In an attempt to augment its acreage in Permian Basin, ExxonMobil Corporation XOM inked two agreements to acquire horizontal development rights in 48,000 acres in the Midland Basin core.

The two agreements involve purchase and farm-in of the area adjacent to XTO Energy Inc.’s existing acreage in Martin and Midland Counties. The agreements will also provide ExxonMobil rights to all intervals within the basin. XTO, which is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, will operate the acreage.

The above-mentioned agreements are in sync with the company’s strategy to boost its position in the highly productive Permian Basin. Moreover, the recently announced solid results from Lower Spraberry, together with the established Wolfcamp intervals, validate the prospects of the stacked pays in the core of the Midland Basin.

Since Jan 2014, ExxonMobil has entered into five agreements in the Midland Basin, which have provided it with operated net acres of more than 135,000.

Currently, XTO operates 11 horizontal and four vertical rigs across its Permian Basin leasehold of over 1.5 million net acres. The company’s present net oil-equivalent production exceeds 115,000 barrels per day.

ExxonMobil Corporation is the world’s largest publicly-traded oil company engaged in oil and natural gas exploration and production, petroleum products refining and marketing, chemicals manufacture, and other energy-related businesses. Approximately 83% of ExxonMobil’s earnings come from its operations outside the U.S. The company divides its operations into three segments: Upstream, Downstream and Chemicals.

ExxonMobil currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked players in the energy sector are Seadrill Partners, LLC SDLP, CVR Refining, L.P. CVRR and Valero Energy Partners, L.P. VLP. Each of these stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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