Back in 2022, Denver-based Validus Energy checked out of the Eagle Ford in a $1.8 billion deal with Devon Energy, scoring double the price it paid for those assets just a year before. While other producers chased Permian love, Validus reset its sights and strategy on the Midcontinent becoming one of the region’s largest private players there, including in the Okla., Anadarko Basin.

Reese Energy Consulting is following the latest news from the Anadarko and the SCOOP/STACK plays where operators this year have added 10 rigs. Call it a rebound or resurgence here, higher gas prices have proved a siren’s song. Add to that the growing demand for more gas supplies to feed LNG terminals and power data centers, and that’s seductive music for producers.

Houston-based ConocoPhillips is banking on this momentum as it shops the Anadarko assets inherited last year with its $22.5 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil. Assets include 250,000+ net acres, 40 MBOED, and 122 MMCFD. The supermajor looks to make a $1 billion deal. Will the buyer be Validus, which in February acquired SCOOP rival 89 Energy III for $895 million? Perhaps the Anadarko’s largest private operators Continental or Mewbourne? Or maybe the largest public players Ovintiv or Coterra?