Tall City gets $500m funding to pursue Permian Basin opportunities

Oil and gas exploration and development company Tall City Exploration III has secured equity financing of up to $500m from funds affiliated with global private equity firm Warburg Pincus to boost its Permian Basin position.

The company will use the funding to pursue play extension and acquire-and-exploit opportunities throughout the Permian Basin by applying the same geologic and petrophysics-driven thesis used at Tall City I.

Headquartered in the US, Tall City Exploration III is led by president and CEO Michael Oestmann, who has considerable Permian Basin experience. He is supported by other members of the original Tall City team, who have deep operational and engineering experience in the area.

In addition, the company is taking on board new management team members Tom Fekete and Matt Lake, who will respectively serve as Geoscience vice-president and Reservoir Engineering vice-president.

Oestmann said: “Since our successful exit of Tall City I, we have been actively evaluating new opportunities to replicate our prior successes and continue to find attractive opportunities in the Permian Basin.

“We are very pleased to have the support of Warburg Pincus, a leading and long-standing Permian Basin investor, as we establish the new Tall City to pursue attractive opportunities in this prolific region.”

In November 2015, Tall City Exploration sold all of its exploration and production assets to Moss Creek Resources for $803m.

Warburg Pincus managing director David Habachy said: “Tall City has an outstanding track record for developing extensional acreage and delivering strong returns.

“The company presents a compelling opportunity in the Permian Basin and complements our existing investments in the region.”

Other oil and gas firms supported by Warburg include Ridge Runner Resources, RimRock Oil & Gas Holdings, and Stronghold Energy II.