The Williston Basin partnership saw net income fall roughly 67% as weakening commodity markets and natural well declines weighed on 2025 results.

March 17, 2026

Production Declines After Strong 2024 Drilling Campaign

Energy 11, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership that holds non-operated working interests in the Williston Basin’s Sanish field, reported a significant decline in financial performance for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, as lower oil prices and falling production volumes combined to squeeze revenues and earnings.

Total revenues for 2025 came in at approximately $66.3 million, a drop of nearly 23% compared to the $85.8 million reported in 2024. Net income fell even more dramatically, declining to roughly $8.9 million from $26.7 million in the prior year — a decline of about 67%. The Partnership attributed the downturn primarily to lower realized oil prices and reduced oil production, which were only partially offset by gains in natural gas volumes and pricing.

The Partnership’s total sold production fell 7.7% year over year, dropping from approximately 1.53 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2024 to about 1.42 million BOE in 2025. Oil volumes were hit hardest, declining 16.4% to roughly 845,000 barrels. The drop followed a strong 2024 in which the operator, Chord Energy Corporation, completed 15 new wells during the summer. With no new completions in 2025, natural production decline took hold as existing wells aged.

On the positive side, natural gas production rose 14.6% and natural gas liquids volumes increased 4.2%, driven by improved capture rates resulting from better technology and infrastructure at the operator level.

Commodity Price Pressure Weighs on Results

Average realized oil prices fell 13.7% to $63.85 per barrel, down from $73.96 in 2024, reflecting broader market weakness. Oil prices trended downward throughout 2025, closing mid-December at roughly $55 per barrel — the lowest level since early 2021. Factors cited include uncertainty around U.S. trade policies and tariffs, OPEC+ decisions to increase production quotas beginning in May 2025, and concerns about global economic growth.

Natural gas was a bright spot, with realized prices surging 66.7% to $2.60 per Mcf from $1.56 in 2024, benefiting from tighter domestic supply conditions, stronger LNG exports, and declining storage inventories. However, the gains in natural gas revenue were not enough to offset the decline in oil revenues, which represent the majority of the Partnership’s income.

Rising Costs Compound the Pressure

Production expenses per BOE rose 14.9% to $16.47, driven by higher gathering and processing costs associated with increased natural gas and NGL volumes, greater workover activity to maintain well productivity, and the impact of spreading fixed operating costs over a smaller production base. Total production expenses reached $23.3 million, up from $22.0 million in 2024.

General and administrative expenses also ticked higher, rising to $1.4 million from $1.2 million, largely due to increased legal and professional fees. Depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion per BOE increased 4.8% to $19.80, reflecting downward revisions to estimated proved undeveloped reserves.

Distributions Reduced Slightly

The Partnership distributed $1.40 per common unit during 2025, down from $1.45 per unit in 2024, totaling approximately $26.6 million. Monthly distributions in early 2026 have varied, with $0.11 per unit declared for January and $0.12 per unit for February. As of year-end 2025, the unpaid Payout Accrual — representing accumulated unpaid distributions at a 7% annual rate for the period from March 2020 through November 2021 — totaled approximately $2.24 per common unit, or roughly $42 million in aggregate.

Reserves and Valuation

Total proved reserves stood at approximately 20.0 million BOE as of December 31, 2025, down from 22.2 million BOE at year-end 2024. The decline was driven by production and negative revisions of about 774,000 BOE related to well performance and lower commodity prices, partially offset by minor positive adjustments from changes in the future drill schedule.

The standardized measure of discounted future net cash flows dropped sharply to approximately $186.2 million from $271.2 million, reflecting the combined impact of lower prices, reduced reserves, and decreased production. The Partnership estimated its per-unit fair value at $11.28 as of December 31, 2025, based on a third-party valuation using a discounted cash flow model with NYMEX strip pricing ranging from roughly $57 to $61 per barrel through 2030.

Liquidity and Outlook

The Partnership ended the year with approximately $6.9 million in cash and no outstanding borrowings on its credit facility, a significant improvement from the $5.0 million balance carried at year-end 2024. Cash flow from operations totaled $43.7 million, down from $53.7 million in 2024. Capital expenditures dropped dramatically to $3.3 million from $30.5 million, reflecting the absence of new drilling activity.

Looking ahead, the Partnership anticipates it may need to invest up to $120 million from 2026 through 2030 to participate in new well development in the Sanish field without triggering non-consent penalties. In February 2026, the Partnership extended its BancFirst credit facility for one year to March 2027, with a $10 million borrowing base.

The Partnership also flagged ongoing geopolitical risks, noting that military conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran escalated in the Middle East in late February and early March 2026, creating uncertainty around oil production and shipping routes in the region. Oil prices had rebounded above $60 per barrel in early 2026 on higher seasonal demand and global supply restraint.

Energy 11 remains a non-traded partnership with no public market for its approximately 19 million outstanding common units, held by roughly 4,800 limited partners. The entity has no employees, with all operations managed by its general partner, Energy 11 GP, LLC, controlled by Chairman and CEO Glade M. Knight and CFO David S. McKenney.