Lime Rock Resources acquires $113M in oil, gas properties in Texas, Oklahoma

Lime Rock Resources has closed two acquisitions, totaling $113 million, of working interests in oil and gas properties in Oklahoma and Texas from separate sellers. The largest acquisition was of the Potato Hills natural gas field in southeast Oklahoma from two private sellers after two sets of exclusive negotiations. Lime Rock assumed operatorship of the field in February. Houston–based Lime Rock Resources also recently acquired interests in wellbores in the Texas Gulf Coast region adjoining its existing New Years Ridge property. The smaller acquisition was also from a private seller.

February $47M Bakken lease sale second highest in North Dakota history

North Dakota's February Bakken lease sale raised $47 million, the second–highest amount in the state's history (#1 was November 2009, at $71 million). The sale "bodes well for the pace of drilling activity and portends a growing rig count in the play, which currently sits at around 80 rigs," noted Madison Williams Equity Research. The highest bid was submitted by Irish Oil & Gas Inc. The company bid $7,300 an acre for three 40–acre tracts in Mountrail County. Other acres in Mountrail averaged $1,617/acre. The second highest bid was also made for Montrail County. Empire Oil bid $6,600 an acre bid for 100 acres in the county. The most leased acres came out of Burke County with 11,977 acres leased. The bids in the county averaged roughly nearly $600 an acre.

Noble Energy purchases DJ Basin upstream assets

Noble Energy Inc. has closed the purchase of substantially all of the US Rockies upstream assets of Petro–Canada Resources Inc. and Suncor Energy (Natural Gas) America Inc. The company acquired nearly 100 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), half of which are estimated to be proved reserves. The acquisition adds nearly 10,000 boe/d to Noble Energy's daily production and includes 340,000 total net acres, nearly 200,000 of which are located in the Greater DJ Basin. Roughly two million cubic feet equivalent per day of production and 13 billion cubic feet equivalent of reserves were included in the preferential rights exercised and not part of the final acquisition.

Avere revises Haynesville acquisition terms

Avere Energy Inc. has signed the revised and restated letter agreement to acquire a working interest in an undeveloped Haynesville prospect in Mississippi. The letter agreement between Avere and American Exploration Corp. states that the company will earn a 20% working interest in the joint venture lands by paying 20% of the costs of the drilling and completion of an initial deep gas well (roughly US$2 million) and by making additional payments aggregating US$2 million to American, including a non–refundable US$75,000 deposit, which was paid on January 27, 2010. Avere continues to organize financing to pay for (1) the farm–in and drilling obligations in connection with its farm–in on this Haynesville shale gas prospect as described above; and (2) for at minimum a subsequent development well on the property; and (3) for a seismic acquisition program.

Dejour secures mezzanine financing for project expansion

Dejour Enterprises Ltd. has secured a $5 million line of credit from an Alberta–based mezzanine lender. The first $2 million will be available upon closing and used to refinance Dejour's existing bank facility and fund its working capital. The remainder will be accessible, subject to additional lender review and approval by the Dejour board, to finance project expansions currently being considered by Dejour at its Drake/Woodrush facility.

Exterra acquires additional Permian Basin acreage

Exterra Energy Inc. has acquired additional acreage in the Permian Basin area by acquiring an additional 480 acres in Pecos County. This acquisition provides Exterra with roughly 20 to 30 new additional proven undeveloped drilling locations for expansion in the Cardinal Field.

Rock Hill Capital invests in Blackhawk Specialty Tools

Rock Hill Capital Group has made a pure equity investment (no debt) in Blackhawk Specialty Tools LLC, an oilfield services company located in Houma, LA. Blackhawk, founded in April 2008, is a provider of automated top drive cement heads and related equipment and services to the deepwater offshore oil and gas industry operating in the US Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. Blackhawk is led by president and CEO, Billy Brown. The business is expected to expand through organic growth and select acquisitions. Founded in 2008, Rock Hill Capital Group LLC is a private equity investment firm that targets investments in growing middle to lower middle market companies with enterprise values of up to $75 million. Currently, Rock Hill has $50 million of committed capital under management through Rock Hill Capital I LP.

