Battalion Oil has appointed Matt Steele as its new CEO, replacing Rich Little who leaves after nearly four years in the role.

The company is based in NW Houston and has working interests in approximately 40,000 net acres in the Delaware Basin. Its market capitalization is currently $108 million. Unfortunately, it also has $182 million of net debt that carries an interest rate of over 12.5%.

The company was formerly known as Halcon Resources. It went into bankruptcy in August 2019. The company emerged in October 2019, having eliminated over $750 million of debt. In return, the debt holders got 91% of the newly reorganized equity. It changed its name to Battalion in January 2020.

The new CEO, Mr. Steele, founded Bruin E&P Partners in 2015. The company bought Halcon’s Bakken assets in 2017 for $1.4 billion. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2020. Mr. Steele left when the company was sold to Enerplus in March 2021 for $465 million.

Mr. Steele will receive a base salary of $250,000, considerably lower than his predecessor ($500,000) and new CFO, Kristen McWatters, ($300,000) who joined in January. He will also receive the opportunity to earn unspecified incentive compensation bonuses.

Mr. Little will receive a severance payment of $1 million.

SEC filing – 8-K Battalion Oil CEO