🚨Matador just paid $1.1 billion for 5,154 acres in the Delaware Basin.
Same week Devon set a $4 billion federal auction record.
The Permian land grab is accelerating
The details:
→ 5,154 net undeveloped acres in the "core-of-the-core" of the Delaware Basin
→ 141+ net drilling locations (normalised to 2-mile laterals)
→ At least 9 prospective formations
→ 10-year lease term, 87.5% net revenue interest
→ Laterals of 3 miles or more possible
Matador can afford it.
Adjusted free cash flow expected to approach $1.2 billion in 2026.
RBL already repaid.
Acquisition debt expected fully cleared by H1 2027.
This is a company buying premium inventory while it has the balance sheet to do it.
The midstream angle matters too.
Several tracts sit adjacent to San Mateo Midstream's existing gathering and processing systems.
More acreage means more throughput the infrastructure earns alongside the drillbit.
Matador's prior federal acreage plays in the Delaware State Line and Rodney Robinson, acquired in 2018 have already returned $1.9 billion above acquisition and development costs.
They know how this trade works.