Norse Energy grabs a piece of the Barnett

Norse Energy Corp. ASA has signed a letter of intent and exclusivity agreement with Strategic Petroleum Investment Consultants Enterprise Inc., Paris Oil & Gas Corp., and Eleon Operators LLC (Spice/Paris) for the potential acquisition of roughly 19,700 acres in the Barnett combo play in Texas for US$70 million. The purchase price will be paid by issuing US$55 million in NEC ASA shares with the reference price NOK 4.70 per NEC ASA share. US$15 million will be paid in cash, of which US$3 million is to be paid at closing, and US$12 million to be a seller's credit. The oil and gas acreage holds current net after royalty production of nearly 600 boe/d from the Barnett combo play. The Barnett assets to be acquired by Norse includes a 4.1% working interest in 32,500 Barnett acres operated by EOG Resources/EnCana. Dr. Dimitrios Kousparis, president and main owner of Spice/Paris, will remain a full time employee of NEC USA. His main focus will be the execution of an active drill–out program for the Midway and Bellevue acreage.

Friendly Energy doubles South Texas lease acreage

Friendly Energy Exploration acquired a 50% working interest in the South Thrifty lease in Central Texas. The property is situated in Brown County, Texas, roughly five miles north of Bangs, Texas. The lease totals 981 acres of which approximately 60% is in defined oil fields. There are 25 well bores of which 24 are producers and one is a water injection well. The project has five tank batteries and all wells have production equipment in place. The primary production zone is the Ellenberger. Since the South Thrifty field was opened in the mid–80s there have been over 1.8 million barrels of oil and over 4.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas produced. The company anticipates adding up to an additional 100 b/d to production with little costs. It anticipates initiating a secondary oil recovery by using the water produced from the Ellenburger as a drive mechanism to capture original oil in place from the Chappel Reef complex. The company's preliminary indications are that the South Thrifty Lease could have a minimum of two million and up to seven million recoverable barrels of oil. With the addition of South Thrifty lease, the company will be the operator on over 2,000 acres on five separate leases.

Lime Rock Partners invests $6M in TerraSpark

Energy private equity investor Lime Rock Partners will invest $6 million in TerraSpark Geosciences, a software solutions and consulting services provider, to help accelerate the commercialization and development of its Insight Earth seismic visualization and interpretation products.

Hess picks Triple Point to manage oil trading, risk

Triple Point Technology, a provider of multi–market commodity and enterprise risk management software solutions, has been selected by Hess Corp. to provide its Commodity XL for Oil™ software to manage its supply, trading, risk, and logistics for crude oil and refined products.

Bakken shale JV planned for GeoResources, Resolute Energy

GeoResources Inc. and Resolute Energy Corp. have entered into a joint venture to develop acreage in the Bakken Shale Trend of North Dakota. GeoResources has acquired roughly 61,000 gross (42,000 net) leasehold acres in Williams County, North Dakota. Resolute will acquire a 45% interest in the acreage and GeoResources will retain a 45% interest and operations. A third industry partner is expected to participate for the remaining 10%. Currently, the parties plan to drill at least three horizontal wells in the Middle Bakken formation prior to year end, as well as seek to acquire additional acreage in the area. Recent activity in Williams County has confirmed commercial production in the Middle Bakken formation, which is a primary objective for the joint venture. Secondary objectives include the Three Forks, Madison and the Red River formations.

Grizzly submits application for Algar Lake oil sands

Alberta, Canada–based Grizzly Oil Sands ULC submitted an application to the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board and Alberta Environment for the development of an 11,300 barrel per day (b/d) oil sands project at Algar Lake. The project is expected to operate at an average capacity of 10,000 b/d over a design life of 30 years. The project will utilize a method of in–situ extraction known as steam–assisted gravity drainage to exploit the resource. Grizzly is seeking approval for the Stage 1 development, consisting of two plant phases and 40 well pairs on four well pads. Each plant phase is designed to operate at an average capacity of 5,000 b/d. Grizzly intends to construct the first phase consisting of one modular central processing facility (CPF), ten well pairs on one well pad, and associated roads and pipelines. The second plant phase, to be developed two years subsequent to approval, will include a second modular CPF and an additional 10 well pairs on one well pad. Each phase's estimated initial gross capital cost is roughly $120 million. An additional pad ($35M each) will be required for each phase every five years. Over the life of the project, Grizzly expects to drill nearly 100 well pairs from 10 well pads. Production life for each individual well pair is estimated to be five to seven years. McDaniel & Associates estimate the project will ultimately recover nearly 89 million barrels of bitumen. Grizzly expects receipt of approvals within 12 to 18 months, with an 18 month period leading up to production after the approvals. The Algar Lake Project is roughly 28 miles southwest of Fort McMurray and 6 miles west of Highway 63.

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