| | | | |

Marcellus/Utica Midstreamer PVR Bought by Regency Energy for $5.6B

bigger fish smaller fishPVR Partners, formerly known as Penn Virginia Resource Partners, will now just be formerly. Period. PVR is a major midstream company (pipelines and processing plants) with big operations in the PA Marcellus Shale after buying Chief Gathering last year (see PVR Buys Chief Gathering/Marcellus Pipelines for $1B). They also announced last year that they would spend $380 million to expand pipelines in NE PA (see PVR Announces $380 Million Investment in NE PA Marcellus), and very recently PVR announced a deal with Hess to build a pipeline system in eastern OH (see PVR Partners to Build $150M Utica Shale Pipeline System for Hess).

Yesterday Texas-based Regency Energy Partners and PVR announced that Regency will buy out PVR for $5.6 billion. Regency, also a midstream company, owns some assets in the Marcellus/Utica, but most of their operations are in the Southwest and West, so this purchase gives them a major presence in the rapidly-expanding midstream sector of the Marcellus/Utica. After the buyout is completed, the PVR name will be no more…
Continue reading

| | | |

Crestwood/Inergy Complete Their Merger Today, Worth $8B

MDN told you last week that Crestwood Midstream and Inergy Midstream were close to consummating the merger of their two companies and that it would be coming soon (see Crestwood/Inergy $7B Merger Update: Combined Boards Announced). Looks like soon is today.

A press release from Friday says today, Monday, the final paperwork will be filed and the two companies will officially be merged. The new company will take the name Crestwood Midstream Partners and starting tomorrow it will trade on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol of CMLP. The two companies together, contrary to previous estimates, will be worth $8 billion (not $7B previously reported), a true midstream giant…
Continue reading

| | | |

Crestwood/Inergy $7B Merger Update: Combined Boards Announced

In May, MDN told you that Crestwood Midstream, with pipelines and processing plants in the Marcellus, and Inergy Midstream, America’s fourth largest propane retailer, trying to establish a new underground propane storage facility near Watkins Glen, NY but is being frustrated by the state’s DEC, would merge to form a $7 billion midstream behemoth (see M&A Mania: Crestwood Midstream & Inergy will Merge). In June the two companies tied 2/3 of the knot (see Crestwood Midstream & Inergy Tie 2/3 of the Merger Knot).

The companies remain at a 2/3 merger–at this stage. However, they have announced the composition of the boards of directors (plural) for Inergy. There is Inergy GP the parent/umbrella company, and Inergy Midstream GP, which will merge with Crestwood. Both boards of directors (see below) contain Crestwood people on them starting next week. So it appears the consummation of this merger marriage will happen soon…
Continue reading

| | | | | | |

Eclipse Resources buys Oxford Oil, Adds Another 49K Utica Acres

subsidiaryState College-based Eclipse Resources, previously with 41,000 Utica Shale acres in eastern Ohio, has just picked up another 184,000 acres in Ohio by buying out The Oxford Oil Company. Some 49,000 of those new acres are in Belmont, Guernsey, Monroe and Noble counties–Utica-rich areas in the eastern part of the state.

According to the Eclipse announcement, Oxford Oil will be renamed Eclipse but will become a subsidiary, continuing to function as before. According to Eclipse CEO Ben Hulburt, this purchase makes Eclipse one of the largest acreage holders in the “core” of the Utica Shale play…
Continue reading

| | | |

Crestwood Midstream & Inergy Tie 2/3 of the Merger Knot

In early May, MDN told you that Crestwood Midstream (with pipelines and processing plants in the Marcellus) and Inergy Midstream will merge to form a $7 billion midstream behemoth (see M&A Mania: Crestwood Midstream & Inergy will Merge). Yesterday, the first step along the road to marital bliss was completed when Crestwood paid $80 million cash for Inergy, L.P. and both Crestwood and Inergy did a complicated stock swap. The third and final step on the merger road will happen in the third quarter when Crestwood Midstream will be formally merged into a subsidiary of Inergy Midstream.

The announcement from yesterday updating us on Crestwood and Inergy’s elaborate dance:
Continue reading

| | | |

M&A Mania: Crestwood Midstream & Inergy will Merge

Crestwood Midstream and Inergy Midstream announced this morning they are merging–a deal that will create a $7 billion midstream (pipelines & processing plants) behemoth. Both Crestwood and Inergy have operations and assets in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region.

Whose name goes on the door has yet to be decided. Here are the details about the deal as provided by the two companies:
Continue reading

|

PwC Report: 2012 Marcellus & Utica M&A Deals Down

Each year analysts at powerhouse consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) take a detailed look at mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in the oil and gas industry worth $50 million or more. Although nationally the deals in the oil and gas sector hit a 10-year high in 2012, the number and value of deals for both the Marcellus and Utica Shale slowed from the previous year. However, looks can be deceiving…

Continue reading

| |

3Q12 M&A Deals in the Marcellus Fall to Zero

For the past five years one of the key indicators that the Marcellus Shale has been red hot is the level of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity among energy companies. That is, companies doing deals to work together, or to buy outright, leased acreage, drilling operations or pipelines and other infrastructure. For the first time in several years, there was no significant M&A activity for an entire 3-month period (third quarter 2012) in the Marcellus, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consulting and research firm that tracks it.

What, exactly, does that mean?

Continue reading

| | | | | | |

Magnum Hunter Buys Virco for $106.7M with 51,500 Net Acres

Magnum Hunter announced this morning they’ve purchased 100% of privately-held Viking International Resources, Inc. (“Virco”) for $106.7 million using a stock swap and cash. The deal means Magnum Hunter will get an additional 51,500 net acres in the Marcellus and Utica Shale in West Virginia and Ohio, pushing their total acreage to something just over 166,000 acres throughout the Appalachian region. Management already has it’s eye on the new acreage and has identified 74 new drilling locations in the Marcellus and 31 new locations in the Utica Shale.

Details on the transaction and what it means:

Continue reading