KKR-Backed Crescent Energy Weighs Asset Sales to Focus on Eagle Ford, Uinta Basins

Crescent Energy Co., a US oil-and-gas explorer backed by KKR & Co., is looking to slim down its drilling portfolio to focus on its core acreage in the Eagle Ford and Uinta basins, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Houston-based company is working with financial advisers to seek buyers for its holdings in areas including the Denver-Julesburg Basin in Colorado, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the details aren’t public.

The package includes assets formerly owned by Contango Oil & Gas, one of the people said. Contango merged with KKR-backed Independence Energy to create Crescent in 2021 and, at the time of the merger, had assets in the Gulf of Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Louisiana.

The divestment could fetch more than $1 billion, the people said.

No final decision has been made and Crescent could opt to hold onto some or all of the assets, the people added. A representative for Crescent declined to comment.

Shares of Crescent fell as much as 6.4% on Tuesday. The stock was down 2.3% to $8.05 at 3:42 p.m. in New York trading, giving the company a market value of about $2.6 billion. On Monday, Crescent reported earnings for the first quarter that beat the average analyst estimate.

The move comes as oil and gas explorers increasingly look to focus on their choicest assets, as investors and analysts favor simpler, streamlined companies with easy-to-understand growth stories. The multi-basin profile of the package Crescent is looking to sell is similar to that of Maverick Natural Resources, an oil and gas company with operations in basins including the Anadarko and Permian, which was acquired by Diversified Energy Co. for about $1.28 billion earlier this year.

Crescent agreed last year to buy SilverBow Resources Inc. for $2.1 billion, boosting its operations in the Eagle Ford, an oil-and-gas-rich stretch of shale in southeastern Texas. Crescent, which has struck five deals in the Eagle Ford since 2023, is the second largest gas producer in the basin, behind ConocoPhillips, according to an investor presentation in April.

It’s also a major player in the Uinta Basin, an up-and-coming oil and gas field in the Rocky Mountains region that produces a waxy kind of oil that’s used to make lubricants. KKR still has about a 10.5% stake in Crescent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.