CCI pays $1B for certain East Texas assets from Anadarko Petroleum

Castleton Commodities International LLC (CCI) has acquired the Carthage upstream and midstream assets in East Texas from subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for over $1 billion. Pro forma for the Carthage acquisition, CCI will own over 160,000 net acres of leasehold in East Texas. As of the effective date, daily net production to CCI in East Texas increased to over 320 MMcfe/d. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA acted as Lead Arranger and Lead Bookrunner in connection with the reserve based lending facility for this transaction. ABN AMRO Capital USA LLC, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Société Générale, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners. Funds managed by HPS Investment Partners made an unsecured mezzanine debt investment in the transaction. Société Générale acted as Financial Advisor to CCI for this transaction. Vinson & Elkins LLP and Bracewell LLP served as legal advisors to CCI in the transaction. CCI is a global commodities merchant with an integrated set of operations consisting of physical and financial commodities trading and the ownership, operation, and development of commodities- related upstream and infrastructure assets.

Concho Resources acquires Northern Delaware Basin Assets

Concho Resources Inc. has reached a definitive agreement to acquire approximately 24,000 gross (16,400 net) acres in the northern Delaware Basin for approximately $430 million. The acquired acreage is complementary to the company's leasehold position in the northern Delaware Basin, with approximately 12,000 gross (10,000 net) acres located in the Red Hills area in Lea County, New Mexico. The deal includes approximately 2.5 MBoepd (69% oil) of current production and expands the company's position in the Red Hills area by more than 25% to approximately 47,000 net acres. The acquisition more than doubles the company's long-lateral drilling inventory in Red Hills and enhances its ability to drill long laterals on existing Concho leasehold. Consideration in the transaction includes approximately $150 million of cash and 2.18 million shares of Concho's common stock. Concho expects to fund the cash portion of the transaction with cash on hand, borrowings under its credit facility and potential non-core asset sales. The acquisition is expected to close in January 2017 and is subject to customary closing conditions. As a result of the acquisition, Concho plans to increase its operated rig count to an average of eight rigs in the northern Delaware Basin during 2017. Concho expects to grow oil production volumes by more than 20% year-over-year in 2017 and total production by 18% to 21%, up from the previously disclosed guidance range of 17% to 20%. The company maintained its capital expenditure guidance of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion for 2017. Based on the current commodity price outlook, Concho expects to fund its 2017 capital program within cash flow. The company's 2017 capital program excludes acquisitions and is subject to change depending upon a number of factors, including commodity prices and industry conditions.

Magnetar Capital to invest up to $450M in Double Eagle Energy Permian

Double Eagle Energy Permian LLC and Magnetar Capital have entered into a definitive agreement wherein Magnetar has agreed to invest up to $450 million of equity and delayed draw unsecured debt capital to support additional Midland Basin acquisition opportunities and to accelerate Double Eagle Energy Permian's operated drilling program. Double Eagle Energy Permian LLC was formed through the combination of Double Eagle Energy Lone Star LLC and Veritas Energy Partners Holdings LLC. The company owns more than 60,000 core Midland Basin net acres (over 70% operated) located in Midland, Martin, Howard, Glasscock, Upton and Reagan counties. Vinson & Elkins LLP acted as legal advisor and Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisor to Double Eagle, and Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisor and Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor to Magnetar Capital.

Swift Energy to sell certain SouthEast Louisiana assets

Swift Energy Co. has agreed to sell its Lake Washington field in Southeast Louisiana. This divestiture is part of the company's plan to focus on the Eagle Ford, where the company has identified over 400 high-quality drilling locations. Swift expects to see a cash consideration of $40 million upon closing, which is expected in early December 2016, subject to customary closing conditions and adjustments. The assets include approximately 14,000 net acres in Plaquemines Parish, including 23 producing wells, with net sales of approximately 1,160 barrels of oil equivalent per day (97% oil) as of the end of the third quarter 2016. Upon closing of the transaction, Swift will also eliminate the ARO liability associated with this asset from its books and records. Net proceeds are expected to help pay down the company's revolver.

