Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) announced that it was selling its Utica Shale assetsfor a minimum of $62 million. This is expected to be the first of a series of asset sales as Carrizo narrows its focus to its Delaware Basin and Eagle Ford assets. Carrizo is currently significantly leveraged, but also has many drilling locations that can deliver strong returns at low oil prices.
The Utica Shale Assets
Carrizo's Utica Shale assets included mostly undeveloped acreage (around 25,900 net acres) in the rich condensate window. These assets have marginal economics in the current oil and gas pricing environment. An April 2017 presentation from Carrizo indicated that the expected IRR for Utica Shale wells ranged from 16% to 22% at $55 oil, and at $75 oil ranged from 45% to 57%. For comparison, Carrizo claimed that IRRs were over 50% at $45 oil for its Delaware Basin and core Eagle Ford type curve wells.
