Unit (UNT) To Vend 50% Stake In Superior Pipeline For $300M

Unit Corporation (NYSE:UNT) , a diversified energy company, is set to divest 50% of its interest in its natural gas processing wholly-owned subsidiary, Superior Pipeline Co. LLC for a total consideration of $300 million. The pipeline company operates three natural gas treatment plants, 13 processing plants and 22 gathering systems. The 1,455-mile long Superior Pipeline carries a processing capacity of 340 million cubic feet per day. The company operates in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Unit will be selling half the stakes to SP Investors Holdings LLC or Superior Holdings. Cash proceeds from the sale will be utilized to bolster the drilling program of Unit Corporation’s upstream subsidiary, Unit Petroleum Company. The company’s drilling segment is witnessing higher utilization and dayrates improvements of late. The company believes that the acceleration of its drilling program will enhance its production and reserve growth. As it is, the company’s estimated total reserves in 2017 witnessed a 27% year-over-year increase to come in at 149.8 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Further, the proceeds will also enable the company to make additional investments in the Superior Pipeline that will be henceforth jointly owned by Unit Corporation and Superior Holdings.

The deal is expected to close tomorrow. Before the culmination of the deal, employees of Superior Pipeline will join Superior Midstream Operating LLC, another subsidiary of Unit Corporation.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Headquartered in Tulsa, Unit is engaged in contract land drilling operations, exploration and production, as well as gas gathering and processing. The company carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked players in the same industry are Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) , Flotek Industries, Inc. (NYSE:FTK) and Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure, Inc. (NYSE:SOI) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Archrock’s earnings are expected to witness a year-over-year increase of 195% in 2018.

Flotek’s earnings are anticipated to witness a year-over-year increase of 557.14% in 2018.

Solaris Oilfield’s earnings are expected to witness a year-over-year increase of 258.33% in 2018.

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