Oil mogul George Kaiser gets into oilfield services duel with rival

Argonaut Gold

22/03/2021 19:52

March 22 (Reuters) - The private equity arm of Oklahoma oil
and gas tycoon George Kaiser said it had acquired some oilfield
services assets of Pioneer Natural Resources  PXD.N , setting up
a shale patch rivalry with billionaire Dan Wilks in the top U.S.
shale field.
    Kaiser's Argonaut Private Equity acquired Pioneer Well
Services, an oilfield services arm of one of the largest U.S.
shale producers, for an disclosed amount. Both Pioneer and
Argonaut did not reply to requests for comment.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBwcg4PcKa
    Wilks earlier this year took stakes in ProPetro Holding Corp
 PUMP.N  and NexTier Oilfield Solutions, two of the top shale
well services providers. He and his brother own Wilks Brothers
LLC, which controls hydraulic fracturing firm ProFrac Services
and had engaged in a lengthy takeover battle for Canada's
Calfrac Well Services Ltd last year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2JU2T8
    Argonaut said on Monday it rebranded the Pioneer arm as
American Well Services and that it would partner with existing
Argonaut portfolio company, Nichols Oil Tools, which provides
oilfield equipment and services, including pressure pumping.
    American Well Services will exclusively work on Pioneer
Natural's contracts for the next few years, one person familiar
with the matter told Reuters.
    The Argonaut deal also comes months after Pioneer Natural
acquired smaller rival Parsley Energy in a multi-billion dollar
deal, amid a wave of consolidations among oil producers slammed
by the rout in oil prices during the pandemic.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2HB48I

 (Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar and Shariq Khan in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
 ((Arundhati.Sarkar@thomsonreuters.com;
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