeline network in the U.S. The company’s pipelines span 1,300 miles, including nearly 925 miles of CO2 pipelines in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, as well as 10 strategically located onshore sequestration sites, used to store carbon in places such as underground geological formations.