Belden & Blake now a subsidiary of EV Energy Partners

With eyes on drilling hundreds more horizontal wells in the Clinton Sandstone, EV Energy Partners is buying complete ownership of Belden & Blake Corporation. 

EV Energy Partners is a Texas-based partnership controlled by EnerVest. EnerVest has 29,000 wells in 15 states and has operated Belden for ten years.

The deal makes Belden a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of EVEP, and is part of $259 million in purchases announced Thursday by EVEP.

Belden owns oil and natural gas rights in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The company has net proved reserves equivalent to 120 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Those reserves are 81 percent natural gas, 16 percent crude oil and 3 percent natural gas liquids.

The deal doesn’t include Utica Shale rights, but EVEP is at the East Canton Oil Field.

The East Canton field is part of the Clinton Sandstone formation. It covers eastern Stark County, as well as parts of Portage, Tuscarawas, Carroll and Harrison counties.

EnerVest has drilled several horizontal Clinton wells in Stark County since last year.

In a conference call, EVEP Executive Chairman John B. Walker said the company feels the area is a “very good play” for horizontal Clinton wells.

“Because of what EVEP already owns in the East Canton Oil Field, by buying Belden we now virtually control that field and there are literally hundreds of locations for us to drill horizontally,” Walker said.

The Belden deal and purchases in Texas and New Mexico are expected to close Oct. 1

EVEP officials said the purchases will improve the partnership’s geographical balance, increase production by a third and increase proved reserves by 30 percent.

For more information and reaction, return to CantonRep.com and see Friday’s edition of The Repository.

Reach Shane at 330-580-8338 or shane.hoover@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @shooverREP