Earthstone Energy, Bold Energy III combine to focus on Midland Basin

Earthstone Energy Inc. and Bold Energy III LLC, a portfolio company of EnCap Investments LP, have entered into a definitive contribution agreement under which Earthstone will acquire all of the outstanding membership interests of Bold, inclusive of producing assets and undeveloped acreage, in an "Up-C" transaction. Upon completion of the transaction, current Earthstone stockholders will own approximately 39% of the combined company, and Bold members will own the remaining 61% on a fully diluted basis. The transaction represents a transformational shift for Earthstone to a high-growth, Midland Basin-focused operating company. The existing Earthstone management team, including President and CEO, Frank A. Lodzinski, will lead the combined company. The combined company will maintain its headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas, and maintain an office in Midland, Texas. As of September 30, 2016, the combined company had approximately $24.0 million of cash on-hand and $17 million of bank debt drawn against a combined $102 million reserve-based loan facility. Current production from the combined company stands at approximately 7,400 Boepd (63% oil), consisting of 46% from the Midland Basin, 38% from the Eagle Ford, and 16% from the Bakken and other areas. The transaction is further subject to the majority approval of Earthstone stockholders, including a majority of disinterested stockholders, as well as other customary approvals. Stephens Inc. acted as independent financial advisor and provided a fairness opinion to the special committee of the board of directors of Earthstone. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. acted as financial advisor to Bold. Legal advisors included Richards, Layton & Finger for the special committee of the board of directors of Earthstone, Jones & Keller, P.C. for Earthstone, and Latham & Watkins LLP for Bold.

Resource closes Samson Resources asset buy

Resource Energy Can-Am LLC has closed on its previously announced agreement to acquire assets in the North Dakota Bakken Formation from Samson Resources Company. The purchase price was approximately $75.0 million (subject to customary adjustments). The assets were sold pursuant to Section 363 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. With the acquisition, Resource Energy has now accumulated over 110,000 net acres in the Williston Basin and has proven reserves of approximately 28 MMboe. Resource Energy has an interest in more than 350 wells (approximately 50% operated), and has current gross operated production of approximately 6,500 boe/d.

Drillinginfo acquires product lines, services of Ponderosa Energy

Drillinginfo, an oil and gas analytics company, has acquired the assets, product lines, and related services associated with Ponderosa Energy, a division of Ponderosa Advisors LLC. Ponderosa Energy leverages proprietary databases and analytical tools to provide customers with detailed market intelligence for investment in crude oil, natural gas, and NGL markets. The acquisition includes Ponderosa Energy's production forecast tools such as The Fundamental Edge, a subscription-based market outlook service, and PRODcast, an online tool that allows users to run forecast scenarios specific to their needs in real time. The production forecast model allows users to better understand 500+ break evens across the US and assess relative economic advantages of specific producers based upon acreage, productivity, and cost. Ponderosa Advisors President and CEO, Porter Bennett, will join Drillinginfo's board of directors. The addition of Ponderosa's products and services follows closely behind Drillinginfo's recent acquisition of GlobalView and its flagship product, MarketView, which allows companies across the energy supply chain, risk marketers, and other commodities investors to monitor price movements. Energy employees will join the Drillinginfo office in Littleton, CO.

Navigant acquires Ecofys

Navigant, a professional services firm, has acquired Ecofys, an international consultancy based in Europe with a position in the fields of energy and sustainability. The addition of 150 Ecofys consulting professionals enhances Navigant's capabilities and solution offerings, providing additional expertise in the areas of energy policy, climate strategies and policies, energy systems and markets, urban energy, and sustainability services.

Rubicon Oilfield acquires Top-Co Holdings

Houston, TX-based Rubicon Oilfield International has acquired Top-Co Holdings Inc., a supplier of oilfield casing, cementing and completion products. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Backed by a capital commitment from Warburg Pincus, Rubicon will invest in the accelerated growth of all Top-Co product lines.

Dril-Quip completes TIW acquisition

Dril-Quip Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of TIW Corp. TIW, based in Houston, Texas, is a global provider of liner hanger systems and related equipment and services. Dril-Quip is a manufacturer of offshore drilling and production equipment used in deepwater, harsh environment, and severe service applications.

Gastar completes initial closing of Oklahoma Acreage Sale

Gastar Exploration Inc. has completed the initial closing of the sale of certain non-core assets located in northeast Canadian and southeast Kingfisher counties, Oklahoma. Gastar received $46.4 million in the initial closing and the buyer has placed an additional $28.3 million into escrow. Release of escrow funds to Gastar is subject to certain title curative and other conditions. Additionally, Gastar's regularly scheduled November 2016 revolving credit facility borrowing base redetermination resulted in a current borrowing base of $85 million, down from $100 million. Gastar will repay the required $15 million borrowing base reduction from proceeds of the initial closing of the non-core acreage sale. The next regularly scheduled borrowing base redetermination is to occur in May 2017. In a note following the close, Wunderlich Securities analysts commented: "We believe GST has done a nice job over the past year in positioning itself financially and operationally to take advantage of its opportunities in the STACK; with the non-core sales, drilling agreement, and increase in activity of late, we think GST is in a good position to drive growth. Further, we believe that now the focus can be on GST's drilling activity with well results being what can help define its STACK position, the economics, and potential in the play."

