Mitsui filed a Stipulation of Interest document in the Freestone County Deed Records last week. In it, they disclosed the partner shares in about 350 leases covering acreage in Freestone and Leon Counties:
Mitsui: 50.3%
Petro-Hunt: 33.0%
Sabana Haynesville: 14.9%
Vanna Haynesville I Working Interest: 0.9%
OEII-Land: 0.9%
Interesting to see the Hunt family involved in this play.
With sliver prices at $100/oz, perhaps their original strategy comes to full frutation. 
Alan
Thank you for continuing to provide interesting information regarding Mitsui.
As an owner with mineral interest, I’m wondering why a large global corporation would share such large interest in their leases with other entities such as Hunt, who initially were not involved in our transaction. Perhaps it provides the drilling or technical capacity here?
Not that any of it matters, just curious.
As for Sabana and Vanna they were part of the deal from the beginning and hold much smaller shares.
Have heard that Mitsui has staked a location east of FM 489 (less than a mile) in Freestone County, and just south of U. S. 84. Does anyone know the truth of this? I did drive by and there does seem to be flagged survey stakes quite a distance apart.
Thanks.
The interesting story is in the filing counts. Looking at the clerk records in Freestone and Leon:
| Partner | Filings |
|---|---|
| Vanna Haynesville | 1,576 |
| Sabana Haynesville | 518 |
| Mitsui E&P | 460 |
| OEII Land | 81 |
Vanna has 3x the filings of Mitsui. That tells you who was doing the original leasing work. Sabana and Vanna assembled the position — primarily OGLs, memos, and ratifications — then brought in Mitsui as the operating partner and Petro-Hunt for capital/drilling.
The current WI split (Mitsui 50%, Hunt 33%, Sabana 15%, Vanna ~1%) reflects that transition: Vanna/Sabana cashed out most of their position but kept a sliver of the carry.
Hunt family involvement is interesting — they’ve historically been more active in the Bakken and Eagle Ford. This might be a regional diversification play, or they see the Haynesville as an LNG export play given Henry Hub arbitrage. Or, perhaps they are opportunists like us
Also, No direct Vanna/Sabana → Petro-Hunt assignments found.
Instead, the chain appears to be:
Rough Patch Resources LLC → Petro-Hunt LLC (Assignment of Lease, Aug 2023, Freestone)
Vanna Production II → Expand Exploration / Cortez Energy (recent Oct-Nov 2025 assignments)
Petro-Hunt has 41 filings across Freestone (32) and Leon (9) — but most are direct OGLs from mineral owners, not assignments from Vanna/Sabana.
Likely scenario:
Petro-Hunt was a co-investor from the start (injected capital), not an assignee of the aggregators.
The 33% WI was likely acquired through a participation agreement or JV agreement rather than recorded assignments.
The Stipulation of Interest is the first time these WI percentages appear in the clerk records — that’s why it was filed (to establish the JV structure on record).
Good info! My recollection is that Mitsui did not purchase all of Vanna’s position. However, I did not take the time to sift through the assignment documents to confirm that.
In the beginning, I believe Vanna intended to pursue a drilling program of their own. At some point, that changed and they sold a portion to Mitsui.
Also, Vanna’s original capital resource was Sabana Royalty Partners…the Wilks brothers. Sabana was in on the Mitsui deal, but I don’t believe they are involved in the deal with Expand.
Regarding Petro-Hunt, they recorded a couple of leases in Freestone County in July, 2023, then received the lease assignment from Rough Patch in a document recorded on August 2, 2023. Mitsui filed an operating agreement on August 19, 2025, and that was the first indication that Petro-Hunt was a financial partner with Mitsui.
Alan, you are spot on regarding the Sabana / Wilks connection. The Cisco, TX address appearing on the Sabana filings is the giveaway (same HQ as the Wilks Brothers’ Frac Tech empire).
For those who might not be following the corporate shuffling: Expand Energy is the new giant formed from the merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy. When we see filings for “Expand” or their subs, we are effectively watching the new #1 natural gas producer in the U.S. consolidating its footprint.
(Incidenally, I did some Oracle work for SE back in the day, and all the employees were millionaires)
Re: The Data: The assignments from Vanna V to Expand appear to cover the Bald Prairie Field area (Deep Bossier). For orientation, we are seeing the core of this position concentrated around the J.S. Abel Survey (A-48) and H.P. England Survey (A-221) in Freestone County.
Based on the Oct 2025 filing spread, the total Expand position looks to be roughly 30,000 acres in Freestone and 30,000 acres in Leon.
So the data suggests Vanna carved up the position into two massive blocks:
It really highlights the scale of the original aggregation campaign.
Re: The Drilling: I’m hearing the same ‘scuttlebutt’ on the pilot wells—it’s a beast of a reservoir. We are talking 18,000’+ TVD (Deep Bossier), and the HPHT (High Pressure/High Temp) environment is absolutely chewing up bits. It’s a steep learning curve to get the ROP (Rate of Penetration) right without burning through bottom-hole assemblies, but Comstock and Mitsui seem to be cracking the code.
The Long Game: It’s also worth noting who is writing the checks. Japanese majors like Osaka Gas (who bought Sabine) and Mitsui operate on 50+ year investment horizons. They are securing multi-generational LNG supply chains, not flipping leases for the next quarter. They think very differently than the typical U.S. operator chasing a quarterly bumps.
Terrific information here. Much of this is consistent to what I experienced as an owner. First came Sabana with the offer, then came Vanna with the initial lease, then came Mitsui and later they were the ones who issued the lease renewal payment.