Western Midstream to Acquire Aris Water Solutions for $1.5 Billion
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Western Midstream Partners (WES) and Aris Water Solutions have entered into a definitive agreement to which WES will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Aris in an equity-and-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.5 billion.
“We are excited to announce the strategic combination with Aris, which aligns with our strategy of acquiring high-quality midstream assets that complement and expand our existing network. Aris has a strong track record of growth and operational performance in the Delaware Basin. The combination of our assets creates a leading produced-water gathering, disposal, and recycling business that can meet the flow assurance needs of customers as they execute on their decades’ worth of drilling inventory,” said Oscar Brown, president and chief executive officer of WES.
“The addition of the Aris assets better positions WES to provide enhanced flow assurance to our producing customers in West Texas while expanding WES’s commercial relationships with some of the top E&P operators in the New Mexico portion of the Delaware Basin, providing significant customer diversification and incremental opportunities for business development,” added Brown.
“Aris has valuable expertise in beneficial reuse and desalination technologies, and we are excited to be able to accelerate the research and advancement of these evolving technologies with greater access to efficient capital and economies of scale,” concluded Brown.
“Today’s transaction marks a significant milestone in Aris’s journey, and we are excited to join forces with WES. Since our founding in 2015, Aris has been dedicated to developing a sustainable produced-water infrastructure platform focused on gathering, disposal, and recycling activities for some of the largest operators in the Permian Basin,” said Amanda Brock, president and CEO of Aris.
“The combination of Aris and WES creates a premier midstream water-solutions provider of scale that is better positioned to deliver a variety of water services, provide critical flow assurance for natural-gas and crude-oil production activities, and generate strong returns for our shareholders through WES’s leading distribution policy and attentive focus on executing accretive growth projects. I am extremely proud of our team’s efforts and accomplishments and look forward to seeing the combined company grow,” added Brock.
The merger agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is subject to customary closing conditions, regulatory approvals, and Aris shareholder approval, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Aris’s full-cycle water infrastructure assets include approximately 790 miles of produced-water pipeline, 1,800 MBbls/d of produced-water handling capacity, 1,400 MBbls/d of water recycling capacity, and 625,000 dedicated acres from investment grade counterparties.
Aris’s produced-water and water solutions volumes are supported by an average contract tenor of approximately ten and eight years, respectively. The Aris business complements WES’s existing produced-water business that includes approximately 830 miles of pipeline, total disposal capacity of 2,035 MBbls/d, and the previously announced Pathfinder pipeline project.
Additionally, WES’s produced-water business is supported by long-term contracts with significant minimum-volume commitments. The integration of Aris’s assets extends WES’s existing footprint far to the north into Lea and Eddy Counties, New Mexico, providing access to incremental throughput opportunities across its natural-gas, crude-oil, and produced-water businesses.
Aris’s recent purchase of the McNeill Ranch could also provide significant long-term commercial opportunities and enhanced flow assurance as the produced-water disposal needs grow in the Delaware Basin.
Western Midstream Partners is a master limited partnership formed to develop, acquire, own, and operate midstream assets. With midstream assets located in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, WES is engaged in the business of gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas; gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, natural-gas liquids, and crude oil; and gathering and disposing of produced water for its customers. In its capacity as a natural-gas processor, WES also buys and sells residue, natural-gas liquids, and condensate on behalf of itself and its customers under certain gas processing contracts. A substantial majority of WES’s cash flows are protected from direct exposure to commodity price volatility through fee-based contracts.
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