July 31, 2019
Willkie represented Colony Capital in the transaction.
On July 22, Willkie client Colony Capital announced that its affiliate, CA Energy Investment Holdco, LLC, has entered into a farmout and development agreement with CRC Resources Elk Hills, LLC, an affiliate of California Resources Corporation, to jointly develop CRC’s Elk Hills field in Kern County, California.
Under the terms of the agreement, Colony committed to fund $320 million to invest in the joint development and participate in an initial development plan for the development of approximately 275 wells, whereby Colony’s initial commitment will fund 100 percent of CRC’s working interest share of drilling, completing and equipping costs, subject to well cost caps. In exchange, Colony will receive 90 percent of CRC’s working interest in the wellbore of each well, which will be reduced to 17.5 percent of CRC’s initial working interest upon Colony achieving certain agreed upon return hurdles in the tranche. The parties may also mutually agree to an additional development plan on the same terms and conditions as the initial development plan for an additional capital commitment of $180 million.
California Resources Corporation is the largest oil and natural gas exploration and production company in California on a gross-operated basis. The company operates its resource base exclusively within the State of California, applying complementary and integrated infrastructure to gather, process and market its production.
Colony HB2 Energy, the energy investment management platform of Colony Capital, combines investment management expertise with an experienced technical and operating team to provide direct and unique investor access to oil and gas investment opportunities. Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) is a leading global investment management firm with assets under management of $43 billion. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles with key offices in New York, Paris and London, and has over 400 employees across 17 locations in ten countries.
The Willkie deal team in Houston was led by partners Cody Carper and Michael De Voe Piazza, and included partner Robert Jacobson, and associates David Aaronson, Albert Jou, Will Thanheiser and Yaniv Maman.
