Stone Ridge buys ConocoPhillips assets in $1.3B Oklahoma deal
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In a strategic move that highlights the growing intersection of financial capital and domestic energy infrastructure, Stone Ridge Energy has agreed to acquire a portfolio of upstream assets in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin from ConocoPhillips for $1.3 billion. The transaction, announced in early August 2025, is scheduled to close during the fourth quarter.
The acquired acreage spans approximately 300,000 net acres and produces around 39,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Natural gas accounts for nearly half of that output. The acquisition significantly expands Stone Ridge Energy’s presence in North American shale basins. Since its inception in 2021, the firm has invested close to $9 billion in upstream energy development.
Flywheel Energy, a company backed by Stone Ridge, will operate the assets. Flywheel brings technical and operational expertise in the Midcontinent region. The Anadarko Basin position complements existing Stone Ridge investments in the DJ and Powder River basins.
This acquisition follows ConocoPhillips’ larger $22.5 billion purchase of Marathon Oil earlier in 2025. That transaction added debt and overlapping acreage, prompting a reassessment of the company’s regional footprint. For Stone Ridge, acquiring these Oklahoma assets reflects a larger strategy of building a scalable, capital-efficient energy supply tailored to high-demand, data-centric markets.
Why ConocoPhillips is accelerating its divestiture strategy
The sale of the Anadarko assets fits into ConocoPhillips’ broader plan to optimize its capital deployment. The company took on $5.4 billion in debt as part of the Marathon Oil acquisition, which also brought in acreage considered noncore to its operational priorities.
In the current commodity environment, the Anadarko assets do not meet ConocoPhillips’ investment thresholds. By selling them, the company has surpassed its previous divestiture target of $2 billion and has now set a new goal of $5 billion in total asset sales by the end of 2026.
The funds raised through this transaction will support development in higher-return basins such as the Permian, Bakken and Montney. These areas offer stronger economics and operational synergies with the company’s existing assets. The transaction also aligns with shareholder expectations for disciplined capital management and sustained returns.
How Stone Ridge is transforming upstream energy investment
Stone Ridge Energy is part of a growing trend where financial institutions take a more active role in energy infrastructure. Since 2021, the firm has committed almost $9 billion to upstream oil and gas projects, with a strong emphasis on natural gas–rich regions.
The Oklahoma acquisition supports Stone Ridge’s strategy of building reliable natural gas capacity to serve data-intensive and export-focused sectors. With this deal, the firm’s natural gas delivery capability now exceeds 11 gigawatts, an amount sufficient to power millions of homes and industrial systems.
Stone Ridge’s investment model combines financial engineering with operational integration. Flywheel Energy serves as the execution partner, helping lower field-level costs and maximize production efficiency. The firm targets assets that may fall outside the acquisition profiles of publicly traded exploration and production companies due to size or infrastructure constraints.
Digital flare mitigation and the monetization of stranded gas
One of the key advantages of Stone Ridge’s approach lies in its technology affiliate, NYDIG. Through NYDIG, the firm acquired digital flare mitigation infrastructure that allows excess natural gas to be converted into power at the wellhead. This power can then support onsite data centers or other modular load operations.
This technology has already helped prevent the flaring of nearly 22 billion cubic feet of gas and reduced emissions by the equivalent of 2.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. That reduction is comparable to removing hundreds of thousands of cars from the road for a year.
The modular nature of the system enables deployment in locations where pipeline infrastructure is limited or delayed. This flexibility improves time to value and allows Stone Ridge to capture economic returns earlier in the asset lifecycle.
In an environment where both capital efficiency and environmental performance are increasingly scrutinized, this type of innovation provides a measurable edge.
Stone Ridge is aligning its energy portfolio with the needs of sectors that require constant, high-density power. Bitcoin mining is one such sector. AI data centers are another, with their need for uninterrupted power to support compute-intensive workloads. Liquefied natural gas markets in Asia and Europe also play a significant role in shaping demand. These export markets offer price arbitrage opportunities and long-term offtake stability.