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Approximately 7,359 net royalty acres located in Upton and Crane Counties
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Concentrated ownership of an approximately 12% net royalty interest across roughly 60,000 gross acres in an expected core geologic fairway of Barnett development in the western Midland Basin
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Asset is 96% undeveloped with an expected 40.9 net inventory locations
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Only 21 currently producing gross (1.7 net) horizontal locations across the entire Ranch
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Chevron operates approximately 27% of the total net inventory, including approximately 50% of net undeveloped Barnett inventory
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Diamondback operates approximately 15% of the total net inventory
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Concentrated nature of mineral ownership will enable potential trades to accelerate development in the coming years
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Offsetting Barnett wells that have at least 12 months of production data indicate an average estimated ultimate recovery of approximately 80 bo/ft
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Stable production of approximately 400 bo/d from existing vertical wells
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Forecasted peak production on the Ranch in the range of 5,000 bo/d over the next decade
PENDING BUCKHORN ACQUISITION
On September 14, 2026, Viper entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement to acquire certain mineral and royalty interests from a group of entities collectively called Buckhorn Minerals (the “Pending Buckhorn Acquisition”) in exchange for $280 million cash and approximately 1.8 million shares of Viper’s Class A common stock, subject to customary closing adjustments. The cash portion of the transaction is expected to be funded through a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under the Company’s revolving credit facility. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Acquisition highlights are as follows:
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1,552 net royalty acres, substantially all of which are in the Midland Basin; approximately 80% overlap with existing Viper acreage position
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Midland Basin primary operators include ExxonMobil (47%) and Diamondback (29%)
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Asset is 61% undeveloped with an expected 17.4 net inventory locations
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Approximately 20% of Midland Basin acreage in units with zero producing horizontal wells; expected to support efficient full stack development in coming years
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47% of net inventory in Viper’s estimation of remaining top quartile inventory in the Midland Basin, and 70% of net inventory within the top half of remaining inventory (as determined by expected internal rate of return for the respective operators)
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Expected next 12 months’ average daily oil production of approximately 1,500 bo/d
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Expect pro forma net debt at year end 2026 of approximately $2.4 billion, equating to pro forma leverage of approximately 1.0x last twelve months Adjusted EBITDA3
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3 NON-GAAP DISCLOSURES – For a definition of Adjusted EBITDA and Net Debt and reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial metrics to their respective most directly comparable GAAP metrics, please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.
OTHER RECENT EVENTS AND FORWARD OUTLOOK
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Inclusive of the Pending Buckhorn Acquisition, initiating average daily production guidance for Q4 2026 of 70,000 to 71,000 bo/d (141,500 to 143,500 boe/d)
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Increasing average daily production guidance for full year 2026 to 67,250 to 67,750 bo/d (137,000 to 138,000 boe/d)
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Repurchased approximately 0.4 million Class A shares in Q4 2026 (to date) for approximately $17 million
“Viper’s momentum carried through the third quarter, with average daily oil production growing more than six percent quarter over quarter on the strength of recent acquisitions and continued development activity from both Diamondback and our third-party operators. Reflecting this continued momentum, we are again increasing our full year 2026 production guidance to 67,500 barrels of oil per day at the midpoint. The quarter also marked the first under our new return of capital framework, through which we declared our increased base dividend of $0.50 per Class A share while continuing to opportunistically repurchase shares,” said Kaes Van’t Hof, Chief Executive Officer of Viper.
Mr. Van’t Hof continued, “The McElroy Ranch Acquisition and Pending Buckhorn Acquisition announced today represent the continued execution of our differentiated consolidation strategy. The acquisitions combine to extend the quality and duration of our inventory, adding nearly 60 net locations across two largely undeveloped assets. The McElroy Ranch asset brings concentrated mineral ownership in an expected core fairway of emerging Barnett development, while the Pending Buckhorn Acquisition adds high-quality Midland Basin inventory with approximately 80% overlap with our existing footprint. Notably, we funded, or expect to fund, these acquisitions primarily with cash, delivering on the commitment we made when we revised our return of capital framework to pursue accretive M&A with minimal reliance on equity. These acquisitions add years of visible development to Viper’s portfolio and reinforce the durability of our long-term per-share growth outlook.”
FINANCIAL UPDATE
Viper’s third quarter 2026 average unhedged realized prices were $87.65 per barrel of oil, $0.96 per Mcf of natural gas and $24.02 per barrel of natural gas liquids, resulting in a total equivalent realized price of $50.52/boe.
Viper’s third quarter 2026 average hedged realized prices were $86.55 per barrel of oil, $0.66 per Mcf of natural gas and $24.02 per barrel of natural gas liquids, resulting in a total equivalent realized price of $49.51/boe.
During the third quarter of 2026, the Company recorded total operating income of $661 million and consolidated net income (including non-controlling interest) of $300 million.
As of September 30, 2026, the Company had a cash balance of $10 million and total debt outstanding (excluding debt issuance costs, discounts and premiums) of $2.4 billion, resulting in net debt (as defined and reconciled below) of $2.4 billion. Viper’s outstanding long-term debt as of September 30, 2026 consisted of $500 million in aggregate principal amount of its 4.900% Senior Notes due 2030, $1.1 billion in aggregate principal amount of its 5.700% Senior Notes due 2035 and $810 million of borrowings on its revolving credit facility, leaving approximately $1.2 billion available for future borrowings and approximately $1.2 billion of total liquidity.
THIRD QUARTER 2026 CASH DIVIDEND & CAPITAL RETURN PROGRAM
Viper announced today that the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) declared a base cash dividend of $0.50 per Class A common share for the third quarter of 2026, payable on November 19, 2026 to Class A common stockholders of record at the close of business on November 12, 2026.
During the third quarter of 2026, Viper repurchased approximately 2.1 million shares of the Company’s Class A common stock for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $90 million, excluding excise tax (average price of $43.01 per share).
In total, since the initiation of Viper’s common stock repurchase program on November 9, 2020 through October 30, 2026, the Company has repurchased approximately 26.1 million shares of common stock (including both Class A shares and Class B shares paired with OpCo Units) for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $844 million, excluding excise tax (average price of $32.30 per share) and has approximately $906 million rem
Source: finance.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.
