Bryan Sheffield-Backed Australian Gas Driller Eyes US IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Tamboran Resources Corp., backed by Texas oilman Bryan Sheffield, is seeking to raise as much as $175.5 million from an initial public offering in New York in a bid to expand its shareholder base to US shale gas investors.

The 6.5 million shares would be priced in a range of $24 to $27 per share, the Australian company said Monday in a filing. The underwriters have an option to buy as many as 975,000 additional shares. Tamboran’s current market value is about A$391 million ($259 million).

US investors such as Bryan Sheffield’s Sheffield Holdings, his father and Pioneer Resources founder Scott Sheffield, oilfield-services firm Liberty Energy and the Charlotte G. Yates Family, have expressed interest in purchasing shares valued at as much as $22.5 million in the offering, according to the filing. Sheffield Holdings already is the largest investor in Tamboran, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Tamboran plans to use the proceeds to fund operations in Australia’s Beetaloo Basin — a formation that has drawn comparisons to the Marcellus Basin in the Appalachia region of the US. 

The interest in Australia comes after the Sheffields recently exited US shale in dramatic fashion. Pioneer Natural Resources bought Parsley Energy for $4.5 billion during the Covid pandemic while Scott led Pioneer and Bryan was chairman at Parsley and both men held large stakes in their respective companies. Pioneer then agreed to sell out to Exxon Mobil Corp. for $60 billion in late 2023.

US regulators approved the deal in May, but said it found evidence Scott Sheffield sought to communicate with OPEC and US peers about oil pricing and output. Regulators referred the matter for a potential criminal investigation and barred Scott Sheffield, Pioneer’s founder, from joining Exxon’s board. He denies the allegations and hired a powerful Washington, DC, lobbying firm.

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