Northern Oil and Gas on Thursday announced it will buy further interests in a fleet of oil wells in North Dakota for $154 million, its third significant acquisition in the past eight months.
The seller in the latest deal is Texas-based Comstock Resources, which is controlled by the owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team, Jerry Jones. With the three acquisitions, Northern Oil is spending $382.2 million on new properties.
The Minnetonka-based company also said Thursday it plans to increase its dividend — which was initiated in May — by 33% during the third quarter to 6 cents a common share.
Northern is acquiring further interests in about 400 oil wells, which are operated by multiple companies. Northern holds existing ownership positions in 84% of those.
Production from the new North Dakota properties is 4,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Northern Oil, which invests in leases and drilling projects, has branched out beyond its traditional turf of North Dakota this year.
"This is our third major transaction this year in as many basins," Adam Dirlam, Northern's chief operating officer, said in a statement.
In June, it announced deals totaling $102.2 million in the Permian basin, the nation's largest producer of shale oil. Those deals, which involved multiple sellers, cover 2,900 acres in New Mexico and Texas with expected production of 3,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day during 2021's second half.
