SNEAK PEEK: DiamondBack Energy's vision for 2025
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Check out our exclusive sneak peek of ABC Big 2's Chris Talley's one-on-one interview with DiamondBack Energy's President and CFO, Kaes Van't Hof as he talks about the company's future plans of growth in 2025.
Catch the full-length interview in an all-new Powering the Permian on March 26.
Hear Van't Hof speak about recent mergers and acquisitions of other local West Texas oil and gas companies and DiamondBack's nearly 2 decades of growth.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Viper Energy to Buy Sitio Royalties Corp in $4.1B Deal
This article was first published on Rigzone here Viper Energy Inc and Sitio Royalties Corp announced in a joint statement that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Viper will acquire Sitio in an all-equity transaction valued at approximately $4.1 billion, including Sitio's net debt of approximately $1.1 billion as of March 31, 2025. 'The consideration will consist of 0.4855 shares of Class A common stock of a new holding company for each share of Sitio Class A common stock, and 0.4855 units of Viper's operating subsidiary, Viper Energy Partners LLC, for each unit of Sitio's operating subsidiary (along with a corresponding amount of Class B common stock of pro forma Viper for each share of Sitio Class C common stock), representing an implied value to each Sitio stockholder of $19.41 per share based on the closing price of Viper common stock on June 2, 2025,' the joint statement noted. The statement highlighted that the deal was unanimously approved by the board of directors of each company and pointed out that it has been approved by the written consent of Diamondback as Viper's majority stockholder. Stockholders holding an aggregate of approximately 48 percent of Sitio's outstanding voting power, including Kimmeridge, its largest stockholder, have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction, the statement noted. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025, the statement said. In a section highlighting the 'strategic rationale' for the deal, the joint statement outlined that it 'adds substantial scale and inventory depth that will support pro forma Viper's durable production profile and free cash flow growth over the next decade'. The statement also outlined that it offers 'meaningful financial accretion and higher cash returns', 'significant synergies', and 'lowers pro forma Viper's base dividend breakeven by approximately $2 per barrel'. Kaes Van't Hof, Chief Executive Officer of Viper, said in the joint statement, 'the combination of Viper and Sitio signifies an important moment for mineral and royalty interests'. 'This combination creates a leader in size, scale, float, liquidity and access to investment grade capital in the highly fragmented minerals industry. Pro forma Viper is now clearly a must-own public mineral and royalty company in North America, with attractive size and scale in the Permian Basin,' Van't Hof added. 'This transaction positions Viper to compete for capital with mid and large cap North American E&Ps except with higher margins, minimal operating costs, and the lowest dividend breakeven in the space,' Van't Hof continued. 'While this transaction will reduce Diamondback's ownership in pro forma Viper to 41 percent, it does not reduce the significance of the relationship between Diamondback and Viper,' Van't Hof said in the statement. 'The Diamondback drillbit remains Viper's biggest competitive advantage and the most visible source of long-term production growth at Viper. Mineral interests offer the highest form of security and upside in the oil field, and any and all benefits an operator manages to unlock accrues directly to the mineral holder without any capital risk, forever,' Van't Hof went on to note. Sitio CEO Chris Conoscenti said in the statement, 'we are excited to announce the combination of two leading minerals companies with a shared strategic vision of integrating the highest quality assets to create a truly differentiated investment opportunity for shareholders'. 'This transaction provides Sitio's shareholders with exposure to an entity with significantly greater size, future development visibility, and all of the benefits of the economies of scale unique to the minerals business - higher margins, lower cost of capital, strong positioning for future M&A opportunities, and the ability to return more capital to shareholders,' he added. 