Maverick Drilling & Exploration changes name

Maverick Drilling & Exploration Ltd. has received shareowner approval to change its corporate name to Freedom Oil & Gas Ltd., effective November 7, 2016. The company's common stock will trade on the Australian Stock Exchange under the new trading symbol "FDM" beginning on November 10, and in the US on the OTCQX under the symbol "FDMQF" beginning on November 14. "Changing our name to Freedom Oil & Gas formalizes a close out of the past activities of the company and its history. We have transitioned from being a drilling contractor and small producer to an early stage development-focused, E&P company," stated J. Michael Yeager, chairman and CEO. Going forward, the company plans to develop acreage acquired in the Eagle Ford Shale.

NYSE accepts Basic Energy's Continued Listing Plan

The New York Stock Exchange has accepted Basic Energy Services Inc.'s plan for continued listing on the NYSE. As a result, Basic's common stock will continue to be listed on the NYSE, subject to quarterly reviews by the NYSE to monitor the company's progress against the plan to restore compliance with continued listing standards. The NYSE had notified Basic on August 19, 2016 of non-compliance with the market capitalization and share price continued listing standards. Basic has a period of six months from the date of the NYSE Notice to regain compliance with the minimum share price criteria by bringing its share price and thirty trading-day average share price above $1.00. Basic has also a period of 18 months from the date of the NYSE Notice to regain compliance with the market capitalization requirements of the NYSE listing standards. Should the company's average global market capitalization over a consecutive 30 trading-day period fall below $15 million, the NYSE will promptly initiate suspension and delisting procedures.

WellDog plans JV to develop CBM fields with Shaanxi Energy Institute

WellDog, an energy-focused technical services company, has signed a Letter of Intent to form a joint venture with the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Energy Resources and Chemical Engineering (SPIERCE). The joint venture will deploy reservoir, production and development technologies to demonstrate profitable coal bed methane (CBM) development in fields located within the Shaanxi province, one of China's most prolific energy resource regions. China's CBM resource is estimated at nearly 40 trillion cubic meters (tcm), with recoverable reserves of about 10 tcm. Over the last few decades, China has dramatically increased investment in CBM technologies, and each of the country's five-year plans has increased CBM production targets, but the results to date have failed to meet those goals. Since 1999, WellDog has focused on providing cost effective, reliable, accurate subsurface data and data collection systems to high volume resource production operators such as shale oil and gas, coalbed methane, and coal mining operators.

PetroQuest Energy enters East Texas JV

PetroQuest Energy Inc. has entered into East Texas joint venture agreements to develop the Cotton Valley formation with a group of investors (the partners), whereby the partners acquired an approximate 20% working interest in the company's 6,400 gross acre project area. The joint venture does not include existing vertical and horizontal producing wells within the defined project area. The partners will pay approximately $12 million in participation fees over the first 12 months of the program (subject to a one-time partner election to continue participating in the program after the 7th well) to fund a portion of the company's development costs. In addition, the partners will pay approximately 24% of the drilling and completion costs relative to their 20% working interest. The first phase of the joint venture is focused on drilling up to 47 horizontal Cotton Valley wells with an expected average lateral length of approximately 5,600 feet. PetroQuest recently executed a rig contract and expects to spud its first joint venture horizontal Cotton Valley well in December of 2016. Based on the existing partner participation described above, the company expects to pay approximately 69% of the drilling and completion costs for a 75% working interest in the initial joint venture well. PetroQuest expects to drill and complete 8-10 gross wells during 2017 under this joint venture.

order in WesternGeco v. ION Geophysical patent infringement lawsuit

On November 14, 2016, a trial court issued an order in the previously-reported lawsuit of WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp. that reduced the amount of the appeal bond from $120 million to $65 million, ordered the sureties to pay principal and interest on the royalty previously awarded in the amount of approximately $22 million and declined to issue a final judgment until after consideration of whether enhanced damages should be awarded in the case. Brian Hanson, ION's CEO, commented, "While we were disappointed with the unusual decision by the trial court ordering the sureties to pay the royalty damages and interest without a final judgment, we intend to respect the trial court's decision by transferring up to $22 million to WesternGeco in lieu of having WesternGeco exercise its remedies against the sureties. It comes at a time where we have both right sized our business and built sufficient liquidity of approximately $80 million to both fund this payment and support normal business operations. This seven-year-old lawsuit has been a hangover to ION's shareholders far too long and we are looking forward to putting the potential risk of this payment behind us so we can focus on running our business and creating shareholder value through a very difficult time in the industry. The relationship between ION and WesternGeco has never been stronger as we both collaborate on projects and support them as a customer of ION. The value of this relationship far diminishes the $22 million payment and I look forward to a strong future working relationship together."

