Might Texas-born Bob Simpson be looking to build back the Williston Basin powerhouse he created more than a decade ago? Back in 2010, the company Simpson founded in 1986—XTO Energy—merged with Exxon in a $41 billion all-stock deal pronounced one of the largest transactions in history for an independent oil and gas company. Assets included huge swaths of acreage across numerous basins and shale plays, including the Williston, where XTO had recently entered with 352,000 net acres. Exxon kept the XTO name and Simpson went on to co-found Morning Star Partners.

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest from the Williston, where Exxon is wooing buyers for hand-picked assets in the N.D., Bakken. This follows Exxon’s $60 billion deal a year ago for Permian jewel Pioneer Natural Resources. The package for sale, expected to fetch $500 million, is a relatively small one for the monster-size Exxon—but you’ve still gotta pay the bills. Assets include 49,000 net acres, 137 operated wells, and 676 non-operated and royalty wells.

Now, back to Simpson, whose TXO Partners went public last year with a fistful of acreage positions in the Permian and San Juan Basin. Simpson’s TXO this summer re-entered the Williston with two acquisitions in the Elm Coulee field of Mont., and the Russian Creek field of N.D., which add 4.5 MBOED in production and proved developed reserves of 17 MMBOE. Could TXO and XTO find a new Williston romance here?