'I want to thank all of the Sitio team members, whose innovation and relentless pursuit of continuous improvement made building Sitio such an amazing and rewarding experience,' he continued. Noam Lockshin, Chairman of the Sitio Board of Directors, said in the statement, 'this transaction is the next logical step in Sitio's evolution'. Take control of your THOUSANDS of Oil & Gas jobs on Search Now >> 'By adding Sitio's coverage of the Delaware Basin to Viper's position in the Midland Basin, the combined company will be well positioned in the Permian for years to come,' Lockshin added. Analyst Take While corporate mergers are a staple of oil and gas operators, they have been rare in the more sedate minerals space, Andrew Dittmar, principal analyst at Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), said in a statement sent to Rigzone commenting on the Viper-Sitio deal. 'Now, for just the second time Enverus has tracked, two publicly traded minerals companies are combing with Viper Energy Partners buying Sitio Royalties for $4.1 billion inclusive of net debt,' Dittmar highlighted in the statement. 'The only other significant mineral public company merger tracked by Enverus also involved Sitio when it acquired Brigham Minerals for $1.9 billion in 2022. Deal activity, while active in the space, is usually confined to smaller bolt-on transactions and consolidation of individual interests,' he added. 'Viper, which is affiliated with upstream operator Diamondback Energy, has turned to an unusually active spree of deals to create a public mineral company with differentiated scale compared to peers,' he continued. 'Inclusive of the Sitio merger and a major dropdown from Diamondback, Viper has now spent over $8 billion on acquisitions in 2025 or more than the cumulative value of all disclosed mineral M&A in 2023 and 2024,' Dittmar noted. 'Since the start of 2023, Viper has accounted for 70 percent of publicly disclosed mineral M&A, taking on the job of consolidating and bringing to public markets at an investible scale the fragmented space,' he went on to state. Despite the attractive yields and low capital requirement of the mineral space, the small size and market capitalization of these somewhat niche companies likely limited their appeal to the broader investment community, Dittmar said in the statement. 'Viper already had a leading scale among pure mineral companies with a market capitalization over $12 billion, but adding Sitio still helps boost the company's public float given the substantial ownership by Diamondback, sitting at 41 percent pro forma for the Sitio acquisition,' he added. 'Viper will have a pro-forma market capitalization of around $15 billion, trailing just Texas Pacific Land, which has a mixed royalty and surface ownership business, and about five times the scale of the next largest company, Blackstone Minerals. Its market capitalization will sit between operators Coterra and Permian Resources,' Dittmar noted. Besides its scale, Viper is differentiated by the quality of its asset base with a concentration in the Permian Basin, Dittmar said in the statement, describing the Permian as 'by a significant margin the largest and most economic U.S. shale play'. 'The company was previously focused on the Midland Basin and particularly on interests operated by Diamondback,' Dittmar highlighted in the statement. 'This deal materially increases its exposure to the Delaware Basin. That does drop Viper's weighting towards Diamondback and the unique insight into development plans that offers but given the quality of Delaware inventory investors are likely to take that in stride,' he added. 'Furthermore, ExxonMobil accounts for almost half of third-party operated production including third-party Midland volumes, per Viper, giving investors further confidence in these assets,' he continued. Besides the increased Permian exposure, Sitio brings to the table royalty interests in the DJ, Eagle Ford, and Williston Basin, Dittmar noted. 'That is something Viper could look to sell once the deal closes to return to its status as a Permian pure play,' Dittmar highlighted in the statement. 'That should be straight forward to accomplish as there is a ready and active market for minerals including significant interest from private capital,' he added. To contact the author, email More From The Leading Energy Platform: USA Crude Oil Inventories Drop 4.3 Million Barrels Week on Week Bilfinger Picked by Cadent to Upgrade UK Gas Distribution Network BP Enters Into Series of Azerbaijan Deals Equinor, Centrica Sign $27 Billion Gas Sales Deal >> Find the latest oil and gas jobs on << Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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No more pennies: Midland collector shares what the coin's end means for your wallet
