Pioneer Continues Its Focus on Capital Efficiency as ExxonMobil Deal Approaches

Pioneer is one of the largest Permian Basin oil and gas producers overall. It's also the largest pure play. It has about 800,000 net acres there, all of which are located on the Midland Basin side where it believes it can get the best returns. The firm acquired the bulk of its acreage well before the shale revolution began, with an average acquisition cost of around $500 per acre. That's a fraction of what most of its peers shelled out during the land grab at the beginning of the Permian boom, giving the firm a unique advantage. Most of this acreage is located in the core of the play, where well performance is typically strongest. That gives Pioneer an extensive runway of low-cost drilling opportunities primarily targeting the Wolfcamp A, Wolfcamp B, and Spraberry reservoirs.