Emerald Oil emerges from bankruptcy with new name

Emerald Oil Inc. and its subsidiaries completed a Section 363 sale process and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a debt-free entity. The company officially concluded its Section 363 process after completing all required actions and satisfying the conditions of its bankruptcy sale plan, which was confirmed by the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware by order dated November 1, 2016. The company reduced its long-term debt by approximately $278 million. Going forward, the company, majority owned by Crestline Investors and Fir Tree Partners, will operate under the new name "National Oil Production Company LLC." The Denver, CO-based operator is focused on producing oil and gas wells and developing oil and gas leasehold in the Williston Basin of North Dakota, targeting the Bakken and Three Forks shale oil formations and Pronghorn sand oil formation.

Ecopetrol sets 2017 investment plan

Ecopetrol SA has approved an investment plan of approximately US$3.5 billion for 2017. This plan allocates more than 80% (nearly US$2.85 billion) to profitable exploration and production projects. Exploration and production projects will largely focus on developing key production assets and identifying Colombian onshore and offshore resources, and maintaining the company's position in foreign assets. More than 95% of investments will be made in Colombia, with the remainder made abroad. Investment in exploration will be increased from US$282 million in 2016 to US$650 million in 2017. The Ecopetrol Group expects to continue to produce an average of about 715 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day during 2017. The company expectes to increase production by 2020 to between 760 and 830 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, depending on international crude oil prices.

Ultra Petroleum enters PSA with shareholders, senior noteholders

Ultra Petroleum Corp. has entered into a Plan Support Agreement dated November 21, 2016 and a Backstop Commitment Agreement dated November 21, 2016 with (i) holders of a substantial majority of the principal amount of its outstanding 5.750% Senior Notes due 2018 and 6.125% Senior Notes due 2024 and (ii) shareholders who own at least a majority of its outstanding common stock or the economic interests therein. On April 29, 2016, UPL and each of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions seeking in-court reorganization under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The PSA sets forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the Ultra Entities and the Commitment Parties have agreed to seek and support a joint plan of reorganization at an aggregate plan value of $6.25 billion, $6 billion, or $5.5 billion, depending on commodity prices, for the Ultra Entities which will successfully complete the Reorganization Proceedings. The Backstop Agreement sets forth the terms and conditions under which the Commitment Parties have agreed to fund a $580 million offering of rights to purchase shares of common stock in reorganized UPL in connection with the Plan. Under the Plan, the total enterprise value of the Ultra Entities will be $6 billion; provided, that if the average closing price of the 12-month forward Henry Hub natural gas strip price during the seven trading days preceding the commencement of the Rights Offering solicitation is: (i) greater than $3.65/MMBtu, the Plan Value will be $6.25 billion; or (ii) less than $3.25/MMBtu, the Plan Value will be $5.5 billion. Among other matters, the Plan provides for a comprehensive restructuring of all allowable claims against and interests in the Ultra Entities, including the conversion of the outstanding unsecured senior notes issued by UPL to newly-issued shares of common stock in UPL, the exchange of the outstanding unsecured senior notes issued by UPL's subsidiary Ultra Resources Inc. for new unsecured notes issued by Ultra Resources and cash, and the payment in full of all other allowed claims against the Ultra Entities in cash.

BP, GE launch offshore digital technology

Together, BP and GE have launched Plant Operations Advisor (POA), a new digital solution designed to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of BP's oil and gas production operations. Plant Operations Advisor is already helping BP manage the performance of one of its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and, subject to a successful pilot, it will be deployed next year to other BP facilities around the world. The tool, built on GE's Predix operating system, was created as part of a development partnership the two companies announced in January. Using GE's Predix and Asset Performance Management (APM) capabilities, POA rapidly integrates operational data from producing oil and gas facilities to deliver notifications and analytical reports to engineers. The system provides simplified access to a variety of live data feeds and includes visualization capabilities including a real-time facility threat display. It also incorporates an extensive case management capability to support learnings from prior operational issues. GE intends to offer this technology, which combines big data, cloud hosting, and analytics on both individual pieces of equipment as well as the entire production system, as an APM solution that will be available to the industry.

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