History
SM Energy swapped its Rockies and Eagle Ford assets for a Permian focus, survived the 2020 crash through a debt exchange, then added Utah and merged with Civitas.
2014-2015: Building in the Bakken
The record the company's disclosures give us starts in 2014, so it says nothing about how SM Energy began. In July 2014 the company agreed to buy Bakken-area oil and gas properties near its Gooseneck prospect in North Dakota from Baytex Energy for $330.5 million in cash, announced alongside its second-quarter 2014 results. It also paid a $0.05 per share semi-annual dividend.
By 2015 the focus was on money. In May its credit agreement was amended to accommodate new notes due 2025 and to allow pending sales of its Mid-Continent (Oklahoma and Kansas) assets without cutting its borrowing base, the amount lenders would let it borrow.
2016-2018: The pivot to the Permian
With prices still low, lenders cut the borrowing base again in April 2016, from $2.0 billion to $1.25 billion, and borrowing costs rose half a percentage point. In return the lenders dropped a debt test the company was close to breaching and replaced it with looser ones, while limiting how much cash it could hold and how many unsecured notes it could buy back.
Then the company changed direction. In August it agreed to buy Rock Oil Holdings' Permian Basin leasehold in Howard County, Texas, for $980 million. Days later it raised about $552 million in a stock offering to help pay for it. The purchase closed on October 6, covering roughly 24,800 net acres in the Midland Basin. The same day the credit agreement was amended to allow a sale of its Rocky Mountain assets.
On October 17 it agreed to two more deals: buying QStar and RRP-QStar's Midland Basin assets for $1.1 billion in cash plus about 13.4 million new shares, and selling its Williston Basin assets in Montana and North Dakota to Oasis Petroleum for $785 million. The Oasis sale closed in December at $765.8 million. The QStar deal closed in December at a total value of $1.6 billion. These issues help explain why shares outstanding rose from about 68 million at the end of 2015 to about 111 million a year later.
The exits continued. In January 2017 it agreed to sell its non-operated Eagle Ford assets to Venado, a KKR affiliate, and completed the sale in March for about $754 million net. In January 2018 it agreed to sell its Powder River Basin assets in Wyoming to Converse Energy for $500 million; the records seen here do not confirm whether that sale was completed. In May 2018 it sold its last Williston Basin acreage, in Divide County, North Dakota, to Petro-Hunt for $160.9 million. In October 2018 it replaced its credit agreement with a new $2.5 billion secured facility, with initial lender commitments of $1.0 billion.
2019-2023: The 2020 crash and recovery
The record for 2019 is quiet. In April 2020, as the COVID-19 oil price crash hit, the company cut its semi-annual dividend from $0.05 to $0.01 per share. At the end of the month it launched private offers to swap up to $900 million of unsecured notes for new 10% second-lien secured notes. In May its lenders amended the credit agreement to allow this, capping the new second-lien debt at $827.5 million.
The exchange closed on June 17, 2020. Holders handed in $718.9 million of older notes and received $446.675 million of new notes due January 15, 2025. They also received warrants to buy up to 5% of the common stock, and holders of the 2021 convertible notes received about $53.5 million in cash. The exchange cut the principal owed but put the new notes ahead of unsecured debt and created potential dilution.
Recovery followed. In June 2021 the company sold $400 million of 6.5% notes due 2028 and used the money to retire its 2022 notes and part of its 2024 notes. In June 2022 it redeemed all $446.7 million of the second-lien notes at 107.5% of principal and released the collateral.
2024-2026: Utah and the Civitas merger
In June 2024 the company agreed to buy XCL Resources' Uinta Basin assets in Utah for $2.55 billion, with Northern Oil and Gas able to take a 20% share. The credit agreement was amended in July, and the company sold $1.5 billion of notes that month, $750 million at 6.75% due 2029 and $750 million at 7.0% due 2032. The deal closed on October 2, 2024, and revolving commitments were expanded to $2.0 billion, with maturity extended to 2029.
On November 3, 2025 it agreed to an all-stock merger of equals with Civitas Resources, at 1.45 SM Energy shares per Civitas share. The combined company was to have an enterprise value of about $12.8 billion and roughly 823,000 net acres, anchored in the Permian. Civitas holders were to own about 52% of the combined company and SM Energy holders 48%. The merger closed on January 30, 2026, and the credit agreement was amended to extend maturity to 2031 and raise the borrowing base to $5.0 billion. This explains the share count rising to about 238 million.
The company then focused on cutting debt. In February it agreed to sell about 61,000 net acres in the southern Maverick Basin in Webb County, Texas, to Caturus Energy for $950 million. In March it sold $1.0 billion of 6.625% notes due 2034. The sale closed on April 30, and the company announced it would redeem all $819 million of its 2026 notes, including those assumed from Civitas. On June 1, 2026, it redeemed the remaining $419.2 million of its 6.75% notes due 2026, completing the payoff of all debt maturing in 2026.
Written from the 32 story beats below (2014 to 1 June 2026), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.