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- The penny, long the most neglected coin in our change jars and couch cushions, is about to clock out for good. The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently confirmed it will end production of the penny in 2026, citing high costs and dwindling use. According to the U.S. Mint's own reports, it costs about 2.7 cents to produce a single penny, meaning taxpayers lose millions each year just keeping the coin alive. For most Americans, the change might go unnoticed. But for William Welsh, owner of Preacher Bill's Coins in Midland and a collector himself, the announcement is bittersweet. 'It really needed to be done. I thought it would be done much earlier. It's sad, I say. It's sad because pennies are just such an important part of our economy,' Welsh said. Welsh has been collecting coins since childhood and now operates a small shop in Midland where he buys, sells, and appraises everything from 19th-century nickels to rare Lincoln cents. To him, pennies aren't just metal, they're miniature time capsules. Since the news broke, Welsh said he's seen a steady rise in people coming in to buy pennies, so many, in fact, that he's starting to run out. 'Just the fact that they're going to be stopped production has caused a lot of people in the last few months to collect more pennies, and we've seen the values really start to soar,' he said. With the 2026 cutoff looming, some collectors are already treating modern pennies, especially from 2024 and 2025, as future collectors' items. '2024 pennies are a short supply, so those are good, especially if you can find them in uncirculated,' Welsh said. 'And then the 25s probably will be… the one that people want to collect right away.' The value isn't just speculative. According to Welsh, pennies minted before 1982, which were primarily made of copper, have already doubled in value based on metal content alone. 'I've told people for a lot of years to collect your copper pennies, that's 1982 and back, and to just put them up,' he said. 'They've been over two cents each in value. So you immediately double, but copper will continue to go up in value.' And while most pocket change won't fetch more than face value, certain rare pennies have already crossed into four-digit territory. Welsh points to the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent, the first of its kind with designer Victor D. Brenner's initials, as a classic example. 'They've started about $600, and you can get up into the hundreds of thousands if the grade is amazing,' he said. Another one to look out for? The 1955 doubled die penny, a misprint that collectors adore. 'Those start at about $500 and go up,' Welsh said. The first U.S. cent was minted in 1793, a massive copper coin by today's standards. Since then, the penny has undergone dozens of design and composition changes, from Flying Eagle cents in the 1850s to steel cents issued during World War II when copper was diverted to the war effort. The familiar Lincoln penny debuted in 1909 to honor the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. It was also the first U.S. coin to feature a real person, a controversial move at the time. 'The Lincoln penny, the Indian Head penny, they were trying to honor the Indians, our Indians. And then with the Lincoln penny, the importance of Abraham Lincoln,' Welsh said. But the economic reality has changed. Canada stopped producing its penny in 2012, joining countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil in retiring their lowest-denomination coins. 'It costs about two and a half cents to make a penny, so it doesn't make any sense, I know the play on words to make something you're losing money on,' Welsh added. The change comes amid a national shift away from cash. In 2023, only 16% of American payments were made in cash, according to the Federal Reserve, and nearly 40% of consumers report never using cash at all. In response, President Donald Trump ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies, citing their unsustainable cost. Although the U.S. Mint will stop making new pennies, ones already in circulation will still be accepted as regular money. You won't have to turn them in or stop using them. However, some stores may start rounding prices up or down to the nearest five cents when people pay with cash, a practice already common in other countries. 'If it's 57 cents, they'll do it as 55. If it's 58 cents, they'll do it as 60. That makes sense. A lot of places already do that, even with the pennies.' Still, Welsh believes the penny's legacy will outlast its circulation. 'You know, I would keep every penny. I mean, for now… Someday, you know, I'll tell your grandkids and say, This is what we used to have pennies. We don't have them anymore.' As for how he'd write the penny's obituary? 'Mine would probably be pretty funny, something about sense of sense of sense,' he said with a laugh. 'But just sad to see you go.' William Welsh offers free appraisals at his Midland shop, no matter how small the pile. He encourages everyone to check their change jars, especially for copper coins dated 1982 and earlier or unusual errors like off-center strikes or doubled dates. Because even if the penny's time is running out, you might still have a few that, quite literally, make sense to hold onto. To see if your coins are valuable, visit Preacherbill's Coins in Midland, located at 1004 W Front St, Midland, TX 79701, open Monday to Saturday from 10 AM to 6 PM. You can also call (432) 222-0160 for more information. William Welsh, aka Bill Welsh or Preacherbill, operates Preacher Bill's Coins in Midland, a shop that's been serving collectors nationwide for over 40 years. From silver and gold bullion to rare coins and autographs, the store welcomes beginners and longtime collectors alike, whether you're hoping to expand a collection, verify the value of an old coin, or sell something from your stash. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Governor Abbott promotes West Texas growth with new bills
MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- Governor Greg Abbott made a stop in Midland Thursday, joined by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick, Senator Kevin Sparks, Representative Tom Craddick, Representative Brooks Landgraf, Midland Mayor Lori Blong, and other state and local officials and energy leaders, to sign a series of bills passed during the 89th regular legislative session. Abbott said these bills will safeguard Texas' robust oil and gas industry and spur economic growth across West Texas. 'Today is a defining moment for the Permian Basin, for the future of this region, as well as for the future of Texas,' Governor Abbott said. 'The Permian Basin, what we like to call the land out of the high sky and where the sky is the limit. It's a land of purpose, a land of promise. It's a place where of unlimited opportunity for all who dream big, work hard, and never give up,' Evans. In West Texas, oil and gas are king. 'I like to call the people of West Texas people with a compassionate heart and a rocket engine. I like to call it the largest secure supply of energy in the world, which it is,' governor Abbott said. The Permian Basin produces more that six million barrels of oil every day. 'The Permian Basin is the lifeblood of Texas. It's the lifeblood that quite literally powers our engines, but equally literally that powers our economy,' Governor Abbott said. But being the highest-producing oil field in the US comes at a cost. 'Many of you all have complained about oil field theft and for a good reason. It's on the rise and it's very costly,' the Governor said. Oil field theft has hit the Basin hard. Law enforcement officials said more than $2,000,000 worth of stolen equipment has been seized this year alone. 'Your Senator and Representatives got three laws to my desk to fix that,' Governor Abbott said. First, House Bill 48 will establish an oil field theft prevention unit within the Texas Department of Public Safety. 'The second is Senate Bill 498 by Senator Sparks, sponsored in the House by Representative Landgraf. It establishes the Theft of Petroleum Products Task Force,' Governor Abbott said of another bill signed today. The third, Senate Bill 1806, will allow police to confiscate petroleum products that have been stolen. 'It creates a program to inspect oil and gas tankers for possible theft, and it increases criminal penalties for theft of petroleum products in Texas,' the Governor said. 'The crackdown on oil theft in Texas is now law.' Another bill signed today addressed the demand for economic growth in the Basin. 'Having been the governor of the state, it's ranked number one in the United States for economic development. Not once, not twice, but actually 13 years in a row, Texas has been the national champion for economic development,' Governor Abbott said. To foster that growth, he signed Senate Bill 529. 'It's a program that will help Midland to boost hotel and convention projects and to attract more tourists and businesses to your great city.' Leadership within the Tall City said the bill will help keep local dollars here. 'Over the last few years, we've seen so much of the revenue coming from oil and gas and from other things going out of the Permian Basin and really resourcing the rest of the state budget,' said Mayor Blong. 'I often think of the Permian Basin as the goose that lays the golden egg for the state of Texas and if they want us to continue to be able to lay those golden eggs, then they're going to have to invest in our infrastructure, they're going to have to invest in our local economy, they're going to have to invest in the health care and public safety and education of our students.' Now that these critical bills have been signed into law, Governor Abbott said locals will start to see some changes. 'It's going to transform the entire Permian Basin region for decades if not a century,' he said. One thing that Governor Abbott wanted to make clear to all- our local lawmakers were essential in making these changes happen. 'You all are fortunate to have representatives who deliver on solutions to the problems you face, so give it up for Speaker Craddock, Senator Sparks, and Representative Landgraf and Representative Darby for everything they have done to get things across the finish line,' he said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
