Buyout firm NGP seeks $2 billion sale of gas producer Camino, sources say

By Shariq Khan and David French

(Reuters) - Private equity firm NGP Energy Capital Management is exploring a sale of natural gas producer Camino Natural Resources, which may achieve a valuation of around $2 billion including debt, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Among the largest remaining private producers in the Anadarko basin of Oklahoma, Camino covers around 135,000 net acres. Owner NGP is working with investment bankers at RBC Capital Markets on an auction of Camino's assets that formally began earlier this month, the sources said.

The sources cautioned that a sale is not guaranteed and NGP could retain ownership of Camino. They requested anonymity as the talks are confidential.

NGP and Camino did not respond to comment requests. RBC declined comment.

A record-breaking streak of energy industry consolidation is expected to continue into this year, albeit at a slower clip as some of the largest privately-owned targets have been acquired.

The focus of potential buyers is also expected to shift from the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico towards other energy plays, as the intense competition of recent years has driven up prices for acreage in the top U.S. oilfield.

Among basins benefiting from the switch is the Anadarko, a maturing play where oil and gas drilling began over a century ago. The area's attractiveness waned during the late-2010s following a flurry of bad bets at the height of the shale wildcatting boom.

Its image has recovered in recent years, aided by more sober approaches by companies that specialize in developing mature plays, including using more efficient drilling techniques that have helped lower production costs.

Dealmaking has picked up as a result. On Monday, natural gas producer Diversified Energy announced a $1.3 billion purchase of Anadarko and Permian assets from privately owned Maverick Natural Resources.

For 2025, Camino's core earnings are expected to be about $700 million, with output to average around 81,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which around half is natural gas, the sources said.

This weighting may draw bidders seeking exposure to natural gas, as expectations mount of a surge in demand from power generation to feed data centers.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan and David French in New York; editing by Barbara Lewis)