Northern Border Partners LP, Omaha, Neb., agreed to purchase Bear Paw Energy LLC for $370 million in shares and cash from a consortium of investors that includes Bear Paw management and JP Morgan Partners.
Bear Paw has gathering and processing operations in the Powder River basin in Wyoming and in the Williston basin in Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan. Bear Paw has 600 miles of high and low-pressure pipelines in Powder River basin and 2,800 miles of pipelines and 90 MMcfd of processing capacity in the Williston basin.
If all goes well, the transaction could close by the end of the first quarter.
Northern Border Partners owns a 70% general partner interest in Northern Border Pipeline Co., which owns a 1,214-mile interstate pipeline system that transports natural gas from the Montana-Saskatchewan border to markets in the Midwestern United States, and holds interests in other pipelines, including the Crestone, Bighorn, Fort Union, and Lost Creek lines.
"Once completed, we will have added over $625 million in non-regulated assets to the Partnership with our third major acquisition in a little over one year. Our total mix of non-regulated businesses will be slightly over 25%," said Bill Cordes, chairman and CEO of Northern Border Partners, L.P. "These strategically located assets will fit, both commercially and operationally, with Crestone Energy Ventures and Northern Border Pipeline."