TPH Partners LP, a middle market energy private equity fund, has created BlueRock Energy Capital II LLC, a financing company that provides small, independent exploration and production operators with $1 million to $10 million of acquisition and development capital. The management of BlueRock first organized this Houston-based business more than 15 years ago under Tenneco Ventures and subsequently became a part of Domain Energy and later Range Resources. BlueRock utilizes a non-recourse limited term overriding royalty financing structure to provide an alternative to bank debt or equity capital for its producer clients. Houston-based TPH Partners is the private equity arm of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. LLC.
XTO replaces expiring shelf registration with SEC
Oil and natural gas producer XTO Energy Inc. has filed to replace its expiring universal shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which allows XTO Energy to offer equity or debt securities or any combination thereof in the future. XTO Energy currently has no plans to issue securities under this shelf.
Bill Barrett acquires Piceance Basin acreage
Denver, Co.-based natural gas and oil exploration and development company Bill Barrett Corp. has closed a purchase and sale agreement paying $60 million to acquire a 90% working interest in roughly 40,300 undeveloped leasehold acres in Cottonwood Gulch, located in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado. The company expects the acquisition to add more than 2 tcfe to probable and possible resources. The leases are located on Federal lands (87.5% net revenue interest) and are 10-year leases that were issued in late 2008. The company financed the acquisition through its bank line of credit. Following this acquisition, availability under the company’s credit facility was $294 million.
Williams closes JV agreement to enter Marcellus Shale
Williams has closed the joint-venture agreement with Atlas Pipeline Partners LP that provides the company entry into the Marcellus Shale. The new midstream joint venture, Laurel Mountain Midstream LLC, owns 1,800 miles of intrastate natural gas gathering lines in the Appalachian Basin servicing 6,900 wells. Williams contributed $100 million and issued a $25.5 million note payable to Laurel Mountain in exchange for a 51% ownership interest in the JV. Williams serves as operator. Citi acted as exclusive financial advisor to Williams.
Rowan to recommenceconstruction on Joe Douglas jackup
Based on improvements in the credit markets, Rowan Companies Inc. has elected to recommence construction of the third 240C class jackup rig, the Joe Douglas, at its Vicksburg, MS shipyard, with delivery expected in the third quarter of 2011. Construction o the rig was started in 2007, but halted earlier in the year due to concerns over turmoil in the credit markets and the downturn in jackup drilling markets. The rig’s expected go forward cost is $150 million. Incorporating the expected impact of this revision to the company’s newbuild plan, current estimates for the company’s 2009 capital expenditures will increase by roughly $20 to $25 million to nearly $550 million, and total 2010 capital expenditures will be in the range of roughly $300 to $325 million.
Barrier Advisors engaged to restructure Teton Energy
Barrier Advisors, a Dallas-based financial advisory and restructuring firm, has been engaged as restructuring advisor by Denver-based independent oil and gas exploration and production company Teton Energy. Barrier has been retained to restructure the company, divest non-operated properties, and negotiate with the company’s creditors. Teton Energy has also engaged RBC Richardson Barr as its investment banker.
Scorpion Offshore secures $52M loan; will sell rig to repay
Bermuda-based Scorpion Offshore Ltd. has secured a $52 million loan facility to complete its working capital financing requirements. The six month facility is to be guaranteed by two of the company’s largest shareholders, Seadrill Ltd. and Christen Sveaas. The guarantors will be paid a fee of 8.5%. Scorpion does not plan to raise any additional funding for its first six operating rigs. Scorpion intends to repay the loan by selling the Offshore Mischief, an independent leg jack-up rig designed to drill wells to 30,000 feet deep, and expects to have a buyer by the end of the year.
Indigo Minerals plans acquisition of ChesapeakeArk-La-Tex assets for $218M
Indigo Minerals LLC has agreed to acquire certain upstream and midstream assets located in the Ark-La-Tex region from Chesapeake Energy Corp. for $218 million. The transaction involves 519 producing wells in over 60 fields in along with 40,000 undeveloped acres, bringing the total acreage position involved in the transaction to over 122,000 net acres. Chesapeake will retain the deep (Haynesville Shale and below) leasehold rights. Indigo will be taking over operations in 219 Chesapeake wells and will gain a working interest in another 300 non-operated wells in the region. The operated properties represent about 85% of the transaction value. Indigo was formed in late 2006 as a venture between Yorktown Partners, the Martin Cos., Bank of America Capital Investors, and Indigo management.
East Resources to utilize KKR funds to repay debt, develop Marcellus acreage
East Resources Inc. has received an investment from private equity funds of global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP (KKR). Proceeds from the convertible debt investment will be used to repay all outstanding balances under the company’s credit facility and support long-term oil and gas exploration and development activities focused on the Marcellus shale, and invest in new energy infrastructure.
Openspirit, SMT offer collaborative, concurrent releases for oil, gas industry
OpenSpirit will release the KINGDOM 8.4 data connector concurrent with SMT’s release of the new KINGDOM 8.4 Core and Advanced software solutions. Key to these releases is the performance improvements within the OpenSpirit KINGDOM data connector. OpenSpirit handles coordinate reference system translations on the fly, enabling end users to transfer data between multiple KINGDOM projects, as well as other OpenSpirit-enabled data repositories. Further, SMT and OpenSpirit will work to embed OpenSpirit in SMT’s next-generation data management suite, and also release the new SMT KINGDOM Application Adapter.
Minerals Management Service selects Proserv for decommissioning study
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), has chosen Proserv Offshore to study the technical issues and methodology for decommissioning fixed structures in water depths greater than 400 ft and floating structures in water depths exceeding 9842 ft. The project includes fixed structures, deepwater and ultra-deepwater floating facilities such as spars, tension leg platforms and semi-submersibles, plus well P&A costs and the decommissioning of all subsea systems. The current methodology, technology, and experience have been limited to decommissioning of fixed platforms, pipelines, and wells in GoM water depths approximating 400 ft. The study is scheduled for completion later this year.
