Eclipse Resources founded with $150 million equity commitment

Benjamin W. Hulburt and Christopher K. Hulburt, former senior executive officers of Rex Energy Corp., have formed Eclipse Resources I LP, an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in State College, Pa., with a $150 million equity commitment from EnCap Investments LP and from Eclipse management. Eclipse will focus on the acquisition, exploration, and development of unconventional oil and natural gas properties in the Appalachian Basin, including the Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale and Upper Devonian Shales. Prior to forming Eclipse, Hulburt served as president and CEO of Rex Energy. Benjamin Hulburt co-founded the first Rex Energy partnership in 2001. Christopher Hulburt served as general counsel, executive vice president, and secretary of Rex Energy.

Houston-based XOG LLC, an independent oil and natural gas company, has received a $50 million equity commitment from Kayne Anderson Energy Funds and management. XOG Resources was founded in December 2010 by Wes VanNatta and Greg Miller to acquire and develop oil and natural gas properties in the Ark-La-Tex and onshore Gulf Coast Texas regions. Previously, VanNatta was a founding member of Force 5 Energy LLC. Miller previously worked for Common Resources.

Corridor Energy LLC has been established as an asset management company focused on real energy infrastructure assets. Corridor plans to provide growth capital to finance energy infrastructure assets deployed in sectors such as electric power transmission and distribution, and natural gas and liquid transportation and storage facilities. Corridor Energy is being formed by principals of The Calvin Group, as well as Tortoise Capital Advisors LLC, and Tortoise's majority owner, Montage Asset Management LLC. Richard Green, former CEO of Aquila and Utilicorp United and a founder of Calvin Group, will serve as managing director of Corridor and lead its management team.

Lime Rock Resources has closed the acquisition of oil and gas interests in the East Artesia areas of Lea and Eddy Counties, New Mexico for $130 million. The Lime Rock Resources team assumed operations of over 350 producing wells in December 2010 and is beginning the assessment of development drilling and operational improvement projects. The team now operates over 1,000 wells and produces over 5,000 boe/d in New Mexico, alone. The Lime Rock Resources team has made nearly $1 billion of acquisitions since its inception in 2005.

Independent certified accounting firm Weaver is is merging with L.T. Hawthorne & Associates Inc. Weaver's Renewable and Energy Compliance Practice provides a variety of attestation and advisory services to the energy industry, including attestations required by the Environmental Protection Agency, compliance audits of independent and refinery laboratories and Marine Preservation Association (MPA) dues attestations, which are required for MPA members. The Hawthorne team brings refining and fuels expertise and regulatory compliance resources to Weaver. Tom Hawthorne, president of L.T. Hawthorne & Associates, will continue to work with Weaver. Sandra Dunphy and Ron Chapman, previous directors of L.T. Hawthorne & Associates will join Weaver as directors of Energy Compliance and will office in Weaver's Houston location.

Kayne Anderson Energy Funds has sold privately held Energy Contractors LLC, a provider of oilfield services in the Marcellus Shale market, to Nabors Well Services Co. Energy Contractors was formed in 2004 by Gary Bowers and Andy Lang, and subsequently partnered with Kayne Anderson in 2008 to expand the company's service lines and geographical presence in the region. Established in 1998, Kayne Anderson Energy Funds manage $2.7 billion of committed capital for energy private equity investments.

Sheridan, Wyoming-based Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc. has been acquired by Powder Holdings LLC, an entity controlled by private equity group SW Energy Capital LP, for $10.3 million, or $0.34 per share. The close comes nearly 11 months after the natural gas company announced entering the agreement in February 2010. A January 26 research report by Global Hunter Securities LLC puts the acquired proved reserves at 15 bcfe at year-end 2009, down from 27.7 bcfe at year-end 2008 and latest quarter volumes at 5.9 MMcfed. "Metrics on the transaction equate to $1,745 per flowing mcfe and $0.67 per mcfe of proved reserves," noted the report. Scotia Waterous acted as financial advisor to SW Energy Capital LP, and Vinson & Elkins LLP acted as SW Energy Capital's legal advisor. Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. owned 2.55 million shares of PINN generating proceeds of $869,000, noted Global Hunter. Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc. was founded in 2003. Its focus is the development of coalbed methane properties in the Rocky Mountain region.

Denver, Co.-based Rock Oil Co. LLC reported that on August 18, 2010, it closed an initial common equity commitment with Energy Trust Partners III LP (ETP), and on December 20, 2010 completed a follow-on investment with Wells Fargo Energy Capital, Hexagon Investments, and BNP Paribas. Initial proceeds from the offering were used by Rock Oil to fund its initial equity commitment to Blue Eagle Energy LLC, a joint venture with Abraxas Petroleum focusing on the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. The JV has drilled and cased its first horizontal Eagle Ford well in DeWitt County. Rock Oil Co. recently changed its name from Blue Stone Oil & Gas LLC. Rivington Capital Advisors LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Rock Oil.

Celtique Energie Holdings Ltd., a London-based exploration and production company, has entered into an agreement with private equity firm Avista Capital Partners and affiliates of a wealthy European family to provide an equity commitment up to $100 million. Celtique was formed in 2006 with a $50 million commitment from Avista to develop oil and natural gas discoveries and prospects in onshore basins in Europe. The company has assembled a portfolio of onshore exploration licenses and substantially completed its prospect generation phase. Near-term, the company plans to implement drilling programs in the Jura region of France and Switzerland and in the Aquitaine basin of France, and undertake seismic programs to define prospects throughout its portfolio.

Deloitte has acquired substantially all of the assets of energy consultancy company Altos Management Partners Inc., as well as those of MarketPoint Inc., an Altos sister company best known for MarketBuilder, an analytic suite for energy market modeling and price forecasting. The acquisition will provide Deloitte's clients with the ability to gain a better understanding of market fundamentals for energy commodities, including oil, gas, refinery products, electricity and coal. As part of the acquisition, Dale Nesbitt, PhD, has joined Deloitte. Nesbitt founded MarketPoint in 1995.

Post Falls, Idaho-based JayHawk Energy Inc. has acquired leases in the Bakken Shale and Three Forks unconventional oil play in Divide County, North Dakota. Marshall Diamond-Goldberg, president of the Post Falls, Idaho-based company stated, "JayHawk's intention has always been to eventually become involved in the Bakken due to its proximity to the company's production presence in the state of North Dakota. In order to proceed with the company's recent drilling at Crosby, a quarter section of land was acquired with Bakken rights, which allowed JayHawk a small entry into the play." The Bakken and Three Forks rights acquired include 1,066.5 gross acres and 135.056 net acres in Divide County approximately 20 miles from the Crosby pool. Based on corporate assessments by others in the play, Diamond-Goldberg believes recoverable reserves in the area are somewhere between 300 and 800 thousand barrels of light sweet crude separately in the Bakken and Three Forks.

Allegro Development, a provider of energy trading and risk management (ETRM) software, has announced that DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations Company is using Allegro 8 in its management and operating services to the US Department of Energy on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) project. DynMcDermott provides management and manpower to operate and maintain the SPR and related pipeline systems as the Department of Energy's primary contractor. DynMcDermott selected Allegro to deploy a comprehensive Crude Oil Inventory Tracking and Valuation System to meet its special needs.

India's Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC) marked an exploration landmark on Jan. 25 when it reported that gas flowed out from the Barren Measure Shale at a depth of around 5,577 feet in an exploratory well near Durgapur, at Icchapur in West Bengal. Although the well is still under assessment, the breakthrough is significant as India is the first Asian country where gas was discovered from shale outside North America. The RNSG-1 well drilled down to a depth of 6,562 feet. The Barren Measure Shale, which is the main target, was encountered from 3,232 feet to 6,047 feet. The well was spudded on Sept. 26 of last year. In India, many shale sequences are in well-explored sedimentary basins such as the Damodar, Cambay, Krishna Godavari, and Cauvery basins. However, the Damodar Basin, where ONGC has been drilling for and producing coalbed methane gas, was prioritized by the company shale gas exploration because of the shallow nature of the shale formations and abundant water availability, a pre-requisite for doing massive hydro fracturing.

More Oil & Gas Financial Journal Current Issue Articles
More Oil & Gas Financial Journal Archives Issue Articles
View Oil and Gas Articles on PennEnergy.com